Two pics from CAIPRS dinner tour!!!

[lildebcc]

You don't see anyone looking out the carriage house windows at you. Right now, that building is being used as a blacksmith shop. What you see is reflection of all the tools and supplies that are housed inside the building. You may not have used a flash, but you can see the reflection of the property lights and street lights in the window.

Night/low light photography can be so tricky. The shadows can make it look like there are things there when there really isn't.

The courthouse window; I don't see anyone looking out. I see an air conditioner though. The bell tower; my guess would be branches from that tree got in the way of your picture. If you moved even the slightest bit, you may not have picked up the branches in the other two pictures.

Plus, they are a bit fuzzy to be sure about anything.
>^o.o^<

[aneaglesangel]

LOL! It's always hard, LOL!! The window in the courthouse I'm talking about didn't have an air conditioner in it. I just hope I can remember all the names and stories! I want to work on putting the pics and story together for the tour, it was so much fun, I gotta share it!!

[lildebcc]

Just an FYI about the "first firehouse in Barnstable". We don't know for sure if that building you have a picture of was in fact the first firehouse. I know it looks like it could have been. But with the information we have found out about it, it's just the carriage house for the Customs House that is out in front. >^o.o^<

[lildebcc]

Yeah, posting all the stories about the tour would be nice, however, if you do that, then everyone will have all the information and stories, and people may not want to come to see for themselves and hear the stories first hand:-[

Hearing the stories first hand in front of the actual buildings is half the fun of the tour. An remember, information changes as time goes on. The more we dig into these stories, we find that infomation gets updated and new things get added to the stories. >^o.o^<

[aneaglesangel]

I hear ya lildeb! I wouldn't want to lower interest, but to raise it! It is very exciting to hear the stories right there at the buildings!! I was so excited about the tour, I must have been beaming!! I would never want to post a story that would slow down my good buddies at CAIPRS!!! I'm sure as time goes on, you'll have more stories to tell!! It seems to me from the atmosphere and service in the restaurant that your group is highly respected! That's what I want to present to the world, the great professionalism and fun you guys bring to your tours!! Race car driver and I had such a good time, that's all we've been talking about for days!! Keep up the great work, the CAIPRS tour ROCKS!!!!! But just so you know, I won't tell too much, but I want people to know how awesome your tours really are!!! Give Derek a big hug from me and race car driver, and tell him to give you one back from us!! We looooved it!!!

[lildebcc]

aneaglesangel,

I am really glad that you and your friend enjoyed the tour. It is a lot of fun, and we enjoy bringing all the ghost stories and history to people. Of course if anyone is interested in the stories and history, a good Google search and some effort will get you there if they can not make it to the tour.

Okay, I believe I have solved the mystery of the pictures that you posted.

I was driving around this weekend and when I was going through Barnstable Village, I stopped and took pictures in the same area as you did during the tour. Granted not the exact same spots, but close enough. I will not post the pictures here; do not want to take up a lot of room on the board, but I will post the links to the pictures if anyone wants to see them.

Picture #1 – the carriage house – What you see as a man looking out the window is actually a curtain in the top of the window and some white painted boards along the right side. I also noticed that the glass in this building is very old; pressed glass I think it what it is called. It has imperfections in it, which causes light, flash, natural, or other, to distort when it hits the panes of glass. This kind of glass can be found in a lot of older buildings. The combination of the glass the items seen around the windows and imagination gave the illusion of someone standing there.

Picture #2 – the Court House – There are three air conditioners on that side of the building. Also, you have 24 pane glass windows underneath storm windows. There is a very good chance of light being distorted in these windows causing false images.

Picture #3 – the old Court House (bell tower) – These are some possible explanations of why you got that “mist” in front of the bell tower in your pictures:

When looking at the bell tower in the daylight, you can see the tops of trees through the back of it.

Also, there is a brass bell in the tower. It is sitting on the floor, not hanging. You can see the upper half of the bell, which could have reflected some of the light from nearby streetlights, houses, or other buildings.

Depending on where you stand in front of this building, you get dead branches, tree leaves, or wires in front of the bell tower. Moving left or right a little will take these things from out of the way of the tower.

I do not, by any means, wish to steal your thunder on possibly getting something in your pictures, but this is what we do. When we see an anomaly in a picture, we do what we can to recreate it or disprove it. And if we can't do either of those things, then it is more than likely a possible true picture of an anomaly. Luckily enough, I was able to go back to the same area within one day and take a look around.

Nighttime pictures can be hard to figure out sometimes, especially when they are dark or not clear shots and a person may not be familiar with all the little things in an area that could cause an anomaly in a picture.

But, that is why we do what we do. And for me, I would rather someone tell me that something logical caused an anomaly in my picture, then go around telling everyone it's something that it is not and have it found out to be nothing somewhere down the road. Professing that false (whether known to be or not) pictures are real takes the validity out of paranormal research. It's the one step forward two steps back syndrome.

