Paranormal Photography; The Ghost in the Machine

by Robin M. Strom, author of Anatomy of a Ghost; A Guide to Analyzing the Dead, and On the Hunt for the Haunted (April 2019, Llewellyn Worldwide)

The team often receives questions about photos and videos in which supposed paranormal anomalies are caught.  Most of the time, these can be fairly easily explained. Below is a series of anomalies that we were able to debunk.  Our team works under the caveat that that which can be explained or recreated isn't paranormal.  But then, sometimes, we can't find a rational explanation for an image. That of course is when we get truly excited.  The photo at the end of this article is a case in point.  

Orbs

Knowing the weather conditions and or humidity when taking a picture is important.  Notice the "orb" by my son's face as he was working on his snow fort.  This isn't a spirit trying to communicate with him, but a rain drop.  The snow had stopped this particular night, and it had begun to rain.  I was using the flash setting on my camera to take pictures because it had gotten very dark.  Later, on review, I noticed, I had an orb! What actually happened is the flash reflected off a rain drop resulting in a really cool orb shot.  Snow, rain, dust, pollen and bugs are all capable of creating the orb effect in a photo, especially when used in conjunction with a flash. 

Similarly, dust, bugs, humidity, pollen, rain, snowflakes, all are extremely reflective in a camera with an IR setting, such as night-time surveillance cameras. I can't tell you how many orb questions I receive from people capturing such on their surveillance cams.  To date,  I've still never witnessed an Orb photograph that I seriously considered the real thing. Remember, for an orb to be an orb it should emit it's own light not be reflecting light, as is the case in this photograph. I have had some credible witnesses that have seen orblike balls of light with their own eyes.  Still, things like car lights and the lights from airplanes should be considered. These may also create the illusion of shadows, or shadowy forms that may seem to move. 

Strange Fogs

The two photos below of a strange fog are actually cigarette smoke, with the smoker placed behind the camera. This had none of the wispy, curly features that other texts had suggested would take place with cigarette smoke, but instead produced a most believable odd fog effect. The one the left is thick to the point where it might even be mistaken for a spirit coalescing.  So before you consider spirit, you might want to find out if there are some sneaky smokers getting in a quick drag. 

In pictures taken outdoors one must be especially careful of fogs.  Other than cigarette smoke a fog might have a natural cause. Take into consideration the temperature at the time the photo is taken.  Changes in temperature can cause the condensation in the air to appear.  Digital cameras can also capture carbon dioxide which is released by trees and vegetation in swampy areas, even if the area appears dry.  A couple caveats about making too much of "faces" seen in a mist- a tendency called pareidolia. If you are also witnessing the fog while you're photographing, make note of its changing density and watch to see if it appears to be following you about. And do what photographers do, bracket your photos. In other words, take a series of pictures. If you notice something strange on one photo, take successive photos of the same scene. Check photos before and photos after. Does the "fog" move or stay the same? Is it in all the photos or only one? Something paranormal will likely appear and disappear quickly, or move about seeming to follow the action. Something natural like a fog will stay longer, dissipating much more slowly.  Having said all that, I did receive one picture of a fog that I thought was interesting. This one caught in a cemetery seems to be contained in a very small area, and not close to the ground or near trees.  Still, we can tell the evening was chilly by the amount of clothing the subject is wearing, so certainly condensation could be the issue. Humidity is reflective and we know the camera was using a flash, because we can see the light on the tombstone. 

