House has been quiet

     The house has been quiet. This is normal for late spring, and very little seems to happen throughout the summer months and into the early fall. Most strange activity seems to take place in the late fall though winter and into the early spring. The missing tape recorder has never turned up. The new recorder, aside from the strange basement episode, has not recorded anything of interest. I got a new puppy, a black schnauzer, for a companion to my other dog. So far she hasn't reacted strangely to anything about the house; but neither has my older dog for several weeks. It will be interesting to see if she reacts like he does.

Photograph

     This really may be nothing, but it is the first time I have ever taken a picture and had, at lest to me, a faint ghostlike likeness. Though I usually use a Minolta or Zenite to shoot pictures, this time I was using a simple point and shoot Ansco. I had recently made a new knuell post statue and attached it at the top of the handrail post  leading up the front of our winding staircase. The piece is made of ceramic; I bought it in greenware and had the lady of a local ceramic shop fire it for me as my own kiln was too small to accommodate it. She wanted to see a picture of it finished and in place. This was the reason I took this particular photo. I was using the wink flash on the camera and Kodak 800 speed film. When I got the pictures processed the statue photo came out very well. The figure at the head of the stairs did not immediately jump out at me. It was probably on the third viewing that I suddenly noticed a miscoloration at the turn in our winding staircase. Just in front of the alcove where I have tried using the recorder on several occassions. The golden brownish head shot has, to me, the appearance of a womans face. It is located just about the right height for someone coming down the steps. I can figure nothing that could have reflected into that area from the flash. Admittedly, you need to look at the area on the photo for a moment or two before the "head" takes form. My wife says she can see it too but chalks it off to a reflection or a development fluke. She could be right. But this is certainly the closest thing I've ever gotten of a picture of a "ghost".

Recording in the basement

     The tape recording I attempted in the basement only adds to the confusion. Not a lot of tape was used in the basement expriment which indicates the basement is pretty much soundproof. Not even my dogs loud yapping is registered on the tape. You can clearly hear me setting up the recorder in the approximate center of the cellar. You can hear my footsteps as I climb the old rickety wood stairs to the first floor. Then there is a period of silent tape, which makes no sense because the recorder is only on when noises activate it. This is followed by footsteps in close proximity of the recorder; which I at first assumed were made by me retreving the recorder; except there again follows a silent period of tape and then the sound of the cellar door, followed by steps coming down the stairs and toward the recorder, which really was me retreving it. So what were the footsteps that sounded between my going upstairs and then coming back downstairs? Why was so much tape silent on a sound activated recorder. There were no silent areas of tape on the attic recording that featured so much sound. Instead of solving any mysteries, I'm only compounding them.