Ghosts - or Optical illusion?

There has been much debate about the alleged demon haunting that occurred in Gary Indiana this year. Paranormal activity, demonic possession, exorcisms, and alas that ghost in the photo. We will be discussing that photo a bit further down but want to call your attention to the Fantom Phactory masthead.

The masthead is the big header at the top of this blog. The photo is a real, non-photo-shopped photo. Except for some illustration for the title, and the street sign, the only adjustment is in color saturation for the sky. Other than that, no drawing or pixel changes were made to this photo. The photo was taken in 2011 in Michigan, along with other angles and views. 

Several people had brought to our attention that if you stare at the building from about 24 inches you can see ghosts. And to our surprise -yes! Now you can enlarge the screen but the images of the ghosts fade away and if you shrink the screen the fade as well. It's just that if you look directly at about 2 feet do you notice something.

Do You See Any Ghosts In Our Masthead?

Well let's look at more ghost pictures and some optical illusions.

Photo 1

 Maybe it's just the cones and rods in our eyes so we wanted you to look at this photo of the same building at right. Aside from making the photo sepia and adding the logo this is an untouched photo of the same building from a different angle.

Do you see anything unusual? One person claims that she sees a crow and a ghost near the fire escape.

Optical Illusion?

Perhaps it's an optical illusion. If you look at our mp3 Fantom Phactory cover of "Lonely Ghost" at the left you will notice that the red lettering gives the words "Lonely Ghost" a 3D effect.

Illustration 1

 Well, the illustration at the right is an example of an optical illusion which is stimulating those rods and cones creating a moving effect.

It looks like you are seeing a moving or vibrating grid through a circle. Ah, the magic of black and white!

The same thing happens when you look at our mp3 cover with the red letters vibrating as well. Is it possible that this type of effect is causing people to see "ghosts" on our blog masthead?

Here's another optical illusion just for fun. Stare at this pic for a while. First do you see groups of white dots moving in various directions? Then, according to the artist, how many black dots can you count (obviously a trick!)

Illustration 2

Similarly, there's also optical illusion art that's called "after-image". You've seen some examples on Facebook.

With this kind of illusion, you stare at a red dot on a negative image for about 30 seconds. When the time is up, you are to move your field of vision to a white square and then you see the after image.

Voila! It is a full color photo of the negative. Sorry, but we did not include that type of image.

Instead, we wanted to include an oldie but a goody. It's something less strenuous on the eyes and works more on the brain. Remember the old "Is it a rabbit or is it a horse"? Well here's the old "mirror trick"

Is this a woman looking in the mirror or is it a skull?

Illustration 3

Illustration 4

While you are pondering that question look at the right. It's a corner of a room or a box right?

No debate there! EXCEPT is it the inside of a corner or is it the outside of the corner?

See how the eyes can play tricks on the mind. So look at the woman at the left. Do you notice anything unusual about this classic optical illusion?

Is this skull wearing a black cloak? Hmm. Our minds can wander.

Here's a another (perhaps photo shopped) woman in the mirror to look at. Pretty creepy!

Photo 2

Now let's talk ghosts a bit. Our original exercise was to look at the Fantom Phactory masthead and report if you saw any ghosts. We've seen three. We've looked at the color originals and at the negatives (pretty scary negatives, btw). The building is pretty scary in and of itself. You can also read our tale about it here The Haunted Factory. Keep in mind that this building is still standing but had been ordered to be demolished.

Ed. note - don't forget to buy the song inspired by this freaky haunted building - "Fantom Phactory" on mp3 from Amazon. Or better yet, get the whole monstrous album!

 Ghosts Ghosts Everywhere Ghosts!

Photo 3

 And speaking of spooky buildings, how about that house in Gary Indiana where the family had to move because of demonic possession and hellish apparitions! And I'm not talking bout the movie the exorcist (which is based on a true story - WOW!)

You can read more about this haunted house here: A Real Life Demon Possession and here Ghost Adventures Host Zak Bagans Buys Haunted House of Gary Indiana

But here is the photo which was taken by the police department which clearly shows someone or something standing in the enclosed porch of the vacant house. That is chilling! It looks like a white statue but police claim there was none there. Perhaps our photo of the Fantom Phactory - which, too, is a real building and the photo is not photo-shopped - shares a similar ghostly or ghastly apparition.

We are sure this story is not yet finished and Zak Bagans will have something to say. Stay tuned!

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Photo and illustrations credits:
Photo 1 - Copyright 2012 R. Lattin used with permission.
Photo 2 - Maxey via photopin cc
Photo 3 - Gary Indiana Police Department
Illustr. 1 - markldiaz via photopin cc
Illustr. 2 - NightRStar via photopin cc
Illustr. 3 - photo credit: Museo Ilusionario via photopin cc
Illustr. 4 - gfpeck via photopin cc