The Ghost in the Details; Slow Shutter Speeds

 This strange effect was caused by a slow shutter speed in a low light situation. I dislike the flat effect of a flash, so I avoid flash as often as I can.  But a slow shutter in low light causes ghosting effects in subjects whenever they move.  Notice in the first shot just the hand seems to be fuzzy.  In the second the entire head of the subject appears semi-opaque.  Is it a ghost? No, it's my son who is in perpetual motion.  A strong indicator of this anomaly are lines of light. Notice the line of light on the right side of the second picture. The light lines can also appear jaggedy or look like lightning flashes.  If you take such a picture and don't examine it immediately, and then look at it later you might believe you captured a ghost.  I say this in all honesty, having just watched a recent episode of Ghost Hunters where a photographer did just that.  The picture seemed to show a ghostly form, but also displayed the lightning flashes of light that would indicate camera movement in a low light situation. Photography students are taught to tripod any photos using a 60 shutter speed or less.  But whoever listens to what their photography instructor taught them?

The Evil Eye

Recently the team was contacted by a family whose teenage girl was worried.  Being a typical teenager she took multiple selfies of herself using the flash on her phone camera.  Her photos often showed what she described as an evil eye.  She was so unnerved by the evil eye that she purchased a new phone. But even with the phone she kept getting the evil eye effect. So I turned the flash on, and took a selfie of myself with my phone reflecting off the mirror. And voila, I too got the evil eye effect.  It turned out the "evil eye" is actually a reflection of the IR light on the camera.  The camera focuses with an IR light. The IR light is sent out and when it hits something solid it bounces back.  The time it takes to bounce back allows the camera to determine the distance between camera and subject. It then focuses for that distance.  Using the flash and a mirror illuminated and reflected that IR light which would normally be invisible to our eyes, complete with a ghosting effect around the light at the center, creating what looked like an evil eye....imagine evil laughter here. 

Notice the evil eye effect in the photo below, on the shoulder of the team's Co-Director - in yellow hoodie.  It can also occur when there's strong light sources in front of the camera. 

 

Fireflies and Traveling Spiders

Sometimes it takes me awhile to work these things out. A woman sent me several pictures. It was a summer evening, and she had been taking pictures of her family when she noticed small, green orbs showing up in her pictures.  She sent them to me and I scratched my head.  On the one hand they did act like orbs should act, a ball of light illuminated from within, not being reflected from without.  And then it dawned me, it was summer night at dusk and the photos were being taken in a grassy area. Fireflies! Mystery Solved.

Another inquiry took me longer.  A gentleman had set up a deer cam in the forest near his house.  Deer cams shoot video when something moves in the frame.  In this case the video was filmed at night, using the camera's IR setting, with a lovely doe munching by a tree calmly when this filmy, guazy string floats by over her head.  I admit I was somewhat at a loss on that one, until I stepped out on my back porch one day and saw a newly hatched spider floating by on a wisp of gossamer web.  That's how newly hatched spiders find a home.  They hatch from a nest, throw out a bit of web, which catches the breeze and floats them off to a new locale. Cobwebs and spider webs are both eerily reflective on an IR camera. 

Reflections and Pareidolia

A gentleman sent in this picture.  He felt he'd captured a ghost in the window of this quaint little shop in Rehoboth Beach.  (1st story window to the right of the door) In the window he saw what he thought looked like a ghost wearing a hat.  The building had a reputation, apparently, for being haunted, which probably increased the confusion. But the form in the window isn't a spirit but a reflection off the window.  Notice that just above the figure is the perfect outline of the tree branch which has the same light quality. 

This is a case of pareidolia. Pareidolia is  defined as a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus (an image or a sound) wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern of something where none actually exists.  Our minds do this naturally, they're hardwired to try to make order out of chaos. That's why we see pictures in the clouds, or the face of Jesus in a water stain. 

Ghosts Caught on Film

Still sometimes I get a picture that simply can't be explained by camera malfunction or reflection. Case in point is the photo below. The young mother who took this photo had gotten up during the night and left the room where her young daughter was sleeping in her toddler bed.  Mom took the baby monitor and her cell phone with her into the other room.  Looking at the baby monitor she was astonished to see a figure of a woman that seemed to be leaning over or floating above the child's bed.  She quickly took a photo of the image with her cell phone.  The next day the family were amazed at the picture Mom had captured.  They had the really good idea to try to recreate the effect the next night. With the child in bed asleep, and the lighting the same, the family took a picture of the monitor with the cell phone.  No ghostly image.  Furthermore, the recreated image clearly showed items behind the toddler bed, which were occluded in the first image.  (The image on the right is the recreated image.)

