Heavy walking up new basement stairs

It was late last night by the time my wife and I got home. About 9 pm I took the dogs out and when I reentered the house I was tired and simply sat down at the kitchen table.My wife had already retired to the library to catch up on her E mails. One of the dogs got up in another of the kitchen chairs, turned around several times and laid down. The other dog had left the room and I assumed she was headed for the library. I hadn't sat there long before I head the unmistakeable tread of heavy boots or shoes coming up the basement stairs. I was at the steel door leading to the basement fast. I swung open the heavy door and observed no one on the stairs. I turned on the basement light (switch at the head of the stairs) and could not see anyone or anything alive. The basement stairs were just replaced this summer and showed no footprints of any kind. As anyone who happened to be in the basement would have had to track through mud to get to the stairs, muddy prints should have been evident. The mainroom of the basement under my house is wet most of the time due to a spring that used to run through it but was never totally diverted. This is a very old house(1857) and the spring, at that time, was used to keep dairy products cool. When I bought this house I wondered  why there was a steel door equipted with a deadbolt on the cellar stairs. Friends of ours said it was required by the state when the house served as a rest home for a number of years. That could be correct, but why the deadbolt? I hadn't been using the deadbolt lately; but I am now.

Dog continues to bark at the wall.

My younger dog, a four year old black, female, schnauzer barks at an area a couple foot square on the western library wall just a few feet from the library door that leads to the diningroom. I wrote about this before but the barking continues. I was working upstairs most of the morning yesterday and I could hear her barking at the wall almost the entire time. Luckily, this old  house is blame near soundproof or that continual barking would really get on your nerves. Same place, every day. Sometimes she frantically digs at the wall while barking at it. Believe me it is getting old. I've checked the area thoroughly and found no evidence of mice or anything else (The walls here are solid brick and 17 inches thick).Besides I have an older grey and white male schnauzer who pays no attention to the wall. I think her barking is getting on his nerves too as he tends to go into the kitchen and as far from her as he can when she is barking at the wall. If she can hear something in that wall, you would think he could too. But either he doesn't hear anything strange or he choses to ignore it. These barking spells can go on for 15 or 20 minutes at a time several times a day. So is the house weird or the dog?

Tinkling bells

Yesyrtday at my wife's shop; she and a customer distinctly heard what sounded like small bells tinkling. It sounded like several bells , but the source of these tinkling bells could not be located. Checking outside, it was determined the sound could only be heard inside the store. She has no strands of bells hanging anyplace in the store. The ringing bells went on for several minutes and finally faded out. No source for these bells was found. I guess this is simply another page of the weird to be ascribed to this old structure.

Film shots a dud

Film taken during Halloween has returned with nothing showing up. Which leaves us with only the digital front door shot. It may be explainable; but at present, I cannot explain it. Oh well theres always May Day.

Halloween somewhat of a bust.

I took numerous pictures with both the 35mm camera and the digital Cannon. Going over the digital photos I noticed only one that had anything unusual show up on it. Shooting my outside Halloween decoration, I took one of the front door from the outside, using only available light. It rained lightly all day and it was almost dark when I shot this one. A light smokey, cloudiness, mist or something appears at the foot of the door and extends off to the right from the porch floor up about 2 and a half foot. The effect is rather light but I did get it to print. Paranormal or just a normal enity, I cannot say. Like I said the weather had been overcast, breezy, and rainy for several days prior to Halloween. I had only about 150 trick or treaters as opposed to my normally 400. I blame the rotten weather for the low turnout. I haven't recieved the processed film back from York as yet so I have no idea whether or not anything might have gotten recorded on it. There was nothing unusual on the tape recorders either. So, maybe all the paranormal that manifested in this old house has played out. The place hasn't been as active as it usually is for the past two years; although strange or weird things do still occur. Some day my prints will come (couldn't help it folks) and when they do I'll report any anomales that show up. But I do not have high hopes.

October 30

We just slipped past Hurricane Sandy. There was considerable distruction north of us but we had strong winds but not distructive winds and a lot of rain. This is the 30th of October so I plan to shoot some pictures around the house about midnight to see if we can get any disks or other anomalies.I really do not know what else to try. I do plan to set the sound activated recorders out tomorrow night and shoot more shots after the trick or treaters have had their run. I didn't get much done in the form of decorations this year as it has been raining for a week, I got a few lights and strings of pumpkin lights up on the railing out front, but thats about it. I may be able to do a few other things tomorrow before the festivities start.

