Cemetery photo 07/16/11 - analysis requested

Hello all,

Yesterday evening my daughter, my grandson and I went to a local cemetery that is reported to have paranormal activity. This cemetery dates back to the late 1800's (approximately 1890's) and has a lot of legends surrounding it, none of which I'll share with you because I can't substantiate them, and why muddy the waters with what might be false legends.

We went out with two cameras, two KII meters, one EMF meter and two flashlights. We arrived right at 8:30 PM so we got about a half hour in before dusk starting setting in. The picture I'm going to link was taken at 9:11 PM after the light had faded to the point my daughter started having to use manual focus versus auto-focus. (Please note that the timetag on her camera is off by 12 hours stating 9:11:39 AM instead of PM).

I would like to share what had just happened prior to the series of photographs my daughter took that included the one I'm sharing. Since the cemetery has a lot of stories that surround it it is a magnet for groups of drunk teenagers for the past 100 years who like to go out there, party and cause damage to things. In fact, when we pulled up to the cemetery (which is about a 1/4 mile back in the woods off of a rural county road) a county Deputy pulled up right behind us. It was kind of weird! Because he just appeared out of no where. So....it appears the local farmers who live on that road immediately call law enforcement these days when they see a vehicle pulling onto the dirt road that leads to cemetery. While this is the first time I've been out to this cemetery, my daughter had been out a few times before with groups of friends when she was in high school. She stated last evening that someone has started taking care of the cemetery and that it was in better shape than she had ever seen it. So apparently they are keeping a close eye to prevent further parties and destruction.

Okay, so my grandson finds this headstone (for a baby's grave) that had been knocked off its footing and was broken into pieces. He wanted to put it back together because it being broken upset him. There were four large pieces and then one small one (which you'll see my grandson holding in his right hand). My daughter started snapping shots of my grandson putting the pieces back together. When he got to the small piece he labored for several minutes trying to figure out exactly where it was supposed to go and then he stood up and looked at it again to see if he could figure the location out. That's when this picture was snapped.

What we would like. We'd like some one with extensive photography experience to look at this picture and let us know if there is a specific thing that causes what we're seeing. We are not trying to make any claims, it's just that after about 3 hours of staring at it last night, making a copy and manipulating that copy, comparing it to other photographs, etc. We can't explain it. If it can't be explained from a photography standpoint, then let us know that.

The following link is to the original picture exactly as it comes off my daughter's camera, no compression, etc. Because of that the file size is huge (6.5 meg). I haven't even rotated it to portrait.

Photograph details:
Camera Model: Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Equipment Make: Canon
Date Taken: 7/16/2011 9:11:39 AM (note off by 12 hours)
Color Representation: sRGB
Subject Distance:
Flash Used: Yes
Focal Length: 24mm
F-Number: F/4
Exposure Time: 4/5 sec.
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Compensation: 0 step

Please note that this has a longer exposure time, and we realize that contributes to the overall blurred movement in the photo. But my daughter also took two photos in this series that were 1 sec exposure time and one that was 2 sec exposure time. The bizarre thing we're seeing around my grandson, if it is some type of artifact, has not been noticed in any other photograph of the night, not even the long exposure/motion photos.

We look forward to hearing what you can tell us about this.

img.photobucket.com...

I see a blurry picture....what are we supposed to be looking at??

I would say for someone who comes back in about 2 minutes saying they see a blurry picture...the answer would be nothing.

Originally posted by Valhall
I would say for someone who comes back in about 2 minutes saying they see a blurry picture...the answer would be nothing.

So you have just posted a normal picture in the hope someone comes along and see's something thats not there??

I see the little yellow lines....they look like artifacts from the other camera's....the picture is terrible...its so blurry theres no surprise there are artifacts present

reply to post by Valhall


What do you perceive as wrong with the photo?

The photo has been posted. I'm not going to share anything we think we see. That would be ridiculous. The photo is being shared to get expert opinions from photographers as to whether there is anything unexplainable in the photograph. That means it doesn't make a bit of difference what I think I see or what I think is wrong.

This is called being open-minded and wanting to hear someone with experience and knowledge on a subject give me factual feedback. That means you don't need to hear my opinion.

Originally posted by Valhall
The photo has been posted. I'm not going to share anything we think we see. That would be ridiculous. The photo is being shared to get expert opinions from photographers as to whether there is anything unexplainable in the photograph. That means it doesn't make a bit of difference what I think I see or what I think is wrong.

This is called being open-minded and wanting to hear someone with experience and knowledge on a subject give me factual feedback. That means you don't need to hear my opinion.

edit on 7-17-2011 by Valhall because: (no reason given)

In that case.....the picture is of such bad quality and the exposure time so long that the image is bound to show anomalies....the yellow/green streaks could be from the other camera's, someone with a laser light, light reflecting off of bugs.....there are multiple reasons for the yellow/green streaks....if thats what you think is weird about the picture.

all i see is someone who doesn't know how to take a picture.

i'm guessing those yellow check looking thingys?

i'll look again though.

Originally posted by loves a conspiricy

Originally posted by Valhall
The photo has been posted. I'm not going to share anything we think we see. That would be ridiculous. The photo is being shared to get expert opinions from photographers as to whether there is anything unexplainable in the photograph. That means it doesn't make a bit of difference what I think I see or what I think is wrong.

This is called being open-minded and wanting to hear someone with experience and knowledge on a subject give me factual feedback. That means you don't need to hear my opinion.

edit on 7-17-2011 by Valhall because: (no reason given)

In that case.....the picture is of such bad quality and the exposure time so long that the image is bound to show anomalies....the yellow/green streaks could be from the other camera's, someone with a laser light, light reflecting off of bugs.....there are multiple reasons for the yellow/green streaks....if thats what you think is weird about the picture.

