Personal Crap

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Meaford, ON, Canada
A big lover of all types of media, from Movies to Video Games, Books to Music, Television to Stage.

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4/5/11

YouTube Ghost Videos

This post may seem like a specific attack on one person and their attempt to deceive the public, and it really isn't.  This pertains to any and all 'real' ghost 'footage' found on YouTube made by people who are interested in trying to get followers for their videos by providing special effects and claiming them as supernatural phenomena.  These videos are fake, people are believing them without sparing a thought for how they were made, and while it may seem harmless at first, one must remember that children are being killed occasionally throughout developed countries (read: United States) by gullible parents believing their children are 'possessed' and videos of this ilk don't help matters.

Simply stated, the videos I'm on about are ones that feature things 'moving' or 'activating' without anyone around to explain how they moved or turned on.  There are quite a number of these videos across YouTube, and some of them are quite entertaining.  Some actual Hollywood movies have used the exact same effects in films to create the illusion of spirits and ghosts, but these films ("Paranormal Activity 2" in particular has one specific scene that I've watched done very well on YouTube) are meant as entertainment, not suggesting that anything within them is actually real.  In fact, all one has to do is sit through the credits at the end of these films to see that they are in fact works of fiction, with the same disclaimers that any Hollywood film needs to have regarding similarity to persons living or dead (nice laugh there) being totally accidental.  In a nutshell, big screen movies are there for a lark, and people seeing them know that and expect that.  

Not so with the videos I'm on about from YouTube.

First off, I'm going to provide the specific movie I'm on about here.  I don't want anyone trying to say that I'm not providing clear evidence as to my opinion, because that would make me a coward, especially if I censored someone else's valid opinion.  So, for your viewing enjoyment, I give you the video I'm guilty of calling a fake:




First of all, please note how the video starts.  Right off the bat, this person is stating that this video is real, that no fakery is involved, and that this footage is of an actual ghost.  This is the exact opposite of what a Hollywood movie does, albeit at the end of a film rather than at the start.  In fact, the movies that are filmed as 'reality' films go so far as to say that they are found footage at the start of the film, leading the audience to believe that it is real for the purposes of the entertainment - but again, at the end they say that it was fiction, unlike the videos I'm mentioning here.

Then we have the two shots of the microwave, which as you can clearly see is on and running when the footage begins.  The person says it just turned on, and there is a plug beside the oven to show that the oven isn't plugged in.  He moves the oven a bit, talking about 'masking,' the act of digitally editing out wires, cords etc.. to make something look like it is moving without human interference.  Please note that at no point am I suggesting this is being done here.  He lifts one end of the oven, to show I don't know what, then puts down the camera phone, picks up the locked-down camera and stops the oven after lifting it again.  I do not know exactly what purpose he has in lifting one end of the microwave while it is running, but apparently his ability to do so must mean there is a ghost.  Anyway, he then proceeds to show the footage from his phone, which is simply a more close-up and shaky version of what we've already seen, and then ends the video by putting a snake around his neck (which any child going to a reptile exhibit at a local zoo can have done to them) which somehow proves that his videos must be real.  I mean he actually has a snake around his neck.  Yup, must be real as a result.

Now, I became a bit testy when watching this because my wife was showing it to me saying that the footage was great.  I have personally experienced weird shit myself, and that is for another post, but due to those experiences I tend to look at videos of this type with a debunking eye.  Upon watching this, I immediately began to theorize how the video could be faked.  That might seem extremely cynical, but consider this:  If you, or someone you knew, was actually able to get real footage of real paranormal phenomena in such a well-lit location, and could conclusively prove that there was no mischief going on, would you post it to YouTube or would you be calling universities and scientific journals to get them into your home to definitively and without any room for doubt prove the existence of another dimension or possibly life after death?  I know what I would do, and it would NOT be to sit on such an incredible scientific discovery and only put the proof of this on a social website.  That is hint number one that this video is a fake.

