'Ghost' caught on camera at Flinders Mall, QLD

Couriermail and Paranormal.about.com

THERE'S something spooky going on in one of Townsville's oldest inner-city buildings.

Video footage of paranormal activity in an old CBD building has surfaced on internet site YouTube, and it has already captured the imagination of the online world, sceptics and ghost-hunters alike.

The man behind the camera, who doesn't want to reveal his identity or the location of the haunted site, has posted 12 short films from his iPhone and a hand-held camera and insists something sinister lurks in the building's basement.

The amateur ghostbuster told the Townsville Bulletin strange things had been happening at the site for a couple of months before he finally mustered the courage to try and record it on his phone.

See the Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kgMhxI9wXI

Read more here

Sceptics Unite! (sceptic science) - SMH's new blog

smh

The universe is an endlessly amazing place and every week newspapers, magazines and science blogs report on remarkable new discoveries in fields as diverse as astronomy, biology and neuroscience that help us understand it a little bit better.

But at the same time we're inundated with all sorts of claims about everything from ''alternative'' medicine to psychic mediums and those magic rubber bracelets that are so popular with footballers. This is where it pays to have a bit of healthy scepticism.

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So what is a sceptic? The usual image is of a humourless, closed-minded cynic who enjoys snorting derisively and saying things such as ''Fiddlesticks! There's no such thing as ghosts!'' But that picture is a bit out of date.

Serious sceptics don't just scoff at unusual beliefs. They know that most people aren't liars or fantasists and that there's often something behind even the strangest beliefs. A good sceptic will examine the evidence for a particular claim and, if it's unconvincing, look for alternative explanations. These often turn out to be fascinating in themselves.

In the case of haunted houses, for instance, people will often report feeling sudden fear or anxiety upon entering a certain room. In some cases, this has turned out simply to be because a ventilation fan is emitting inaudible infrasound, which has been proven in experiments to induce feelings of fear.

To read more click here

It will be interesting to read more of their blogs!

Could this be the thylacine?

From Phantoms and Monsters and Tassie Tiger.org



Tasmanian tiger or what? What are your thoughts?

Balls of light - help needed...

A friend of mine keeps seeing balls of light in her house out of the corners of her eyes. They have different colours. Anyone have any knowledge of this phenomenon or what it could be?

Creature defies identification?

Coffscoastadvocate

THIS bizarre discovery on Diggers Beach, near Coffs Harbour, has given rise to a host of theories explaining what this creature might be and how it washed ashore.

The animal, roughly two foot long, was found by surfers on Father’s Day, but only now have the photos surfaced.

One of the local men who came across the animal, Peter Atkinson, is at a loss to explain it.

Countless others have also been stumped in making a positive identification.

“It was found on the high water mark and we contacted National Parks, but it appears the animal was washed back out to sea on the next tide,” Mr Atkinson said.

Suggestions have ranged from the credible to the ridiculous.

One strongly supported possibility is that it’s a type of monkey.

Others said it could be a South American sloth.

Yet web searches could not help with a positive identification.

Even the experts at Taronga Zoo were brought in on the case yesterday.

Mr Atkinson confirmed the photos were real and taken on a mobile phone, ruling out an email hoax, through several other credible witnesses.

Late yesterday a more likely explanation came through the office.

Lawrence Orel from the National Parks and Wildlife Service said on first inspection it appeared to be a brush tailed possum.

“The bushy fur on the tail gives it away I think. Possums do get that dark in colour, and it looks as though the fur may have come away from the face, but we’ll wait for positive confirmation from the zoo.”

Read more on their page at coffscoastadvocate.com.au

FROM BRY: I think its likely to be a decomposing native Australian animal. What are your thoughts?

Should we just give up on ghost photos?

I just saw ANOTHER app that can put "real ghostly images to your photos"
New app ghosted has now been released and ghost capture is as popular as ever.  As seen in the recent news article it is still managing to fool journalists who are after a quick news story. RGJ.com

Did reader capture image of a ghost at Pyramid Lake? 

A reader named Ashif Halim submitted this photo to Online Editor Pete Krajewski that he says captures a ghostly figure at Pyramid Lake. Just behind the man in the white shirt, an image of what appears to be a little girl in a white dress can be seen. The photo's authenticity has not been confirmed, but an independent analysis was conducted by paranormal investigator Mariah Robards, who said the apparition appears to be authentic based on the fact that it has its own light source.

So did reader capture image of a ghost? In one word NO. And with all due respect - what independent analysis was conducted by Ms Robards to assess that this photo is authentic?

Can you spot the girl anywhere in the picture above?

Looks similar to this one doesnt it?

The above photo is a known hoax which fooled a lot of newspapers.


So, what does this new app "ghosted" do thats different?

"Now, you can frighten your friends by adding ghosts into your photos, with Ghosted. Take a picture of a friend and add ghosts to the photo, adjust the transparency of the ghost images to make it look like it is really in the photo."

✔ Added transparency slider, so you can adjust the transparency or opacity levels of the ghosts

✔ 25 More Ghosts Added (over 50 total)

✔ Added HD iPhone/iPod Touch 4.0 Retina graphics!

Sounds fun right? I just bought it for A$1.19 just so i can experiment and show how easy it is to fake photos (see below).


In some ways this makes me think we should give up looking at any ghost photos as genuine because there are so many different ways to fake them these days. When people declare fake photos genuine it gives a lack of credulity to any real ghost photos that might come along.  There's always been trickery with ghost photography since the beginning of photography so this is nothing new, we just have different technology. 

Here a couple of my own examples from ghosted.

Admittedly they are pretty crappy examples but with a little tinkering you could probably trick some people.

Maybe its time to accept ghosts can't be caught on film? Or more to the point if we're in the "business" of providing evidence, then ghost photos can't be presented as fact or evidence because there are too many ways to fake it.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Please share below.