What I really felt was fascinating about the image of the woman is that when you enlarge it the female image appears to get sharper instead of dissipating in a cloud of pixilation. Further, when I asked and received a photo of the young mother's grandmother, who was recently deceased, the facial similarities were remarkable.  I also was very happy the family tried to recreate the image, under similar circumstances.  What cannot be recreated is that much harder to explain.

The Haunted White Swan Tavern

Delaware Paranormal was recently invited to investigate the historic and haunted White Swan Tavern Inn in Chestertown, Maryland. Find out what staff and guests have experienced over the years at the White Swan as Sarah takes the team on a tour.  From seeing a lady from the second story window, to voices, footsteps and objects moving on their own. And in the Lovegrove Room, a full-bodied apparition was caught in a most compromising situation. Find out what you can expect if you stay the night at the White Swan Tavern Inn.  

A Haunting in Long Neck

Written about in the book, On the Hunt for the Haunted, (Llewellyn Worldwide) the team's investigation at the residence in Long Neck was one of our most astounding ever. In this video I explain a few of the best pieces of evidence we obtained from the initial walk-through and the subsequent investigation of the property. From a disturbing male spirit, to a Victorian era apparition to a child ghost who enjoyed finger painting, this besieged couple were up to their ears in strange goings on.  

On the Hunt for the Haunted, by Robin M. Strom (April 2019) available at www.delawareparanormal.org, Llewellyn Worldwide https://www.llewellyn.com/   Barnes & Noble, Amazon and indiebooks.com

Haunted Fort Delaware

In 2008, the now defunct Delaware Ghost Hunters (of which I was a member) did an exclusive investigation of Fort Delaware, on Pea Patch Island. Ten years later, it still remains one of the most intriguing investigations of my career. So intriguing, in fact, that I devoted a whole chapter to Fort Delaware in the new book, "On the Hunt for the Haunted," due out in April 2019 with Llewellyn Worldwide Publishers. An incredible "dousing rods" session where the EMF detector also responded to yes/no questions as often as not, started our night of activity. But the session in the Officer's Kitchen capped the night with a bang - literally. Not incidentally, the bang was reminiscent of the sound recorded by the TAPS team during their investigation at the fort, while in the same kitchen. On haunted surveys of the first state, Fort Delaware always tops the list as number one most haunted location. And it was, it truly was.

On the Hunt for the Haunted, by Robin M. Strom, April 2019.  Is available at www.delawareparanormal.org, Llewellyn Worldwide https://www.llewellyn.com/, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, indiebooks.com

A Haunting in Hartly, Delaware Part II

A Haunting in Hartly, Delaware Part I

In this video the director of Delaware Paranormal Research Group describes the evidence they captured on two investigations at the Hartly house. Written about in the book On the Hunt for the Haunted, (published by Llewellyn Worldwide) the Hartly house is an extremely active location.  Over the course of several years, the team has investigated the property three times. Find out what the team found, and listen to actual EVP's they captured. Sometimes the most haunted location may just be the house next door.

On the Hunt for the Haunted, by Robin M. Strom available in April 2019 at www.delawareparanormal.org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, indiebooks.com and Llewellyn Worldwide https://www.llewellyn.com

What Dreams Might Come: Ghosts and Dreaming

The following is an excerpt from the book Anatomy of a Ghost; A Guide to Analyzing the Dead pgs. 93-97

by Robin M. Strom-Mackey


I include this story not because I'm fully certain whether the event was normal (and just weird) or paranormal, but because it demonstrates how widely opinions can vary between expert paranormal investigators.  On the one hand, look how very far out on a limb one investigator goes in order to explain the situation in rational terms.  Then again, another seems to accept it as paranormal out of hand.  My husband and I who experienced it have never been able to make up our minds about the event one way or another.  For me, honestly, it remains an unsolved mystery.