Voices calling my name

My wife had the disconcerting experience of hearing her name called clearly while she rearraged a small room in back of our backroom. She said she was rearranging the room and pulling stored Christmas stock when she clearly heard her name called three times. There was one other person in the store who helps out occassionly so my wife figured she must have needed something. This rear of the rear room is quite small and really loaded with merchandise so it was no easy matter to crawl over everything to answer the "call". When she left the rear room and walked through the backroom to the main storeroom she saw her helper tagging new merchandise. She asked what she wanted and the girl gave her a "what do you mean look". Saying she heard her name called, my wife explained she thought the helper had called her. "No", the girl replied, if I had needed anything I would have walked back into the backroom and said something. So my wife went again into the rear room and continued to sort and arrange only to have the same thing happen again. Listening, this time, my wife said the voice though feminine, did not sound, at all, like her helper. She again went to the showroom and could clearly see her helper still tagging merchandise. This girl is not the practicle joke playing type anyway. So my wife is perplexed as to what did occur. I said if it happens again, answer it. See what happens. She agreed that is a good idea. As I have said before her store is in a very old building built in the 1800s. We have both experienced the weird in there from time to time and I suppose this is just another occurance to be filed with the rest. I probanly should shoot some pictures in the store around Halloween, just to see what developes.

Dog barks at wall

My younger, very black, schnauzer has been barking at a prescribed place on the wall that seperates the Diningroom from the Library.  She has done this several times a day for the past three or four months. It makes no sense to me and my wife is getting very irritated with her. The area of the wall she is so interested in is an area about two foot square from the baseboard up just beside the doorway that leads from the Dinningroom into the Library. The barking is intense, sometimes almost hysterical, for several minutes at a time. I have inspected the area myself, even going to the basement and checking out the wall that supports the Library/dinningroom wall. I have found absolutely no sign of anything out of the ordinary. I even tried leaving food scraps out in that area of the basement and it was not touched. I set up two of those rodent high pitched screamers and aimed both at that area of the wall, but so far, they have had no effect if it really is some sort of critter that has her attention. Strangely my elder grey and white schnauzer has no interest in barking at this wall. It has gotten so, when the younger dog starts her bark attack the older dog  leaves the room and goes into the kitchen as far as he can away from the racket. If anyone out there has ever had a similar situation let me know what it was and how you took care of it, please.

Dog in a hurry

Here we go again. I was writing at the computer, today around 11:15 edt, when I heard a thump behind me that sounded like a dog jumping off a piece of furniture and the dog ran rapidly out the Library door. I was busy with the computer so I only saw the dog in my periphral vision. I thought to myself just what on earth excited the pooch so much. Normally they only react by jumping and running when they hear the doorbell, or the mail truck or my wife coming in. There had been no doorbell, it was way too early for my wife and both dogs spring into action with the sound of the mail truck, not just one. So I turned around to see which dog left in such a hurry. They were both sound asleep, one on the chair by the phone and the other on the rug in front of the chair. But somewhere I had seen an extra dog. Or thought I had; or something and what made the "thump" that alertyed me to begin with. I seem to recollect that the dog that ran out the library door was brownish. At least I think it was brownish. Neither of my present dogs is brownish, not even close, one is lightgrey and white and the other is so black a piece of charcoal would leave a light mark on her. These episodes occur so fast and you never expect it; it leaves you scratching your head and wondering what on earth happened?

Phantom dog

This has occurred so often lately that I hesitate to post it. Perhaps my mind is simply playing tricks on me. It seems I'm frequently tripping over phantom dogs. This house is not especially light even in the middle of a sunny afternoon. The nature of this old pre-civil war structure is simply dark. I was upstairs, it was growing late and the sun was low in the sky so the upstairs main hall was receiving light only from its southernmost end. The rest of the hall was gloomy but not yet dark. I had just left the master bedroom, having changed my clothes, and headed down the hall toward the rear stairs. I almost rear ended a dog, schnauzer by appearance, who ran ahead of me down the hall and literally disappeared when it reached the lit end of the hall. Caught totally off guard I thought it was my little male schnauzer before realizing my dogs were both blocked from coming upstairs except at night. This schnauzer disappeared in the lit portion of the hall which would not have happened to a real dog. When I went down the rear stairs the gate was still up and both of my dogs were in the kitchen. It seems that dogs have replaced footsteps as the most common phenomena that we encounter here. I wonder what will be next. I really wish I could get a photograph of one of these "dogs", but it happens so fast and I never have a camera handy; but I'd probably still not react fast enough as the episodes are over in a matter of seconds.By the time I realize something strange has occurred it is over.

