Ectoplasmatic Activity I Caught on Film

I'll give a little background on the image first. A few years ago my brother and I were bored and decided to go ghosthunting. We found a list of haunted places here in New York City and found a place that happened to be a block from our house, we grabbed my camera and headed over. The location is known as The Dakota, it is the first official aprtment building in the city and is one of the oldest in the area. It's name stems from it being so far north when it was made people said it was "in the Dakotas", these days it is almost mid town, go figure. It has become well known as the location for the film Rosemary's Baby and the scene of the assination of John Lennon. The building is quite large and very gothic/victorian, a land mark of the neighborhood to be sure. The haunted area is easily found in the rear of the building, directly opposite the scene of Lennon's shooting. It is a relatively unassuming gate known as The Undertaker's Gate and gets it's name from the fact that the undertaker's carriage was pulled up to that gate and deceased residents were brought out through there to avoid upsetting the wealthy occupants. Other than the obvious reasons for haunting there is rumor of many accidents, a few of which caused by the ghost of a small boy. I think it is simply a utility door now, when it's not being used by some homeless person. Anyway, we began taking random pictures of the gate and archway, looking through the gate, up the building etc. I told my brother to stand in the archway so we can get some scale in the picture to use as reference. It was a typical mid-winter day and the ground was covered in snow and the sky had few if any clouds, I can't remember what time the photo was taken but I'm sure it was the afternoon sometime. I reviewed the pictures in the camera, a 2.0 megapixel ( i said it was a few years ago) Sony CD Mavica, and saw nothing of interest save for the beautiful masonry work. When we got home and loaded the pictures into the computer we realized that in one there was clearly somthing there, somthing smokey. Upon closer examination we saw a few orbs or two, however the most interesting aspect was the way the smokey substance seemed to get brighter and even glow in the areas where it overlaps the snow. Wether it is ectoplasm or not I suppose I will leave up to you, I have my opinion but no proof other than this. My brother and I went on only one other expedition and decided to quit after an effective psychic attack by the ghost of a pirate who swore to avenge himself, and has done so many times.. Anyway, enough blabbering, here's the picture, the "'ectoplasm" can be seen in the lower left of the picture

And here's a close up of the "ectoplasm"

Make of it what you will, but I was pretty excited to get this on our first hunt

It's hard to tell really, I guess I would have to have been there or seen video. I can't say either way.... your brother doesn't look that excited about the whole thing hehe.

heh, he's having fun, it just wouldn't be metal to smile in a picture

I'm really impressed with the pic and it's possible ectoplasmic entity! Great work!

lol I see, well if he was going for the metal pose, yeah he's got it nailed

It actually looks pretty authentic. The only concern I would have is that it may be light reflecting off the snow. You stated that the sky was pretty clear and in fact you can see shadows on the snow. But you can also notice that just below your brother's right knee, the snow seems to be brighter than the surrounding snow, possibly indicating a greater concentration of light, which could be reflected back to the camera lense.

To me there is one possible mundane explanation that comes to mind. That is that the ectoplasm is actually small particles of snow being blown around. Was it very windy when the picture was taken?

Well, I'd have to say it doesn't look like swirling snow to me at all.

And, that bright spot near his knee looks to be part of the same whitish image. Not a source of light.

Yep, that's John Lennon alright

To me there is one possible mundane explanation that comes to mind. That is that the ectoplasm is actually small particles of snow being blown around. Was it very windy when the picture was taken?

Have a little bit to add to the theory. But first I'd like to point out that in the close-up, just to the right of the main apparition there is an ordinary looking "dust/water" orb, which is a good sign that moisture is at work.

The guy's hair is not blowing so it is probably not VERY windy (although living in Canada I am very familiar with snow, and it does not take hardly anything at all to blow it around, depending on the temperature and how it is laying.)

My theory is the magical force of.... evapouration . Looks like a rather sunny day. Snow tends to melt a bit in direct sunlight, even if it feels very cold outside. The combination of heat of the sun evapourating the snow and the cold air can cause a mist or fog to appear.

Theory # 2... your brother looks like a bit of a smoker (sorry to stereotype). If he smokes, did he happen to have one and throw it down into the snow just before this picture?

If anything, there are some freaky looking faces in that window just above his head. Looks like two heads/skulls caused by a combination of lights and reflections inside. Zoom in 2x and invert it to see them a bit better.

the snow seems to be brighter than the surrounding snow, possibly indicating a greater concentration of light, which could be reflected back to the camera lense.

Ah thanks... I almost missed this. Due to the lighting up of the snow, glare on your brother and the door behind him, I can pretty safely say that you were using a flash when you took the picture. This tends to increase the chances of catching a weird reflection in the picture by 1000%. Moisture loves reflecting light. I have yet to see a ghost or orb picture yet that a flash was not used.

[edit on 17-9-2005 by Yarcofin]

Forget about the ectoplasm, who's the evil looking dude stood next to it,
he must have cold feet, his feet are buried in the snow, and there are no footprints, its as if he was stuck onto the photo, very strange , I wonder if he as the capability to hover? like David Blane! gosh be carefull folks there are demons amongst us, And now they can Hover like David Blane.

Yep, that's John Lennon alright

lol, lol, lol, lol, lol, lol, lol,

hahahaha, I love ATS. I didn't do anything to this photo other than resizing it in photoshop so yes, my brother was actually in the picture. According to legend this place was haunted long before Lennon was born.

Yes, we are both smokers but there was no smoke at all in any of the other pictures. I've taken pictures with a cigarette in my hand and it's usually pretty obvious that smoke got in the way. What was weird about this is how well in focus it is, usually the smoke is rather blurry and not well defined.

My brother and I both generally flick our cigarette butts a good ten feet or more away, we try to see who can flick farther

I think it was pretty damn cold that day.

To be honest I'm not really a big ghost fan, I'm more into aliens and stuff like that, but I can never resist a good creepy building. I'm not up on all the prevailing ghost theories nor their contrary explainations. This is the only ghost photo I ever took besides random pictures with orbs. I will state on the record that I don't believe orbs to be much more than dust and stuff which is why I didn't outright dismiss this photo.

Did u happen to be holding a cigarette while taking this pic?

Thats the first thing i thought because the smoke comes from the bottom, where the mouth of the person taking the picture would be.

Actually it's not where my mouth would be, it's a digital camera with a nice big view screen on the back, it doesn't even have a view finder.

The question I always have when I consider the smoke idea is why is it so bright in the areas where it overlaps the snow?