CRITTERS THAT FOLLOW YOU HOME

 I was getting ready for an investigation. I’d done the phone interview with the client, and then did an initial walk through.  It’s a fairly mundane procedure, done during daylight hours when I determine whether there is enough reported activity to actually warrant a full investigation.  It also allows me to figure out where the activity is occurring and where I will need to have my team set up equipment. I was comfortable with the client, Lindsey, who honestly seemed more curious than frightened.
The Thursday night after the walk-through was serene, I did the walk-through after work. There were no problems that night.  Friday was a normal workday with no untoward stress. Friday night, however, was one of the most bizarre of my career.    When I woke the next morning, while memories were still sharp I recorded what had happened. Here is what I wrote:

October 10, 2014: Around nine pm we were putting my son to sleep. He has a small sugar bear [glider] named Hiccup. We had Hiccup out and we were playing with him. Sugar gliders are like tiny flying squirrels. He’ll run up your arm or leg and then leap to another person and land on their head or back, run around, jump to someone else... My husband, son and I were all in on the little adventure. Eventually we put Hiccup back in his cage, tucked my son into bed, and went to bed ourselves.

It was around 11:30 – midnight. I had been sleeping, but then I noticed that my husband had come up to the foot of the bed. We were talking about something, but as soon as we stopped talking about it I seemed to forget what the conversation had been. I thought this odd at the time.  I wondered to myself, “Why can’t I remember what we were just talking about?” I didn’t have time for further reflection because I realized that my husband, had brought Hiccup in with him. The little creature leaped off Gene and was running around on the bed. I followed his movements, because I didn’t want him to get loose and lost. Hiccup ran up the furrow in the covers close to me and I cupped my hands around him in preparation of gently lifting him up and containing him. As I was cupping him my husband put his headlamp on [he keeps a small flashlight, head-lamp by the bed at all times]. As the light beamed down on my hands Hiccup seemed to disappear. I thought he had burrowed deeper into the sheets so I was ruffling the covers trying desperately to find him when my husband asked me in a very bewildered voice, “What are you doing?”

Slightly exasperated I replied, “What do you mean what am I doing? I’m trying to find Hiccup.”

“Hiccup isn’t in here. He’s in his cage,” Gene said.

“No he’s not, he’s right here. I just had him in my hands,” I explained starting to get confused and still talking to my husband at the foot of the bed. “You were the one that let him loose. Help me find him.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve been here asleep the whole time, I haven’t been playing with Hiccup.”

At this point I may have been struggling to wake up fully, because it slowly dawned on me that Gene was in fact beside me in bed, and that I was playing with an imaginary Hiccup, and sitting up in bed conversing with…no one. “If you’ve been asleep the whole time, then who was I talking to?” I asked.
“ That was your son, he got up to go to the bathroom,” my husband explained. “I just saw the bathroom light turn on.”

“It was not our son. He’s not been out of his bed.”  How I knew this fact so adamantly I cannot explain. After all I'd just been playing with an imaginary critter. But somehow I felt absolutely sure that our son was tucked up in his bed fast asleep.

My husband didn’t agree. “I’m pretty sure it was your son. I saw a dark figure at the foot of the bed when I woke up, and saw him turn around and head down the hall to the bathroom.”

We discussed this possibility a little further, until my husband finally got out of bed and went to my son’s room. Our son was predictably in his bed sound asleep, and no one was in the bathroom. Gene did note that the light was still on in the bathroom.   Not an alarmist, he came back to bed wryly pointing out, “I think you brought something home from your walk-through.” With that said, he turned over and went back to sleep.  Gene is not easily rattled, as you can see.