Strange voice

Today, I got home ahead of my wife and went upstairs to change. As I was prepaing to come back downstairs I heard the rear door open, the dogs were barking their welcome bark and I clearly heard a voice say "What are you doing?" I thought it was my wife talking to the dogs. Within seconds I rounded into the kitchen and there was no one there. I went to the door, it was closed. I looked outside, the car my wife drives was not there. In fact she did not arrive until half an hour later. Surely if a neighbor had stepped in (which would have been unusual) and asked What I had been doing they would have stayed for an answer. Also, I was into the kitchen quickly as I was well down the stairs when the question was asked. I think I would have seen anyone leaving. The dogs obviously saw something too as their barks were the welcoming type and certainly not menacing; so what they saw must have appeared friendly to them. But where did the speaker go? Strange.

Disappearing dog

Last night, after taking the dogs out, we all went upstairs to bed. It is still 80 degrees at bedtime and humid to boot. Ordinarily we open a couple doors downstairs so that when we turn on the exhaust fan it can pull from downstairs as well as upstairs. But it was so uncomfortably hot last night that I closed the heavy hall door so the fan would exert all its energy in pulling air through the upstairs. In order to maximize the fans pulling power (Its located in a window in the upstairs bath which is at the opposite end of the hallway from the master bedroom),I also closed all doors to the side bedrooms and western end of the hall. Everything is closed tight; the fan is pulling air only across the master bedroom and down the hall to the upstairs bath window and out. The dogs have both come up with us and even though it was stuffy I still played with them a few minutes before we turned in. I had to get up once during the night for a bathroom run and at that time the older schnauzer followed me down the hall and back to the bedroom. Then this morning when we got up my wife says "Wheres Rowdy?" I look over at his bed and its empty, he's not in the bedroom so I figure he has gone down the hall to the bath for some reason. But he isn't there. He is nowhere upstairs. So I figure he must have forced one of the bedroom doors...nope. The doors are all tightly shut. By this point the younger dog is insistant on going downstairs so I throw on some clothes and open the hall door and standing at the foot of the stairs is the missing Rowdy. How did he get downstairs? I have absolutely no explaination; yet this is the second time he has mysteriously gone downstairs when there is no obvious way he could have accomplished it. I wish dogs could talk.