Hint number two comes from the actions of the man in the video itself.  He films the microwave from two angles, lifting the appliance from one end multiple times, and shows a cord that he claims is from the microwave sitting there unplugged beside the oven.  Okay, that's a great start, but if this were real footage of an actual ghost, anyone with any common sense would go out of their way to show that there was no tomfoolery going on.  This he deliberately does not do.  In fact, if you read the comments below the video on the actual YouTube page for the video, he specifically says in response to someone asking him this exact question that at the time he was too nervous to touch the oven, and didn't think to move it anyway.  This is ridiculous for two reasons.  One, he lifts the oven on one end more than once!  He never gives a reason as to why he does this, but by doing so he obviously has no fear of touching the microwave!  So, if he can lift it, why can't he turn it?  In fact, he turns off the oven and then still won't turn it around to show that the cord beside it is truly not from this appliance.  I know why he did not do this, and we're getting to it.  Secondly, again, if you were actually filming actual ghost interaction with this microwave, and had the foresight to set up two cameras to catch any and all activity that might occur, then why are you reluctant to ensure that all avenues of fakery have been eliminated?  There really is only one answer, and that is that the video is in fact a fake.

Let's now turn to how it was done.  We'll start with the most obvious proof of it being a fake, then go through how he did it, which is so simple it is laughable.  First off, notice the camera footage starts with the oven already on.  Unlike a dial-based gas or electric oven, one must actually push buttons to turn on a microwave.  Even having it on and then unplugging it and plugging it back in won't work, because the electronics of the appliance leave it off when a power interruption occurs.  Therefore, the only way the oven could be on is if he pushed the button himself, then got the cameras going.  Electronic interference or radio waves wouldn't work, as ovens don't have receivers for that type of interference, so that's out.  He had to have turned it on, but what about the cord?  It is obviously from the microwave, right?  How do we know that is true?  The guy on the video says it is, but he never shows us the cord connecting to the microwave.  I call fake right there, since it would be beyond easy to find a junked appliance, chop off the cord, tuck the cut end behind this microwave where the camera can't see it (after ensuring the camera is in an angle where it is hidden of course) and then proceeding to film claiming the cord is from that oven.  Since he never lifts the end of the oven more than an inch or so when a camera is close to it, and never with a view underneath it when he does, he plays it safe and nobody who is gullible will question it.

Now, to prove the goings-on, one must watch the video again, paying extreme attention to the right side of the microwave all the way around the corner to the sink.  Notice anything?  No, you don't, because the maker of the video made sure that he covered his tracks on this one.  You cannot actually see the vertical corner where the wall meets the counter anywhere to the right of the microwave oven, all the way to off-screen.  Even when he picks up the camera, even when he switches to the second camera view, you cannot at any time see the edge where the counter meets the wall to the right of the microwave, as it is hidden by sponges, a blender, various bottles, a paper towel roll and, in an actual act of ingenuity, the tap from the sink itself.  This means well thought out camera placement and exacting angles from the tap, and for what reason?  To hide exactly how the video was made.

For your approval, I submit that the microwave was indeed plugged in, into an extension cord running behind the stuff on the counter to the right of the microwave, and that the reason the person in the video never turned the microwave and only lifted one end is due to the fact that his fakery would have then been revealed.  The video is fake, there is no footage of an actual ghost here, and this is purely a form of entertainment.

However, things don't end there.

I wrote three comments on YouTube to the guy who made this video, three because they give you a very small amount of characters to write a discerning opinion in full, and submitted the three posts within the space of about 15 minutes.  This was simply due to the fact that I wrote them as I speak, just as I write all my blogs, Twitter posts, etc..  In the three comments I mentioned how he did it, suggested that he hasn't proved anything since he didn't even attempt to debunk his own footage, and asked why he hadn't submitted the video to any scientific study if it was in fact real.  This morning, I woke up to find that he had blocked my comments from ALL of his videos, and sent me a message in response.

So, this nqghosthunter wrote me this message, entitled "blocked."  The message reads:

sorry, that is too many troll comments in the space of only an hour or two. So you are now blocked. Not because you think my videos are fake, but because you are trolling my videos. And don't try to say I blocked you because you said my videos are fake, as there are lots of comments that say that and those people are not blocked because they did not troll my videos.

