Puckett's Ghost Mystery
(Original video & recreation at the bottom of page)
We have worked to determine
the
credibility of the now famous "Ghost Video" Taken in the Puckett Auto
storage lot.
The story is that on an evening in September 2002 the persons on duty at the Auto & Body Shop noticed a "ghost" on the surveillance camera in one of their lots. That evening (around 2:00a.m.) there were 2 people working and one went to check on the lot after seeing the image on the monitor and they did not see anyone in the area of the lot that they saw the image.
A local paper carried the story:
Employees at a Metro wrecker service claim they've been visited by a spirit from beyond.
What may be even more incredible is this ghost sighting was actually caught on surveillance video. And those who have seen the eerie image, say they know why their ghost has made an appearance. This story has a lot of folks talking. It certainly does. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, what was caught on tape in this wrecker yard certainly has people questioning whether spirits exist. Cathy, couldn't believe her eyes. What was that image she just saw? She sent one of her employees out to investigate, he found nothing, the image had vanished. But a video surveillance camera caught the mysterious object on tape.
Chris Puckett runs the family business, part of which stores vehicles involved in deadly traffic accidents. Others at Puckett’s theorize this image is that of a woman involved in a horrible wreck that took her life several weeks ago. Her insurance company moved the wreckage of her truck just hours before the image was caught on tape.
Folks here have tried to come up with explanations of what the image is. So far, nothing explains what Cathy saw and what was caught on tape.
KFOR, a local TV channel reported that a family came forward about the video claiming that it was their daughter:
OKLAHOMA CITY - Employees at a local wrecker service claim they've been visited by a ghost. Oklahoma’s News Channel Four first showed you the surveillance videotape on Wednesday.
Those who work at Puckett's in southwest Oklahoma City believe the image is that of a woman involved in a fatal accident.
Now, family members of that woman have come forward, convinced the sighting is their lost loved one sending them a message.
Tracy Martin died from her injuries June 30th. But, her family believes she came back 18 days later to let them know she's okay. They say that is exactly how Tracy did things, in grand style.
Tracy Martin's father, brother and husband are convinced the videotaped image is that of the 33-year-old mother of twins.
Tracy's truck was moved from Puckett's wrecker yard July 17 from the area the surveillance camera records. Overnight dispatcher Kathy Henley saw the image live on her monitors.
A family portrait shows Tracy in her favored overalls. Tracy's husband, Brent, now has the awesome task of rearing their twins alone.
A police investigation into Tracy Martin's car wreck revealed she was not wearing a seat belt. Had she been buckled in, in the investigating officer's opinion, her injuries would not have been fatal.
The original group investigating was G.H.O.U.L.I. who determined that the video might be a "Once in a lifetime glimpse of the possibility of ghostly phenomena" but that the video could not be created without a large budget and digital F/X.
Many Paranormal researchers including Richard Senate have viewed the recording and many are convinced that the tape is an authentic ghost video.
We contacted Pucketts to see if we could get a copy of the recording.
We received the video and started the investigative work.
It was determined that the video camera that recorded the image was a low resolution camera and was located outside of the lot on a light pole.
The video itself lasts for 29 seconds and when the image appears in the frame it seems to drop down into the image and the again move off camera rather than just disappear.
While viewing the video we noticed that in one frame, what appears to be a support line is visible holding up the ghost.
While trying to determine what the support line could be, we came up with the idea of the image being created by an old stage illusion called Peppers Ghost
Definition: Peppers Ghost
Peppers Ghost was created in the 1862 by John Pepper. The illusion is caused by reflecting a brightly light object into a piece of glass that is placed at a 45 degrees to the plane of the viewer. This can be a stage audience or a camera. The reflection of the object will appear as a transparent object.
The most famous use of the Peppers Ghost effect is in the Disneyland Haunted Mansion Ballroom set. The viewers of this illusion are able to see an entire ballroom that has animated transparent ghostly figures.
We recreated the Junkyard video by using the Peppers Ghost effect. We used a Radio Shack low light camera with roughly the same resolution, a G.I. Joe 5 inch action figure, some black string, a flashlight to recreate the light at the top of the pole and a 2x3 piece of Plexiglas. The result was almost an exact match, the only noticeable difference was the shape of the character.
After looking at our recreation we decided that the illusion would have been just as easy to create by just dangling a figure in front of the camera. This would cause the same effect because of the figure being out of focus because of its proximity to the camera as well.
A few months after giving our results back to Puckett's we were contacted by National geographic to be included in a new TV series called Is It Real?
