Otherworld North East Research Society Journal 01 | Page 12

Otherworld North East

there was a woman getting murdered not too far from where we were sitting at the time.
It sounded so convincingly like a woman screaming. It was so realistic that I even recall
one team member getting a large torch out of his rucksack to aid as personal protection
in case we stumbled across the murderer!! Of course, on later reflection and investigation
we did find this noise to be nothing more than just one owl squarking/sending out a
mating call! An example of a sound of an alarm call by an owl can be found here. Now
imagine that ten times louder, going on for five to ten minutes at a time with changes in
pitch and tempo. Then put yourself in a supposedly 'haunted' wood with people with a
vivid imagination and you'd be left with a screaming herd of investigators all running
around claiming they've heard something odd which I would put my money on them
concluding was paranormal in many cases. Pareidolia is not something we can train
ourselves out of particularly as it is considered to be just a natural human trait. Some say
it is a survival method too so perhaps its best not to try and train ourselves not to
recognize shapes, faces, etc!
It can however be toned down in each and every one of us. Perhaps before jumping to the
conclusion that because there appears to be two eyes, a nose and a mouth, that it
therefore has to be a face, maybe we should just step back and reconsider what other
possibilities there are.
Practical steps can be taken to try and minimize the likelihood of capturing anything on
camera/camcorder that isn't necessarily of interest. These are just simple measures such
as ensuring you are holding you breath for a few seconds before and during taking each
photograph, ensuring no one else is in the near vicinity who may be exhaling and of course
taking a note of any environmental causes noted (i.e. a natural mist or fog). You will never
be able to completely eliminate these possibilities but you might find you are getting far
fewer photographs that appear to show you false anomalous images.
The fewer photographs there are out there on paranormal websites showing what, to me
and most others, look to be just breath misting, cigarette smoke, natural mist, insects
flying past the camera, etc. the better in my eyes as this opens up more interesting
doorways for those few photographs that don't appear to fit into any of the
aforementioned categories.
As a conclusion though I will reiterate that not ALL so-called paranormal photographs,
video clips, sound recordings, etc. can fall into the category of pareidolia. There are a few
examples out there that still baffle the worlds' top Scientists and leading paranormal
investigators.
I'll conclude with a photograph I took myself back in December 2003. The photograph
shows a mist (of sorts). However, as you'll see from the photograph, it doesn't appear like
many of the traditional "breath mist" photos. Please note, the photograph also shows a
couple of orbs which are nothing more than just particles of dust caught in the flash. They
orbs are of absolutely no interest to me whatsoever but the "mist" type formation still

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