Spy Camera

[Brig]

I live in a pre-Civil War brick house, built in 1857. Since we moved here we have experienced some really strange things. So in deference to my wife, I purchased a spy camera and aimed it in the vicinity of many of the strange occurances. The first spy camera made over 900 shots before it gave out. Almost all of those shots simply show the interior of our house. And the camera is only supposed to activate if there is movement in its range. I bought a second camera and have set it up in a similar fashion. So far I have over 100 shots on it, most of which just shows the house interior. There are a few shots of my wife and I moving through the active scan. My question is, What activates these cameras when there is nothing moving to be seen. Yes I did get four rather strange shots that we are still trying to find an explaination for.

 

[EnolaGaia]

As far as I know, most current home spy cameras use a passive infrared (PIR) sensor to detect motion. They don't actually sense motion per se - they sense a shift in ambient infrared radiation level. Anything that can cause a transient change in the IR radiation level within its scan area (e.g., warm air coming from a vent) may trigger it. I've read that some PIR activated units can be triggered by changes in temperature on or close to the unit itself.

 

[Mungoman]

We had a particular motion sensor in a Library that I worked in that was continuously going off Enola; It had us mystified and also out of pocket until someone discovered that it was a bloody big spider that lived behind the unit. We removed the spider outside - after that - no more call outs.

 

[Coal]

Had a similar problem (for different physics reasons) when a spider moved into a smoke detector, although why the little bu**er only set the thing off at 2am I'll never know.

 

[escargot]

A couple of years ago the council installed movement sensors in an elderly relative's bungalow to raise the alarm if she went wandering at night. The system is called Just Checking and relatives can look at a graph online to see which room the person is in and when the doors open and close.

We'd often see movement in the early hours in the kitchen when we could tell that the occupant was in bed. Spiders and insects aren't supposed to set it off and the windows were closed so no curtains were blowing about. Never got to the bottom of that!

 

[Moooksta]

A mouse Scargy?

 

[ramonmercado]

A mouse Scargy?

The result of a dreadful matter transmitter accident.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I live in a pre-Civil War brick house, built in 1857. Since we moved here we have experienced some really strange things. So in deference to my wife, I purchased a spy camera and aimed it in the vicinity of many of the strange occurances. The first spy camera made over 900 shots before it gave out. Almost all of those shots simply show the interior of our house. And the camera is only supposed to activate if there is movement in its range. I bought a second camera and have set it up in a similar fashion. So far I have over 100 shots on it, most of which just shows the house interior. There are a few shots of my wife and I moving through the active scan. My question is, What activates these cameras when there is nothing moving to be seen. Yes I did get four rather strange shots that we are still trying to find an explaination for.

Fascinating!
The 4 unexplained shots - please could you post them here?
I'm all curious now.

 

[Brig]

As far as I know, most current home spy cameras use a passive infrared (PIR) sensor to detect motion. They don't actually sense motion per se - they sense a shift in ambient infrared radiation level. Anything that can cause a transient change in the IR radiation level within its scan area (e.g., warm air coming from a vent) may trigger it. I've read that some PIR activated units can be triggered by changes in temperature on or close to the unit itself.

Many thanks for the information. Now I need to know how or where to set this camera so it doesn't keep misfiring. The room it is in is heated by hot water radiator but it is summer and even they are not on. That room, the parlor is not air conditioned (14 ft ceilings keeps the place cool except during long heat weaves). There are no insects in the vicinity of the camera. I guess it depends on how rapid a heat change is needed to activate the camera. You've certainly given me food for thought on this matter. You seem very knowledgeable ; any further suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Brig]

We had a particular motion sensor in a Library that I worked in that was continuously going off Enola; It had us mystified and also out of pocket until someone discovered that it was a bloody big spider that lived behind the unit. We removed the spider outside - after that - no more call outs.

Thanks for the reply. I my case there is no place for a spider to hide. If a fly could activate it? Still, it seems a fly would have to be very close or land on it.

 

[Brig]

Had a similar problem (for different physics reasons) when a spider moved into a smoke detector, although why the little bu**er only set the thing off at 2am I'll never know.

Thank you for the reply. There is no place even near where I have the camera for a spider to hide. Could a fly activate the camera?