That's why we check into them and scrutinize them before we post or say anything about pictures containing anomalies. Until we can say proof positive YES, that picture will always be regarded as, “we’re not sure”.
>^o.o^<

[aneaglesangel]

I'm glad you went back and checked the firehouse windows, I couldn't for the life of me remember if there was stuff in it or not. If I have a chance, I'll show ya how the other two pics of the bell tower came out, I love that building by the way!! Did you say there was an air conditioner in that courthouse window?? I can't for the life of me remember it being there, LOL, I was sure it was just a window. I guess it just goes to show what happens when you look at so many buildings in one night, LOL! Ya can't remember which feature goes with what building!! I still love all the houses and properties that you showed on the tour! I was wondering, how long are the walking tours, maybe I can catch one of those one of these days!!

Oh, and don't let me forget to get the other bell tower pics up, I gotta catch up on everything now that I got my DSL up again!! Darn storm went and fried my modem last week!! I was on dial up for a few days and it was driving me crazy!! You can't go back to dial up once you've had dsl, that's for sure!! The tour was definitely worth the trip, I'd recommend it to anyone who was looking for a good ghost tour!!

[lildebcc]

It's not a firehouse! LOL It's the carriage house for the old Customs House, and is now a blacksmith's shop.

And yes, there are three air conditioners on that side. Always good to have a notebook handy or a tape recorder so you can make verbal notes about the pictures you are taking (that's what I do). Or if you take low light pictures, take one in low light and one with a flash so you know what you are taking a picture of. A little more work I know, but worth it in the end. Then there are less to no questions about your pictures.

Well, I guess I can post the pictures that I took. Then you can compare and see what I mean.

As far as the tour goes, the regular walking tours take about two hours.

[cj]

Howdy


This one I lightened up and cropped just that window in question. It looks to be a curtain to me, and a reflection of whatever is casting a shadow on the building



This image I lightened and you can see the air conditioners on that side in the window



This one I lightened and it looks like the tree branches were captured the lighter part on the right was any one smoking?? or was it ones breath or a fingerprint on the lens.

[aneaglesangel]

That's the wrong window in the carriage house. Didn't Derek say it was made into a firehouse after the big fires? Maybe I remember it wrong, it was next door to the customs house. I think lildeb said there was something behind the window I'm questioning, which is what I had thought in the first place.

I've got to get an extra memory stick and then I can take pics til the cows come home and not worry about running out of space! We also have some pretty cool editing software on one of our pages on Spirit Society. I like it alot, and it's pretty easy to use! It's in the photographs section if anyone ever needs to use it, feel free!!

I do love posting pics and discussing anomolies! The only way we learn is be looking, discussing and examining the pics! I still love the old buildings whether or not there's ghosts in the buildings. I just hope everyone else enjoys them as much as I do!

[lildebcc]

Nope, you are mistaken, Derek did not say that.

I agree, it can be interesting discussing anomalies. However, I always figure that an anomaly is something that can not be explained. I have had a lot of pictures that are questionable, but I do not post them until I examine them and have others check them first. Most of them end up being normal everyday things that got into the pictures, and that is why I have not posted them.

Came close to posting one that I took at Cobb's Hill Cemetery the night of the dinner tour. It looked like a flame in mid air, black and white photo. It's an awesome picture. I showed it to Derek, and he said it was a moth. Was I disappointed? Oh yeah! Thought I had something good on film. But that is okay, one more picture I can ad to my "not all round objects flying around in pictures are real orbs" photo album. LOL

>^o.o^<

[lildebcc]

Okay, went back and looked at the picture in your original post. Sorry, I commented on the wrong window.

Where you say you see a man looking out to the left - well the walls of the interior of the now blacksmith shop are covered with all kinds of tools, plus there is other equipment stored in there as well. Then there is the reflection of the street lights in the glass that are causing all kinds of shadows from the items inside.

Mystery solved, looks like you don't have to bother Chris with these now.
>^o.o^<

[aneaglesangel]

I don't know I think I would 'call' it differently, an anomoly to me is something that is out of the norm. A positive photo, I would consider a 'paranormal' photo because it falls into the unexplained categroy. I'd also call it an anomoly a false positive. I think you should post the pic, when you post pics that are false positives and explain what it is, you help people to learn. Then if they get a pic similar to your false positive or anomoly, they'll look for similar causes. I love photography and I could look at pics, whether they be paranormal, creative, false positives, or possible paranormal shots! To me you can never learn enough about it. Even though I think I know what is in the pics, I like to hear Chris's explanations, he describes it very well. It helps me to understand more, and hopefully to improve upon the way I take pics!!

But like I say, I love photography in general, I also love to do landscapes, flowers and nature, and such. Being good with paranormal photography helps me get better pictures, so I can hang them in my house and be proud of them!! Guess I'm just weird like that, LOL!!

[lildebcc]

I do not like to think of it as 'out of the norm'. Normal is different for everyone. What one person thinks is an anomaly someone else may think of as their version of normal. That's why I like to think of an anomaly as something that can not be explained.

True about posting pictures that prove to be something other than 'a ghost on film'. Guess it could be considered evidence of a false orb or something. But I do not like to post pictures until I know for sure what they are not and what they are. And would people really be interested in seeing pictures of raindrops, dust, bugs, and camera straps under a topic called "Share Your Evidence"?

Maybe time for another topic heading for this kind of thing. Okay, anyone out there interested in seeing those kinds of pictures on this message board?

>o.o^<

[cj]

HI All

no not really, I can see those pics all over the web