Recently, I was shooting photos of Michael and trying desperately to get some candid shots for his iLike page. What turned up was an interesting photo.
Below you will find the photo along with another taken just seconds later. What is going on in this photo? Can you explain it? Give it a shot in the comments.
EXIF DATA: Exif IFD0
* Camera Make = Canon * Camera Model = Canon PowerShot A590 IS * Last Modified Date/Time = 2009:03:03 18:46:00
Exif Sub IFD
* Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/60 second = 0.01667 second * Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 40/10 = F4 * ISO Speed Ratings = 250 * Original Date/Time = 2009:03:03 18:46:00 * Shutter Speed Value (APEX) = 189/32 Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/59.97 second * Aperture Value (APEX) = 128/32 Aperture = F4 * Flash = Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode * Focal Length = 12700/1000 mm = 12.7 mm * Image Width = 2448 pixels * Image Height = 3264 pixels
Exif IFD0
* Camera Make = Canon * Camera Model = Canon PowerShot A590 IS * Last Modified Date/Time = 2009:03:03 18:46:12
Exif Sub IFD
* Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/60 second = 0.01667 second * Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 40/10 = F4 * ISO Speed Ratings = 200 * Original Date/Time = 2009:03:03 18:46:12 * Shutter Speed Value (APEX) = 189/32 Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/59.97 second * Aperture Value (APEX) = 128/32 Aperture = F4 * Flash = Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode * Focal Length = 12700/1000 mm = 12.7 mm * Image Width = 2448 pixels * Image Height = 3264 pixels
So, what's going on here? Look closely at the picture with the mist and notice the area just above Michael's shoulder. What is that?
Image via WikipediaSorry to be so remiss in posting here. Lately, life has intruded on my paranormal hobbies. The major time crunch has been the fact that I have finally sat down to begin working on a murder mystery novel about a pair of paranormal investigators who get involved in the cover up of a murder while investigating an abandoned house that is supposedly haunted.
So, my apologies and to let all my friends and readers know that I haven't abandoned you, I present this week's installment of the Ghostly Roundup.
The Roundup starts in 3, 2, 1....
GHI is Hot!
Ghost Hunters International outperformed the 8pm series premiere of the horror-themed reality series 13 - Fear is Real on The CW by +12% in Adults 18-49, +36% in Adults 25-54 and +12% in total viewers.
A spin-off of SCI FI's popular Ghost Hunters series, Ghost Hunters International features a squad of real-life "ghost-busters" - ordinary people who investigate and attempt to debunk claims of otherworldly activity. The team travels to different European cities each week in pursuit of the truth behind bizarre supernatural claims. Its success so far has cemented Ghost Hunters' place as the #1 paranormal franchise in cable! Joining regular cast members Robb Demarest and Barry Fitzgerald this winter are Ghost Hunters investigators Dustin Pari and Joe Chin as well as new team members Brandy Green and Angela Alderman.
Do you care? Nope. Neither did I. The only reason I mention it is because my dear friend and colleague, Paul Bradford, had one of his gadgets featured on the show recently. Paul's IR/UV strobe made it's national TV debut. You can see the clip here:
Why Did the Ghost Cross the Road?
The numerous ghoulish encounters with a mysterious 'white lady' has prompted many to believe they had met a supernatural being.
For bemused locals, the only question on their minds, was: 'Who You Gonna Call?'
Well, Ghostbusters, of course.
Over the past six weeks there have been dozens of sightings of the apparition near the ruins of a remote farmhouse in near Coalisland in Co Tyrone.
Ghoulish encounters: Cars have been queuing at a road near Coalisland in Co Tyrone after dozens of sightings of a mysterious 'white lady' near the ruins of a remote farmhouse (file picture)
Convinced that the sightings are true - rather than the result of one too many pints of Guinness - convoys of ghost hunters have flocked to the dip in the road where she was seen.
Up to 60 cars have been spotted parked on the side of the road at midnight, causing traffic jams in the usually desolate area.
Villagers who have spotted the ghost say it looks like an old woman with a sad expression.
However, none have so far been able to describe the features of her face in any detail.
The spot where the ghost was spotted could perhaps best be described as a 'ghost's paradise'.
The damp crumbling walls on the ruined house where the ghost was spotted still bear the scorch marks from a fire.
Broken doors now creak in the wind and tree branches scratch against the collapsed roof. The birds in the trees are strangely silent.
