Thursday, November 26, 2009

Ghost Game

Well, this is a Ghost Game made in flash that I found out that people were playing it, so I decided to put it here also for those who like this type of games. Have fun!


Thursday, November 19, 2009

Ghost Hunting Tools - Part III

In the previous parts, we talked about random number generators, energetic sensors, and EVPs, so I guess it is time to talk about Thermal Cameras.

In ghost hauntings, there are several cases that people describe irregular temperature variations, like feeling very cold to the point of being able to see they're own breath, so it is not the fear reaction, but the temperature going really down.



Since lighter variations are most common than more extreme variations, and lighter variations being more harder to 'feel', and since 'feeling' is not a good idea since it can be only the body's response to fear, a thermal camera is a very good tool!

Thermal cameras are able to make a image where certain color corresponds to certain temperature (in a color fade) so we can literally see the temperature distribution of anything at all, and since every 'body' emits temperature, there is the possibility of capturing a ghost on the thermal camera, or simply finding weird temperature variations of some parts of a room per example, and if there is not a logical explanation for it (water pipes passing nearby or something) it may represent a paranormal manifestation on that spot.



I've hear people that use digital cameras and say that they have a 'special software' that 'converts' the image into a thermal image, well... this is TOTALLY fake, the sensors that create the image are totally different! Probably what they do is exchange the color scheme to the same color scheme of the thermal cameras, but that gives a totally different 'reading'.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Ghost Hunting Tools - Part II

Ok, part II... EVPs

There is a lot to say about EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena), basically it consists on recording audio on some place that may have manifested paranormal activity, but isolating the ambient sounds as much as possible (people, cars, etc), then, stop and playing again what was recorded but with the volume way higher, so even the most lowest sound could be heard, and sometimes there seems to be messages of some people already dead.

In the old times, old magnetic tape recorders where used, it was recommended to use a virgin tape, so there would be better sound quality and lower interferences from something previously recorded. Later, when digital recorders started to appear, they also were used to record EVPs, and there began to appear even 'better' techniques to record EVPs with Digital Equipment.



One of the new methods to record EVPs with Digital Equipment was turning a TV, radio, or something on in a way that it would produce static noise (known as White Noise), this was because of a theory that said spirits needed some sort of energy in order to manipulate it, so, to produce sound, they would need sound already to manipulate it, some of this 'concept' is also belived to be used on the Ouija Board, so it made sense, but it had a few problems, one is that the Pareidolia effect (when the human mind tries to make sense of something random in this case) was the biggest origins of the supposed EVPs, basically, giving a tape of this kind to 10 separated people for EVP analysis, there would basically be 10 different phrases/words in 10 different parts of the tape.. or by the other hand, when this 10 people would came to the same conclusion, the same phrase/word on the same part of the tape, it was probably of a second possible problem of this kind of EVPs, that is because when they tunned th TV or Radio to play static, actually, it may had captured sound from an emitting station for a few seconds with very weak quality... so, we may assume that White Noise is a bad idea right? Well, not yet, since there is a even newer method, that works much better, and with less problems!



This new-age method already requires a computer, basically, the white noise is not generated anymore by a TV or radio where there is the possibility to cross with some station, but it is generated with as much variations as possibly by a computer formula for a second or two, and that pattern repeats it self for as long as we want, so there is no way of any external interference, and even the Pareidolia effect is much less interfering since if our brain doesnt make sense of the white noise on the first seconds, it wount do any at all after that, because we are repeating over and over again those same seconds. And if this isn't "cool" enough, nor problem-solver enough, there is even a step two, that is using the computer software to remove again the white noise from our recording and only leaving the parts of the sound that were modified, in this way, we are absolutely sure that those sounds where created by external phenomena, even if it is only the remaining of a bird singing some dozens of meters away, but in this way we have all of the analyze reduced by 80% / 90%, and without any of the already referred problems, so a much better analyze may be given to the really interesting parts.

Also, in any of the methods, to reduce the Pareidolia effect, the investigator that make the recording / analyze, should not be informed of details of the supposed "hunting" spirit that they may be after, otherwise, even if not self-conciuous, the investigator may instead of analyze, may try to find the information on the recordings, even where it actually doesn't exist, and he may skip and misunderstand some real messages. The investigator should only be informed of details of the supposed spirit or owner of the place, or whatever , after the analyze, then he may re-analyze again and compare. Also yet, the questions asked during the recording, must be simple as possible, and without any concrete details. Never assume the origin of something without having all the possible informations first.

I'll discuss here some other tools on the next post...

Monday, November 9, 2009

Ghost Hunting Tools - Part I

A long time, no posting... I've been very busy lately, but finally got some free time to write here.

This time I'm going to talk about some ghost hunting tools some researchers use, I remembered to write about this when watching a video of a supposed group of Brazilian 'ghost hunters', in particular because of a device they used, a random number generator.

