Debunk Paranormal

A special thanks to David for this article. David Dvorak ddvorak@spiritinvestigationservices.com Lately, while doing my usual perusal of online "spirit" photography, I've found myself growing increasingly upset with some of the things people post as evidence of the paranormal. Typically I reserve these spiteful feelings for "orb photography" but lately something else has wet my skeptic palate - glare. Let's talk basics here people: Shiny things give off a reflection; cameras have flashes; shiny things + flashes = glare/shadows/all sorts of nasty little things. Sounds pretty easy, right? So why in the name of Constantinople (of is it Istanbul?) do you CONTINUE to take pictures of shiny objects? Now, I'm not trying to be unreasonable here. Shiny objects are everywhere - vases, glasses, bottles, cans, polished wood, etc etc etc. Chances are, when you take a picture there's bound to be something glare-worthy in the shot. What's chapping my hide is the people who take a direct shot of a window or mirror and get a shadow and then proceed to pass it off as paranormal. Are you serious? Let's assume that what you captured really is a spirit - how do you intend to prove that it wasn't just a malfunction from the flash bouncing off whatever your dumb ass was stupid enough to take a picture of knowing it would bounce back the light? The fact is, everyone of us who is in paranormal investigation wants to find that one piece of "Wow!" evidence. Be it video, audio, or photo, it's a yearning we have. Some people seem to be letting that thirst get the best of them and it is impeding their judgement. Going on investigations and coming out empty handed really sucks, I know this. In the last month I've been on four investigations and despite 18+ hours of video, several photographs and countless hours of audio for each, we've come away empty handed. It happens...it happens more often than not. At the same time, I look at evidence of several other teams and find several video clips, audio clips and pictures from each investigation listed as "evidence of the paranormal". A quick glance tends to make me roll my eyes and move on to the next train wreck. I am no expert in photography, but it doesn't take a trained eye to distinguish crap from crap. So how do we, as paranormal investigators, remedy the situation? Step 1: Think. Think about what you're aiming your camera at. Is it a big piece of glass? Take a picture of something else. Do you want to take a picture of something outside? Go outside and take it, don't take it through the window. Do you want to take a picture of something inside? Go inside and take it, don't stand outside and take it through a window. Want to take a picture of mirror? Take the camera and throw it away, you aren't worthy of using it on account of your dumb ideas. Let's not forget picture frames. Do you want to take a picture of a picture (huh?)? Forget it, I give up. When all is said and done, I'm not saying to stop taking pictures on your investigations, that'd be silly. All I'm saying is do me a favor...do yourself a favor...do baby Jesus a favor...think about what you are photographing. If there's a high chance of receiving false positives on account of the objects in view, don't take the picture. Simple, right? Right. If you think that's going to be hard to do, you can always try this.