Sunday, April 8, 2012

Hard Evidence


The Easter Bunny exists. I have hard evidence. I saw him in my neighbor's yard and I took this picture. That's right, this picture is proof the Easter Bunny exists. You're welcome.

You might be thinking, "But wait, Carolyn. That looks like a regular white rabbit". Well, I am here to tell you I saw him materialize out of thin air before my eyes, and he actually said, "Happy Easter" in a squeaky little voice before he left a beautifully dyed Easter Egg for me and vanished.

You're convinced now, right? Of course not. When claiming "evidence", one picture does NOT tell the whole story. That is why it is so important to take good control shots of the entire area, as well as comparison shots: taking a series of consecutive shots from the same angle and position. Video is extremely helpful to rule out other causes of an anomalous picture (as well as audio).

If you present a picture that looks like exactly like thousands of other dust orbs, or thousand of other breath mists, or thousands of lens flares, you don't have anything to convince me you caught anything paranormal. A single picture of a mysterious mist or eerie light doesn't tell me it that materialized right before your eyes. It doesn't tell me a phantom voice accompanied it. It doesn't tell me your teammates saw it too. (Even if these things did occur, there are many natural explanations to consider anyway, but that's another topic).

The burden is on us, as paranormal investigators, to present extraordinary evidence. It requires more effort and patience. You may indeed catch something paranormal in a single picture. But without any other objective data to back it up for others to analyze, it cannot be considered hard evidence.

I have to go now - the Easter Bunny is chewing up one of my rhododendrons.








4 comments:

  1. You got it right: the burden of proof is on those that make the claim. Unfortunately, it hasn't been going that way (in my experience). Entertainment seems to have more believability than Science. I work so much harder than many ghost hunters (I've dealt with) to show them that what they claim is "evidence" is actually natural occurrences, mistaken interpretation or operator error. This is not to say that all those who claim the title “Paranormal Investigator” fall under this…there are some that go the distance (meaning research, experiment, logic).

    The majority of the paranormal community (from what I witness/experience) easily accepts things at face-value, which is why you have so many people looking at one picture and believing they have a ghost, or UFO, or Bigfoot. Common sense, critical thinking and basic logic are forgotten and/or ignored in lieu of the “quick fix” of popularity from others that are just as gullible as themselves.

    In addition to Control shots, and several shots from the same angle…I also suggest taking several shots from various angles and heights. Optical illusions are always a possibility when dealing with a two dimensional image. Stationary objects that cause an optical illusion can continue to do so no matter how many photos are taken, if taken from the same angle.

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  2. Thanks, Kenneth. You're right about taking shots from various angles and heights. I should have clarified what I meant by control shots: pictures of the entire area, in well-lit conditions from various angles. But I didn't think of various heights as well. Awesome advice!

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  3. Awesome photo!! Nice to know that the Easter bunny really doest exist, lol. But I definitely like the lightening of this Pic. It's perfect :)

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