Well, it is not the first time I see someone trying to hunt ghosts with a random number generator, but when does this stupid concept ends? I get totally stupefied when watching someone with a laptop on one hand, and on the other a 'random number generator' and they 'scan' buildings with this, how does some self-proclaimed researcher/hunter does such stupid things? Do at least they know what they are actually doing?



In theory, a hardware based random number generator, as the name says, generate random numbers, then, when connected to a PC, it can analyse the random numbers and tries to get patterns of "non-randomness", and some people believe that when the random number generator starts to loss the "randomness" is because a ghost or spirit is nearby, well... only people that don't know anything at all about electronics can believe such thing!

In hardware level (electronics / informatics) there is NO SUCH THING as RANDOM, the random functions that you use even on your PC with everyday programs are not random at all, they only calculate a "hash" of the current time (in milliseconds), so it looks random, but it is just a mathematical function using the time as argument.
There are also other types of random algorithms, but they all end in not being random at all, there is no such thing as random in electronics. So, the own concept of waving a "random number generator" in the air scanning for ghosts is a complete lack of knowledge of what they are doing, the own concept of 'having' a random number generator connected to a laptop is stupid because the laptop can generate random numbers as do the device! Actually, the device is only a Microcontroller/Processor generating random numbers using a clock-chip as 'food' for the mathematical process.
The only argument that could be used to help defending the random number generator device as a ghost hunting tool, is that is "normal" that paranormal events to have interference with electronics, but if that would interfere with the random numbers, it would have to interfere with the communication with the laptop also, because for that a loose of synchronization of the main oscillator of the processor would be needed, and that would cause a communication failure or lock up.



Even in the middle of such a stupid thing, there lies something that could really be used on ghost hunting, and it can also be used with random numbers, by only doing a 'small' change on the device (that would require to remake the device from scratch actually) that is to feed the mathematical function not with the clock, but with energetic impulses in the air, or other external phenomena. I made such device about 6 / 7 years ago, it ended up being really weird, it was so sensitive that a slightest move of someone nearby a radius of 5 / 6 meters would interfere with it, sometimes even breathing would interfere! But I didn't use random number at all, but yes sound modulation, so it could be leaved on a room, and it would emit constant noise and you could detect when something not-normal was happening only by hearing. I didn't even named this device, but it is very very useful. I already though about making a new version of the device that would also give the opportunity of some ghost to interact with it in a way that would give it the opportunity to 'speak'.

So, in resume, Random number generators are NOT a ghost hunting tool, no matter what some people may think. And energetic impulses in the air are a good thing that can be exploited in the detection, and who knows even communication, with ghosts.

Next time I'm going to talk about some other tools and methods.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sintra Ghost

This video, as far as I know, was one of the most polemical "complete" ghost videos out there some years ago, it happened in Portugal/Sintra, it is about a lift that some teenagers gave to a girl they found on the street, that turned out to be a ghost of a girl that died on a crash on the same road, here is the complete video:



Well... it is easy to say that is fake, because it is Viral Marketing of an Portuguese Short Film director (David Rebordão) and the film is called "A Curva".

Even if the viral marketing thing wasn't known, we were talking about the worlds most perfect and complete materialization of a ghost in all time. The author had the good idea of creating camera anomalies when filming the ghost girl, the only problem is that he seemed to forget that nowadays there are researches of ghost phenomenon that have strong background in electronics, PhD in Informatics and a good background of data compression, enough to laugh when seeing image anomalies that are only possible in analogic cameras mixed with anomalies only possible in digital cameras with image compression, on the same video!

But in general, if it was not so exaggerated, it would be a good fake, the story is a good one, the actors act normally, there is a kind of good excuse for the camera to be there, but, it is a fake.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Michael Jackson Ghost

Well, this is one of the "research's" I told on the last post, about starting to get Youtube 'Ghost Videos' and checking whenever they are true or not. So what better start that the 'recent' polemical Michael Jackson ghost video?

Here is the original Video by CNN:


If you check it closely, check and double check the shadow angle, you'll notice clearly that is only someone passing by the otherside, and what you are seeing is just the shadow. Simple as that.

I also bumped into a Video of someone that analyzed the video and came to the same conclusion, here it is:




So, it is not a fake video, it is not a real ghost video, it is only a mistaken shadow.

Ghost videos, true or fake?

Well, I'm kind of very busy lately, but I'm trying to find time to do some research on supposed "Ghost Videos" that are around there, and what a best place to find then on Youtube? So I'll make a little compilation of videos that I find on Youtube and will start to analyze them and share here the results.

Also, if you have a video or photo or even EVP that you took accidentally or something and think that you just catch a ghost or something, please send it to me, I can give my opinion and analyzes if it is a really a ghost or not.

Paranormal Activity Movie Review

Ok, I finally watched the movie so I can make a good review about it, even if it does not fit in the topic of research that this blog is all about, but whatever, it deserves a review.

After I start to talk about the movie, IT IS NOT REAL, I'm tired bumping into people that say that the film was real, and that the couple really died and etc, well.. it is as true as Blair Witch Project! In other words, it AINT real. But that reminds me that there are people that even nowadays think that Blair Witch Project is real, thanks to its kind of 'viral marketing' at people that believe everything that they see (on the tv).

