Mistaken Evidence

This article is from Midwest Preternatural Research

Orb photos

Orbs are believed by some to be spirit energy. Personally they don't impress us.

"Dust orbs"

It is important to keep your camera lens clean. A dirty lens can make it look like there are orbs everywhere. Don't take pictures while walking down a dirt road or while moving about in a dusty room, because you will be kicking dust up into the air. Remember that just because you didn't see any dust in the pictures you took right before and right after you got an orb pic does not mean there was no dust. The dust was there, it was just out of frame.

Precipitation

Don't take pictures in any kind of precipitation. Even when it has just stopped raining, there's still moisture in the air and the water droplets can look like orbs. This is a picture of snow.

Some other things that are commonly mistaken as orbs are glares, lens flares, and light refractions.

Mist photos

If you're taking a picture and it's cold out, hold your breath so it doesn't show up in the photo. Also, don't smoke or light candles when taking pictures. Moving rapidly from a cold to warm temperature may cause condensation on the camera's external and internal surfaces, which can look like a mist. The photo below is of breath in front of a camera on a cold night.

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Camera straps, body parts in view

Be mindful of your camera strap, finger, hair, or anything else getting in front of the picture. These can look like anomalies when illuminated by the camera flash. Here are some examples of what a finger can look like.

This is a camera strap...

And hair...

Camera problems

You should read through your camera's manual so you know when you're doing something wrong, and you can become familiar with all the different kinds of camera defects.

Long exposure time

If someone walks quickly by the camera with no flash and a longer exposure time, the result will be a semi-transparent image that looks like a ghost. If they're wearing black, they will look like a shadow person.

They can appear to be missing an arm or a leg, because they're moving so fast.

Also if your camera is set to a longer exposure time and you move your hand, it can create blurs and streaks. If an insect flies past, it will look like a "rod". Rods are not paranormal.

Audio

In theory, Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVPs) are ghost voices caught on tape. You don't hear anything when you're recording, but then when you play back your recording you do. While there are some audio clips we haven't been able to explain, we believe that real EVPs are not as common as many paranormal groups believe, and about 80% of the EVPs posted on the internet are explainable. When we record for EVPs we always have two voice recorders running at the same time so we can cross reference, and we have a video camera recording us with everybody sitting so they're in frame and facing the camera. We begin every investigation by allowing a half an hour of controlled silence so that we can document the regular sounds the building makes, then when we're ready to start recording we sit together and have everyone identify themselves into the recorder. If anyone makes a sound or hears something that could later be mistaken as an EVP, we say "that was a stomach" or "that was me shifting" into the recorder.

Some EVP could just be bleeds from CB radios, wishful hearing, or noises made by living people or the environment. If you're using a cassette recorder without an external microphone, you will record the sounds the gears make inside your recorder. Also, never rerecord over a used tape as voices can bleed through.