Over the past few years the people in the electronic voice phenomena field have been placing their recordings into classifications based on the clarity and the ease of understanding - ranging from Class A to C. This system has worked well for them, but I wondered why other aspects of the paranormal investigating field have not adopted a similar grading system. Recently, I was preparing a presentation based on photographs and the paranormal which would show a series of pictures ranging from fakes to pictures that I thought truly had a "ghost" in them. While preparing this presentation, I wanted an easier way to explain and categorize the pictures for the attendees and why I thought they were ghost pictures or why I thought they were fake and misleading, based on known naturally caused anomalies. I then developed a grading system not unlike what the people in the EVP field use - putting the pictures in a class ranging from A to C. Upon making these classes up I thought to myself...why not use these on all future investigations and other possible evidence pictures and offer it up to other investigators to possibly help document their photographs.

These picture classifications were as follows.

• CLASS C: Natural causes can immediately be contributed as the cause of the anomaly in the photograph. In other words not a ghost picture.


Examples:
orbs in a picture that was taken in a dusty room or when raining.
Fogs, mists and ectos in pictures when someone was smoking nearby or it is foggy outside.
Apparition in window when someone was standing behind window with sheet over there head.


• CLASS B: Natural causes cannot be ruled out as the cause of the anomaly in picture, but other documented paranormal activity was occurring at the time of the picture being taken.


Examples:
An orb the looks similar to dust orbs but it's placement coincides with someone's personal experience or high EMF reading and/or temperature variations.
Matrixing cannot be ruled out as the cause of an apparition, but someone else present during the picture taking might have seen or experienced something


• CLASS A: Natural causes cannot be found as the cause of the anomaly in the photograph.


Examples:
A smoke or mist in the pictures when it is known the no one was smoking at the time of the picture taking and it was too warm for breath to show up.
Light streaks when shutter speed on camera was set to a fast speed or tripod was used.

Now I also feel that it is possible to mix these using a + / - along with each classification.

These classifications can come in handy and work well when we, as investigators, start trying to present our pictures as evidence to other investigators or the public. Obviously we won't be showing our class C pictures to either the public or other investigators as evidence. Class B might be something worth showing to other investigators as they will respect and understand the personal experience and events surrounding the pictures where as the general public may not understand.

Maybe a good Class B+ picture would still be ok for the public with good explanations. Obviously a Class A is what you want to show to the public and let the skeptics and naysayers try and pick it apart. Offer it up knowing that you can't find a logical and reasonable explanation for the anomalies. Even if you do choose to use all the Classes of pictures as presentable evidence, at least putting it into a class for the public to see will help them understand the picture and what they may be looking at better.

Now just because we give the label of Class A to a picture doesn't necessarily mean it is the final proof of the paranormal we need and are all looking for. I would only say that this may fall under being 70 to 90 % proof or documentation of a haunting. I surely wouldn't say a house is haunted based on one Class A picture. This is mostly based on the fact that there is a lot of possible natural causes out there and environmental effects that sometimes even the most scientifically controlled investigation can't control or document.

I offer this up to the paranormal investigating and ghost hunting community as a possible future guideline to help present or document their photographs during investigations. I tried to keep it simple so that it can be adopted easily with out large explanations or hours of teaching, but obviously a good general knowledge of photography and cameras does help. If we start using this on our webpages and evidence reveals it might help the public and new investigators as a guideline to classify future evidence and better understand what is a really good ghost picture and what isn't.


Article submitted by Josh Mantello
Founder – Lead Investigator

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