Ghost Hunting with Video

using video cameras for investigations

Presented by Troy Taylor, Author of the GHOST HUNTER'S GUIDEBOOK and President of the American Ghost Society

USING VIDEO IN YOUR INVESTIGATIONS
There are many uses for video cameras during your paranormal investigations. Most ghost hunters have started taking and setting up video cameras for every investigation that they go on. Also, thanks to the fact that many of the newer cameras are now fitted with infrared (or as Sony calls it “Nightshot”) capabilities, we can shoot at a 0 lux setting that allows us to film in total and complete darkness. This innovation has allowed us to overcome the problems of the past, when video cameras were not useful in dark locations.

One of the main uses for a video camera in an investigation is to record your witness interviews. You might be surprised by what turns up on video over what you might record on an ordinary audiotape. Just the expression on someone’s face, or their mannerisms, can often speak volumes about an event and bring to light facts that you may not have even considered. The only problem with this is that many witnesses (in my experience) are ill at ease in front of a camera. This can often make for a disjointed and nervous accounting of events. You should try the video camera first and if this doesn’t work, switch over to recording on audiotape instead.

Another advantage to the video camera is the ease with which you can document the location of the investigation. I always recommend that researchers draw up a map or chart of the location and note the various areas where phenomena have been reported. This is much easier to do if you have covered the entire area with your video camera too. Also, if you are writing the investigation up as a report, you can check your memory of the location by watching the video that you have recorded.

To most researchers though, the main reason to carry a video camera into an investigation is for the chance to capture some sort of paranormal phenomena on tape. Of course, the fact that video does seem to pick up anomalies may discredit some of the past theories that we have entertained about how still cameras manage to pick up ghosts. It is long been suggested that the camera will pick up paranormal energy because it is moving faster than we can actually see. If this is true, then how do we explain how video cameras manage to record strange images? The video camera acts more like the human eye, seeing things in real time and not frozen as they are with a still camera. Perhaps ghosts actually are in that other spectrum of light, who knows? Regardless, there have been a number of very authentic video tapes that have emerged showing strange shapes, mists and especially, speeding balls of light that don’t seem to be explainable except as paranormal phenomena. They appear to be some of the same anomalies that have been captured by still cameras. This leads me to think that they are probably the same type of phenomena.

Many of these videotapes were shot under ordinary conditions while investigators were checking out reportedly haunted locations. Some were filmed randomly and others were done while certain areas were under surveillance, which is another great use for the video camera in your investigation. In fact, I always recommend the use of several video cameras for an investigation if possible. This allows us to monitor various sections of the location because we never know where activity might occur next. One of the cameras can be used to record the witness testimony, while the others can be used to thoroughly cover the location.

The grueling part of this will be that you have to be sure and watch everything that you have recorded. You never know when something might turn up. I would even suggest, if you have the capability, to watch the tape frame-by-frame. It is very possible that you might miss something on the general run-through. This will take a lot of extra time, but may be well worth it. In one case that I was involved in, the location seemed to be without activity until the films were watched one frame at a time. After that we realized that it was actually a very active place.

In the past, there have been many problems with using video cameras at dark investigation sites. In the case of older VHS cameras, it was pretty well impossible to film after the sun went down without the use of a lot of extra light sources. As times have changed though, better quality cameras have become available and in fact, it is now possible to use a standard, commercial camera and film in total darkness with it.

This type of camera has been manufactured in several models by Sony and is outfitted with what they call “Nightshot” capabilities. This means that it can film at O lux, in total darkness. The camera has the ability to convert infrared light to a part of the spectrum that the human eye can see. You can actually see the light being emitted by the camera and it literally “paints” the dark location and converts it to an inverted white and green color. It is an extremely effective device and for several years after it came on the market, it had better capabilities than most broadcast cameras that were being used by television and documentary crews.

As mentioned earlier, some of the best evidence captured on video has been the mysterious balls of light that are filmed at many haunted locations. The lights are normally round and often give off a faint glow. They move independent of their surroundings and dart between people and objects at the location. No one knows for sure what these lights may be, but as of now, they have no explanation whatsoever.

If you happened to find something like this on your videotape, be careful to observe the object’s movements and be sure that it is not some sort of dust particle or airborne pollen. There are several ways that assurances can be reached, including the fact that dust has a distinctive way of moving on camera and will usually drift rather aimlessly back and forth as it settles. Heavier natural objects will always fall straight down past the camera, following the laws of gravity. The anomalous lights will have a movement pattern all their own and will seem to have a purpose. They will not float side to side and may even interact with the investigators or the witnesses at the scene.

In addition, the Ghost Hunter's Guidebook offers detailed instructions on how you can authenticate the anomalies captured on video and show that they are truly paranormal -- or at least unexplained. All that is required is measuring every object that can be seen on camera with a measuring tape, using an inexpensive wind gauge and having a lot of patience. Check out the details in the Guidebook and you'll see what we mean!

Remember that using a video camera is just like using any other device in the pursuit of the paranormal. It takes practice to be good at it and experimentation is essential. To be able to obtain good, authentic evidence using a video camera, you have to use the same sort of caution that you use with anything else. Be sure that you carefully review any evidence that you might have before presenting it to the public and proclaiming it genuine. We have all seen examples, just like with still photos, of sloppy research that shows images that are far from paranormal in origin.