Mom Puts Cameras In The Nursery After She Keeps Finding Scratches On Her Baby's Face
Heather Brough wasn't sure what to think when she saw fresh scratches on her baby's face one morning. She knew it had nothing to do with her, her fiance, or anybody who looks after the child. And that made the scratches even more concerning. So, to find out more, Heather put a camera in the nursery to monitor little Lily overnight. But when the anxious parents looked at the footage the next day, their worry turned into outright terror.
A Peaceful Life
This turn of events came like a bolt from the blue. At the time, Heather lived with her fiance, Joshua, and the young couple was thriving in their quiet hometown of Highland, Michigan. And, as a new mom, Heather was focused full-time on her one-year-old daughter, Lily. That's why the sudden appearance of the scratches was so upsetting.
A Horrifying Sight
Their life was about to become much less quiet, too. It all started when Heather went to greet her daughter after one of her naps. When the 25-year-old mom took her baby downstairs, she noticed a trio of nasty "purple scratches" on Lily's face. Where had they come from?
Something Was Off
Try as she might, Heather couldn't think of where Lily could have gotten the scratches overnight. She began to get upset, hopelessly repeating "what happened to you" to her baby girl. But the sight of her daughter was disturbing for another reason. You see, Heather had been feeling uncomfortable in the family home for quite a while now.
Eerie Noises
Because Heather had previously heard the sounds of footsteps or creaking doors in the house. "If I'm in the shower, I hear someone running up and down the steps," she later told The Scottish Sun. "I woke up to get ready for work one morning, and it felt like someone was choking me." But this latest development was something new – and even more terrifying.
A Hopeful Solution
Still, Heather felt silly for worrying so much – especially because she had family close by. So she decided to forget about the scratches and chalked them up to Lily scratching herself in her sleep. The next night, then, Heather trimmed the baby's nails before putting her to bed. Case closed... right?
An Angry Voice
Well, no. The unsettling noises persisted throughout that evening. In fact, they seemed to escalate. Heather later swore that she heard the voice of an angry male in her home, too. The guttural grunt apparently came from the baby's room – and shocked the worried mother into action.
Enough Was Enough
And when Heather went to check on her baby, she found... more scratches! Things were clearly getting out of control. Heather didn't want to take any more chances with her daughter's safety. Now fully freaked out, she took matters into her own hands.
Finding The Truth
In Lily's room, Heather and her fiance installed a top-of-the-line baby monitor equipped with night vision technology. They hoped this would confirm nothing strange was going on in their daughter's room. But, in reality, the footage would be less than comforting.
Replaying The Footage
The next morning, Heather observed the scratches on Lily's little face and immediately checked the footage to see what she caught on tape. She watched the video, and her blood turned ice cold. It was far worse than anything they could have expected.
A Disturbing Find
In the camera footage, the shadowy figure of a man seemingly entered Lily's room. Blurry and almost transparent looking, the figure appeared to hang over the baby's crib. Most chilling of all, Lily apparently reacted to the shadow with a wide look of fear in her eyes.
Questioning Everything
Heather later said she didn't want to be “that insane person who thinks they’re seeing ghosts." Still, she couldn't shake the image from her mind. She shared the video with her fiance, and he was equally disturbed. "It was chilling. It was literally a chill down your spine," he said.
Seeking Help
That's why Heather and Joshua called their local police precinct – at the risk of having people question their sanity. They were desperate for answers. And while they didn't get the response they were hoping for, they did get a curious referral.
Paranormal Experts
The police actually suggested that the couple contact the Scientific Paranormal Investigations of Michigan. And it wasn't long before Mike Priest – the co-owner of the paranormal investigation firm – was at their front door. Nothing could have prepared them for what he was about to uncover, though.
Shocking Evidence
The team investigated the home of Heather and Joshua for paranormal activity. They said they recorded voices and picked up on a possible spirit... and not a welcoming one. This understandably left the couple feeling even more uneasy. Then they got some startling info from Joshua's mother.
A Dark Past
Joshua's mother, Kris, had a disturbing insight into what could be haunting the family. “I was told when we bought the houses 11 years ago that the lady who owned the property died in the main house," she explained. Could this be the cause of all the trouble?
Tragedy In The House
The older lady apparently died after falling down the stairs and breaking her hips. But that's not all. The guesthouse had seemingly been built for the old lady's brother. This gentleman reportedly struggled with mental illness and schizophrenia during his lifetime. And, according to Kris, he also met a tragic end in their home.
Haunting Truth
“The gentleman that lived here, originally jumped out this window, which is one story down,” Kris explained to WXYZ-TV Detroit News. And after hearing about these horrific events, Heather and Joshua began to embrace the possibility that their home could be haunted.
Skeptic Intervene
But not everybody believes this version of the story. When the couple started an internet fundraiser asking for money to allow them to move house, the critics began weighing in on the alleged haunting in Highland. And Kenny Biddle, writer for Skeptical Inquirer Magazine, didn't buy the tale at all.
Ghost Or Hoax?
“There’s something... I noticed right away. The ghost was casting a shadow – two, actually. This tells me the figure is a solid, physical object able to reflect light," Biddle said. So Biddle believes the images caught on camera were just Heather or Joshua being blurred out purposefully.
