In The Reflection Of A Lens

The camera rolls for the first time for a Reality TV show which the cast members are supposed to collect footage of another haunted place. The process of getting the cast members together would be a daunting task and each detail as it would become was the thought of how the viewers would really have their imagination captured. This was the job of the producer -- Todd Davis, age 23. This was the youngest producer on record and the cameras were going to follow him around as he planned this show. He had a book of folklore from the local area which he lived, namely books about ghosts and witchcraft. Even though he didn’t agree with the practices of witchcraft it gave him some ideas of the direction of the show.
     “What’s the plan on how we are going to do this show? Any suggestions,” Todd asked while he was taking a sip from his soda and dragged from his cigarette.
     “I got it -- lets bring this show to a place called Maryknoll College,” one assistant mentioned to him, “I’ve been to the place years ago when I was a young teen. The place does happen to have a ghost story behind it -- a perfect setting for this show. We can use my apartment for the base camp for everyone involved with the project. The cast members can stay at the places of the crew during the ghost hunt.”
     “I like this, we should go with it!” Todd responded with some kind of excitement, “My girlfriend and her brother both live in Glendale Heights and think she would be game for this idea as well. The cameras tape everyone involved with the project -- cast and crew alike. This could be interesting -- let‘s roll with the idea.”
     “I am sure that you were going to say that, I knew about the story for quite some time. Being from Du Page County this was a ghost story I was told from time to time when I was going to high school over there.,” Samantha responded in reply to the idea, “the hard part now will be selecting the cast for this show, I have the idea of how to do it. If not Maryknoll College, let‘s use another location for the show. I know this can work -- just given the right place to play around with and really survey the area before we get our feet wet.”
     They agreed to the idea and decided to try another location that had a history of haunting, at the time they didn’t have a network to run the show when it is in the taping process --- but they were thinking about the idea of making it a 3 hour special. The idea behind the place in question would be one that does have a history of ghosts running the place. Namely the kind of ghosts that wandered the property were poltergeists. The story they are going to be chasing around would be one that lived in the area longer than some of the residents. Even though some of the residents moved from the property, they will even confirm that the house had infestations of the supernatural.

[Camera rolls, following the crew to the location in Urbana, Illinois. They know nothing about the ghost story behind the area but they are told to follow the story down there for location. One crew will be in Glen Ellyn for Maryknoll though some thought it wasn‘t a good idea.]

“What is this place,” one of the crew members commented.
     “I think this is the house they were trying to acquire for the three hour special. First night of filming in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, then we’re down here for a few days investigating both ghost stories. It gives me the creeps because what they said about seeing a poltergeist in the property,” Ellen Thompson responds, “I’ve not been down here but knew about the stories from various correspondence with local friends in the area. They would come to this old dark house Halloween weekend or have their sorority pledges come here.”
     “Do you think Mr. Davis would approve of this location as well as the Maryknoll College? “ “Good question. Let’s go looking around before we actually decide on what is going to happen. Two groups -- and each one will interact with each other by means of electronic mail. Two members of each team will compare notes from each location to see if they find something of the supernatural nature. It is always a good thing to really think about especially since some of the applicants are always looking for something to write about in their papers, this would be a good social experiment.”
     They wandered around the old dark house for a good part of an hour, noticed it was breathing and seemed to be alive within itself. The location of the property was about two blocks from an Assemblies of God church, the members of the church tried to ignore the property as being a haunted place though some would say that someone was watching them from the window. Though no one was at the window in plain sight, there were always a pair of eyes that would watch them from the upper floor. It was one of those things that really intrigued them about doing one part of the show in this house. Words cannot express what the church members in the area described about the house, they would say that something utter worldly lived within these walls.
     “Did you just see that?”
     “See what?” Ellen responded --- she didn’t see anything fly at her but she felt something hit the wall on the upstairs level of the house.
     “I’ve seen something fly across the hallway upstairs, no one was up there either but it looked like a candlestick. The thing was pitched across a room like a Chicago White Sox pitcher tossing a ball at a batter. I swear seeing something like this really scared me out of my wits, I don’t know what to make of it!” the other crew member responded in answer to Ellen’s question, “Did you other camera crew members capture that on film?”
