| The "Moving Chair" Experiment |
By Kenneth Biddle
This article stems from an episode of "Ghost Hunters", seen on the Sci-Fi Channel. The episode in question takes place at the Race Rock Lighthouse. During this episode, the leader of the group decides to go fishing, instead of taking part in the investigation. A little later, Grant (co-founder of the team), heads up to the attic for a while. A video camera had been set up before Grant came into the attic, and was filming the entire time he was up there. After an unknown amount of time, you see Grant get up and make his way through the doorway. In the commentary, Grant says that it got too hot up there, so he decided to go back downstairs.
The video does a shift to a few minutes later on, and you watch as the chair Grant had been sitting on, moves. Apparently, it moves twice on its own. The group makes the claim that it could not have been a rope or line attached to the chair, because it would be seen on the video. This claim is enforced even more when they go to a "Videographer" who attempts to enhance the video. Sadly, all he does is lighten it up, which can be done by anyone with Windows Media Player.
Several things about this video send up a red flag with me, and several members of my team. We're gonna go over them here. I'll list the items that stick out to me, explain why they stick out…and then let you decide for yourself. If you can, I suggest you watch the episode before you continue on with this article. This way, you know what I'm referring to with the following details.
Let's start at the beginning. When the team gets to the lighthouse, they get a tour of the place. After that, Jason decided to go fishing instead of leading his team. He had his fishing gear with him, so this was obviously planned out before-hand. Now, this may seem like no big deal, but it is probably the biggest. This shows that these guys had fishing line with them.
Next, we move on to Grant setting up in the attic. you see him enter the room and sit down on the chair, but you never see him set the chair up (it was already there for him). After a time, it had gotten too hot up there, so he gets up and leaves. What bothers me here is that he left the chair. He left it there, after saying it was too hot to stay up there. This may be nothing, but it gives the subtle hint of a set-up. Why did he leave the chair up there and not take it with him?
Now, let's get to the chair itself. The quality of the video is very poor, so you barely see the chair until it moves. In the video, it moves twice. Both moves are short and towards the camera. The chair seems to turn more, but it's still in the general direction of the camera. Actually, it appears to be towards the right side of the camera. This sends up another red flag. Yes, you could say I'm just looking for things to pick on. However, I would have felt better if it had moved away from the camera and the doorway, as in towards the far left corner of the room. With the chair being pulled to the right side of the camera, it opens up the real possibility that someone was standing (or sitting) next to the camera and pulled on a line (We'll get to the line soon) OR…from outside of the doorway.
Here me out on this, then check the episode as you read these lines. After posting this article, I received some feedback from others who shared my ideas. One person in particular brought up a point that she could not explain at the time…but with a few hundred more rewinds of the tape…I may have an answer. So, I've updated this article to reflect what I've found. You need to have the episode on tape, because there is extended footage that you don't see in the clip on their site. Go ahead to "The Reveal" and watch the video when they show it to the Coast Guards the first time. As soon as they start it, pay no attention to Grant…rather, look at the doorway. You'll see a few things that will make a difference later on. One is that someone is standing just outside the doorway to the right. You can barely make out the edge of this standing figure (rewind a few times, because it goes by quick), but you see that this person is carrying something horizontal...which moves around a little as Grant gets to his chair. Second thing to notice is the pole that runs up the center of the stairway. The horizontal thing the figure is holding is coming from the right, but the (stay with me here) right side of the pole is a smooth line. As in nothing appears to be sticking out from behind the center pole on the right side, but the steps. OK, the third "thing" is the light in the stairwell itself, as well as it's reflection off the steps on the left side of the pole, AND how much it illuminates the stairwell itself. You can easily see a window, a border on the wall and what looks like two different paint colors on the wall, separated by the border.
Now, the scene cuts to a view of one of the Coast Guards, while Grants says that "he was trying to capture any EVPs". Then the scene cuts back to the Attic video, which is now changed a bit. The figure is not there any more, at least that we can see. Notice that the stairwell is now much darker then it was just seconds before. Also take note, and this is very important, that there is now something sticking out from the center pole, pointing to the right. This thing was not there in the footage they showed just a few seconds before. I'd like you also to notice that there is no longer a reflection of that light of the steps on the left. Why? Hold on just a few more seconds.
Take yet another look at the light in the stairwell. As you see Grant walk down the stairs, you hear his voice-over saying "You'll see the camera try to auto-focus a couple of times, and then you'll see the activity…you're looking in this area right here." Watch the camera go out of focus twice (by watching the light), then the Light Moves! Yes, it actually seems to shift to the left a bit. Interesting. Even more so is that there is are two movements by that light, one of which seems to go quickly in front of the light. Both of these moves coincide with the movement of the chair.
When they move in on a close-up of the chair moving (the second time they show it tot he Coast Guards), there actually appears to be someone sitting on the steps (those on the left which are not facing the camera). You can see the silhouette of this person moving against the light. This figure can be seen even better on the downloaded clip.
One last thing on this theory, in case you were sitting there saying "Well, when the chair moved, the back or arm of the chair that moves in front of the light." I say this, watch the video again. You'll see that because of the angle, the chair would have to have moved completely in front of the doorway to have a chance of that. The back of the chair was facing the left side of the screen (Grant was sitting facing the doorway, as seen when he gets up to leave).
Ok, after the tape is examined by the Videographer, a statement is made by him… "If it was fishing line, you might see it in the infrared…so I don't think it's doctored like that". Well, here's where we get to the experiment. I set up a video camera and a chair in my basement. Here are the specifics to the experiment;
1-The chair was just over 13 feet away from the camera.
2-The chair was on carpet, rather then a wooden floor (as seen in the video). This makes moving the chair more difficult.
3-The video camera was set up about 12 inches off the ground and on night-vision mode. (It's a Sony DV Handycam).
4-I used 15 Test Monofilament Fishing line. After speaking with some avid fishermen, this seems to be a strong line. It is most probably the type of line (or even stronger then) Jason was using during the show. The line was probably accessible to everyone at the lighthouse.
I tied the line around the right rear leg of the chair and moved off the right. Activating the video camera by remote, I pulled on the line. The chair moved the required two times. I reset the chair and did it a few more times. After reviewing the tape, it was just as it was on the "Ghost Hunters" show. Funny thing is, you couldn't see the fishing line.
As I suspected, the line is invisible from the camera when at a distance. Something to keep in mind here is the IR light. On these cameras, you notice that everything is brighter in the center of the screen (when viewing on a screen). As you look to the edges of the screen, things begin to fade out to darkness. This is due to the light itself…it's focused in a beam, rather then a wide cone. I suggest you experiment with this yourself. Get a NV camera and play in the dark; you'll see what I'm meant.
I also experimented with this simple fact. I strung out a tape measure and held out a length of fishing line. I started at 12 feet, waving it back and forth. I took two-foot steps closer and closer to the camera. The line became visible about 5 to 6 feet from the camera. However, the only point that was visible was a small reflection of the IR light when the fishing line move across the exact center of the viewing image. The entire line became visible at 4 feet from the camera.
This doesn't say much for the Videographer, since all he really did was lighten the video up. It does say a lot for the Moving Chair. It says that this could have easily been faked. This is NOT saying that the guys on the ghost hunting team faked the video...but I believe someone did. I invite you to check out the video I made…I was able to recreate the scene with the chair moving. It looks good to me. It can be found in our False-Positives Movie Section.