Still A Mystery
Of course, there is no way to confirm whether the guesthouse that the family lives in is haunted or not. But, either way, it seems that there is definitely something off about the family home. And the curious case of this Michigan family was given more attention than it once would have been, given it came in the wake of Mabel Chinnery's famous ghost photo.
Mabel Chinnery
Mabel Chinnery was just an ordinary woman living in Suffolk, England. She loved her family and took joy out of the little things in life. That is, until one day when she decided to take a candid snapshot of her husband on the way back from a drive. Chinnery never could have expected that this single image—and the unsettling contents it contained—would cause international mayhem.
Mother Knows Best
See, though Mabel Chinnery was happily married with a family of her own, her mother still played a big role in her life. With plenty of maternal advice and a command of the room, it seemed like her mom would always be there. One day, that feeling became uncomfortably true.
Grief
By 1959, her mother had passed away, and Mabel was in the process of grieving her. With a camera on hand, Mabel decided to take a trip with her husband to visit her mother's grave in Ipswich, England.
Rush of Memories
Snapping photos here and there, Mabel remembered how rich a life her mother enjoyed. She got a kick out of everything, even just a simple car ride. In fact, she loved going for a spin in the very vehicle that Mabel and her husband took out to the cemetery that day.
Waiting Alone
Her husband sat in the car and waited for Mabel to return. After visiting her late mother's gravesite, Mabel made her way back to the car, camera on hand. She decided to take a photo of her husband in the car, but never expected what else would appear.
Photos Processed
Mabel returned home with her husband and soon had the photographs on her camera processed for viewing. After they were developed, Mabel sat down with some friends and shared her photography. It was only then that the shocking sight was pointed out.
Surprise Passenger
Mabel had told her friends that it was only her and her husband at the graveyard. Yet, when she flashed the photo of her husband, whom she said was waiting alone in the car, one friend questioned who the other figure was behind him.
Mother
Mabel was puzzled. When she had taken the photograph, she knew her husband was the only one there, but she was stunned to see the shape of someone's face in the back seat. But if it was a "ghost" like they all suspected, who was it, and why? Mabel had an idea...
Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers
News of the ghost captured on film soon became national news. Mabel and her husband, Jim, would appear on the 1985 television show Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers. There, experts on photography studied Mabel's picture, among other eerie images, to see if it was indeed paranormal activity.
Computer Software
Dr. Steve Gull and Tim Newton took a look at the photo using computer software introduced in the '80s to break down the photograph. They enhanced and zoomed into the photograph to make a thorough analysis.
Lines Not Fitting
Gull and Newton noticed there were lines that didn't fit together, as part of another photo was included in the original. This led them to believe that the explanation was a simple issue of double exposure. Though many viewers took the experts' word for it, there were just as many who believed otherwise.
Double Exposure
So was it that simple? The term "double exposure" in photography means that one photo has imagery from a previous photo overlapping. This is common, happening when the photographer forgets to forward the film to the next frame.
Favorite Seat
However, Mabel discussed the photo with her husband, and they both agreed it had to be her mother. That spot was her mother's favorite seat of the car, plus the silhouette looked just like her. While we're programmed to search for any logical explanation to things we don't quite understand, Mabel actually did understand what she was looking at. Something extraordinary.
No Definite Answer
On the national scale, the story of Mabel, her mother, and the questionable photograph ended without a definite answer. To this day, debates still linger on about the now famous photo. With Mabel and her husband passed away, there is not much more that can be asked, but that doesn't stop Blake Smith, investigator of the strange and unusual.
Science
Since Blake was young, he was haunted by the stories of ghosts similar to Mabel Chinnery's claim. As he grew older, he became more so intrigued by them and wanted to understand how they could exist in the world of science.
Chinnery's Car
As fascinated as Blake is by these stories, he approaches these matters as a skeptic. In 2015, he delved into Mabel's photograph story, starting with a good look at the Chinnery's car.
The Famous Car
Blake wanted to know exactly how the car would appear in person, so he did some "crowd-sourcing" research. Friends, family, and fans of his podcast MonsterTalk helped him track down the make and model of the Chinnery's car. He was able to find the exact vehicle and take an identical photograph.
Crossover
Blake overlaid Mabel's photo of her potentially ghostly mother across his photo of the car, then examined the results. He looked to see if the double exposure theory held any water.
The Telltale Scarf
Blake acknowledges how some small details are typical of double exposure, especially the detail of Mabel's mother's scarf appearing to pass through the metal framing of the car. He took it a step further by attempting to find Mabel's camera.
Camera
His research uncovered several interviews stating that she was using an old fashioned Eastman-Kodak Brownie when she took the legendary photograph. Blake wondered if anything about that particular model could've contributed to the otherworldly photo.
Antique Brownies
He found an expert on antique Brownies to explain about double exposure occurrences in that camera. Blake learned that this was a very easy and simple mistake to make, yet it was another realization that allowed him to reach a satisfying conclusion.
Mabel
There was no ghost in the picture, but according to Blake, the double exposure illusion "must have been very impactful for Mrs. Chinnery and her husband." Simply put, they were going through an emotional time. However, other skeptics were much harsher in response to Mabel Chinnery's supernatural tale and claimed she was a liar.
https://hermoments.com/s/mom-nursery-camera-hidden?as=799&bdk=0
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