ABUGAS# bubugaga# TALKING# go away!
Haunted Staples Receipt?
Chuck Ladouceur, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, September 26, 2007
Note from the editor: Ghostvillage.com receives a lot of unusual emails, images, audio, and video from people around the world. Recently, Chuck Ladouceur sent us an image that is vastly different than anything we've published before. We've all heard of cases of the face of Jesus turning up in toast, tortillas, or even fogged windows, but Mr. Ladouceur makes no claim that the faces that turned up on his Staples receipt was anyone he knows (or knew). As with all images and accounts on Ghostvillage.com, this is submitted as part of the discussion, not proof of anything.
Chuck Ladouceur wrote: This is a receipt from Staples. I found it while I was doing some bookkeeping. I don't know who it is or have any idea, I just thought it was pretty interesting to see a face (actually several) on the receipt like that. It might be nothing (like a rabbit shape in the clouds) or it might be real, who knows.
Mural Orb
Dale McGrinn, Palm Beach County, Florida, May 28, 2003, McGrinnstudio@hotmail.com
I'm an artist here in Palm Beach County, Florida and I just finished a mural at a client's home. When I uploaded the images to my computer there was a strange bright spot next to the sink. This is not part of the mural, fixture or flash!
I had a friend who is a high-end photographer examine the frames. He said it wasn't flash play because the orb appears to have a kind of mass to it. On closer examination one can even see a shadow on the floor. I have an enlargement on my site www.mcgrinnstudio.com. One of the painters working with me on this job said he had unrolled a drop cloth upstairs and came downstairs to get his brushes, when he returned upstairs the drop cloth was rolled back up! and he felt chilled to the bone. Spooky stuff... wouldn't you say!
Family Spirits at a Birthday Party
Amanda Ahulau, Princeton, Illinois, May 23, 2001, dasillibunni69@aol.com
I have had this picture for a few years now but I have not really shared it with any one. I do believe this is the best picture I have ever taken. I need some feedback on what to do with it.
It was about two years ago my husband and I were driving big rigs here on the mainland U.S., but we were living in Hawaii at the time. We were going home for a vacation for a month or two and we were staying with a friend until our travel dates arrived. In those couple of days her 18 year-old daughter was celebrating a birthday and I had snapped a few of these pictures. I do have others on that day but this is the only one that came out like this. I didn't developed these until I got back home in Hawaii and I took my time getting them developed over there. But when I did, and I saw what I caught -- I had to tell my friend back in the mainland.
It was about four months when we finally got back to her house and I showed the picture to her -- she was really freaked out. She started to cry and she told me about her husband that had killed himself almost seven years back -- he had lupus and was in a great deal of pain. She or her kids have never really healed yet, but when I showed her the picture, she said that she always feels him and her grandma who she believes is watching over her. I made doubles when I had the pictures developed so I could give them to her. She and I are the only ones to ever see these pictures. Please tell me what you think. If you look even not so hard you can make out two sprits over them.
Lights in the Woods
Rachel E., Mechanicsville, Virginia, July 2000
My family and I moved into a rental house in Mechanicsville, Virginia when I was 15. The house had just been built by our landlord and we were the first occupy it. But my experience, however, happened in our backyard.
Our backyard was basically just woods and it had a trail that the neighborhood kids would cut through before our house was built and they still used it from time to time. It was around 1 AM and my friend Allie and I were outside on the deck getting ready to light some left over sparklers from the 4th of July when we both looked up into the woods and saw two red eyes staring right at us. From where we stood, about 30 feet away, the eyes were about six feet off the ground and they moved down the trail toward my house. As they moved we heard the crushing sound of dirt beneath it and the eyes moving in synch with the sound of the footsteps. There was nothing else to see but these lights moving in the darkness. After about 10 seconds we ran inside just as my sister was coming out to join us and we nearly knocked her over. We told her what we saw and she didn't even want to look outside to see if it was still there.
We tried to make sense of it, of course. The red light from these "eyes" looked like the little red light that laser pointers produce. And at that time, almost every boy in my high school had one to annoy people with. But in order for that red light to be seen, it has to bounce off of something, like a blackboard. There was nothing in the woods that night but bushes and trees and these lights were moving. And since we wanted complete darkness for our sparklers we didn't have any lights on inside or outside the house. We even turned the TV off before going outside. So it couldn't have been a reflection. These lights had nothing behind them, under them, or in front of them. These lights, moving and all, were just two lights in thin air.
