Explainable Phenomenon on Film

I'm a huge advocate of going out there with your camera and getting example shots of things that can give you false positive's. These photos show and cold breath mist and a hair. I've done shots with sprinklers going, rain falling, duststorm, and someone patting the furniture to create dust orbs. Keep these in a file of "explainables" and refer to them when sifting through evidence.

It helps in the first place to avoid the pitfalls. Remove camera straps or tape them down on hunts. Tie hair up. Avoid cold nights or hold your breath when taking a shot. Don't even consider going outdoors in rain or snow or duststorm.

I thought I knew a great deal about avoiding false positives, even avoiding flashes on shiny and glass surfaces, but not so long ago I was at the Yuma Territorial Prison where I got a shot with something amazing. Some kind of streaks! I was thrilled. Then, I was skeptical. They reminded me of shots I had taken on my explainable adventures. I could tell for two reasons; hair tends to look like a bunch of consecutive circles inside of a streak and it was also auburn like my hair color. Hmmm... I examined the camera to see if my hair had someone fallen out of my ponytail and landed in front of the lens. Nope. Then, as I was reaching and touching around the lens area, I saw some hairs. I keep a tiny blue light on a velcro strap on my finger when I hunt so I can have light without using my hands. Apparently, I must have ran my hand over my hair, caught it in the Velcro, and then while holding the camera, it danced in the wind in front of the lens. I retook the photo with the same conditions and got the streaking hair across the shot again.

Debunking is crucial. Everyone else might question your evidence, but you will question it even more if you don't know if you covered every possibility. You owe it to others and to your conscience to keep it clean.

Hey, I think that might be my new ghost hunting motto, "keep it clean."