     The other camera crew nodded, they were scared shitless by what they caught sight of in the room. By the look in their faces they wanted to get the hell out of there though they knew they wanted to keep taping because they wanted to have something to show the future cast members. They are taping ahead of time so they have some notes to take about the locations of each property. The mind as it would bring about the thoughts and the idea the property is haunted beyond any kind of belief.
     One of the cameramen continued to tape when the candlestick flown across the room.
     “Holy fuck, you’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life. I can just imagine the cast when they do the two day filming, if they were to see this -- they would have a heart attack. I mean I am total disbelieve that I caught this on film, words cannot express that it is a possibility we caught a poltergeist on camera.”
     The second camera member was filming the first member, cameraman one was looking into the camera off the corner of his shoulder.
     “I swear, I’ve never seen anything like this in my lifetime and don’t think I would see something like this again. Just the thought of seeing a poltergeist is freaky enough as it is --- now the cast members are going to be seeing two haunted places, I can only imagine what is going through their mind. It was almost like we’re standing in a scene of a horror movie, but this is not fiction! I can just imagine a few in the offices saying,. ‘Is this shit for real?’ I don‘t know if this adds up, but I don‘t always understand the things that are of the unknown. I am going to be honest here -- I don‘t know dick about the supernatural, but to see this in the room. It scares me shitless.”
     They always said the strangest things would happen during a full moon and the day that the taping starts for the special happens to fall on full moon. Something about a full moon or a waning moon seems to create a real paranoia to for individuals to allow their imagination to run away with them. The camera cannot always capture what lies within the walls inside the house or on the property. Similar to what is said about the Maryknoll as well, but one cannot say what is to be seen over there though it makes everyone involved as crew dreadfully nervous. The knowing about the idea they are walking into places that are haunted, and the idea that the entity involved doesn’t want them there.
     Todd Davis had no idea about the poltergeist incident, but when he sees the video he would be surely be sitting there in amazement or in shock pending on the day. The camera crew continued to walk around within the property to see if they could pick up something -- and that something appeared in form of a woman wearing a gray dress. They looked in a mirror and the woman wasn’t there. It was like she wasn’t even there.
     “Did you just see that? It was if she vanished in thin air, Christ this is getting weirder and weirder by the hour,” the camera man shouted to the other one. He didn’t believe what he’s seen, “I swear my eyes are playing tricks on me. Didn‘t you see that -- a woman who was wearing a grey Victorian dress disappearing before our eyes?” “I did though I don’t believe it,” the other camera crew answered back, “it is strange and frightening as hell. I don‘t think that the viewing audience would comprehend what we saw in this room. If they caught sight of this in person, I think they would have the same reaction we are having right now. ”
     “I see what you mean, this is just plain disturbing -- seeing a woman in the room just disappeared before our eyes. The woman seemed to not have fingers on one hand. Todd would be eating this up because he reads about things like this, the books he had in the office were about ghost stories in Illinois -- this was one of the ghost stories he actually read about. The one about the grey woman. It might be a possibility that this ghost was the grey woman he was talking about.”
     “Damn -- you cannot be serious, this is the grey woman! Oh my God -- that is unbelievable,” the cameraman looked in amazement, “I cannot believe we captured this on film. Hey Todd if you are watching this, we got a ghost for you on camera!”
     One of the camera crew members found a pay phone in town after videotaping that find using a prepaid phone card, they made the long distance phone call up to Chicago. It was a five hour drive back up to Chicago from Urbana, but what they saw that night was something they had to rush up to his residence in Chicago.
     “Todd, you awake? I apologize if I woke you up, but I got something here that you might be interested in. It would be too hard for me to explain on the phone,” the camera man explained with a little bit of a scare in his voice,
     “I hope you got the beer handy because you might not want to sleep after what we tell you -- better yet, what we are about to show you.”
     “How long will it take for you to drive up to the city?”