 

[Brig]

A couple of years ago the council installed movement sensors in an elderly relative's bungalow to raise the alarm if she went wandering at night. The system is called Just Checking and relatives can look at a graph online to see which room the person is in and when the doors open and close.

We'd often see movement in the early hours in the kitchen when we could tell that the occupant was in bed. Spiders and insects aren't supposed to set it off and the windows were closed so no curtains were blowing about. Never got to the bottom of that!

I know just how you feel. Thanks for replying.

 

[Brig]

A mouse Scargy?

I cannot say that this house is mouse-free but the critter would have to be very talented to get in front of this camera and wouldn't I get at least a blur?

 

[Brig]

Fascinating!
The 4 unexplained shots - please could you post them here?
I'm all curious now.

I hate to admit this but I haven't the foggiest idea how to do that. One of the strange shots appears to show a very lightly built but tall individual ascending our front stairs right beside ME. No one went up those stairs but me at that time. In fact, I was the only one at home at that time. I would love to send this one for answers. The others may just be plays of light. PS I'm older than dirt and was not raised at a time when computers were common. When I was young only Harvard the military had computers and they were slow and as big as a two story house.

 

[Moooksta]

I cannot say that this house is mouse-free but the critter would have to be very talented to get in front of this camera and wouldn't I get at least a blur?

Thanks for answering but I was asking Escargot if her camera could've be set of by a mouse. That said Brig...it could've been set of my a rodent. just cause you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I hate to admit this but I haven't the foggiest idea how to do that.

OK, here's what you can do.

1. Go to photobucket.com and set up an account (it's free).
2. Upload a picture (I'm presuming you have it in a digital format). Make sure it's not too huge.
   You could use a free bitmap editor such as paint.net to resize the picture and resave it as a png or bmp file before you upload it to Photobucket.
3. In Photobucket, there should be a means for you to find out what is the URL (web address) of the picture on Photobucket. Copy that with Ctrl+C or use the mouse right-click 'copy' option to copy it.
4. In the Fortean Times Message Board, when you are posting the pictures, just click on the little picture icon (to the right of the smiley face).
5. Up will pop a text field. Paste the Photobucket URL from clipboard into this text field (using Ctrl+V or the mouse right-click 'paste' option) and click the Insert button.
   This puts the picture in your post, and you just click on the Post Reply button to post as usual.

This reminds me that I should write some proper documentation for the FTMB...

Edit: Oh yes, silly me - you can also upload pics directly to the message board if they're not too big. Just click the Upload a File button right at the bottom next to the Post Reply button. You'll then be able to browse for the picture file.

 

[escargot]

There was no evidence of mice in the bungalow. We decided it was ghosts.

 

[Moooksta]

I'm not even going to argue with that.

 

[eburacum]

At least ghosts don't leave droppings.

 

[Brig]

No droppings around my camera either. I have learned, however, that very few people believe in ghosts until they see or experience one. My wife says she thinks she may be able to send the picture in question. She's a good bit younger than I am and more computer savvy. As soon as we can get together on this, she will try.

 

[Brig]

No droppings around my camera either. I have learned, however, that very few people believe in ghosts until they see or experience one. My wife says she thinks she may be able to send the picture in question. She's a good bit younger than I am and more computer savvy. As soon as we can get together on this, she will try.

Let's see if this works now.

 

[Ermintruder]

Well, that's mildly-disturbing...

That looks rather like an anthropomorphic pyjama-trouser phantom. I also visually translate that as being like a face, but that's just cognitive processing. Hopefully...

Also, intriguingly, running the whole picture through the flawed-but-useful online Error Level Analysis engine would tend to suggest that this submitted photograph is entirely-genuine (apologies Brig, but it's just my naturally untrusting nature)

See http://fotoforensics.com/analysis.php?id=cff3af97a7fc28201d7174234fd9f6c74bca69f7.117283&show=ela

Here it is just grey-scaled, with slight sharpening

 

[Brig]

