Can anyone help explain this discharge?

reply to post by Extralien


Hey there Extralien,

Finally got to see and hear what you were talking about

I love the way some people automatically assume that you just want them to pat you on the head (virtually of course) stroke your ego and tell you it's a 'ghost' (as one poster suggested) ... without realizing that you guys are one of the most respected paranormal investigation teams in the country at this point in time ... and go out of your way to look for the obvious causes (and some not so obvious causes) before slapping on the 'paranormal' label.

It's a shame that due to the astounding number of unscrupulous charlatans ... hysterical tv presenters ... and incalcuble number of wannabe 'ghosthunters' crawling out of the woodwork ... the genuine folks also get tarred with the same brush ... it's a cross we have to bear I suppose (or pentacle in my case) but that doesn't make it any the less frustrating.

People have become so cynical (it's the same with the UFO phenomenon) and it's a result of these specific fields having become saturated with so much cr@p ... but in a way cynicism is not such a bad thing I suppose ... at least it means the (wo)man on the street is not as gullible as they once were (that's got to be a positive) ... just so long as they take each case on it's own merit and don't simply dismiss everything out of hand.


>>>mini rant over

That sound that coincides with the light sounds like a camera shutter opening and closing as I already had said. Theres another way to determine the sound is from a shutter is to do an analysis on the sound and compare it to a camera shutter......

Originally posted by loner007
That sound that coincides with the light sounds like a camera shutter opening and closing as I already had said. Theres another way to determine the sound is from a shutter is to do an analysis on the sound and compare it to a camera shutter......

Now that is a good productive idea. Good thinking !


>>>Extralien

Originally posted by loner007
That sound that coincides with the light sounds like a camera shutter opening and closing as I already had said. Theres another way to determine the sound is from a shutter is to do an analysis on the sound and compare it to a camera shutter......

Here is quite a few DSLR shutter sounds dcresource.com

Some of them do sound similar.

We did not notice any flash and we had no response from any of our meters.

Also the ONLY camera that was being used at the time was a video camera.
There were no still shots being taken at all so that eliminates shutter noise.

It is so unusual that we did not notice any flash (except for in the video), we may have heard the clicking but might have put it down to one of us changing hands with equipment or something.

reply to post by Extralien


It is a curious one I have to say.

I imagine you will have also ruled out the possibility of other equipment being responsible for producing the noise.

I tell you what it sounded like to me ... the kind of noise you get if someone had dragged something against the metal grill (eg: a pen or maybe something metalic) ... but you can clearly see there is no-one close enough to the doors to do that even accidently.

Have you let the people who work there listen to it ... would be good to find-out if it's a sound that has been heard before your investigation by others ?


Dammit ... I so wish the livestream had worked on the night ... there would have been so much more 'on the spot' (so to speak) feedback.


Woody

reply to post by woodwytch


We've gone over it and thought of as much as we possibly could.. I'm even asking for help on the TAPS main forum now too.

Nobody was near any of the doorways. The historian of the place did not mention anything relating to any noises..

Of course, we will ask him.

It's almost exactly like an EVP, except it's visible on the video. The guy in front of me didn't see anything and nor did I. We were both facing that direction..

Originally posted by Extralien
It's almost exactly like an EVP, except it's visible on the video. The guy in front of me didn't see anything and nor did I. We were both facing that direction..

You didn't see anything because the "flash" was quick and transient. I see at least two explanations to this, one being that the light coming from the floodlight on the right hand side of the scene, is reflected off an object carried by one of two people seen, and then gets reflected on the grill. Can be a shiny part of the camcoder, a belt buckle, eye glasses, almost anything.

reply to post by buddhasystem


I see and understand your thoughts, but the metal grill is galvanised and just does not reflect.. Then the wooden beam, although painted, doesn't seem to be able to reflect as much as this appears to.

You'll also note in the video how the 'flash' goes above the beam.

