Settle a bet...

I had a reader ask if they could show me a picture to "settle a bet".  I said I would try and if it would be OK I could pass it on to someone who could.

It was almost too easy. It wasn't paranormal. It was a blob with a reddish edge, in other words , a finger. The reader won the bet.

When you have lived in a house full of strange sights and noises since you were nine, and have been swimming in the paranormal all your life, you learn what things look like that seem paranormal. They are fingers, camera straps,dust, water, moisture, spider webs, cob webs, bugs, flash reflections, and about a hundred other things. After 40 plus years of this stuff, plus a huge dose of "intuition", I can smell a finger, camera strap and bug a mile away......

When taking pictures or listening to EVPs, make sure your environment is "clean". Mark any interference. Outside photos are hard to put controls around, so take several and check as you go along to help narrow things down. Watch for what people call orbs, they are mostly dust and water vapor of some sort. Remember orbs have their own light (take the picture without a flash camera), they will glow with their own light. Real orbs are very rare indeed. Real orbs usually move VERY quickly, and have a "tail" like a comet. They glow and flash on IR video cameras.

Camera straps and spider webs create great eerie pictures, and fool many people. So do fingers.

Don't try to take a mist or black shadow, and make it a "person", don't clean up EVPs in any way. Don't mess with evidence. When you , or anyone else can look at ,or listen to the evidence and clearly,  and quickly see or hear it in the same way, then you usually have something.

Experienced investigators know to hold their breath when taking a picture in a cold environment, otherwise they get a mist. They do it without thinking, it becomes automatic. They know to watch for things that reflect light and heat. They make sure they know where IR lights are, and how often the automatic ice maker makes a noise. They check doors to see if "latched" doors push open. They don't put anything out there that doesn't pass the smell test.

Enthusiasm is the investigator's worst enemy. There are investigators out there who have a ton of "non-evidence" in their files. Don't be one of them! Buy the best you can, and know your equipment. It doesn't have to be the best, we all aren't Bill Gates, but buy the best you can, and know its' positives and negatives. Know how to work with YOUR tools. Also make sure you know your settings on cameras, voice recorders, etc. Know how to use probe thermometers, and that way you will always get quality. You also won't be stumbling in the dark trying to figure it out while you miss great evidence.

Always use the right tool, which means no twist flashlights for spirit communication. Use voice recorder, a ghost box, a Mel-meter, but not a flashlight. Orbs are the flimsiest piece of evidence there is, so toss them out and look for hard evidence, this is because they usually aren't orbs. Make sure you mark all evidence, and keep track of who is where.

Keep Grant Wilson's saying in mind, "When in doubt, toss it out". You may toss a piece of evidence, but when you get that holy grail of a full body apparition, people will believe you , as they know you are a quality investigator. Keep them in a "maybe" file, after all someday we may learn something that can authenticate or disprove that particular piece of evidence.

There is so much real evidence out there, that there is no need to share class B or below EVPS, or pictures that are questionable.

Oh...and keep fingers away from the lens.




Happy hunting!!




Peshaui Wequashimese





(C)2013 Dr. R M Wolf, may not be used, copied or reproduced without prior written permission.