Photography: Film vs. Digital

When it comes to attempting to photograph a spirit, there is an inconsistency present in the frequencies of modern digital cameras, and a divide in exposure and materialization of the photo – the light, how it’s absorbed into the camera’s electronic sensor, and the subsequent digital translation of the visual information.  


Whereas film, specifically the nature of Polaroid instant film, is “instant” in the truest sense – the image is bounced from a mirror and exposed immediately on film.  And perhaps the most important element to this, which further distinguishes instant film from other types of traditional small, medium and large film formats, is that instant film develops in the exact same environment in which the ghost/paranormal subject inhabits, or just inhabited.  


You see, temperature is critical, as sometimes temperature is altered by the presence of a paranormal entity, thus the development of the picture in these same environmental conditions, the very conditions altered by the subject, is crucial to the process – and crucial to capturing an image of the entity...


For some interesting, but mostly fake, examples that exhibit the unique inconsistencies in modern digital photography, visit: http://ghostphotographs.blogspot.com/

A Ghost, an Exorcism, and the spirit world. Are they real?

I’ve spent most of my career focusing on category 1, Spirits (AKA “ghosts”), notwithstanding various paid freelance jobs with a government I cannot identify, per the guidelines of my contracts, on which I focused on category 2 (extraterrestrial life).

In my experience, the idea of the existence of ghosts seems to be the most publicly acceptable.  This may seem contrary to logic, as this category of the paranormal specifically deals with entities from another existence, another dimension if you will; whereas “alien life forms” and “cryptids” are purported to exist within our own realm, be it on another planet or not.  This may stem from the idea of the “soul” and a person’s intrinsic desire to be in touch with spirits (whether the spirits of those friends and family members who’ve passed on, or the spirits of strangers) outside of our own.  Demonic possession is a “happening” that has been, and continues to be, accepted by those inside and out of various religious communities.  Exorcisms continue to be practiced, just as they once had been when they were first practiced by the Jesuits at the College of The Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.  To this day, this small liberal arts college is rumored to keep a light on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in an upper floor room in their main academic building that was used to conduct exorcisms in the late 19^th Century.  This does pique the students’ interest there, as it remains unexplained as to why the light remains on, and it does seem like a ridiculous waste of electricity.

Although my students, and others their age, may find it boring by today’s standards, I still maintain that THE EXORCIST is the scariest movie ever made; and judging by the unending explorations of this “dark art” by Hollywood, it’s still relevant.

This widespread embrace of the spiritual world may be a result of another intrinsic desire to not only comprehend what happens to “us” after we die, but to determine whether or not there is life, or a form of life, after death...

A Recent Development...

I have begun uploading video comparisons to these blog posts. If you would like to watch them, I am told you can do so by visiting YouTube or clicking this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/ProfessorLamott?feature=mhee

What Are Ghosts?

Okay, now I’m guilty of invoking some sensationalism by leading with the word “ghost” instead of “spirit,” but in my years of teaching high school and college, sometimes a dramatic turn of phrase or a good old slamming down of a textbook on the desk to begin a lecture is the only thing to keep a listener awake.

In simplistic terms, a “ghost” is the tangible manifestation of a dead person.

Some scholars contend this manifestation to be the “soul” or literal “spirit” of the deceased; others consider it to be a part of the person that has yet to “cross over” into the realm of death.  Either way, both camps will agree that a “ghost” is considered a part of the deceased that is detected in the world of the living.  The very nature of the idea also conjures up notions of the divine: the two sides of that coin being, the angelic side, and the demonic side.  If such a connection exists between ghosts and an omnipotent force that is indeed beyond this world, “Angels” and “Demons” would most certainly be classified as ethereal “spirits.”

I’m not a religious man, not in any traditional sense, but I do believe in the unknown – in the existence of “things” that may be beyond our normal human understanding.  Therefore, I cannot discount the mystical or “divine” implications in such a belief system.  If I am to subscribe into the existence of spirits or ghosts, I must subscribe into the existence of “Angels” as well. 

I will delve deeper into this in later posts...

If A UFO Falls in the Forest...

Things or events for which there are no explanations are many; however, since these things or events are indeed unexplainable, it is equally impossible to explain, and further prove, that these things do NOT exist or that these events did NOT happen.  To assert that something happened, for which there is no explanation, is equally as absurd as asserting that something didn’t happen, when there’s no explanation or evidence to support the assertion.

I consider the question of the paranormal as a modern existential predicament...