STRAWBERRY HILL MUSEUM - APPARENT MIST?

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This photo was taken with black & white film in a Kodak disposible camera. It was taken in one of the display rooms off of the Nun's Hallway. These display rooms were created from the old dorm rooms the nun's used to live in when the building was an orphanage. Upon examining the photo, we observed what appeared to be an apparent mist in the center of the photo.       Click on any of the images on this page to see a larger view of the original photo. Or CLICK HERE to view the image exactly as it came back to us from the photo lab, full-sized and ready for your analysis. Its a large file, so give it a few moments to download. When you are done looking it over, close the window in which it opens. But keep reading for our full analysis and conclusions about this interesting photo.     The museum was heated and our breath did not form mist or condensation at any point during the night. There was no smoking before, during or after the investigation. You can see there are small candles on the table as part of the decorations, but none of these were lit during the investigation. In fact none of the candles had ever been burned. This apparent mist was not seen by the investigators at the time that the photo was taken.     We examined the original negative, and the apparent mist is visible as part of the photograph in the negative. There does not appear to be any flaws in the film itself or on the surface of the film. The apparent mist appears to be interacting in a way with the decoration on the table. Observe that the apparent mist on the left hand side of the zoomed in image above appears to be emanating from or encompassing the artificial plant decoration on the table. It appears to be drifting and rising upwards and to the right.     The fact that there is a glass display cabinet in the photo made us wonder if the apparent mist was some sort of reflection of off the glass cabinet, refracted in the lens. But examining the angle of the glass in the photo to the position of the camera, it does not appear possible that the glass in question could reflect light back to the lens. That brought to mind the possibility that rather than being a mist in the air, what we are seeing is the light of the flash reflected upwards from the glass onto the flag and wall behind the glass cabinet. If it were a reflection from the cabinet, its upper edges should reflect the straight edge of the front of the cabinet, forming a straight line along the upper extent of the possible reflection. This does not appear to be the case, as the upper extent of the unexplained mist does not form a straight line. Still not sure for the cause of the apparent mist in the photo, we moved on to the rest of the photos, resolved to return to this one for some more analysis later. That's when we came to the photograph below. Notice that it also has a glass cabinet and that the layout of the room is similar to the room in the photograph above...just flipped the other way. We noticed something odd in the photo below as well...     The light spots in this photograph are similar to the apparent mist in the prior photo, except that these light spots are clearly the flash reflected from the glass cabinet onto the wall. The objects on top of the glass cabinet block the reflected light of the flash, casting a shadow on the wall behind them.     Seeing this clear flash reflection, we immediately went back to our apparent mist in the photograph taken in the other room... Taken in context with the second photo, it became clear to us that the apparent mist in the first photo was actually just a reflection of the light from the flash off of the top of the glass cabinet. The decoration on top of the glass cabinet is made up of plants and pinecones, and it blocks some of the flash reflection casting a very uneven shadow. Its the unevenness of this reflection and shadow that makes it so easy to mistake with smoke or a mist. But in the end...its just reflected light. Once I received Shawn's digital photos, I found this photo which shows the reflection very clearly for what it is. We will never present evidence of the paranormal, without having sought out every possible natural explanation for the phenomenon. This case is no exception. Regardless of how interesting this photo looks upon first examining it, reflected light is reflected light.

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