Neighbors Experience the Strange

Last week we were hit by a tornado that left us with no power for four days and a lot of clean-up. My neighbor lost his signature tree from in front of his house. That tree he had babied and fixed and trimmed for years because it is believed it was planted there prior to the civil war. It did make a marked difference to the front view of his house. He and I were discussing clean up and directing a clean up crew. Having some time to just talk our conversation turned to the weirdness of our respective properties. He is the only other person in this village who will readily discuss the strange happenings in the house. Others who reside in this historic village will sometimes let a tale slip but they are so afraid of ridicule they rarely do. Anyway my neighbor has two boys, both born in the house who are 8 and 12 now. If you recall I had related a couple of things that occured in the house in an earlier post. This, then, is a continuation. He started out with, "At least the boys haven't seen the "ugly man" for a while". The Ugly man I questioned? "Oh I hadn't told you about him?" "For several years at least once or twice during the year the boys would come running into our bedroom all scared because they had seen an ugly man walking down the hall in front of their bedroom". They were always so insistant that my wife and I had to walk them down the hall and show them there was no one present." The elder son discribed the man as unkept, raggedity, beardy, wearing a very shabby uniform of some sort and he had a very dark, mean look on his face. Scared them plenty. He said if just one of them saw the ugly man, he would have thought it was a bad dream or something but both claimed to see him and both were pretty consistant on what he looked like.                      Then he told me something that really blew me away. He said that his wife and him had thought for a long time that the boys had an invisible playmate. They would frequently talk about playing in their bedroom (second floor above a rarely used parlour) when a little boy would come into the bedroom and ask, "Whatcha doin?" Then he'd ask if he could play too".  They liked the boy and he actually joined in their games. Then after a while he'd announce, "Gotta go now", and leave the bedroom. At first, my neighbor said, we thought the kid was a famous invisible playmate, until I realized it would be very unusual for two boys to have the same invisible friend, The boys discribed their friend as between the ages of the brothers, blond, blue-eyed and most pleasant. Then the topper of this whole episode occurred about two years ago. A knock on the front door was answered by the neighbors wife. Standing in the doorway was a little old lady and sitting in front of thouse was big black cadallic. The lady said she, at one time many years ago, stayed in the house and she simply wanted to see if it was still standing and if it had been changed much. The neighbors invited her in and showed her around. She was very happy to see the house was still pretty much as she remembered it. She was traveling from California and on her way to New York State.  After a short visit and as she prepared to leave she said,"Oh before I forget it. I have some old pictures of this house and I thought perhaps you would like them". I can see my neighbors eyes light up on that, he is not only a professional photographer he is also a history buff. They said their good-byes and the lady was off to her New York distination.   Later, as they looked at the old photos which were on tin, glass, and paper, they came to a photo of a woman and young boy on the front steps of the house. Both boys, almost in unison,  said "Thats the boy that comes to play with us". This is my first experience of hearing a serious report of the living actually interacting with the dead. My neighbors think the whole thing is remarkable but I don't think they realize the true ramifications of it. While its true these boys are brothers; it is also a fact that 4 years seperate them. Yet they both see and interact with the same phenomena. My neighbor also had had that confounded murmering that drives you batty, you can't quite make out whats being said and you cannot find the source of the murmering. He has also experienced the voice calling his name when he is totally alone in the house. Two things we have experienced in my house. He also told of hearing floppy slapping footfall down the upstairs hall. He, his wife and both boys were downstairs in the family eroom when that happened. They all heard it but inspection of the upstairs hall showed nothing amiss. It sound, he said, like some one walking in swim fins. Thats another one I have yet to experience here. But like us he has heard someone run up the front stairs. This, he said, happens upon occassion but no one is ever in evidence. He thinks his boys, having grown up with these mysterys, just take them as the norm. There are other pre-civil wars homes in this village, I wish the owners would be more open minded about sharing their experiences with the weird. Those who have, I have reported in earlier posts here. Ever have a chance to own a really old house; it can be quite an experience.                                                                  

Computer chair moves on own

Its been a pretty quiet month. We have had considerable rain and  the weather has waxed between hot and very cool so much that a person doesn't have time to get accustomed to this weather. Today I encounted a rather strange occurance that could be totally mundane or maybe not. I was at home most of this morning; my wife was running her store in a neighboring town. Both of my schnauzers were taking a nap in the dining room on their pillows near the heat registers (no heat in them today, too warm outside). I had just come through the diningroom from the kitchen and made the righthand turn into the library where the computer is located. I had planned to see what, if any, E mails had accumulated. So as I rounded the doorway into the library the computer chair moved as if someone had just gotten up out of it and the right armrest made a definite tilt to the right, The armrest on the right side of the chair is not on very tight and it moves or wobbles when you use it for support in leaving. The movements were not great or exaggerated but the change in attitude of the swivel desk chair was evident. It got my attention  but it need not necessarily been paranormal. Though I have no concrete idea why the chair moved in that fashion just as I entered the room. But as I have said before, if something unusual occurs here I will report it.                           

Strange "Illusion"

 More than one strange item today. After my wife and I closed up the store we headed home. We both drive and I got home a few minutes before my wife. I unlocked the rear, western, kitchen door and was greeted by my dogs. I walked through the kitchen into the short downstairs hallway where the backstairs go up to the second floor. As I stood in the hall, taking off my coat and hanging  it up I looked into the Dining room to the door that leads into the parlour. My house, like most old houses, has large interior doors that are just short of one half inch off the floor. I'm  sure that if you have ever seen doors that do not hug the floor or carpet you  realise that anything beyond that door moving close to the door is evident as moving shadows on the other side of the door, As I watched, I saw definite movement in shadows under that door. This gives you a real start. Moving forward quickly, I opened the door. Much to my relief nothing was there. But what made the movement and shadows I saw under the door?  It was possibily an illusion; but it can still give you a start and what created the illusion to begin with.                     