     “Five hours tops -- one of us are going to stay behind and keep filming. Give me a few hours to get what I have rounded up and hand-deliver it to you personally.” “Sounds good. See you guys in a few hours -- make sure one of the production assistants drive up with you because I want to have a word with her. Namely about surveying Maryknoll College the next week.”
     “I am going to say this -- you will be very surprised by this discovery. Not only we captured a ghost on film, but we also saw a candlestick fly across the room.” “Damn -- I can sense the cast members are going to be freaking out when they see the footage,” Thomas quipped. He took a sip of his beer and had a documentary playing in his DVD player about haunted places. “Sounds like the crew found something they couldn’t wait to get going,” the girlfriend said to Todd as she was getting something to drink. Sipping a glass a whiskey when Todd mentioned that the camera crew captured something on film.
     “Damn. Are you saying they could of stumbled across something while they are down there? This is something I have to see.,” she commented, “Reminds me some of when I went down to Bachelor’s Grove. I saw some eerie white fog coming off the ground. Freaky shit I tell you! I felt like I was in middle of a gothic horror movie. In that, are you sure you want to keep going with this show idea?”
     “I am very sure of this, the first leg of the show will be in the Maryknoll College and the cast members will arrive tomorrow some time. Four married ghost hunter couples. Each of them have a respectable background of going on a few ghost hunts while there will be two or three who never been on a ghost hunt before.”

[Camera still rolls with the other camera crew at the property in Urbana, Illinois. Carefully the crew holding the camera try not to blink otherwise they would end up getting nailed with a flying candlestick.]

“Here we are now in the kitchen of this property, I am starting to sound like the person who was trying to sell the house to someone. The thing which makes this different than the original owners would be we’re only going to be in this place for a few days. The owners were the ones who told us about this house, in fact it used to be a guest house at one time but everyone got scared off. It is that kind of deal which lead us to wanting to do part of the broadcast here. Since the cast members aren’t hear yet, I wanted to go into detail of what they are going to be facing -- they are going have a guest in the house which they are not going to know.
     In fact, one of the camera crew captured her on film.” It was about nightfall when the cast members showed up to the Maryknoll -- they were going to do a dry run of the footage over there before taking the road trip down to Urbana to the haunted property being used for the three hour special. Some of the couples involved were quite young -- about nineteen-twenty years old. The first couple never been on a ghost hunt before so they had no idea what they were going to expect.
     Gina Richardson, nineteen, and her boyfriend Jason Edwards, twenty, were the first to show up to the first property. They were both college students who read on ghost stories but never been on a hunt. They were invited on by a friend of theirs who was a known ghost hunter and the wife of the ghost hunter joined them on the hunt. The ghost hunter in the group is named Christopher Turner, age 38, and his wife is named Denise, age 32.
     One of the camera crew members and the producer’s girlfriend greeted them at the gates of the Maryknoll College. The camera member was fresh from being down in Urbana, Illinois, looking around the haunted property down there.
     They briefed the cast about the drill.
     “I take it you are the first group to do a ghost hunt in this area. You will be communicating with the ghost hunters in Urbana, Illinois, via electronic mail and instant messages. Conveying what you see to the team on the other end of the screen, you will be joining them tomorrow night after you record your observations on video tape. I am the girlfriend of the producer -- and Mr. Davis will be joining us on the hunt in Urbana. You will be staying with the crew members tonight -- each one has extra space for each one of you to get your gear set up and take notes.”
     “Could you tell us a little more about the property in Urbana, Illinois, and the story that goes behind that haunting?” Ms. Richardson asked, “I am kind of curious of what we are going into before we go there.”
     “I think I could give you some insight about the place because some of our camera crew seen this on his video cassette,” she answered.
     “The cameraman who shot that footage is with us on this hunt. Everyone, this is Dave Benson. The footage of the grey woman was captured on his video camera. I will let him say more about that. The footage can lead to a lot of speculation and what can capture the viewers imagination. We‘re trying to find someone to carry this special -- perhaps to a movie channel because we don‘t want to censor a thing. ” Dave took a step forward and presented the video tape.