It was hot in the room, however, and I realized that I was too warm to sleep comfortably without opening a window.  In order to open the window, I needed to get up and turn my back to the bed and doorway. There are two reasons I didn't want to do this. The first I just mentioned; the idea of turning my back to whatever might be in the house was unnerving. The second was because we have a large four-poster bed that stands about 2 feet off the ground. It’s easily high enough for an adult to crawl under. Eventually I realized that I was being paranoid, and opened the window.

The cool air helped, and I fell back asleep. But this time I had a distinct dream that the blanket I was sleeping under was slowly being pulled off me by a force from underneath my bed. I jerked awake. I’m now realized, quite vividly, that whatever was playing with me was reading my thoughts. Somehow, I’d conveyed my worries about what could be under the bed, and it had used that information, just as it had fabricated the incident with the imaginary sugar glider.

I managed to go to back to sleep again.  Once again, I had a very vivid dream that felt like it was being manipulated from outside myself. This time I got the cliché’ haunting experience, the feeling of being held down in bed. I know it to be a dream and I also recognize my own sleep paralysis as something separate from the sensation. Groggily I finally woke up enough and told the entity verbally to, “Get off, get off me.” I was no longer panicked so much as exasperated at that point.  I was annoyed because I had started to understand that something was toying with me, perhaps trying to scare me, but that the creature was a bit of a buffoon.

That was the third time I’d been awoken that night by crazily vivid dreams. I was annoyed, worried and wide awake. As I was  lying in bed I heard the creaky step outside in the hall squeak as if someone was on the step. Then I heard another small noise I couldn't identify. I nudged my husband awake again, and asked him if he had his handgun with him [lest we had a human invader]. He assured me he did.  This was the final experience I had that evening. Each successive incident seemed like it was losing energy.

We did ask my son in the morning if he had heard or seen anything, or been out of bed that night. He said no to all three. He did remind me of the time he himself had a dream that Hiccup was loose on his bed. His calls had awoken me and I had gone into his room and woke him up. He, like I, had been adamant that Hiccup was loose.  I had forgotten that incident.

*** End of Account ***


Being a paranormal investigator, I find this story extraordinary on so many levels.  And I can say that I can pick it apart now, only because of the amount of time that has gone by, without any further re-occurences. It’s much easier to be critical when you’re not actually emotionally involved.  But let me start with the easier answers.

The third occurrence, when I felt like an entity was holding me down on my chest and arms is probably the most easily answered. Indeed, I answered it at the time I wrote it, chalking it down to sleep paralysis.  Sleep paralysis is something that occurs naturally in mammals. It’s a type of protective tendency that sets in when an organism is in its deepest sleep, causing a temporary paralysis of the limbs.  In this way if I dream I’m fleeing from an assailant, I don’t actually start flailing in bed. In the same vein if my poodle, Uther, is dreaming that he is chasing a squirrel he doesn’t actually take off running and throw himself inadvertently off the balcony.  Its nature’s way of keeping our bodies safe when we’re in our deepest, most vulnerable stages of sleep.

Sleep paralysis (SP) is a physiological response, quite natural. Coupled with this I apparently had the “Old Hag” syndrome experience – old hag meaning a witch. The Old Hag was known for visiting victims at night and sitting on their chest.  What actually happens is that because my chest and arms were paralyzed it felt as if something was holding me down. Because I was only partially awake, my body was still not responding, instead feeling like it was under spectral attack.  SP is a fairly common phenomenon. I might also have experienced a hypnogogic or hypnopompic hallucination which are also common with SP.  Such acute episodes can be caused by stress, fear, being overtired.  They also occur more regularly if someone is sleeping on their back or on their stomach.

The second dream as well is easily dismissed as a nightmare. I was already emotionally distressed, and probably had a bad dream because of it.  I didn’t for instance actually see the sheets being pulled down.

