From The Sunday Times, 12th
March 2006
First the porn clip, now the ghost
clip
Many fall for ghost videos doing rounds. Just light and tricks, say
investigators
By Nur Dianah Suhaimi
THE cellphone sex video craze that has hit the mainstream Internet
in recent weeks seems to have spawned an offspring:
The cellphone ghost video.
One video circulating online shows a group of military policemen
filming themselves on guard duty at night when, suddenly, they hear
the sound of continuous, cackling laughter.
Then, as if to explain the cackling, a white, unmoving figure
appears on the right side of the screen, causing the men to
panic.
Another video shows four policemen singing National Day songs while
manning a roadblock on a deserted-looking stretch of road. A car
passes by, followed shortly after by a white, floating
figure.
Many people, it appears, are falling for them.
'I think the videos are real because the ghost appearances look
accidental. Nobody will purposely make the videos just to scare
people,' said Miss Lina Lee, 24, a customer service officer.
Miss Lee could not be more wrong.
Video experts and paranormal investigators told The Sunday Times
that the 'ghosts' in the two videos are far from paranormal.
The Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI) said that the videos
had been sent to it by e-mail and a number of questions had been
posted on its Internet forum.
The SPI investigated and concluded that there were no ghosts in
both videos. In fact, the video of the military policemen on guard
duty had obviously been faked.
When he examined the 'ghost' in the minute-long video, SPI
investigator Alvic Tan thought it was possibly a target board used
in the army.
'When I zoomed in on the figure, I saw a long gun barrel protruding
out, which makes it look exactly like a standing target board,' he
said.
SPI investigators and other Singaporeans also commented that the
cackling laughter sounds very much like a cellphone ringtone once
popular among youngsters.
As for the video of the police roadblock, SPI experts said the
white floating figure was actually light from the car.
'The phone camera was used in night mode and this increases the
contrast and brightness of the captured video. The 'ghost' is just
the bright light from the headlamps of the car,' said SPI member
Sim Joo Khai.
But the willingness of Singaporeans to believe in such things might
have to do with an enduring fascination with the
supernatural.
Horror movies and ghost story books have always had an enthusiastic
following here.
Locally produced horror film The Eye grossed nearly $2 million at
the Singapore box office in 2002.
But video expert and production assistant Foo Soo Hian said fakes
are easy to produce.
'Nowadays, videos can be doctored like photos. There's even a
specific programme which allows people to add special effects like
white orbs or green glow to normal videos. So we mustn't easily
believe whatever that is shown to us,' he said.
[email protected]