     “Make yourselves comfortable because class is in session. This is what you’re going to be facing in Urbana, Illinois, poltergeists are nasty little buggers who like to throw shit like monkeys when they get upset except they throw other things instead of their feces,” David responded while placing the camera in the VCR rigged into the van.
     “This is the footage taken from Urbana, and the house inside of the place -- I managed to see a candlestick fly across the room faster than a White Sox pitcher, hard to believe how something as a candlestick was able to fly across the room that fast. Literary hit the wall and impaled it -- I couldn‘t remove the stick from the wall because it was in there tight.”
     “I saw the footage and must say it was pretty damned alarming. I mean I‘ve heard of ghosts that did that but never managed to see it happen on live television -- the footage of the gray woman was one I had to say was one of the most frightening I‘ve seen in years. Some had said they‘ve seen her reflection in the mirror but no one was in the room.”
     “What are we looking to find here in Glen Ellyn?” Gina asked with a bit of curiosity, she was interested some in the building in front of her.
     “This place -- not many people know of this place, it is known as Maryknoll College. What they say of this abandoned property is that it is supposed to be haunted. You will be exploring around this place first because you need to get used to your camera equipment. This particular place is the second most haunted place outside of the Chicago collar counties. Then you have Cuba Road which is close behind.” “I’ve heard about this place from a haunted directory I found years ago, they said to have seen a ghost of a minister who died in the seminary. Students have said to feel his hand brush across their face while they were sleeping,” Gina commented.
     “I noticed that you’ve actually read behind the story but I will add this -- it had also been the home of witch cults over the years as well,” the camera man added. “I’ve never been on a ghost hunt but I know my local ghost stories, I grew up in South Barrington -- not too far where Cuba Road was,” Gina responded, “the reason I majored in folklore was that story, my paper was written about Cuba Road then I later did another paper on Maryknoll College though it isn‘t due yet -- this would be a chance to allow me to expand more on the paper. This was the perfect chance I was looking for!”
     This was the first half of the cast -- the other cast would be introduced down in Urbana, Illinois. The briefing was done about hunt on the property over there, now the briefing begins for the Maryknoll College. The producer’s girlfriend told them a little bit about the property she was standing behind. Even in the research when it is written -- not even from the Richard Pacione papers, one couldn’t find anything on the ghost stories in Urbana or Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
     The reason that Todd Davis was intrigued about the idea about doing the special to begin with was a paper that Pacione wrote about another haunted place. A place known as Bachelor’s Grove in Midlothian, Illinois, and on record to say being the most haunted place in Illinois.
     Pacione wrote about the place in 1998 when he went there. Todd Davis found the papers while looking around some old research papers for the project It was almost the reason he became so interested in doing a show around two ghost stories. The paper was found as a thesis he did about Bachelor‘s Grove. The observations he made about the place were that he’s seen a white fog off the ground. The account he penned recorded the ghostly reality which greeted him. Details which lived within the paper explained some of the intrigue Mr. Davis had developed when it comes to the supernatural.
     “So how did Todd become interested in ghost stories,” Gina said in curiosity.
     “He became interested after reading a few papers written by an author named Richard Pacione. I’ve seen the papers he was talking about, and that was the reason why he was motivated to do the show,” she answered in response, “I’ve known Richard Pacione personally from high school, and he always had an interest in the supernatural.” After the conversation they made their way into the college, the window on the south end of the building was the only way in. They didn’t know much about the ghostly reality waiting for them within the building’s walls, but they were told to go inside for preparation for the hunt down in Urbana, Illinois. Wall by wall they felt around in a darkness of broken drywall and shattered glass. In the halls of shattered glass they felt someone or something looking at them.

[Camera man follows ghost hunters into building, not knowing that they are about to see something that will knock them out of the water. The camera felt something looking at it but no one was in the room.]

“Be quiet around here because we don’t want to wake up the neighbors,” the Producer’s girlfriend whispered.
     “No problem, I will try not to freak out if I see something then,” Gina replied, “What would we know if there is something or someone in the place?”
