WILL COUNTY GHOST HUNTERS SOCIETY

    
                                                                                               Close-up image of the child.

I received a gift certificate to Best Buy as a birthday present from my co-workers and this past weekend, did something with it that I've wanted to do for a long time: I went to Best Buy and bought myself a webcam.

My plan was to hook it up to my computer and using some software (TinCam from TinCam.com), set it up so that every time it detects motion, it snaps a picture and automatically emails me a copy. This is the geek approach to security. The way I figure it is that I might not be able to prevent someone from breaking in to my house while I'm away, but at the very least I'll get a nice photo of them as they steal my stuff.

Well, imagine my surprise today (8/29/05) when the attached photo arrived in my mailbox. I immediately sent it to a colleague to see what he thought of it, and he identified it as a ghost. Before I knew it, it had made the rounds at the office and everyone was weighing in on the subject. Many people think it's the ghost of a child. A few even suggested I leave the house immediately. Not me! I love this old house and hope that if it is a ghost, it poses for a few more shots. If it does, I'll send 'em along.

Unfortunately, since I rent this place, I don't know a whole lot about the house's history or who the ghost might be of. The owners think that it was built in 1900. All I can say it was built before indoor plumbing, since the bathroom is a rather obvious addition to the dwelling! Oh yeah, one more thing...there's a cemetery diagonally across the street. Fortunately, nobody has said the house was built on an old Indian burial ground!

This photo has not been manipulated in any way since it came out of the camera. It's a still photo taken with a web cam, and as such, this is about as good a resolution as you're going to get.

About the photograph: This photo was taken with a Logitech QuickiCam Communicate STX using TinCam software. The camera and software can be had for less than 60 dollars total. The location of the photo is the second floor of the house. The camera is against the far wall of my office, and points at the doorway to the office. Across the hallway, you can make out the door to my bedroom. There are a couple of windows behind the camera, both with their shades drawn. Since I wasn't shooting into a light source, this is obviously not lens flare (as some have suggested).

The bedroom door should give a rough approximation of the height. As you can see, the ghost/apparition is just a little bit taller than the height of your average door handle. Of course, I don't know how to measure it exactly, since the apparition appears to completely lack legs and isn't standing on the floor!