I say things are quiet and then things happen. I had to open the wife's store today because she needed to go to a big town and pick up needed merchandise. The store opens at 11:00 am so I was there at 10:30 am. I unlocked the door and went in; before I could even turn on the lights I heard a very small child run flatfooted on our hardwood floors. The child ran the entire length of the store. I turned on the lights and there was noone in the store but me. It sounded like a child because young children tend to run flat footed and make a slapping noise as they go. Someone suggest that maybe it was a mouse. I suppose it could have been if the mouse weighed 20 or thirty pounds, wore hard soled shoes and ran flatfooted. Somehow I doubt it.

All has been very quiet.

It was a very quiet month. The house has been uncommonly serene. Typically, the house grows more quiet as summer approaches. Maybe the whatever that may be's have left. Maybe they were bugged by too many attempts to catch them in the act. Whatever, the house is the quietest it has been since we moved here in 79'. The old store has been quite quiet too. If anything does occur, I will report it.

Doubleheader today

My wife said that today, while coming down the backstairs, a man in dark clothes walked past the bottom of our rear stairs. She said she was startled at first, then realized she had heard nothing and our two dogs were not  raising caine as they would have been if someone strange was actually in the house. Figuring this was atypical artifact of the house she, nevertheless, checked out the kitchen  and found both doors leading outside to be locked from the inside. She said she did not get a good look at the figure as it moved across in front of her too fast. A male in dark clothing was the best she could do.                                                     
     The second episode involved me. My wife and I are caretakers of our goddaughters farm which is not far from our house, She inherited the place from her greatgrandfather when he passed away. She and her husband live in D.C. and only come back to the farm for Rand R and to visit a few old friends. In the meantime we keep the place in order. Today I went out to the farm to check for wind damage and make sure the furnace and electric were not interrupted. Finding everything in good order, I called my dogs (they went with me) and we got in the car and headed back for home. Driving along I rounded a bend in front of the Fairgrounds and standing beside the road, actually appearing like he was about to cross was a tall, slim redheaded boy wearing a bright red jacket. Fearing he might step in feront of the car, I put my foot on the brake. I hadn't pressed it as yet and the boy was gone. I mean he was nowhere in sight. Vanished. No I didn't hit him and have him under the car. I'm sure I would have felt the thump if I had. I mean this very solid looking young man just vanished. There was no place he could have hidden, the road is clear of trees, buildings or anything else clear down the hillside. That young man simply disappeared. I really hope I'm not hallucinating. This is a shock to the nervous system, but the shock was the disappearance not what brought it on. I'm not the one who usually sees humans who aren't there. My wife has had such episodes for years; but its only been in the past year that I have. Dogs, yes, I have seen dogs where I could not have seen dogs. That has been true since we moved here over 30 years ago; but not people, until  just lately. Interesting but disconcerting, to say the least.

Shot store pictures

Using the digitile camera I shot various photos of the inside and outside of my wife's store. No artifacts were in evidence on the pictures. I intend to do this from time to time to see if anything does crop up. The store has a strange feeling from time to time. But I have to remember to keep a camera on hand there for just such occassions.

Strong perfume scent

Last week, at the wife's store, I was in the backroom pricing some merchandise I had just brought in. As I sat at the desk I was suddenly aware of a very strong scent, a perfume, it was not unpleasant but neither was it a scent that I recognised. Looking around I expected to see a spilled bottle or other cause for the scent; but nothing was apparent. The oder left as suddenly as it came so I thought no more about it. Yesterday, my wife, was telling me that when she made her way through the backroom she was suddenly enveloped in the strongest perfume. She said it was so strong it almost made her sick. She said her impression was the perfume had come from above and settled around her. I asked where it happened exactly and she sa,id just beyond the pricing desk. At that point, in the backtoom, there is nothing overhead but ceiling/ I told her I had experienced the same thing while working at the desk. She does sell scented candles at her store but nothing with that strange scent. But even if it had been the candles, what would make it hit so strongly and dissipate so quickly?

Shot photos

I shot photos on Oct. 30th and 31st and Nov.1st. I used film cameras on the 30th and Nov. 1st. The pictures were taken at around midnight in each night. I used both the digitile and film type cameras on the 31st. Film that I used on the 30th and 31st has been sent away for processing. Film used on the 1st of November is still in the camera. The digitile shots that I made were a big disappointment as nothing unusual come up on them. Hopefully something interesting will come through on the film pictures. I shot where the unusual artifacts showed up on two previous Halloweens; that is, the front stairs, front hall, front parlour and green bedroom. I also shot pictures of trick or treaters and the front of the house. I didn't make it over into the local cemetary for shots. Call it lazy, call it cowardance; but I didn't do it. Worried a bit about what I might get pictures of and I don't mean ghosts. If anything shows up on the films I will post it here. Films should be back this coming week.