     Even in whispers, the whispers managed to carry in the room because it was abandoned for so many years. No one inhabited the place since the 1970s, and in the history one knows about it becomes the detail capturing the imagination. One doesn’t know what to make of it when they walk through the hallways of the abandoned seminary. Going into the place with the cameras created a freakish atmosphere, as it would be only the beginning of the first leg of the massive ghost hunt.
     Night fell, the story became more vivid in the minds of the cast members about how the priest would brush his hand across the face of the students while they slept. The other part of the story was that sometimes the students felt the priest watching them in the chapel even if he was no longer around. Some just don’t know what the hell is going on. Almost similar to what is read within Pacione’s papers. Each detail inside the seminary’s hallways were almost something from a horror movie, the way one can describe them were as that.
     “Did you fucking see that?” Gina shouted with alarm, “A hymnal started floating off the book case. I don‘t think if someone was watching this on television would believe it either -- they would think it was some kind of special effects. I could only imagine what the viewers are going to be thinking of this --- they would be thinking it was part of the show, but if they realize what they are seeing is exactly what we are witnessing they would be scratching their heads.”
     Gina was looking into the camera as she gave her narration, apparently the camera also caught something within an eyeshot. The camera managed to capture a book floating toward Gina, and bumping her in the head.
     “What the hell was that -- felt like a book!”
     “It looked like a book that hit you, a hymnal no less!“ one of the cameramen responded with a little bit of alarm. They didn’t really know what to make of it, looked at each other with their jaws agape. It was something they saw when they were in Urbana, but the thing flying wasn’t that fast enough to knock someone out. Though what they saw in Urbana was chilling even to describe, knowing a candlestick flown across the room at 60 MPH.
     “It couldn’t be as bad as the flying candlestick down in the property in Urbana!” the camera man quipped, “one can never tell when they are going to fly down there or what place they are going to take off from.”
     “Quiet -- did you see that? I sense that we are being watched -- don’t know what is watching us or who, but I can say this is something connected to this seminary. I could swear to God that we‘re being watched.” “I had that notion too, but wasn’t able to put my finger on it. It was a weird feeling, the question of if we’re really alone in the property. Some might say that the belief in ghosts are bullshit, but to caught sight of what I described here it would make the skeptics believe in the supernatural. Even in the skeptics will believe, when the footage of this makes it on the air -- they would be saying, ‘tell me I didn‘t see the book float off the book case and hit the woman in the head.’”
     The camera documented the footage of the book thud then what happened next was unexpected. The kind of thing that follows the theory of a harvest moon as some would claim. Though what is captured on camera could never be actually portrayed --- almost as what it seems, some producers would do anything for the ratings. This isn’t the case when Todd got the show out there and gave the idea for the show. He did it because he has an interest in ghost stories and thought to have some fun with it. Even if the cast was expecting not to find anything, but instead something found them.
     “If the news were to do a broadcast about this, I think they wouldn’t believe it if they’ve seen it for themselves --- and you know how journalists are! They want cold hard facts before they would believe in something,” the cameraman quipped, “We’re always the ones who get the brunt of it especially if there is something out of the ordinary. Or if something was floating at you without a single reason.” “If the journalists were in this hunt, I guess they’ll have a field day with it -- especially if they never seen a book float up and bump them in the head. The idea of them seeing a ghost or some kind of supernatural force in the room would be a shock to their minds.”
     That is something that could be believed, though when they are wandering around a place which is in middle of the bible belt. Some would debate of why some ghost stories find their way at home in the bible belt, though the reality as it was played out on camera each member of the crew member at first didn’t believe in ghosts until they’ve seen the gray woman in the mirror. The disbelief becomes the reflection of what later becomes the belief in the unknown. The idea as what gathers within the abandoned properties noted either a quiet ghost or a poltergeist making mischief.
     The search waned from minutes into hours, and the more the cast and crew were inside the Maryknoll College they began to notice how they were being watched by something beyond the grave. The kind of thing more expected in the south about the ghosts, but when it comes to the Midwest --- the ghost stories aren’t that common but we got them as well. It would last hours as one wandered the halls and the rooms of the college while the cameras were the closest companion.