I have no problem with anyone running an analysis on the photo. I'm sincerely glad you did. We have tried every way we are capable of to find a mundane answer for it. So far, no go. Actually there are three photos that show some part of this "it" moving up the stairs with me. My wife chose the one that shows the most. The other two shows me and "it" further up the stairs. Your opening statement about "pajama trouser" is most interesting as this house served as an old folks home for about 20 years before we purchased it. It was also a congressman's home (he built it) then a doctors home and office, then a school superintendent's home, a tearoom and restaurant and finally an Old folks home. It sat empty for eight years gaining a "haunted" reputation among the local kids before I purchased it and began renovating it in 1979 and it isn't finished yet. Anyone else who can offer expertise on this photo is most welcome. I still don't think I've got a good explaination for all of the shots this camera has taken that shows nothing but the bare room. I probably should set the camera to take shots up the front staircase again (That's where the "ghost" shots were taken) and see if we get anything else. Other suggestions would be most welcome.

 

[Ermintruder]

Please do post more samples. How different/similar/clear are they?

Does the staircase have a skylight/roof window immediately above this point where the picture was taken?

Was this picture really taken around 2am local time at New Year's morning 2009? The Camera date/time is accurate?

Do you have any pictures taken at or near the stairs (ideally in natural daylight) that better show the width/context of the stairwell?

Before looking at the EXIF data, do you know what make/model of camera was used? Do you still own it?

Whilst I can't see any obvious image editing, do you or your wife ever adjust/improve photographs?

Do you have any routine procedure, adopted then and/or still used now, for saving pictures from your camera?

Very interesting.....

 

[Ermintruder]

@ramonmercado
@stuneville
@mods

Does this intriguing thread surely not deserve to be moved/relinked , so as to generate some more justified comment and thought from the rest of the Board members?

The levels of insomnia and curiousity I personally exhibit are evidently not as commonly-suffered across the membership as I'd expected.

 

[Ulalume]

I have no problem with anyone running an analysis on the photo. I'm sincerely glad you did. We have tried every way we are capable of to find a mundane answer for it. So far, no go. Actually there are three photos that show some part of this "it" moving up the stairs with me. My wife chose the one that shows the most. The other two shows me and "it" further up the stairs. Your opening statement about "pajama trouser" is most interesting as this house served as an old folks home for about 20 years before we purchased it. It was also a congressman's home (he built it) then a doctors home and office, then a school superintendent's home, a tearoom and restaurant and finally an Old folks home. It sat empty for eight years gaining a "haunted" reputation among the local kids before I purchased it and began renovating it in 1979 and it isn't finished yet. Anyone else who can offer expertise on this photo is most welcome. I still don't think I've got a good explaination for all of the shots this camera has taken that shows nothing but the bare room. I probably should set the camera to take shots up the front staircase again (That's where the "ghost" shots were taken) and see if we get anything else. Other suggestions would be most welcome.

Wait - so there was only supposed to be one person on that staircase?
Brr.

 

[Ermintruder]

Is this (was this) the camera you used? Based upon the EXIF?

And presumably it is/was called "Bill' camera", for the purposes of image transfer?

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Taking the pyjama bottom route, I detect an elasticated waistband where we would expect it. The "eyes" would then be the pockets on the top; the lop-sided look would be typical of someone who had just got up or dressed hurriedly.
I think I see a necklace but the head is cropped. The narrowing shape is defined by a dark dressing-gown thrown back as if the night-wanderer is scratching his or her bum. The pregnant or pot-bellied look is probably exaggerated by the angle.

Just another thought. The breast pocket might contain a hearing-aid of the older, bulkier kind? Or a small radio even? The "necklace" would then be the bifurcating headphone lead.

Is the figure mortal with his back to us*? The care-home history makes me interpret this figure as a worker stepping forward to assist a confused resident. Maybe the wanderer - and the carer - had confused their time-zone and blundered into yours!

*Edit: Re-reading the thread, I see that the figure ascending the stairs is the poster.

 

[Brig]

Wait - so there was only supposed to be one person on that staircase?
Brr.

That is correct. Just me going upstairs. But the camera took 3 shots, the one you see here and then one with me and the "figure, a few steps higher and then one that just catches the bottoms of out trousers a few steps higher. We willtry to send the later two photos, just not sure when.

 

[Ermintruder]

@Brig am I correct with my identification of the camera type?

A low-resolution (640x480, as in one-third of a megapixel) auto-detecting wildlife camera?