No new artifacts in photos

I got the last film back from the film processors and no new artifacts came to light. Halloween is fast approaching. I think that this year I'm going to try both digitile and film shots at midnight on Oct. 30, 31st and Nov 1. I also plan a brief excursion over to the local graveyard (established circa 1810) and see if I get anything other than gravestones.

Footsteps have returned

It has been several months since we have heard strange, unexplainable, footsteps. In the past, this phenonena was so frequent as it be almost mundane. Today, they occurred again after a lapse of several months. I was reading my E-mail when the doorbell rang. My dogs go crazy anytime anyone comes to the door. Because of their wild actions and the fact that many people are afraid of dogs, we keep the diningroom door and the parlour doors closed. Exiting the library I have to go though both doors in order to reach the front door

Tried spy camera again

After getting a few weird pictures in the upstairs hall (refer to previous post) I figured I'd try again to see if anything showed up. Placing the camera aimed in the same general direction down the upstairs hall, I left it overnight. The next afternoon when I went to check on it, I discovered it was turned off. Figuring I had set it up in the "off" position I simply turned it back on and reset it in the same location. The next day (yesterday) when I went to retrieve it, I again, found it in the "off" position. I was very careful to make sure the camera was "on" when I set it the second time. So either I have a malfunctioning camera or something strange is going on. I intend to reset it again, but not in the same area. I suppose the camera could be malfunctioning; It did have corrosion around the batteries; but I did clean the terminals thoroughly and the camera did work on a test of it.

Strange on camera image

Yesterday I finally got the Christmas tree taken down, reboxed and brought upstairs. The tree is kept in a small (use to be trunkroom) at the end of the upstairs western hallway. The room is rather small, about 10ft by 10ft and is rather crowded with seasonal (mostly Christmas) decorations. As I was manuvering the tree box into place I heard a loud noise from something hitting the floor. Looking around I spied an old spy camera I had placed in that room looking down the upstairs hall. I had forgotten about the camera completely until I saw it on the floor. Picking it up I immediately noticed the batteries were dead. I honestly do not know how long ago I placed that camera; but it has had to be a year or more. I opened the battery compartment and saw the batteries had leaked and I had corrosion. I discharged the bad batteries and hoped I could clean away the corrosion. Upon reentering the upstairs bedroom that is just off the hall, next to the Christmas room, I saw, in the middle of the floor, the dark outline of of I thought was one of my dogs that had found his/her way upstairs around the gate. Just as I said,"How did you get up here" the image vanished. The day was dark, dreary, and rainy. The bedroom is not overly bright even on a sunlit day and today it was dark as I hadn't as yet turned on any lights. The outline of a dog looked very much like a floppy eared schnauzer. I have had four floppy eared schnauzers since I moved here over 30 years ago. I have had one schnauzer with the cropped short pointed ears and two that had uncropped ears the stood up (or at least one ear did). I have had these sightings of dogs before; not always schnauzers, so I was surprised but not surprised when the image vanished. Getting back to the spy camera. The camera looks like an air freshner but is digital and takes pictures when movement is detected/ I took the camera downstairs to try and clean the terminals and get it working again. As I sat scrapping the terminals, I noticed the cameras chip. Out of curiousity I removed the chip and put it in my HP photo printer to see if it had anything on it. I was startled to see it registered "Full". In this case "Full" means 70 pictures. Remember I said the camera was only activated by movement. The first 30 or so shots were taken down the hallway and the last 30 or so shots were of the upstairs masterbedroom door. Obviously the camera had been knocked or moved sideways and was pointed at the door. I do not understand these door pictures as only two of them show any movent like the door being opened or shut. Anyway, its the upstairs hall pictures that could be interesting. Some appear to be totally black; so I don't understand what could have activated the camera in a totally dark hall. Some of the pictures show points of light where there are no light sources. Two show what appears to be vaporous or smoky forms. These last two really got my attention but they would not print out. They are very obvious on the monitor but nothing shows on the printout. They probably have a logical explaination; but the sheer doubt makes then intriguing. I do not know enough about digital cameras or printing proceedures to know how, or if, these can be brough out.