It is puzzling and 'number crunching' like we are doing is helping to work out what it could be... but we might possibly discover that we just simply can't explain it..

reply to post by Extralien


Fascinating ... keep us posted if you get any feedback from T.A.P.S. It would be interesting to see what they make of it over there.

Woody

Looks like a laser pointer to me.

reply to post by Extralien


The plot thickens...

So, what do we know about the flash:
- 1 It is quite dim and doesn't illuminate its surroundings
- 2 It was not seen by the people in the near area
- 3 There is a double snap noise that coincides with the flashes
- 4 The snapping noises sound like electrical discharges
- 5 The flash is seen above the wood at the top of the fence.

We know about the camera:
- 1 It was in nightshot mode with the illuminator on. Short flashes too short or dim to be seen in the visible spectrum by the human eye will be visible. Flashes in the IR spectrum will be visible.

We know about the fence:
- 1 It is galvanised steel with a wooden surround.

So how about this for an explanation:

1. The fence has become charged due to the piezoelectric nature of the granite walls.
2. A small area of zinc oxide from the galvanisation process created a potential difference on an area of the mesh.
3. The potential difference reached the breakdown voltage of the zinc oxide, allowing a large current to flow over a very short time, vaporising the zinc oxide, which creates a small cloud emitting light for a short time, which rises before dissipating

Supporting evidence:
- Galvanised mesh is generally hot dipped in zinc. There will be zinc oxide present from this process.
- Zinc oxide is generally used in Varistors and exhibits the same behavior - high impedance until its breakdown voltage is reached then low impedence.

This looks like the best explanation to me, how about you?


[edit on 8/6/2010 by LightFantastic]

Originally posted by LightFantastic
We know about the camera:
- 1 It was in nightshot mode with the illuminator on. Short flashes too short or dim to be seen in the visible spectrum by the human eye will be visible. Flashes in the IR spectrum will be visible.

This was another point I was forgot to make. You have the camera in super-sensitive mode, and a spot reflecting IR would look like a bright dot. It doesn't quite need to be polished or anything.

Many cameras have a red LED which is lit when the camera is operational (so that people in the scene know it's on). It is also conceivable that a small amount of light from that LED was reflected back in the short amount of time when the alignment was right.

reply to post by LightFantastic


I have to applaud the shear effort on what you've posted.

This could be a solution, but I will have to be sure to check the wire mesh for possible burn marks.

I'm assuming it would look similar to a burnt sparkler from a Nov. 5th celbration. I guess there would have to be some scoring of some description.

Until I can confirm your theory, we must continue the search.

Thank you very much for this info, it's all new to me and exactly the type of thing I would expect from members of ATS.

reply to post by Extralien


The burnt area might be very small and not easily noticeable. Do you have a static field meter?

Can you check the wood mounting screws to see if they are in contact with the mesh?

reply to post by LightFantastic


We will try to get every bit of the frame checked out.

I dont have one of those meters.. I am going to look into what one is and it might actually help us in future investigations. It sounds like a handy little tool.

reply to post by Extralien

I used to buy static related equipment from Fraser Antistatic, who are in Devon.

At the time they also lent me demonstration equipment.

Good luck!

PS Thanks for the praise but I didn't put much effort in. I was just lucky that the phenomenom fits my knowledge well!

[edit on 9/6/2010 by LightFantastic]

Very simple. It's what other said. The Flash IR from a DSLR Camera. You can also at the same instant as the flash, hear the camera shutter close and open.

Not 'paranormal' one bit...

Originally posted by Pharyax
Very simple. It's what other said. The Flash IR from a DSLR Camera. You can also at the same instant as the flash, hear the camera shutter close and open.

Not 'paranormal' one bit...

The OP said that there were no DSLR cameras present.

reply to post by Extralien


i'll tell you the immediate impression i got, upon looking at the clip.

it seemed like some little opening and closing.
kind of like our eyelids do.

i'm not saying it is an eye or anything like that - or anything else, for that matter.
what it felt like was a quick opening and closing.