August 25, 2004

Doorway to the Past? In 1997, Rita Swift was sifting thru' some old junk when she unexpectedly found a roll of undeveloped black & white film that had been taken of her daughter in their California backyard in 1969, but forgotten. Surprisingly, most of the photos developed successfully. But what was on them could not possibly have been taken in 1969... they were of a Native American ritual cremation scene from over 200 years earlier..

Also briefly noted here, and with one of the pictures of her daughter here. It seems that Mrs Swift's Browie Kodak 20 had a knack for catching the ghostly, because it was responsible for at least one other intriguing picture. But who is Rita Swift? And is she a 'repeater' paranormal witness? Does this make her accounts immediately suspect (beyond the fact that the paranormal is considered in the realm of fantasy by mainstream scientific thinking)?

posted by Nostrildamus 20 years ago
  • i see a car wash. No, picture #19 looks like people standing, but i don't necessarily see a native american ritual scene. I'd give it a 4 but if she's done it before, that lowers it to a 2 or 1. gettin' cynical as i get older, obviously.
  • interestingly, something similar happened to my father and me. several years back he gave me his old camera gear that he had used as a marine in japan in the late 1950s. as i was digging through i came across a roll of exposed but undeveloped film. we were both excited to realize it was something he'd shot in japan in 1959 but had forgotten to develop! a treasure trove! i did some research and found the kodak lab that handles hard-to-develop films (it seems that this happens to many people). they sent us a form to fill out that said we understood that there was a good chance that the chemicals would destroy the film in the process -- that's what happens quite often. we sent in the film and, sadly, it was indeed destroyed. re: rita's experience, i am leery of anyone who uses the sentence, "Nothing unusual other than she seemed to be surrounded by Ectoplasmic mist."
  • I see Waldo!
  • It is eerie how those pictures look exactly like stock footage from a wildlife documentary...
  • I wonder if those are pictures of a ritual reenactment that actually took place, rather than a ghostly one. That's a neat story, SideDish!
  • Looks like she took pictures of her TV back in 1969, too. Probably ran through most of a roll outside and then wasted the rest of it while watching TV -- or maybe her daughter did. With the piss-poor scanning job she did, it's hard to tell what's in the pictures at all. Get someone to scan the negative, post a high-res scan, and then we can set about debunking in earnest.
  • I am definitely in the camp of those who "want to believe". I have always been fascinated by parapsychology/paranormal etc...however, I have never had such an experience personally & I find it very difficult to avoid cynicism & doubt as regards these photos & similar stories... as many have commented, there are so many ways to interpret these images & too many ways to create such photographic effects without contacting the "other side"... interesting tho...
  • Reminded me somewhat of these 'faux-found' photo
  • I think SamJooky's got it. You can tell by the curved edges on the corners of the image. Compare that to the shape of some vintage TV sets and I think it's pretty debunked.
  • Let's see, pareidolia at best. At worst, some neurological pathology. Are we still believing in visions? Reminds me of that camera in the woods post.
  • It'd be near impossible for a kodak box camera to "porthole" the way the first two pictures do, since the lenses were fixed. I too agree with the SamJooky and Shawnj...it looks more like a circle wipe from a movie or TV show, especially since it gets larger in the second frame.
  • But if she had just taken a picture of her television, there would be a wierd glare from the flash of the camera on the screen, wouldn't there?
  • Everytime I see a site like this I start clicking on the images for larger versions. They never have them, I suppose, for obvious reasons. I like the TV theory. There wouldn't be a glare from a flash if you don't use a flash.
  • And henceforth, August 25 will be known as Scare Stupid People Day.
  • A Native American ritual cremation was all she could up with? C'mon. I'm sure monkeys can come up with a better and scarier thang. Let's see, hmmm, how 'bout pictures of Lewis and Clark doing the nasty? But seriously, these kind of websites are a dime a dozen. Weirdness.NE.Interesting.
  • But the "TV Rim" was only in the first picture... where did it go if she was truly taking pictures of her television?
  • They're in all the pictures, actually. Just that the second and third picture have dark edges all around, and makes the rim less visible. Take a close look at the bottom right corners of the second and third picture, you should see that curve occuring.