Octagon Hall

Was reading through newspaper articles last year and stumbled across this…

I was intrigued with the article headline of “Ghost hunter finds ‘holy grail’ image at Octagon Hall”. That has just ‘gotta’ get your attention if you are into ghosts and such things, which of course I am. J But my first impression of the photo makes me wonder about the ghost images. There appears to be a mysterious flash of light in the photo over what looks like a dresser. It is hard to tell what is on top of the dresser as well. Could these objects be hiding a projector that is projecting the image onto a flat plastic sheet that is between the camera and the projector? The red cast of the image would make this even more difficult to determine images. I am not saying that these people intentionally faked this photo, but saying it is a possibility.

Then too, there appears to be two people (hopefully not ghosts as well) sitting in the room. One in a wheel chair and the other it appears at a table of some sort. The one in the wheel chair appears to have some type of device with a light on the end of it. It appears to be pointing in the direction of the projector/brighter light source area. Could he be using a laser type device that is hitting a shiny surface and then reflecting back at the camera person?

Apparently about once per month they lead investigations into the Octagon Hall in Franklin, Kentucky.  I would like to go on one of those sometime.  :) The statement in the article seems to imply that those previous trips were fruitless. This would also be an indicator that there is some desire, after all that effort of monthly trips, to have some results. If they were pressured in some way from outside sources, this would make this push for results even more compelling. Also based on the article he does have experience in investigating ghosts given that he (Keith Fournier) has been doing it for 10 years (or more). He even has his own team called Night Stalkers Paranormal Research. I have to admit at this point that I do have an indirect tie to this group through a mutual friend that said I would find them and their website really interesting. They meant interesting in a way that I would have a lot in common with them on a love of these things. I also admit I have not gone to their website yet, but hope to do so soon. Especially after posting this. Lol Who knows, we might become great friends.

Anyhow, back to the article and the photo. I would love it if this was a real photo of a real ghost..er…ghosts. Another thing came to mind too with regard to the photo, and this one may be really reaching on my part, but given the quality of the image, could the image be a double take of the person in the wheel chair? I would want to overlay the ghost images with the person in the chair, and I think that would remove or give evidence to this possibility.

Yes, I am typed this as I read the article and came across the part where he talks about the basic technique of asking a ghost to turn on a flash light. (Which, by the way, I think is really cool. Just think of what would be required to make the flashlight come on for the ghost’s part as well as the mechanisms of the flashlight). But here is where he says the flashlight light was red in color…why? Is this to keep from messing up infrared or night vision? Or was it really just a red flashlight with normal color lens? Too, he talks about exposure, about long exposure in particular…was the camera mounted or handheld? If handheld, this really points back to the possibility of an exposure image set over the photo in a different place depending on light levels and exposure times and what surfaces had the most light, etc. Seems that Tim Broekema, associate professor of photojournalism at Western Kentucky University was talking about this, in this same article, as well as a possibility, and yes he is right about just simply Photoshop editing the image. Just because it CAN be done, doesn’t mean that is how it was done, which is a point that the professor and I appear to agree on.

Also in the article is an interesting twist to the events leading up to the photo. Barry Gaunt of Bowling Green, co-founder of The Anomalies Research Center, had been going with them on these trips but from the implication in the article was that he was not with them when this photo was taken.

I may have to do a little reading on Barry Gaunt and his group as well. Maybe he has a different take on such investigations or a different style of doing so. I guess what I am really tip-toeing around is that Barry Gaunt, a separate organization than the one who took the photo, was not present “by chance or by coincidence” on the night of the photo. I am not saying that Barry chose to not be there that night nor want to imply that if the photo turns out to be a hoax that he had anything to do with it. I might be leaning to the opposite direction in that he is completely oblivious to any such thing. His praise and comments sound more like someone who really is supportive of the group that did the photo. Maybe even wished he was there that night after 35 years of investigations. We really don’t know from article.

What is really cool about the location, which might help with the argument in favor of the photo being real, is the sheer number of ghost hunting teams (over 100) that have gone to the location, according to the Keith. (Another thing I will have to check into after this posting). He further adds that it has a long history of hauntings and is one of the top five most haunted locations in the country. He further adds that there is a lot of activity (paranormal kind) at this location from moving objects to sounds. I think I will look to see if the Ghost Hunters series TAP team has investigated the location (also after posting this). J Keith says that he believes the taller female is “Elizabeth Caldwell, wife of the original owner of Octagon Hall.” He adds that he believes the other woman might be the nanny, though he isn’t sure about it being the nanny. Honestly, this could be a family member that may have died there or near here or any number of people. Who is to say ghost can’t interact with each other? He said that she died in 1859 of an unknown illness. This of course opens up the possibility of a wrong doing, which according to some, can sometimes be the source of a haunting.

In all fairness I am also going to add the website tags for the two investigating groups:

Source: http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/local/ghost-hunter-finds-holy-grail-image-at-octagon-hall/article_f1c421ac-2441-11e2-a81a-001a4bcf887a.html
Keith’s group is at www.nightstalkersparanormal.com.

Barry’s group is at http://tarc.snappages.com/
And the Octagon Hall’s website is at www.octagonhall.com.