To be fair, there are a lot of comments saying his stuff is fake - but none of them tell how he did it with the extension cord (a lot suggest a battery of some sort, which isn't accurate) and nobody said anything about submitting his 'real footage' for analysis.  My response to his message follows:

I didn't troll your videos, you egotist.  I wrote one consistent thought that happened to take up the total space of three responses, nothing else.  And if you think the fact that a person cannot speak their mind in regards to the fakery you are passing off as legitimate proof of the existence of ghosts can be anything other than 'trolling,' you are quite mistaken and too puffed up by your own bravado to allow opinions to get in the way of your delusion.

You didn't block me because of 'trolling.'  You blocked me because I got it right.  You have obviously blocked me SPECIFICALLY because I am spreading the word in regards to how you actually manipulate your 'audience' with so-called special effects rather than actually providing what you claim to be showing them.  If you had any sense at all, you wouldn't block me, but encourage the dialogue by explaining how I'm wrong and why journals and scientists haven't been informed of your 'data.'  Blocking me just proves me right, and I'm about to make certain that everyone knows this by including your message on my blog.  You won't be able to censor unwanted criticism from there, and I will be providing a link directly to your 'footage.'

By the way, the other tell-tale clue to your fake microwave stunt is the fact that the appliance is already on when you start the camera.  You have to actually hit buttons on a microwave to start it, and as a result of ensuring that you turning it on wasn't on the 'footage,' you had to have started it before the cameras were on.  This is basic knowledge, and people a lot smarter than I are aware of it.

I'm afraid you are simply a coward unwilling to own up to his lie, and in fact your blocking me is going to end up making you look worse.  Fell free to drop by my blogsite at http://gutrend.blogspot.com if you think I'm kidding.  Just be aware that it's going to take me a while to write the post, so don't expect the fallout to start for at least an hour or so from the mailing of this response.

That is what I wrote, including the spelling error in the word 'feel,' and I specifically mentioned the turning on the oven before starting the camera bit because that actually came to me late last night when the wife and I were already upstairs in bed.

My main problem with all of the videos of this type (and I could tear down at least one more from this very same poster, involving a 'haunted' office where it is pretty obvious that a guy is hiding under a desk) is that they are passing themselves off as real.  I do believe in ghosts, I honestly do - but I also believe that no actual proof of them has been found.  Photographs with weird phenomena, television shows with unexplained footage, movies based on real events...I subscribe to viewing all of these, but have yet to see anything that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I'm seeing can't possibly have a simple straightforward explanation.  Oh, and by the way, the first people who would agree with me are the very same people submitting the footage for those television shows.  "Ghost Hunters" in the States, or "Most Haunted" in Britain, these shows try to get it right, and some very interesting stuff has come out of the many locations they have filmed in, however neither show has ever claimed that they have definitive proof of supernatural activity.

So, when some random guy says he has 'real footage of poltergeist activity' right at the top of a video on YouTube, I'm expecting something that looks good but is fake, just like a magician onstage.  I don't expect to be told how it was done, but by claiming it as real and having no disclaimer after that you are suggesting to your audience an untruth, and if that fuels even one delusional person to act out against anyone as a result of your video fuelling their delusion, I call that a bad thing.  These videos are great as entertainment, but should be labelled as such in a way that it can't be mistaken for actual footage.  That'll never happen, but hopefully someone reading this will look at these types of videos with a keener eye in the future.

I have no grudge against nqghosthunter, none at all.  I do feel that blocking me was a very childish move on his part, and this post would have been quite a lot shorter and less venom-filled if he hadn't done so, but I hold no grudge.  I know he probably didn't make the video to cause anyone any harm, but hopefully he'll see that feeding the tank of anyone who might believe this is real footage could do a huge disservice down the road.  That being said, do take the time to follow that link in the upper left corner of his video to see another person who has done some great special effects to create a few paranormal videos, also with the tag of being 'real' footage.  See if his kitchen reminds you of last October's theatrical release at all.