Digital Bits Skeptic

By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 119

Yes, of course the photo of ghost orbs and ectoplasm was faked.

The question isn’t whether or not it was faked. Or even if I did a good job at it. The issues I’d like to discuss are these:

Why should one be critical of such claims?

In order to flex our critical thinking muscles, what false assumptions and mistakes did the original “proof” article present?

The answer to the first question should be evident. Critical thinking and a skeptical outlook is needed to prevent abuse by others, as well as to stop you from wasting your time time and resources. Put in a much longer format, here is a big article with reasons why critical thinking and skepticism is important.

The answer to the second question is a fun and interesting examination of my ectoplasm and orb photo and my stated “facts” about the ectoplasmodic event.

The picture of ectoplasm and ghost orbs

First, let’s look again at the photo.

While it’s true I didn’t do any editing of the photo except for resizing and cropping, I didn’t specify how much cropping was done. Here’s the “proof” photo, followed by the uncropped original:

When you see the complete photo and realize the camera is facing up towards the ceiling, everything else falls into perspective. The orb/ghost on the upper left is just one of the many light fixtures on the ceiling of my kitchen. The orb/ghost on the lower right is most likely an artifact or lens flaring caused by one of the multiple lights.

Ectoplasm and ghost orb description

Let’s look at some of the claims from the original article, and address each one. For purposes of entertainment, education and logical examination, we’ll assume the author wasn’t me.

I didn’t know what it was. But I knew - I KNEW - that it was alive.

That’s a contradiction: If you don’t know what it was, how did you know with such certainty it was alive?

I also felt two other “beings” there with me. I felt like I was being judged, or watched.

Did this information just come out of nowhere? Were these beings communicating with you? Or was this information invented after the fact, trying to grasp at something, trying to explain a weird event?

I also knew that I didn’t have much time.

Sounds again like you’re inventing facts after the initial event. Was there perhaps “no time” because the event itself was so short, and you only realized that after it was over? There is a difference between claiming supernatural knowledge and examining a situation after it’s passed.

How can you ignore it, when it’s right there in front of my face? You can clearly see the blob of ectoplasm hovering just after it forced its way out of my mouth. There are the other two ghosts as well, one orb brightly shining on the upper left, and a small blue orb on the right.

I can ignore it because photos can easily be doctored or faked. You need more supporting evidence than that. If you’re going to claim something as physics-bending as hissing ectoplasm vomiting from your mouth and floating ghost orbs, be ready for some serious backlash. Things that violate our testable universal laws are regarded as unbelievable for just that reason.

This photo evidence was completely untouched, except for necessary resizing and cropping.

You may be lying. In addition, identical photos can be taken without supernatural help. Since it’s so easy to fake such a thing, we’ll just assume that’s what you did (at least until you provide more supporting evidence).

Any sense of ghost presences also vanished.

Convenient. Allows you to make a claim without producing evidence.

Forget the naysayers. I saw it, I know it’s true.

You’re free to believe anything you want. But without any kind of more substantial or verifiable proof, no one is going to believe you.

Summary and description of ectoplasm

This long and involved claim and debunking argument with myself will, ideally, serve some purpose. It shows that because one makes a claim, not only are you under no obligation to believe it, it’s up to that person to give more proof than simply “trust me”.

What about the star of the show - the ectoplasm itself? Well, I needed something unique and original. Something that had its own look, something that would never be duplicated.

And lucky for me, my family had just eaten pizza for dinner that night: The ectoplasm is a pizza crumb placed in the middle of the camera lens. All I did was stick my face in the way and give a weird look while I took the picture.

The orbs and ghost artifacts were an accidental bonus, actually. I had to point the camera up at my face so the crumb wouldn’t fall off the lens. And while pointing up, the ceiling lights happened to be placed just right to cause the effects you see.

All in all, a fun and successful experiment: I now know how to take a picture of a ghost. I know how to take a picture of ectoplasm and cool-looking orbs.

Turns out, it’s really easy. All you need to do is eat some pizza.

Other articles related to this topic:

• Photo evidence of ectoplasm and ghost orbs
• Kicking Bigfoot - The Patterson Film and M.K. Davis stabilization enhancements
• Anecdotal evidence against anecdotal evidence
• This is the dawning of the age of asparagus - fortune telling goes green
• Faith versus the scientific method