Ghost Prank Photo App
http://ghost-prank.en.softonic.com/android
In all walks of life, technology is changing the way that we do things. This is especially true within the field of paranormal investigation. However, technology can be a bit of a double edged sword, particularly when considering the recent technological advances made in the development of the camera. On the plus side, digital cameras have allowed us to have more or less instant access to our photographs (long gone are the days/weeks of waiting to have your shots developed and printed). Thanks to digital camera technology, we are now able to view our shots almost immediately. However, because of the way that digital cameras capture and store images, and how they can subsequently be altered, it has made the art of creating fake photographs much easier to achieve. With advances in the power/abilities of photo manipulation software, almost anyone can now make passable fakes with very little technical know how required. With the arrival of Smart Phones, and more importantly Ghost Photo Apps, making fake ‘ghostly’ images has become far simpler than ever before. There are now literally dozens of Ghost Photo Apps ‘out there’ that can insert ‘ghosts’ into your images literally by the touch of a button.
I was fortunate enough to try out one of the first Ghost Photo Apps (if not the first ever!) called ‘Ghost Capture’ (Created by: GDE Film, LLC) shortly after it had been launched in 2010. It contained around 40 different ‘ghost’ images that you were able to insert into your own photos. It allowed you to rotate/orient the ‘ghosts’, adjust their size and transparency in order to make them look more convincing. I remember thinking at the time that this was going to generate a whole heap of trouble for serious investigators, and it wasn’t too long before I began to see ‘Ghost Capture’ photos being passed off as the ‘real deal’. In fact, less than a month after I had seen a demo of the app, the following photo appeared in both the Sun and Daily Mail.
Hull School Ghost Hoax Picture
The ‘Ghost’ in question, provided by the iPhone App ‘Ghost Capture’, created by: GDE Film, LLC
The back story that accompanied the picture sounded quite convincing. Hull based construction worker, John Fores, was demolishing an old school when he hastily took a picture of the work in progress. According to the newspapers, it was not until John got back home that he spotted the spooky apparition of a translucent boy dressed in old fashioned clothing on the photo. Instantly I recognised the ‘spook’ as one of the ‘ghosts’ available in the app I had seen demonstrated. I, along with dozens of other investigators it seems, contacted the newspapers to let them know that they had been duped, but they never ran a follow up to correct the story. The old adage, ‘never let the truth get in the way of a good story’ seemed to be very much in force with the tabloids that week.
Over the subsequent months I saw hundreds of ‘Ghost Capture’ photos being posted all over the internet (in particular on social media), with most being passed off as pictures taken by a ‘friend of a friend’. Initially, these pictures were accepted at face value by many, and detractors like myself were given a rough ride for daring to say that these pictures were fakes. However, more Ghost apps soon flooded the market and paranormal enthusiasts eventually began to get wise to the situation.
With each new release of a Ghost Photo App, there tends to be an initial rash of ‘spooky images’ being posted everywhere, usually accompanied by at least one image appearing in a national newspaper. The most recent publication to fall foul of a Ghost Photo App hoax picture was the Daily Mirror who last April (2014) ran a picture taken at York Castle which contained the image of a Victorian Girl. The image had been generated by a fairly new app called ‘Ghost Prank’ produced by Softonic.eu
At first, I admit that I was seriously pissed off with these hoaxes, as I was being sent dozens every month to assess, which was becoming very time consuming to check out and reply to the senders. But after a while I realised that hoax detection was a good thing. It was keeping investigators more alert and necessitated that we kept our knowledge up to date. In addition, I have developed many new techniques in analysis /scrutiny that I probably wouldn’t have done if these apps had not existed. So in the end, fakes are good for investigators.
In fact, the more Ghost App fakes that we see, the easier it gets to spot them. Each app has a limited palate of ghost images, so after a while, especially if you spend a little time dipping into on-line ghost enthusiast groups pages, you will get to recognise most of the repeat offenders.
But fake detection is only part of the task for a paranormal investigator. We also have a responsibility to educate and to treat others with respect. It is very easy to denounce a fake and call the individual who posted the picture a fraudster, but it is important to remember that due to the viral nature of some postings, a fake image can be spread far and wide very quickly. Therefore, the person who posted it for your attention might have seriously believed that it was genuine. Instead of shouting ‘hoax’ and calling the poster a fraud, try to act more professionally and give the person the benefit of the doubt. Firstly, if it is a hoax, it is your responsibility to clearly demonstrate this to the person who posted the pic. This can be done by either finding out which app is responsible for the picture and posting a screen dump of the bogus ‘ghost’, or alternatively, searching for other examples of the same ‘ghost’ appearing on other photos. If you have been sent the picture direct (ie not via social media sites), chances are that the EXIF information in the picture will still be intact and the name of the app used to insert the ‘ghost’ will be present. For more information on EXIF data see here:
http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/38/what-is-exif/
By demonstrating categorically that the image is clearly a fake and also telling the person that they are not the first, nor will they be the last, to fall for this sort of trick, you are treating the person with respect and also helping to raise the bar where the quality of submitted evidence is concerned. It’s a bit like letting someone into the secret of doing a magic trick. Once they know how it was done, you are empowering them to look a little closer the next time, and also to be more discerning in future.
‘Ghost Capture’ Screen Grab, created by: GDE Film, LLC
Our job as paranormal investigators is not only to look for evidence of the paranormal, but also to solve the odd mystery as we go along. Therefore, paranormal investigation is essentially a series of problem solving exercises. If you grasp this idea firmly, not only will you become a better investigator, you will also be less likely to become disenchanted with the multitude of dross out there obscuring the true nuggets of evidence that lie waiting to be discovered.
planetpreternatural 