The Official Haunted Hamilton Blog

Ghost Photography and Investigations in Theatre and Concert Venues.

By Nick Spring

Investigator/Technical and Photographic Specialist

The difference between a theatre with and without an audience is enormous. There is a palpable, critical energy created by the presence of the audience. – Andy Goldsworthy

You need three things in the theatre – the play, the actors and the audience, and each must give something. – Kenneth Haigh

Theatres are one of those spaces that seem to be notorious for ghosts and hauntings. The most popular reason for this is due to the amount of raw energy that is expelled into the environment from both performers and audience members alike.

An actor will pour their whole being into the believable portrayal of a character full of life and emotion. A musician will focus all their energy on having their story or tale erupt from themselves or their instruments in the way it will most impact the crowd. In return, the audience will clap, cheer, shout, cry and jump up and down to show their support of the abilities of these talented individuals.

Having worked in theatre for eleven years, I have a first hand understanding of how these things will permeate and charge the air with energy and emotion. It will seep into the people and ooze from the walls for many hours that follow. After many years of this, you can walk into an older empty theatre and still feel it resonating in the structure. It’s this feeling that makes the grand old theatres even grander.

With the unique nature of these buildings, they end up having very special structural designs and histories that often warrant the desire to photography them in hopes of preserving their legacies for years to come. On occasion, this ends up in having spectral anomalies present themselves, much to the surprise of the person taking the photo.

However, there are also a number of photos that seem spectral, but have legitimate non paranormal explanations. Theatre is meant to suspend reality for the audience. This is achieved with various techniques from scenic painting to light and sound effects to illusion tricks to fool the eye.

Atmospheric Effects

One of the most common items that can disrupt a photograph taken in a theatre is the use of Atmospheric Effects. More commonly known as Fog, Haze, Cracked Oil or Dry Ice Fog, they can all create false images when photographed.

Fog, haze and cracked oil are all used to create a visual thickness in the air that allow the beams of the lighting fixtures to become visible as they travel from the fixture to the stage. This creates a 3d image of something you can only see if it’s projected onto an object.

For example: A local rock band is playing at a favoured venue. The stage is lit, the band is playing their most popular song with the stage lights flashing away and changing colours. It’s a good time, but the changing colours don’t do a whole lot.

Now, using the same scenario, we add a ‘haze’ to the air. Now you can see where each beam comes from and which ones are changing to what colour. On top of that, you can now see the 5 fingers of light that radiate skyward from behind the drummer during his solo to emphasize that he is now the center of attention. Instead of the laser effects that seemed to be a bunch of annoying little green points of light moving on the wall, now move around above the audience and create a ceiling of light that moves and pulsates overhead. It helps to give depth to a flat scene. It helps create the emotion and importance to parts of the activity on the stage resulting in a more complete experience.

Now for the downer. Using these techniques to capture the light for the show also captures the flash of the camera on the particles in the air and causing either false orbs or ‘mists’ in the image. Taking video of these doesn’t help either as even though they can be moving in unusual manners, they are all easily affected by air currents cause by ventilation or movement of people or objects in the venue. In some instances, the air currents will change from visit to visit based on movement of drapes, scenery and other equipment. This can also explain cold spots that move around at different times.

Another drawback is that much like with magic tricks, these effects can play havoc on the mind with how the body reacts. The term “mind over matter” is appropriate in this situation. Often times someone will walk outside on a foggy day and will get a heavy feeling as soon as they see the fog. I’ve actually run across people who were fine on a dark stage, but as soon as the lights came up and they saw the fog/haze, they would start to cough.

When the local dance schools would come through a theatre I worked in, I would have complaints from parents over the haze that was used. The one that still sticks in my mind was the parent who was upset over the haze as their daughter was asthmatic. Yet when it came time, the young girl was doing her thing with no regard for the haze and no ill effects from the ‘Asthma.’ Apparently she hadn’t been told that she should react to it.

To make a long story short, not only are these air effects tested thoroughly and made to meet FDA guidelines in order to be pumped into the air around humans, they are also something to be aware of when taking and analyzing photographs for paranormal phenomenon.

Scenic elements, manipulation of light and auditory trickery

Over the many decades that people have performed on stage, all sorts of techniques have been developed and refined to help make the audience put reality aside while watching a performance through the use of scenery, light and sound. Unfortunately for people investigating these spaces, they can cause false anomalies to appear in the data.

Sound

In terms of sound, live performance venues can have some very unusual quirks. These spaces are meant to best utilize the acoustics for the enjoyment of the audience. This can result in voices coming from weird angles, clear one moment and muffled the next, or voices that seem to come from nowhere. A number of different factors can cause auditory anomalies. How many people are in a space? What is the relative humidity in the air? What about various structures like balconies, orchestra pits and acoustic tunnels? Are the seats in the auditorium up or down? Someone sitting under a balcony may suddenly hear a voice from an empty stage and not realize that there is someone above them on the balcony speaking due to acoustic bounce. There may also seem to be a space in the auditorium that seems to have a dampening effect when the seats around it are left down. When the lights are on for a long time, a lot of heat is generated in the upper areas of the building, as the area cools in the dark, you can get noises of the metal and other materials contracting. These are all things to note and look into as you investigate.

Light

With the various productions out there, the lighting capabilities of a space are vary important. Without the proper light, the audience may miss an important moment or emotion that the director meant to show and as a result changes the performance. However, just as much as something can be missed, others can be highlighted.  An effect that I’ve always enjoyed is using light and scenic tricks. There is a material that is used called a scrim. It creates an opaque surface when lit from the front, however, if you shine a light on a person or object behind it, it will become visible, and sometimes ghostly. Should you catch a glimpse of someone behind an effect like this under house work lights or normal investigation conditions as you investigate, you may be fooled by a false anomaly. Other scenic elements may also cause unusual reflections or shapes/shadows to be cast if light from certain angles.

On a different note, if you are taking photographs of areas around a stage, there are two prominent situations to watch for. First are reflections off of equipment. For example, the lighting fixtures all have glass lenses and reflectors in them. If you take a photo facing the opening of a fixture, you may get a refraction of light. Second is a condition that is called ghosting. This is a technical term used when a lighting fixture, when turned off, still seems to emit light from the bulb. This is due to the power source, or dimmer, for the light being slightly out of calibration. Unlike a normal light at home that is either on or off, the lights in a theatre are often required to perform at varying intensities to change the mood of the scenes.

Scenic Elements

In theatre, materials are often dressed up to look like something they aren’t. Cloth is painted to look like brick, wood is painted to look like steel and flat objects are painted to look three-dimensional. Nothing is what it seems. In different lighting conditions, these elements can take on even more unusual appearances. Complex paint jobs or other detail based scenarios can help lead to your eyes and mind making up images that aren’t there, also known as matrixing. A cloth back drop painted to look like a forest may show what looks like a shadow figure. Add in a small breeze from the ventilation system and now it’s a moving shadow figure.

Theatres are wonderful places to investigate. It may seem daunting with all the possibilities for trickery, but don’t worry. For all the possible problems, there are a number of phenomenon in these buildings that still remains unexplainable and worthy of sharing. These stories are around for a reason and have stood up. If nothing else, you may be able to say you’ve walked in some very special and unique foot prints.

As Always,

Happy Hunting and Break a leg!

Nick Spring

Nick Spring is an active investigator and technical/photographic specialist with the Haunted Hamilton Investigations Team.

Comments and/or questions can be directed to nick@hauntedhamilton.com