Thursday, June 7, 2012

FACT OR FAKED: Glowing Gargoyle; Phantom Feline

Syfy - Original Air Date: 5/29/2012

The videos not chosen for investigation this week are: Prosperity School Apparition which shows a mysterious shadow moving across a wall at the far end of a video camera, but there's not enough evidence to warrant the team investigating at the moment.  Brazillian Bronze Spheres shows a light in the daytime sky that splits into 3 and hovers in the sky.  But Ben has spotted a CG jump cut in his own video, and throws it out.  Anti-Gravity Sphere is merely a CGI film project.

Glowing Gargoyle is a night-vision video that seems to show a gargoyle-like creature atop a children's playground castle, before the creature leaps off into the darkness.  The team even picks up Josh Gates, from Destination Truth, to go to England and investigate with them.  Could it be someone in a costume (for live-action role-playing, LARP, or other cosplay)?  Devin dresses up as a knight and jumps off the castle, but doesn't look animal-like enough.  So, they try with an actual lemur, but he looks too small, and he doesn't drop off camera fast enough.  So, they build a puppet that they can then pull up fast and then down faster, but it doesn't feel very organic.  Then they do a night investigation, but turn up neither monsters nor ghosts.  With no actual evidence of creatures, and with "supernatural" falling speed, the team concludes the monster is a CGI hoax.

Phantom Feline shows a cat-like ghostly shape streaking past a stationary video camera at a supposedly haunted location.  The team tries an actual cat under the IR camera, but he's a bit too clear and not transparent enough.  So, they try a white-painted RC Car, but it's still not transparent enough.  On to reflected car headlights, which don't trace the right path across the room. Then Bill suggests that maybe the shape is a light from the flashlights of investigating ghost hunters, and ... Bingo! It looks amazingly like the video (right down to the tail).  So, another strong 2 investigations for team Fact or Faked.  (And another item convincing me that ghost hunting teams do not control their lights or other techniques and evidence enough.)
 

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