Ryan Bell, the son of the local landlord Raymond, claims he has seen the ghost more than 20 times.
'I was freaked out the first time I saw her, but now I'm getting used to it,' he said. 'It looks like an old small woman with a shining white cape.
'When you drive by the run-down house, the figure emerges from the trees and crosses the road in front of you before coming to a halt in the same place each time.
'It's definitely a creepy experience. You can only see the profile of her face but she appears sad.'
Paranormal experts are now heading to the area with thermal imaging cameras and high frequency voice recorders in the hope of verifying the sightings.
Warren Coates, of the Northern Ireland Paranormal Research Association, said he was aware of previous paranormal activity in the area.
'It related to a phantom female hitchhiker, who caused a stir five years ago,' he said. 'Drivers would see her on the side of the road with her thumb out. When they pulled up to offer her a lift, she would vanish.
'Sometimes she would walk across the road in front of cars. But when drivers swerved to avoid her, she disappeared. These sightings were about a mile away from the latest sightings.'
Mr Coates, who set up his paranormal organisation in 1991, believes the ghost might be a woman who has died in a car crash in the area. (Source)
Yes, jump to the conclusion that it isn't a hoax, isn't just mass hysteria or the Irish version of Zombie Road. Let's go right for it's a ghost and not only a ghost but let's give her some back story before any research is even begun. God preserve us from the pop ghost investigator.
Police Brutality
Since the inception of reality based TV in the U.S., new trends inexplicably emerge each season in attempts to corner the market in this ever-evolving format. The trend in the 2008/09 season undoubtedly is ghost chasing.
Already successful with Paranormal State, a show involving Penn State students solving ghost mysteries, A&E is latching on further to the popular afterlife story line with its latest greenlit series, Paranormal Cops.
Seeking to one-up its successful Ghost Hunters rival on Sci-Fi, Cops will add a new layer to the popular reality genre with a group of real-life police officers in Chicago as the subjects. According to TV Guide, the program will follow the group as they lead normal police lives by day and moonlight as ghost chasers at night.
Robert Sharenow, the senior VP in nonfiction and alternative programming at A&E equivocates the show as, “the perfect marriage of A&E’s successful crime and justice genre with our blossoming paranormal programming that documents real-life accounts of bona fide paranormal investigators.” (source)
Oh yes, A&E has decided to launch yet another version of Ghost Hunters but instead of plumbers they're going for cops. Am I the only one who has become completely fatigued by the amateur reality star ghost hunter thing?
No word on whether the Paranormal Cops for Chi town will be beating those recalcitrant ghosts into submission with billy clubs or whether the Tazer will take the place of the EMF meter. Ow, it really hurts when my eyes roll into the back of my head.
Personally, I've been present when many patients have died. After all, I worked trauma so it comes with the territory. Besides, if the Victorian idea that ghosts are created in moments of death involving panic or fear then I should have been constantly running into ghosts. Unfortunately, never once did anything unusual happen.
The closest I came was my own uncle passing away who held a long and lucid conversation with my dead father just an hour or so before he passed away. He also sat and stroked his dog that had died while he was in the hospital. Strange, yes and certainly the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
Maybe we can get some feedback from Dethmama who deals with death as part of her job as a hospice nurse.
Image via WikipediaSince President Bush refused to allow the Obama's use of a government house before the inauguration so Malia and Sasha could start school on time, the family has opted to stay temporarily in the Hays-Adams Hotel near the White House.
Perhaps the new First Family will be rubbing shoulders with a spirit since the hotel is supposedly haunted by Marian "Clover" Adams who committed suicide on the site in December 1885 after one of her frequent bouts of depression.
Marian Adams was married to presidential descendant, political journalist and Harvard professor Henry Adams. A prominent member of the Washington elite, she was known as a clever and outspoken woman who had a keen interest in amateur photography.
Henry and Marian Adams spent the winters in their Washington, D.C. Lafayette Square mansion, which was located on the site of the Hay-Adams Hotel. Summers were enjoyed on the Massachusetts North Shore near Boston.
Tales of the ghost of Marian Adams say that she visits the Hay-Adams Hotel, usually in early December around the time of the anniversary of her death. Staff housekeepers have reported someone unseen calling their names and the sensation of invisible arms around them. Locked doors fling themselves open and the scent of Mimosa mysteriously fills the air on certain floors at night. On repeated occasions, a tearful woman has been heard asking, "What do you want?"