Two nights later, my sister was in the upstairs bathroom and came running out to tell me she saw something out the window in the backyard. She told me she saw a bright, white light, about the size of a quarter, moving horizontally across the yard in the woods. It wasn't on the trail, but moving across our property from left to right. She said it disappeared when it reached the end of our property.
I finally decided to go into woods the next day to see if I could find any evidence. Because if something was walking out there the night before it should have flattened the bushes or something like that. But nothing was there. We never saw anything else after that. I believe all three of us saw the same spirit.
Spiritography
Article and Photographs By Jim DeCaro
Editor's note: This page may take several moments to load, but it's worth the wait! The images in this article are slightly large in file size in order to preserve as much picture quality as possible. All text and images are copyright 2001, Jim DeCaro and Ghostvillage.com
It has been almost two years since I photographed my first unexplained apparition. During that time I have spent countless hours seeking to reproduce the elusive formula that induces apparitional images on film. Although I am satisfied with the results of my endeavors having captured several hundred unexplainable spirit images, I have come to realize it is not an exact science and the formula continues to remain elusive.
What is Spirit Photography?
Simply stated, spirit photography is the capturing of unexplained natural or supernatural images using a camera and film. What takes place between photographer and subject is a form of electronic spirit communication. The link between electro-magnetic energies and machines is becoming clearer to those who look to communicate with energies identified as spirits. There really is no scientific explanation as to what it is I'm communicating with, nor do I attempt to make one. I have heard several possible explanations of why these images appear on film and at the same time are not visible to the naked eye. I prefer not to lose myself in the "scientific" exploration of why; instead I choose to explore the "spiritual" aspect of why.
History of Spirit Photography
In 1839, the first publicly available camera, or "Daguerreotype," was introduced to the world. This cutting-edge invention could actually capture what the eye saw and reproduce it on a plate. The new invention was an instant success, and people around the world were scrambling to get one.
Spirit photography got its start about two decades later when in 1861 Boston-based photographer William H. Mumler took a picture of himself and "discovered" a ghost had appeared in the photo with him. Mumler began charging his customers for a séance/photography session and was making quite a bit of money in doing so. He was later exposed in the courts in 1872 as being a fake. Early cameras required the subject to sit motionless for periods of 60 seconds or more while the camera shutter remained open. During this time, the photographer's assistant, dressed in a flowing robe or cloak, could sneak into the scene behind the subject for ten or 20 seconds and then leave. When the picture was developed, a semi-transparent apparition would appear.
Other effects used by Mumler were simple double exposures--where two pictures are taken over the same piece of film--as well as other basic darkroom tactics. Mumler was a fake, but he did bring the subject of spirit photography into the limelight in the late 19th century. Spirit photography became almost a fad by the 1890s--some photographers were charlatans like Mumler, but others were capturing unexplained images simply for the sake of research--true ghost hunters.
Over the last century the equipment and technology has improved greatly. And just like 100 years ago, photos can still be faked--which is why it is crucial to follow a scientific method when performing spirit photography.
My Beginnings in Spirit Photography
I have had several supernatural experiences in my life that gave me the creeps. I saw my first ghost when I was around 17 years old and the experience really freaked me out--there was a man's face floating in the corner of the ceiling. The entity was twice as large as a normal face and glowing white, almost phosphorous. I had a few other experiences, such as hearing the occasional voice from nowhere, but there were no other visual sightings until I started taking photos for purposes of spirit contact.
In the spring of 1999, my friend Jeffrey Wands, who is an extremely talented psychic and the host of the "Higher Minds" radio show on WLIR, was insistent that I take my camera to a cemetery and begin taking photographs. Being the classic procrastinator that I am, it wasn't until June of that year that I took a late-night venture to a local graveyard. Camera in hand, I drove about ten miles to a local cemetery that was reported to be haunted. Total time on site was about 15 minutes--longer than I expected, since there is an ordinance throughout Connecticut prohibiting entrance into cemeteries after dark.