The film is extremely low budget (actually, the budget was $15.000), but it is a decent movie. It all happens in a house (most of in the bedroom), where a couple (Micah and Katie) live. Katie tells Micah that strange things have happened since she was very young, something like a ghost haunts her almost every night, but she reminded quiet about this "phenomena" so Micah didn't think she was a freak, so Micah decides to investigate, and buys a camera to keep filming the Bedroom and recording it to the laptop so he could analyze it later, also when not in the bedroom, Micah is always with the camera recording everything. When he analyzes the first nights he starts to note strange things happening, like, the door moving by it self.

After the 'proof', a "Medium" is called to help them, but the medium says it is not a ghost, but a demon, and that he cannot help them, and he gives them the number of a Demonologist to help them, but when they later call him, he's not in the country.

During the movie, there are lots of "small cuts" of Micah challenging the Demon, every time that he does this the demon activity starts to get heavier and heavier, and in this movie they play with the sound a lot to implement fear into the viewers. Micah then decides to play with the Ouija board, and some ghost transmit him a message, when he later did some research, he finds out that a person had exactly the same symptoms as Katie, and when they tried to make a exorcism, that possessed person bited literally of her own arm, so Katie starts to get really scared.

Finally, Katie has one more of her "somnambulism" attacks, and gets out of bed, starts do going down stairs into the kitchen.. and finally she stars to screaming like hell, Micah wakes up and hurry's into the kitchen, than he also screams, and silence erupts, everything is quiet until a noise is heard coming from the stars, it is Katie, with a butchers knife covered with blood. After this, there is some alternate endings, the one that I saw is police arriving the next day, Katie was still in shock with the butchers knife on the hand, and when police points they're flashlights into her, she wakes up from the shock and start running into the police asking where was Micah, since the police saw the she had a knife on the had covered with blood, they shot her down in self-defense.

I skipped a lot in this review, didn't talk about the some 'funny'/interesting parts in the movie, it was only a quick general review, and a kind-of-detailed ending.

For what I have seen, people comment this movie as "very scary", actually, I don't find it scary at all, 75% of the "fear" is implemented in the sound, and since cinema has a very good sound, that may scare a little, but not that much.
So if you have like to be scared with movies, if you buy the DVD/BLR and have a good surround system in home, watch it late night to maximize the experience :)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Fake Ghost Cameras

Well, as a lot of people know, there is a huge collection of the so called "Ghost Cameras", supposedly this cameras are installed on buildings/houses/whatever and they are broadcasted to the Internet so people can see eventual ghosts that may appear. This is a very good way of making money indeed, by fooling people. Here I'll post a good example of a fake ghost cam:





Did you saw a ghost on the cam meanwhile? No? Then please spend some 2 minutes looking or refresh the page and wait a little. Well, I am going to post here the "haunted frames" of the camera, because this supposed camera is only a Macromedia-Flash Video with some frames repeating on a consecutive loop, and two of them were Photoshoped to have a "Ghost Lady". Here are the "Haunted Frames".




This fake is not simply fake, but a very bad fake, per example, if you look closely, on the supposed video feed, it says "Image updates every 20 seconds" then WHY it is updating itself every 5 or 6 seconds? And why even if I unplug the Internet cable I can still watch the live feed? It ain't worth any more comments.

This 'live feed' was taken from The Hell's Kitchen Haunted Hallway Camera and the Ads on both sides of the screen are clear that the purpose is making money by fooling people, that is shameful. I also have Ads on this Blog, but that's because I don't have much time to spend here, normally it is during lunch breaks or late night updates when minutes after I fall asleep, and so I think have the right to put ads that may be of use to some of the visitors on this blog and earn a few cents for that. Actually, until now I didn't earn a single cent of the Ads, first, because this Blog is real low traffic, because as I told on the header page, this is not focused on showing pictures or videos of Ghosts (that most of them are fake) but to share knowledge of the paranormal phenomena. So only a few people visit this Blog, and most of them are not interested on the Ads displayed, but I prefer to have few but interesting visitors, ready to have a good discussion about this subject and that are able to find the information that I post here useful (I know that for now is very few) than to fool people, or being visited and commented by foolish people, even if that represents no income of ads at all!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Paranormal Activity Movie

For those of you who like 'Hollywood' movies about the paranormal this one is for you!
As far as I saw on the trailer (since this movie is not yet available here where I live) it reminds me Blair Witch Project. Blair Witch was a big hit because of the "originality" (not that much, movies of this type existed long ago) but this movie is starting to be a big hit also, and the reviews about it seem very good. Almost every person that watched this movie refer to it as a VERY scary.
Here I include two trailers and one review:








Monday, October 12, 2009

Introduction

Hello, for some years I have researched paranormal phenomenon, including 'Ghosts', and now I decided to share some of my research and ideas by creating this Blog. I hope this Blog serves it purpose, also I encourage people reading this Blog to share they're knowledge and to criticize when they think it is convenient.