Presenting False Positives
by Kenny Wilson


If you have investigated the paranormal at all, you’ve probably been pretty excited about capturing evidence or even more, seeing or hearing something while the investigation is live.  But be careful not to just skim through it and pick out any evidence of paranormal.  What you might be picking out may not be evidence at all.  Although seeing an apparition may be a frightening experience for some, the thing that scares me most is presenting evidence that’s not evidence. 

Since I’ve been a paranormal investigator, I have received many photos of what’s been identified as an “orb”.  To me, and I’m not alone on this, an orb is a collection of energy that can be used by a entity to do things like materialize, speak, move things or make physical contact.  There is just not enough evidence to support any facts about this so it’s only a hypothesis.  Beyond that, it’s my opinion that true orbs are an energy source that produces its own light. Not reflected light. I also believe they are very rare.  If you can see thru it, if it appears to be transparent, then it’s probably just light reflecting or light refracting off of an object like dust, moisture or whatever.  
Example of a false positive- In this photo, you can see a blue streak. Is it paranormal?
In this photo, you can see a blue streak. Is it paanormal?
 The very last thing I want to do is present something as evidence when in fact it’s something commonly explained.“False positives” -Some examples of these are:  smears on a window that appear to be a figure of something, orbs, EVPs, K2 meter activity, light reflecting or refracting into a camera lens, noises, sounds and dreams.  

There are many possibilities so one needs to be very careful on what they find while sorting out the data from an investigation.  I’ve been with HPR now for nearly 6 years and although our evidence is very good evidence, the evidence we have found and presented as evidence of the paranormal to be I believe 98-99% accurate. And I feel very comfortable entering it as evidence.

We have gotten much better at identifying noises, voices and sounds by using our documentary video and audio recorders.  By comparing each voice recorder, for example, when we index a sound, noise or voice picked up by an audio recorder, we compare that index to all of the other recorders at that same time.  By using the “Doppler effect”, we can identify the source and direction of the sound or voice.  If, for example, we pick up a sound that sounds like a voice whispering, “Get out!” and we compare it to all the other recorders used in the investigation, we can authenticate or debunk the sound.  

As you can clearly see, the blue streak is caused by the headboard from the bed.
As you can clearly see, when the photo is lightened, the blue streak was a reflection off the headboard from the bed.
(click on picture to get the full image)
 In this example, if we compare it to another recorder that’s two rooms over that we happen to be in and at that same moment in time I say, “Ouch!” and it has the same tone and structure, we can debunk and eliminate the “Get out!” as an EVP. Hoosier Paranormal Research also uses a documentary video camera to capture each team investigating so that we can help identify false positives and authentic evidence.

In the computer age, we also have to contend with people producing false positives using programs like Photo Shop and Audio Edit to alter, change or enhance photos, videos and audios. HPR rarely presents evidence in an enhanced or altered state.  The way it was captured during the investigation, we feel, is the best way to present to the public our evidence.  Even when we do, its volume is the only thing enhanced.

So when you are listening to an EVP or watching a video of evidence on our website, you can rest assured that to the very best of our ability and knowledge, the evidence has been scrutinized and reviewed many times before it has been presented as evidence.
                                                                                                                         

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