I took about two dozen pictures with my digital camera and drove home to view them on the television (digital cameras are great for that). I was not really expecting to see anything other than some headstones, but as I began to scroll through the pictures, I made a discovery. Around the ninth or tenth picture, I saw a glowing, circular, three-dimensional object positioned about two or three feet above the headstones. My heart jumped a little as I realized what this could be. I was now racing through the remaining pictures to see if there might be others.
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After scrolling through the remaining pictures, I realized there were several that required closer examination. The two dozen or so photographs had produced several of these unusual objects. I quickly downloaded the digital images to my computer in order to examine them on my 21-inch high-resolution monitor. Not knowing what to look for, I was now examining every picture for anything that seemed out of place. At least five or six of the pictures contained more glowing objects. My first expedition produced results far greater than my furthest expectations. Although I couldn't actually determine what the glowing images in my photos were, they were definitely there.
I gathered together the pictures with the objects and e-mailed them to Jeffrey Wands. Even though this is a man who sees and talks to spirits every day, I had no doubt he would be as excited as I was to see the images.
After Jeffrey had gone through the photographs, I sat through the "I told you so" speech. He was able to quickly discern what the images were in the photographs and identified the objects as spirits. More than that, they were the spirits of several children, and they were playing when I took the picture. Having known Jeffrey for several years, I know he is a truly gifted psychic--I had no doubt they were the spirits of children.
Later that same morning I returned to the cemetery. Using the pictures, I was able to find the exact spot where I was standing the night before. I began to walk amongst the graves where the objects had appeared in the pictures. I read the headstones and found that within a twenty-foot radius there were graves for no less than six children under the age of ten. I remember my excitement giving way to an odd feeling of sadness when the reality hit me. They are spirits, they are children, and they are right here--there were more graves of children than a person would want to see.
Over the next several days I made other trips to various cemeteries. I was getting good at parking my truck and walking down the street, taking pictures as I went. It may seem funny, but I was more concerned about getting caught by the cops than coming face-to-face with a ghost! I would walk down the outside of the cemetery, holding my camera over the fence: stopping, shooting, and walking. When I got to the end I would turn around and do the same thing going back. By this time I was taking 50 to 75 shots per night. As a conservative estimate, 50 percent turned out to contain some type of spirit activity. On some nights I could have as many as 80 percent of the photos containing some kind of spirit energy. Within five months, I accumulated several thousand photographs.
Some time around week four or five, I wanted to take spirit pictures, but I didn't feel like going for a drive, so I went in my backyard and started snapping away. I was getting as much activity in my backyard as I was at the cemetery. I think the main reason for my high rate of success was that I was more relaxed because there was no chance of getting arrested by the police--I could go outside anytime I wished. By week seven I began getting shapes in the pictures--human shapes--faces, smiling faces, sometimes with an amazing amount of detail. Shapes of bodies, shapes of animals, large animals, small animals, sometimes skeletal figures all began appearing in my photographs. I also captured streaks of light, three-dimensional orbs, and colored orbs. There were spirits that were becoming easily identifiable--whether they were a mist (ectoplasmic) or 3-D orbs. I began to recognize them, and there was an odd sense that they recognized me as well. Were we becoming known to each other? My journey into spirit photography was getting very interesting.
Spirits have made themselves known to me in a variety of ways. Their ability to become physical is truly amazing. Spirits can move objects, ring doorbells, open or close doors, and manifest a physical appearance. They can also make audible sounds. I have heard them walking, whistling, howling, and calling my name. Imagine standing alone in the middle of a field at 2:00 AM and hearing a voice call your name. Then take your camera, snap a picture, and see a large cloud of wispy smoke at arm's length in front of you.
If my experiences were phenomenal before, they were mind-blowing now. It wasn't long after this that my perception began to change. I was more aware of the things happening around me, both day and night. I believe the spirits were allowing me to sense them for what they were, or rather how I thought they were. And I can't actually say they were controlling the camera, but on numerous occasions, wherever the camera was pointing there was an appearance of some sort. To me this shows an uncanny intelligence on their part. So much so that I can't even attempt to render an explanation of how they do it. But they do.
BUBUGAGA.
