Photo by Joseph Flammer
The people in the photograph above are looking down at an "Ovilus," a spirit talking box. There is both a green light and a
red light on or near the box.
Most people who have voiced opinions about the cause of the green and red lines in the photograph above
- natural or ghost - seem to feel the lines are reflections or extensions of some kind of the lights from the Ovilus or from
voice recorders placed on the ground near the Ovilus. These items can not be seen because they are located below the bottom
of the picture.
Some people feel the colorful lines are "light streaks" caused by drag from a slow shutter speed. Typically, however, such
smears of light usually drag from the source which is typically visible in the photograph. The source, in this case, is not
visible, making the reflections or extensions theories more feasible. Oddly, this is the only photograph out of a hundred shot
that shows such a phenomenon. Strangely, Paranormal Investigator Mark Koenigsmann said he saw a bright red light about
eight feet above the ground moving through the area just seconds after we photographed the verticle green and red lines.
Here's what he wrote in an email to Joe Flammer, who took the photograph at the top of the page:
red light on or near the box.
Most people who have voiced opinions about the cause of the green and red lines in the photograph above
- natural or ghost - seem to feel the lines are reflections or extensions of some kind of the lights from the Ovilus or from
voice recorders placed on the ground near the Ovilus. These items can not be seen because they are located below the bottom
of the picture.
Some people feel the colorful lines are "light streaks" caused by drag from a slow shutter speed. Typically, however, such
smears of light usually drag from the source which is typically visible in the photograph. The source, in this case, is not
visible, making the reflections or extensions theories more feasible. Oddly, this is the only photograph out of a hundred shot
that shows such a phenomenon. Strangely, Paranormal Investigator Mark Koenigsmann said he saw a bright red light about
eight feet above the ground moving through the area just seconds after we photographed the verticle green and red lines.
Here's what he wrote in an email to Joe Flammer, who took the photograph at the top of the page:
A Case of Reflecting Light?
Mark Koenigsmann
photographed the red
and green lines to the
right after Joe Flammer
photographed the lines in
the photo at the top of
the page.
See Mark's quote on left.
<---------------------------
photographed the red
and green lines to the
right after Joe Flammer
photographed the lines in
the photo at the top of
the page.
See Mark's quote on left.
<---------------------------
------>
See Enlargement Below
Photo by Mark Koenigsmann: Investigator
"After you took the first photo with the
streaks I saw out the corner of my eye a red
line going south to north," wrote
Koenigsmann, a former EMT. "It was a
couple of feet long and was about 8 feet or
so off the ground. The color was vibrant
like no red I have seen before; the closest I
can get is neon. With the eye there can be
no streaking as the brain adjusts for motion
sensed by the inner ear."
Note: Mark Koenigsmann is the man closest to
Diane Hill in the photo above.
streaks I saw out the corner of my eye a red
line going south to north," wrote
Koenigsmann, a former EMT. "It was a
couple of feet long and was about 8 feet or
so off the ground. The color was vibrant
like no red I have seen before; the closest I
can get is neon. With the eye there can be
no streaking as the brain adjusts for motion
sensed by the inner ear."
Note: Mark Koenigsmann is the man closest to
Diane Hill in the photo above.
Enlargement of Photo Above
Photo by Mark Koenigsmann: Investigator
The photo of the green and red lines at the top of the page (where people are looking down at the Ovilus on the ground)
was shot at Potter's Field Cemetery in Yaphank with a Sony Cybershot DSC F828 digital still camera. The camera has a
Carl Zeiss lens. A Sony HVL-F32X external flash was used on this night. The camera was set on manual and the ISO was
set at 400.
This photo is representational of the issues ghost investigators often deal with in the area of spirit photography. While the
green and red lines are interesting, (and even more intriguing after hearing what Mark Koenigsmann had to say about
seeing a red light rod with his naked eyes at about the same time as Joe Flammer shot the lines), the lines are nonetheless
surely arising from the lights of the Ovilus or voice recorders placed around it. Diane Hill (in the white jacket) is looking
directly down at the box, which corresponds to the source of the green and red lines.
The fact is Potter's Field, now renamed "Almshouse Cemetery," is known to be a haunted graveyard. Many people have
seen shadow people in the cemetery and in the nearby woods; and many investigators have heard disembodied voices,
often from out amongst of the windblown trees on three sides of the cemetery. Psychics and mediums believe bodies are
buried in the woods. Some mediums believe there are mass graves of poor people - possibly slaves - and people who
were experimented on medically, were buried amid the pine trees. Orbs - or ghost lights - are often seen flying through the
trees to the astonishment of onlookers. Cold airs creep into one's bones and pass through the body.
Ghost investigators must be willing to scrutinize their photography and dismiss photos that can be explained away by
natural phenomena. Of course, this is hard to do when another witness, like Mark Koenigsman, a widely-known Long
Island paranormal investigator, says he saw a flying red light rod with his naked eyes at about the same time Joe Flammer
squeezed off the photo of green and red lines above. A separate witness account, like Koenigsmann's, casts just enough
doubt about the lines being mere reflections from the Ovilus to make a photographer wonder if maybe there was more to it
than simply light reflections or extensions of light from the Ovilus. Were the spirits manipulating the light? After all, on
that night Koenigsmann said he saw the light rod pass the area he immediately told the group that he saw it, and
Koenigsmann also took a photograph at that time that showed two squiggly lines, also green and red, but nothing like
Flammer's photo where the lines are straight and more obviously coming from the Ovilus.
Alas, as much as we'd like to catch spiritual phenomena in our photos, we have to be realistic and truthful to ourselves
and others and say the best way we can explain the green and red lines in the photo at the top of the page is that they are
from a man-made source.
The red and green lines, in this case, are coming from the Ovilus. This is clearly the consensus, despite a few good
reasons for second guessing the cause.
We hope this exercise was helpful in understanding the sometimes complicated components of photos that ghost
investigators must consider when analyzing supposed ghost photographs.
Joe Flammer and Diane Hill
The Paranormal Adventurers