Over the years we have been asked to review numerous photos and evidence that others have collected or accidentally taken. Though not all are deliberately faked. We have encountered some that are faked by people for one reason or another. I tend to believe that those who send us fake pictures are either testing to see if we believe for the sake of believing or are truly looking into the realities of paranormal investigations. by scientifically pulling apart any evidence that we  get to see if there is any truth to the evidence.

Some photos and evidence are merely accidents that appear to be paranormal. such as atmospheric conditions, lighting errors, a loose camera strap smoke, fog, etc… Even deformations in glass can cause the apperance of alleged paranormal activity.

With the advent of Photoshop and other photo and video editing software. we as investigators must remain even more diligent in our vetting of evidence to eliminate the possibility that any evidence captured or received is legitimate on not faked by these processes.

In the Above picture you can see what appears to be a small girl standing under a table in period dress. This picture was presented to us as real and the story was that it was taken at a house where they were having paranormal problems during renovations.

The First thing i noticed about this photo was that the shadow of the photographer was discolored by light and shows a red, yellow and blue shadow hues and that the hues of color throughout the photograph are the same with the exception of the “ghost girl” typically a real photo will maintain the same hues throughout and there should not be a large color variance. in this photo the girl is in black and white while the photo itself is in color which was a big indicator to us that the picture was not real.

After an analysis of the photo we deemed it to be fake and the owner of the photo finally advised us that it was presented to him as real but that he was later told that someone had altered the photo and added the girl in later with an IPhone application.

Typically when someone wants to submit a photo for analyisis we request the orignal photo if its on film to verify that it was printed on photo paper. and they type of camera that was used to take the photo. We usually ask about conditions and attachements to the camera for further varification.

If the image is digital we ask that they send a copy of the original file photo so that we can run the file through our software that can tell us the type of camera the date and time of the shot as well as the aperture settings and flash settings of the camera at the time of the shot.  All this information is stored in each and every digital photo and can be retrieved using special software. If this information is missing from the file it is usually a good indication that the photo has been altered

In this real photo of a hospital, we see what appears to be someone looking out of a window. We were sent this photo by person and were able to confirm that the photo is real and are able to verify the camera and setting at the time of the photo.

When we zoomed in on the photo it appears as if someone is leaning on the window sill looking out. When we can verify that the photo is real we start looking for other explanations first. in this photo we were able to find a group that was investigating this location and that they have static webcams set up throughout the building. They advised us that they did have a camera in that location at the time and we were able to confirm that it was a tripod with a camera on top. However from a distance and in film it appeared to be a person.

However when we began to review the pixelation of the image we found an outline of a person near the camera. And according to the research team that is using the site as a long term research location there was no one in the building at the time the photo was shot.

Video is another area where it can be easy to fake paranormal activity. With the easy access to a video camera and some basic editing software you can easily make a ghost video. So as Investigators we need to remain vigilant to the possibilities of fraudulent videos and how they are made. they are usually easy to spot and most appear fake to even an untrained eye but there are those out there with skills in video editing and special effects that can make ghost videos that look real.

We use a video software similar to the one used for photos that gives us all the settings and camera information that is encoded on the film when it is made and this allows us to eliminate suspect videos. as those that have been altered will have several layers of video compiled into one file, that can be easily seen by the software that we use. a typical video should only contain the video image and the audio anything with more than those layers is easily dismissed as fraudulent.