Another Halloween over

Another year and another Halloween is over. I had over 500 trick or treaters this year which is heavier than usual due to two things. First of all, it was chilly but not cold. It was cloudy but that only added to the spooky atmosphere. Probaby the main reason I had more goblins this year is because this village's leaders decided to hold trick or treat on the 31st whereas the main city in this county held their trick or treat on the 29th. So we had a heavy influx of monsters from the big burg as well as our normal group from the surrounding countryside. I shot a series of photos with my digital camera. I did not shoot any film this year. I haven't checked the results as yet; but as I haven't gotten anything unusual for the past two years, I have my doubts that I will this year either.

Something Strange

Something strange happened at the store on Friday. I hesitated reporting it; but after mulling it over in my mind for a couple of days, I know I'm right. Last Friday I arrived at the store late. My wife had already arrived and opened it for business. I wanted to stop at the downtown farmers market first, so it made me a bit late. I had several items for Halloween sale I had found at our house and I had them in a large plastic shopping bag. When I arrived at the store I retrieved the bag of Halloween items and took them into the store. In the bag, among other items, were two identical items. These two items were of a witches arm that moved out from a larger black frame. The arm and hand holds a glowing ball and the witch voice cackles "Happy Halloween" and some other cryptic vocalizations whenever someone walks in front of it. As I said, I had two of the Halloween gadgets. One was in near perfect condition and the others box showed considerable wear. Checking out BOTH figures I discovered they both worked just fine So I removed the one from the worn box, priced it, and took it out to display on the wall of the rear showroom. I then returned to the office to price the second one and, leaving it in the box, place it near the first one on a shelf. But when I returned for the second one it was NOT there. I looked under my chair, I checked my desk, the floor, I looked everywhere. The bag I had the Halloween items in was still there but not the Witch item. No one had been in the store at that time and my wife was still in the front of the store and assured me she had not even been in the office area. I put in the rest of the morning looking for the item with no luck. About three o'clock in the afternoon I told my wife I was going to run down to the local gas station as my van was really low on gas. I walked out to the van and opened door. There sitting in the middle of the dashboard, on a cooler I keep between the front seats, was the missing Halloween item. OK, you say, You just forgot you took it out of the bag and left it there. But like I said and I've gone over and over this, when I took the bag of Halloween items into the store I definitely remember testing BOTH to see if they worked and I remember choosing one to display and one to leave in its box. I also remember placing the better one on the floor beside my chair while I prepared the other one for display. So, unless I'm totally losing my mind, how did this item get back into my van?

Where did he go?

My wife had an unnerving experience at her store last Thursday. She said the day had been rather quiet only a few buyers. At one point when there was no one about she decided to take care of some paperwork, It was early afternoon and the door to the store fronting the parking lot was closed. The only other door, in front, is permanently locked. The store door has a loud bell that rings when anyone enters. We made sure it was loud so we could hear anyone coming in if we happened to be in the rear storeroom. My wife was working at the cash register area which is directly beside the door. The bell had not sounded. Quite unexpectedly a voice got her attention. A tall, slim, nicely attired middle aged man dressed in a western style even to the cowboy hat remarked how nice the store looked and went on to say he had not been "back" for quite a while and how everything had changed. My wife said they talked at some length about the area and how it use to be. At some point his eye landed on a comforter that was displayed and my wife walks around the register area to further show the piece. After discussing the matter, he finally said he needed to move on and my wife waked him to the door which he then exited. My wife says she was only three paces behind him but when she got to the door the man had totally disappeared. Those who are familiar with our store knows we have a large parking lot and there are no objects like trees or building near it. At that time, only her car was in the lot and it is parked well away from the door for customer convenience. Yet this man walks out the door and disappears before my wife, taking only three steps can see how he leaves. So what gives here? How could he disappear so quickly? There is a clear shot from our parking lot in all directions for 100 ft. or more. Unless he sprouted wings and flew, how can this be?

Answers to question

Several people have endeavored to answer my question as to why I'm getting so many empty pictures. (1) fast moving mice (2) flying insects (3)rapid temperature changes, and (4) moving shadows that cross the camera area. Well thanks folks but I don't think that answered the question. We don't seem to have mice and I have seen none of their droppings in the rooms involved. Flying insects are rare in these rooms as well and it just seems to me they would be caught, at least sometimes as a blur on the camera. As to rapid temperature changes, I really doubt we have rapid temperature fluxuations that often, if at all, in these rooms. And finally, the camera is situated well into the rooms interior and observing the area I have seen NO shadows that cross in front of the camera. The room the camera is located in has windows that only face north and a large tree blocks most of the incoming light that could be made by passing vehicles, etc. But certainly something is tripping this camera.