Looks like the Obama family may have missed the peak paranormal time by a few weeks, but who knows, maybe Clover will pay the new President a visit with her compliments.
Recently one of my colleagues inquired about my not being very active with SPI. The short answer is that I've been busy lately with other side projects so haven't had a lot of time.
The more complicated answer is that I'm burning out on the paranormal "community" as a whole. That's not to say I've lost interest, what I mean is that the overall level of basic common sense seems, every day, to be trumped by "experts" who fake evidence, by money grubbing "inventors" of gadgets that perpetuate fakery and their cohorts with "conferences" that are nothing more than large scale amateur ghost hunts for a price.
Case in point this video, collected by a group during one of these so-called "conferences" on the Queen Mary. Supposedly it shows the spirits of two children "playing tag". Of great interest are those present who put forth this treasure, as listed on the video itself, including the creator of the "Ovilus" device so heavily criticized and so heavily defended by its proponents.
Take a look... is this a "ghost playing tag" or is it what every responsible investigator in the field would call it... a bug and IR light. You know my opinion, since I've seen identical stuff a hundred times on our own footage even watching once as a large moth that I thought was a pebble levitated and then streaked off by the lens. Then we move on to dust that they term an "anomaly". The only part of the whole thing that is mildly interesting is what appears to be a trigger object moving. Of course, the camera is not stationary and the object moves in the direction covered by someone standing nearby. The "ghost" in one section is an investigator walking by a window. Oh well, if you're easily impressed prepare to be astounded:
I'm going to take a page from my old Political Blogger days and institute a new feature: The Ghostly Roundup where we'll hit the highlights of interesting stories in the Paranormal World.
So, without further delay the Roundup starts in 3, 2, 1....
Did She See the Crash?
Channeling spirits of the dead or looking into the future generally isn't considered mainstream, but Ann Arbor psychic reader Joan St. John is doing her part to change that.
St. John, who does business under a professional alias, has been offering practical services like psychic home inspections, crime and paranormal investigations and has even helped choose jurors as part of her business Joan St. John LLC for the past 20 years.
Since then, St. John said, she has regularly helped people from all walks of life evaluate their finances and career decisions, as well as their relationships with others, in a discreet Ann Arbor office, over the phone or by e-mail. (story)
No word on if her clients managed to avoid the crash in September. Why am I reminded of that old MadTV skit with Mrs. Leona Campbell (Stephanie Weir) where she calls up Miss Cleo and asks if she was working on September 10, 2001.
Ghost Hunting Goes to Pot
Three teens in Genesee County apparently wanted a good scare.
The 19, 17 and 16-year-olds allegedly broke into the Rolling Hills Paranormal Research Center in Bethany on Saturday night. It is said ghosts roam the hallways of the facility, which at one time was a poorhouse, an orphanage and an asylum.
Police said the three broke a few windows to gain entry and fled when an alarm sounded. They face trespassing and mischief charges.
19-year-old Robert Ferguson of Oakfield also faces a marijuana charge.
Alarms are scary when you're holding, I guess. Oh well, no ghosts but at least some burly cops appeared to them.
But Is the Surge Working?
SURGE Paranormal Group SEARCHING the UNKNOWN RESEARCHING for GHOST and EXTRATERRESTRIALS
SURGE Paranormal Group was founded in San Gabriel Valley, California, in 2007 to collect evidence of paranormal activity. This group is made up of seven trained members in the paranormal field. We are a serious researcher group that follow a number of scientific protocols and share documentation of our research with other groups in an effort to discover proof that ghosts exist.
SURGE PG often goes about a pursuit in a prescribed manner in order to gather evidence of paranormal activity at a given location, or debunk "false positive" reports of haunting. The members have training on EMF Meters, digital thermometers, infrared, thermo graphic, and night vision cameras, handheld video cameras, digital audio recorders, and computers. The equipment is well maintain and used on all paranormal investigations. We do not charge for our service. (full listing)
They sound like nice folks but I loved the acronym. As you know the whole acronym thing is terribly cutesy and funny in my opinion. I've actually had people tell me they'd given up starting a group because they couldn't come up with "good initials". Anyway, SURGE, huh? Wonder what General Petraeus might have to say about them?
Pull the Other One
Grant Wilson has been embattled since the live Halloween show on Ghost Hunters with speculation running wild that most of what happened was outright fakery. I have had my suspicions as well and this video nicely dissects the "jacket tug" and points out the possibility that this was a blatant fraud. It's compelling stuff and in line with my initial thoughts on watching the show.
