Ghostly Image

The story that has gotten the most attention in Santa Fe recently has been about an image on a courthouse security camera that some contend shows a ghost: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/63427.html. It's interesting how people come up with their ideas of what it shows. It may be a case of seeing what you expect to see -- or want to see.

I saw the tape a couple of days ago on the TV news. My immediate reaction was that it was a small spider or similar bug crawling on the camera lens. I reached that conclusion partly because it appeared to have a solid center with rays or spots around it -- legs extending from the body, in my eyes. A big part of my conclusion, though, also came from the pattern of movement. Just as I sometimes can distinguish a bird at a glance simply by the pattern of its flight, or people can recognize friends from a distance by the way they move, I think you can get a clue of what other things might be by their movement. And this light blob moved, to me, like a bug.

Check out the link and see what you think.