The series features an objective look into claims of the paranormal.
The story is that on an evening in September 2002 the persons on duty at the Auto & Body Shop noticed a "ghost" on the surveillance camera in one of their lots. That evening (around 2:00a.m.) there were 2 people working and one went to check on the lot after seeing the image on the monitor and they did not see anyone in the area of the lot that they saw the image.
A local paper carried the story:
Employees at a Metro wrecker service claim they've been visited by a spirit from beyond.
What may be even more incredible is this ghost sighting was actually caught on surveillance video. And those who have seen the eerie image, say they know why their ghost has made an appearance. This story has a lot of folks talking. It certainly does. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, what was caught on tape in this wrecker yard certainly has people questioning whether spirits exist. Cathy, couldn't believe her eyes. What was that image she just saw? She sent one of her employees out to investigate, he found nothing, the image had vanished. But a video surveillance camera caught the mysterious object on tape.
Chris Puckett runs the family business, part of which stores vehicles involved in deadly traffic accidents. Others at Puckett’s theorize this image is that of a woman involved in a horrible wreck that took her life several weeks ago. Her insurance company moved the wreckage of her truck just hours before the image was caught on tape.
Folks here have tried to come up with explanations of what the image is. So far, nothing explains what Cathy saw and what was caught on tape.
KFOR, a local TV channel reported that a family came forward about the video claiming that it was their daughter:
OKLAHOMA CITY - Employees at a local wrecker service claim they've been visited by a ghost. Oklahoma’s News Channel Four first showed you the surveillance videotape on Wednesday.
Those who work at Puckett's in southwest Oklahoma City believe the image is that of a woman involved in a fatal accident.
Now, family members of that woman have come forward, convinced the sighting is their lost loved one sending them a message.
Tracy Martin died from her injuries June 30th. But, her family believes she came back 18 days later to let them know she's okay. They say that is exactly how Tracy did things, in grand style.
Tracy Martin's father, brother and husband are convinced the videotaped image is that of the 33-year-old mother of twins.
Tracy's truck was moved from Puckett's wrecker yard July 17 from the area the surveillance camera records. Overnight dispatcher Kathy Henley saw the image live on her monitors.
A family portrait shows Tracy in her favored overalls. Tracy's husband, Brent, now has the awesome task of rearing their twins alone.
A police investigation into Tracy Martin's car wreck revealed she was not wearing a seat belt. Had she been buckled in, in the investigating officer's opinion, her injuries would not have been fatal.
The original group investigating was G.H.O.U.L.I. who determined that the video might be a "Once in a lifetime glimpse of the possibility of ghostly phenomena" but that the video could not be created without a large budget and digital F/X.
Many Paranormal researchers including Richard Senate have viewed the recording and many are convinced that the tape is an authentic ghost video.
We contacted Pucketts to see if we could get a copy of the recording.
We received the video and started the investigative work.
It was determined that the video camera that recorded the image was a low resolution camera and was located outside of the lot on a light pole.
The video itself lasts for 29 seconds and when the image appears in the frame it seems to drop down into the image and the again move off camera rather than just disappear.
While viewing the video we noticed that in one frame, what appears to be a support line is visible holding up the ghost.
While trying to determine what the support line could be, we came up with the idea of the image being created by an old stage illusion called Peppers Ghost
Definition: Peppers Ghost
Peppers Ghost was created in the 1862 by John Pepper. The illusion is caused by reflecting a brightly light object into a piece of glass that is placed at a 45 degrees to the plane of the viewer. This can be a stage audience or a camera. The reflection of the object will appear as a transparent object.
The most famous use of the Peppers Ghost effect is in the Disneyland Haunted Mansion Ballroom set. The viewers of this illusion are able to see an entire ballroom that has animated transparent ghostly figures.
We recreated the Junkyard video by using the Peppers Ghost effect. We used a Radio Shack low light camera with roughly the same resolution, a G.I. Joe 5 inch action figure, some black string, a flashlight to recreate the light at the top of the pole and a 2x3 piece of Plexiglas. The result was almost an exact match, the only noticeable difference was the shape of the character.
After looking at our recreation we decided that the illusion would have been just as easy to create by just dangling a figure in front of the camera. This would cause the same effect because of the figure being out of focus because of its proximity to the camera as well.
A few months after giving our results back to Puckett's we were contacted by National geographic to be included in a new TV series called Is It Real?
The series features an objective look into claims of the paranormal.