Want Fries with that?
Ghosthunters stake out The Depot Restaurant, and may have found proof the place is haunted. Today the owner got to see and hear evidence from a paranormal investigation done by a group called P.A.S.T. is Present.
"My first reaction was a little bit of shock," says owner Karl Pasten.
He listened to a recording of two team members chatting over walkie-talkie. In a pause between the two men talking, a third voice whispers, "don't hurt me."
Minutes after that was recorded, a photo was taken with a flash of white that looks like a fog or mist near the carpet. Investigators say they spent two hours trying to explain what it was.
In all investigators got 80 audio clips with voices or sounds. They still haven't debriefed Pasten on everything they found. He'll get a full presentation of the evidence next week. (story)
8o EVP's, huh? I've been doing investigation for quite awhile and we've gotten a handful of legitimate EVP's at some of the most "haunted" locations in the Southwest. So, 80 at a clip? 80... somehow that number just seems... well... 80?
He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!
Image by jessebucksc via FlickrWishing you a wonderful and Merry Christmas! Thanks for visiting Buck's Ghosts and Hauntings and for all the wonderful support over the past year. Stick with us in 2009 for more great articles and commentary on the paranormal and those who study it!
Special Holiday Greetings to Cullan, Ken, Dethmama, Insurance Guru, and my friends from Sonoran Paranormal Investigations!
"When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom. Let it be."
-- The Beatles
In the hills near Sierra Vista, just south of Tucson some believe miracles are happening. A woman, Pat Chouinard claims to be speaking to the Virgin Mary and allowing Mother Mary to speak through her.
Pilgrims flock to the chapel she and her husband build near Hereford to receive messages and healing. Her husband, Jerry has explained that many of the pilgrims are from neighboring Sonora Mexico.
In 1997 Pat was suffering from a high fever associated with a kidney infection when she mysteriously began singing songs in Spanish. Later she would go on to speak in a strange language. Coming from a Pentacostal background originally "speaking in tongues" is very common and a sign that the "Holy Spirit" is present. However, they developed into messages from Mother Mary.
From 1997 to 2004 the messages or "locutions" were private in nature and they were collected into a book by the Chouinards. Most of the messages predict imminent apocalypse and urge repentance and a return to the church. Indeed, for many who visit the shrine who are not practicing Roman Catholics this appears to be Mother Mary's main concern - returning to confession and the mass.
Today, there are scores of stories of healings that have taken place at the shrine at Mary's Knoll with Pat laying on hands in what seems to be a combination of Pentacostal healing ministry and Roman Catholic rite. The couple are advised by one of the priests from St. David as well as their parish priest although the church plans no intensive investigation into the claims.
Soria Salazar says Pat did collapse on the night his prostate cancer was cured.
"I was scared. I said please call 911, something is wrong." He and his wife watched as members of the prayer team surrounded her.
"This lady suddenly talks to us. 'Is there anybody here whose name is Horacio?'
"'Please come here close to Pat,' " she said and then she said the Virgin said you must not worry. Everything is going to be OK, again. The Virgin said those bochornos (hot flashes) you are suffering right now is because the Holy Spirit is going inside of you. In this moment, you are beginning to get well."
Soria Salazar has not stopped his medical treatments nor has his grandson. He does not know the doctors' opinions of what he regards as miracles. "I haven't told them," he said.
Of course, to those of us who think of these things rationally we can't help but wonder since Soria Salazar continued his treatments whether his healing is due to Pat and Mother Mary or medical science.
Mary has said that she will have a very important message for everyone on the night of December 19th. I checked the papers for a follow-up on this important message, but there has been nothing reported so I don't know if that means Mary didn't keep the appointment or whether the revelation turned out to be a dud.
As a Paranormal Investigator I have the opportunity to visit many wonderful sites of supposed haunting phenomena. I am a member of Sonoran Paranormal Investigations in Arizona and websmaster for the group.
My interests have shifted over time from strictly being interested in haunting phenomena to now studying the perception of phenomena and attitudes about ghosts and ghost hunting. These are my personal areas of research and study. I am currently in the process of developing an introductory book for those interested in entering the field of paranormal investigation.
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As a Paranormal Investigator I have the opportunity to visit many wonderful sites of supposed haunting phenomena. I am a member of Sonoran Paranormal Investigations in Arizona and websmaster for the group.
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