That leaves the first incident.  Obviously, the night left me bewildered and I sought the advice of two experts I knew in the field.  Greg Pocha, Director of Parapsychology, Afterlife and Paranormal Studies for the Eidolon Project Canada (eidolonproject.org) theorized that I had experienced a somewhat rare sleep anomaly called a False Awakening (FA).  An FA is the polar opposite of an SP in that the person is not paralyzed but moving about freely, acting out their dream.  They feel like they’re awake, but they’re sound asleep.  In my FA I was sitting up in bed, conversing with my husband and chasing an imaginary critter.   I didn’t actually wake up until my husband turned on his headlamp and started asking me questions.

Pocha speculated that I had a Type 2 FA which is accompanied by sensations of confusion, tension, stress, apprehension, feelings of foreboding, feelings of heightened expectancy and feelings of ominous oppression.  Apparently Type 2 FA’s can also produce hallucinations, such as seeing people that are not there; husbands standing at the foot of the bed, for example, or imaginary sugar
gliders running around on the covers.  FA’s are more common in lucid dreamers as are SP’s.  Until that night I’d never experienced either an SP or an FA.

Pocha pointed out that I likely have a telepathic connection with my son, which he speculated was common among mothers and their children.  Note that my son had had a similar dream about his sugar glider getting out.  This is one of his first pets, and required specialized care.  Hence, especially when the animal was new to the house, my son would often suffer bouts of anxiety. I’ve always considered myself about as sensitive as a rock, so this suggestion surprised me.   And then he spent a night away at a friend’s house.  He left me to take care of his pet, which I did. However, I awoke in the middle of the night in a panic over whether I had fed Hiccup his nightly apple slice.  I was so concerned that I went down stairs and got him another, just in case. Hiccup ate well that night.  When my son came home the next day I asked him how his night away had been.  He said it had been fine, except in the middle of the night he had awoke in a panic, thinking he’d forgotten to get Hiccup his apple. Had his panic over his pet radiated to me?

Pocha’s answer seemed to tie up the experiences I had in a nice, neat scientific bundle.  I might have been subconsciously anxious about the upcoming investigation and that anxiety created not one, not two, but three lucid dreams resulting in an SP and an FA experience – all in one wild ride of a night.  I didn’t know I was feeling terribly worried about the investigation, but that’s why we call it subconscious or below consciousness.

For skeptics this appears explanation enough, except for two minor details…. First my husband saw a similar dark figure at the foot of the bed, which in a stretch we might say was a shared telepathic hallucination.  Second, the dark figure we saw at the foot of the bed turned around, walked out of the room, down the hall and tripped the motion sensor night light in the bathroom.  Pocha’s response, “I will have to agree with your husband’s first, and most logical conclusion, that it was indeed your son that was seen at the foot of the bed. Why? It must be fairly obvious that you were suffering from episodes of sleepwalking. Thanks to chromosome 20 (the exact gene is still unknown) there is a genetic link passed down, so the likelihood of your son suffering the same noctambulistic fate is better than average.  I can safely surmise that the chances are excellent that your son was indeed sleepwalking, being silhouetted from the light of the motion detector that he had just set off. In your words the figure turned around and headed back down the hall. Apparitions tend to take the easy route and just fade out. As well you state that you were struggling to wake up, apparently your husband was in the same state, as apparently you woke him up. This gave plenty of time for a sleepwalking boy to return to his bed and be asleep - because he was never awake.”

This is not to say that Pocha dismissed the idea that a spirit could follow someone home. In fact he vehemently warned me to take some precautions against such a fate.  He just felt it unlikely that on an initial walk-through I would have caught the attention of something that would be so interested in me as to follow me home.  I wasn’t doing anything provocative enough to garner attention. Incidentally, I also asked another acquaintance who had studied parapsychology about this particular incident.  His explanation was more to the point. Heck, he could have tweeted it to me. “Yup,” he said, “it sounds like something followed you home. “

Post Script

Before this incident neither my husband or I had ever witnessed our son sleep walking. However, sometime after the incident my husband decided to check on our son late one night and found him  standing behind the door of his room, fully asleep.