be skeptical of believers
Paranormal Investigators Videotape Apparent Ghost In Graveyard
I'm always a bit excited when I read headlines like that, wondering if this is it -- this is the one that will be proof-beyond-doubt. Sadly, that's never the case. The more "real" they look, the more I tend to think someone is a good video editor. On the other hand, like this one, the more "odd" they look, the more I tend to think it could have been explained some other way. I guess there's just no pleasing some folks.
In this case -- where Louisville-based AfterDark Paranormal Investigations claims to have videotaped a ghost in a Bardstown cemetery on May 20th, 2006 -- I would have figured out where the setting sun was to get its light angles, then searched for something hanging in one of the trees that could have been reflecting light onto the lens of the camera. I do a lot of video taping of my family, and I am constantly amazed by the amount of "light abberations" that get captured. The reason I, personally, believe this particular video to be one such aberration is because it moves too consistently -- every time the blob moves, it moves in the same way for about the same length of time. This, to me, could speak to something reflective dangling somewhere, twisting in a light breeze and creating the same circular, repeating pattern of refracted light on the lens.
And seeing as that explanation is just as likely (or unlikely) as a ghost, you do have to default to the (currently) most likely cause. However, that doesn't mean we have to go the whole skeptics' nine yards and then extrapolate that this is proof that all such "evidence" of ghosts is bogus. All we have done here is surmise that this evidence is most likely bogus -- even while allowing that, at some future date, it may well prove to be otherwise. Unfortunately, the source of this anomaly was not very well investigated, setting up for failure the assumption of "ghost."
source:
I'm always a bit excited when I read headlines like that, wondering if this is it -- this is the one that will be proof-beyond-doubt. Sadly, that's never the case. The more "real" they look, the more I tend to think someone is a good video editor. On the other hand, like this one, the more "odd" they look, the more I tend to think it could have been explained some other way. I guess there's just no pleasing some folks.
In this case -- where Louisville-based AfterDark Paranormal Investigations claims to have videotaped a ghost in a Bardstown cemetery on May 20th, 2006 -- I would have figured out where the setting sun was to get its light angles, then searched for something hanging in one of the trees that could have been reflecting light onto the lens of the camera. I do a lot of video taping of my family, and I am constantly amazed by the amount of "light abberations" that get captured. The reason I, personally, believe this particular video to be one such aberration is because it moves too consistently -- every time the blob moves, it moves in the same way for about the same length of time. This, to me, could speak to something reflective dangling somewhere, twisting in a light breeze and creating the same circular, repeating pattern of refracted light on the lens.
And seeing as that explanation is just as likely (or unlikely) as a ghost, you do have to default to the (currently) most likely cause. However, that doesn't mean we have to go the whole skeptics' nine yards and then extrapolate that this is proof that all such "evidence" of ghosts is bogus. All we have done here is surmise that this evidence is most likely bogus -- even while allowing that, at some future date, it may well prove to be otherwise. Unfortunately, the source of this anomaly was not very well investigated, setting up for failure the assumption of "ghost."
source:
- Paranormal Investigators Videotape Apparent Ghost In Graveyard; WAVE 3 news (wave3.com); Oct 31, 2006
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