Narrative Essay: I Saw the Weirdest Thing

In my narrative essay, I explain how I had a paranormal experience, and then I debunk my own story as I show how my paranormal experience was actually a simple technical glitch. If you look on social media and on websites, you will find plenty of examples of ghosts and such.

Some of them are obviously doctored photos, and others are simply flashes of light that have reflected within the camera lens. Then there are lights in the sky, which may be explained by anything from drones and Chinese lanterns, to experimental aircraft and balls of lightening. My story revolves around my CCTV system that is set up in my house. I have a total of eight cameras, with some in rooms within my house and some outside pointing at my garden. In my living room, I have two monitors that show me what is going on within my house and outside.

As I was looking over the footage of myself sat in my living room, I noticed balls of light that circled me and moved around me. I was in the dark when I was being recorded, and the only light source was my TV. My cameras have night vision on them that create a grayscale image of what is going on. On the grayscale images, I could clearly see lights circling me and moving in front of and behind me. After reviewing the images over and over again, I was sure I had proof of some form of ghost. There were no light sources in the room at the time, no holes in my curtains, and nobody else was in the house.

I finally had proof of ghosts on video. Just to double check, I checked my camera. It is mounted on the roof in my living room. I checked the camera and it was fine, so I replaced it and turned off the light. I tried to recreate the same situation again and again, but I failed to spawn any ghosts right away–until one night when I was staring at my monitor.

While staring, I noticed the lights appear in the corner of the room, even though there were no lights in that location. I waved my hands near the lights, but they simply moved away. I then moved closer to my camera and noticed–midges. When my cameras switch to night vision, they give out a very distinct blue and red light. It is only a shallow light that doesn’t really illuminate. What had been happening is that the tiny flies had been attracted to the light because it was the only light source in the room.

As they flew past the camera, it picked them up and projected them onto the image. The camera couldn’t focus on something that was so close, in the dark, and so small, so it interpreted them as small balls of light. ConclusionWhen the lights were circling me on the first piece of footage, they were not actually circling me; it was the midges flying in tight circles around the CCTV lights. Even when you are sure you have proof of something, you have to check and keep checking. You have to use a negative bias and continually try to prove yourself wrong, but there is usually a simple explanation for most paranormal experiences.