Sunday, November 23, 2008

The Curious Case of a Michigan Haunting...

I was recently referred by a friend to a woman living in rural Michigan with strange tales about her haunted home. For the past two years, she and her daughter have experienced countess unexplainable phenomena in the 130-year-old house. While she has been too terrified to attempt any audio recordings, she has taken hundreds of photographs hoping to gather some evidence to support her claims.

As is often the case, many of the images relayed to me by the owner are too difficult to judge as "paranormal" in nature. She does not use a flash, afraid that it could adversely effect any ghostly phenomena, therefore many of the images are darkened beyond recognition. Yet one stands out above the rest. After her dog began reacting to some unseen presence, she snapped a photograph in her living room in the direction of her dog's agitation.

What appeared on the left side of the image was the figure you see here* to the left of the text. No one else was in the home at the time. It might appear menacing to some, though I feel it could easily be a teenage boy dressed in Goth clothing.

As I help her find a local investigation team to explore her case, I can't help but wonder about the effects of camera flash in investigation techniques. Perhaps she's on to something. Would the same results have occurred with a flash? Everyone has their own unique methods of capturing evidence. It might be something interesting to try in the future... even though I loathe the digital camera and its use in investigations.

So, just what else have we been missing while blinding each other with brilliant halogen flashes? Instead of highlighting dust "orbs" and mosquito "faeries", could we be missing the good stuff?

*The image was brightened for this post for clarification.

4 comments:

Buck said...

Honestly, Ken, I don't think we're missing anything. We shoot with IR still as well as video and see no discernable difference in what we catch.

Most of the "I don't shoot with a flash crowd" convince themselves that they don't do it because of the reasons stated by this lady, in reality if you're a believer then it's easier to "find" stuff in blurry photos with long exposures and lots of shadows.

I'd suggest they switch to IR or Full Spectrum which aren't much more expensive anymore than a really good regular digital.

Photos in low light with long exposures, I discount out of hand because of the probability it's natural and simply photographic error.

That said... the photo you have is quite interesting. I clearly saw the figure so it's probably actually there... now whether it's a spirit is an entirely different matter.

I don't know if SWGR goes over to MI, but they're a very impressive group of folks out of WI.

Jeanne said...

That is one spooky photo, Ken
Gotta show it to my hubby

Liam said...

This may be why more and more paranormal groups are going to infrared, or "no light" cameras.

Perhaps flash does drive away the dark spirits?

Ben Vee said...

Who ever the person is they looked troubled, perhaps he or she is looking for something (see the frustration). If this is in fact authentic I'd much appreciate a follow up to this story if you can.