False Positives
False positives confound many paranormal investigation groups. More importantly, a lack of understanding of these phenomena can steadily degrade the reputation of a group and of paranormal research in general.
As of Jan-09-2006, the Wikipedia explains that a false positive "exists when a test incorrectly reports that it has found a result where none really exists." Extending that idea to the paranormal, a false positive occurs when a measurement or recording seems to demonstrate evidence of paranormal activity, yet has a normal explanation.
These images were taken of the same sink and mirror at the Burlington County Prison Museum in January, 2006. In the first image, you can see the reflection of MGR director Joe Wetterling as he takes the picture. In the second, there seems to be a grey-black shape in the mirror. What could be mistaken for a paranormal phenomenon is actually an effect of the flash and position of the camera; in that image, you're seeing the back of the mirror - the material behind the glass.
These images were taken in the basement workshop of the Burlington County Prison Museum in February 2006. The first image shows dust on the camera lense. The perspective should make it easy to see that the dust specs are not floating in the air around us but are on the lense itself. In the second image, there are the same dust specs; the false positive, in this case, is a small 'plasma light' at the right of the image. This bright spot might be taken for an orb or plasma light; it should be clear that it is the same size, shape, and position of other dust in the picture, though lit oddly by the flash.
Taking a picture in a very creepy-looking place certainly helps generate a false-positive image. This was shot looking up from the first floor to the second in one of the later-built blocks at Eastern State Penitentiary. It was drizzling that afternoon and a light mist was raining down from the second floor (probably a hole in the roof). Light refracting in the falling water droplets, as well as my aiming toward the sunlight coming through the open roof, helped create this image.
This picture was setup and contributed by MGR member Frank Tomko. It serves to show that what is outside of the frame of a photo is sometimes more important than what is in-frame. In this case, there was a lit cigarette off to the right; without knowing that, some people might interpret this as "ectoplasm". There are a few valuable lessons here: never smoke on an investigation, and always question the source of a photograph.
It appears there are two orbs in this photo. They're solid, lit from the inside - all the things an orb is supposed to be. Notice, however, the two different colors to the wall in the background. The darker colored wall in the left side (where the orbs appear) is covered by plexiglass to protect sketches behind it. This glass, of course, is the likely cause of the orbs - really reflections from the camera's flash.
What looks like a brightly glowing orb - perhaps something peering in on us from just outside the second floor window - was caused by a fellow investigator's lantern. The way we perceive light in real-time and how it is captured on film (especially when glass, moisture, and/or darkness are involved) can be quite different.