Yes, the light tracks show movement. That's understood. There are three light tracks to the left of the picture. I will define what those are from:

On ground - EMF meter light
Left edge of picture - light from my camera
Below that - light from my KII meter

We understand that the photograph shows a combination of movement and long exposure, we're not arguing that. In fact, I think I've mentioned it.

As to the other person who made the snide remark about not knowing how to take a picture...we'll just move on.

reply to post by Valhall


In that case, it just looks like a standard blurry photo - the most interesting part for me is the fact that you state this is a graveyard, but there are no other graves in the picture. This could just be down to the blurring, however.

If you want photo analysis, perhaps a hivemind like 4chan's photography board might be better than here.

[Edit] Also, if you wanted an honest evaluation of the photo, you should not have prefaced it with a story

Yeah, the sparse markers are kind of sad. We found a 1935 survey of the cemetery and at that time there were 100 known graves, but only 35 markers. In 1935 it was stated there were lots of "mounds" with no markings. Those mounds are not visible now.

reply to post by Valhall


That is quite sad; my local church has some really old graves (C19 and possibly before, some of the stones are well-worn); while I personally think the practice is somewhat outdated, some of the gravestones and comments people use to commemorate their loved ones are truly beautiful. All those lost memories, set in stone only to have the stones weathered and lost.

I see a dark shadow around him/behind him on the right side of his body. Not sure if this is due to the long exposure time.

There is simply NOTHING going on with this pic that points to any unusual occurrence. You are obviously TRYING to FIND something that isnt there.

If you look at it LONG enough, and TRY to find some IMAGINARY phenomenon, you could even trick yourself into seeing a Leprechaun ghost with a top-hat holding a female 'alien' ghosts hand who is wearing a kinky nighty in that pic.

C'mon now. This is exactly why ghost photos get a bad rap here.

Thanks Tinker for taking the time. I would like to state here what we have noticed in trying to explain this from a motion/exposure standpoint:

1. If you take the light traces on the left of the picture and you carry that motion across the picture for every object in it, you will note that the same motion is not discernible from about right of my grandson on to the right edge of the picture.

2. We cannot resolve my grandson and the anomaly around him using the motion detected either on the left side of the picture or on the right side of the picture. We can't get his body to match the distortion around him.

3. We also can't resolve the clarity of my grandson to the severe distortion around him.

That's why we decided to start the thread and ask for an analysis. We are remaining open-minded and not making any claims. We're simply asking for an explanation that would most definitely take more than a minute of staring at the photo on the web. I do believe the proper analytical response will come when someone who has extensive photographic experience downloads the original 6.1 meg picture and truly looks over the ENTIRE photograph...paying particular attention to my grandson.

Thanks again for sharing what you saw.

Originally posted by pplrnuts
There is simply NOTHING going on with this pic that points to any unusual occurrence. You are obviously TRYING to FIND something that isnt there.

If you look at it LONG enough, and TRY to find some IMAGINARY phenomenon, you could even trick yourself into seeing a Leprechaun ghost with a top-hat holding a female 'alien' ghosts hand who is wearing a kinky nighty in that pic.

C'mon now. This is exactly why ghost photos get a bad rap here.

edit on 17-7-2011 by pplrnuts because: (no reason given)

Thank you for that underwhelmingly unhelpful post. Since leprechauns, aliens and ghosts haven't been mentioned, we'll store your response over in a separate file.

I think the shadow of your grandson is interesting. I guess its not a shadow so much as a weird pick up of the light due to the other light sources? Also, is there something tied to the tree at the right of your grandson? (Just out of curiosity...I couldn't tell if something was there or if if was the camera doing something odd again.)

I also want to apologize for the yokels who think it is hilarious to come in here and post sad one-liners in your thread. You have made a very nice OP, and you have no wacky claims, you've given a lot of detail and you are open-minded. This posting style is severely lacking on ATS, and I say thanks to you for making your thread in this way. This paranormal forum isn't one that I often go to, but if most threads were like yours then I'd have a lot more respect for the threads I read pertaining to the field. There probably isn't anything 'odd' going on in your picture, but at least my eyes aren't burning from reading a horrible OP, and that makes it much easier to actually check out your info with an open mind. So, thanks for the interesting story and the pic!

reply to post by AlphaBetaGammaX


Thank you very much for understanding my intent. No, we're not making any claim. We do understand the poor quality of the picture, and we understand that it contributes to the significant distortion. We're just asking some one to help us understand if it is the blur that is causing the anomaly that you reference around my grandson, because we weren't able to understand on our own.

I'm not seeing what you see on the tree, which points back, I guess, to other negative comments toward me that maybe this is just us seeing something there that someone else doesn't even pick up. Although two posters have now.

As to the forum rats or trollish posts, you don't have to apologize. I've been a member since 2003. I refrain from offering my opinion of how discussions go here now. I still think there are people here that take the time to really analyze these things and come back with intelligent responses...so I'll just suffer the flotsam and jetsom in hopes I get some one who cares enough and has the experience to assist. I'm actually not looking for confirmation of anything...but a lesson so both myself and my daughter can understand the effect that could cause it, if there is such an effect.

As to the the other person who wants to insinuate my "claims" have rendered the entire forum without legitimacy...when you find my claim, roll it up and stick it in your left ear. It might stop the whistling that apparently distracts you when you're trying to read something. Oops...no it won't. I've made no claim.