     “Are you guys capturing this on film?”
     “Good --- keep filming! This is going to be a hell of a special, I don‘t think anyone captured the Maryknoll College on tape. Some don‘t always know what the fuck is going on at times, especially when it comes to the supernatural. The faith community always find a way to explain away the unexplained, and this was one of those scenarios which it falls into the territory.”
     “Save your excitement because we got to go back down to Urbana, and that will be in the morning,” the camera man responded with a nervous tone -- as calm as he tried to keep himself, it was in his voice that he was nervous. He knew what he was seeing but he could not believe it even if he saw the gray woman in the mirror down in Urbana.
     “What do you mean -- we never seen a ghost before this day,” one of the cast members answered. The two ghost hunters were trying to get as many photographs as possible.
     “Are you getting this on film? This would be a good photo for the ghost hunter’s society, especially if one sees a photograph of books floating,” one of the ghost hunters shouted to the other one.
     “Todd if you are watching this, you will be getting your money’s worth when it comes to spectral moments on film. First the candlestick in the property in Urbana, Illinois, now the floating book in Glen Ellyn. You are going to have a hell of a special here! Live Reality TV type of footage combined with collected photographs from on site! I swear the locals would freak when they see this on their Television screens because subjects of the occult and unexplained aren‘t as welcomed. What is captured in the reflection of a lens can always be a subject which entraps the imagination, especially when it comes to things that are beyond the human control.”
     The producer was at home when he was looking over the footage in the Maryknoll, laughed morbidly because of the book knocking the cast member in the head. One can imagine what he was thinking at that moment, but I can only say --- ratings couldn’t really fathom capturing a real ghost on film. The idea of ghosts were a bit of a taboo in a bible belt town, especially around the area which has a Christian college near by. As they would try to explain away the belief in ghosts, it would always be the point of view the camera has in telling the story of a haunting. From flying candlestick to floating book it is captured in the reflection of a lens -- the kind of thing they’ve not seen on the whole Reality TV movement, the day when they actually capture a ghost on camera.
     As the producer said in the beginning, the viewing audience is a sucker for a ghost story, but when they get one this up closer and personal -- they won’t know what to make of it. Even when the reality is checking in on the viewer, one can say of the documentary footage is it could end up making its way to the Travel Channel though one cannot tell as of yet -- some could not permit the kind of things they have on a format as the Travel Channel, the censors would not permit the things seen on the other side of the lens reflection.
     A careful observation from a scientific perspective, it becomes the irrational explanation of the unknown. It is seen from the darkest fears as what gathers from them, of the shadows which live in the nightfall and the haunting eyes seen from the chapel are felt from the light of the waning moon. Even when the footage is collected, the question would come to mind about what lives within the walls and properties themselves. The documentary footage collects from the two nights -- the end of the first night came to the end, and they collected enough footage for the first part of the documentary. The subject matter the viewers would say are just for the ratings, but this is nothing about the ratings because this is a subject the producer picked was one he has a real passion about. The question if they were able to see anything was the idea they were thinking from the day the crew members scouted one of the properties earlier in the week. They didn’t know what they were going to expect but they know what they are going to see is going to be something which says with them.
     “This is something I could end up telling my kid about when he gets older -- he would look back at this and ask about the supernatural, this documentary would answer some of the questions he would ask. All within the reflection of a lens would tell the story of ghosts as they are, the different types of them mainly -- the gentle kind which live within the Maryknoll College, then the malevolent poltergeist along with the grey lady, “ the cameraman said giving his narration. He was shaking with the one hand as he was trying to keep the camera steady. All that is seen and being taped -- becomes the thing living within the reflection of a lens; when no one will believe what they say.
     It will always be the camera that records the truth no matter how unexplainable its. The one camera from the other cameraman captured the sheer nervousness the camera crew and cast are becoming as they realized that something was watching. Watching --- a term one cannot say for sure but it has to be from the point of view of the entity. From both areas, one can say what they’ve seen is true --- or have an account to write about for a number of years to come. There were a number of conclusions one can draw from the tapings, either of that from someone who was a skeptic or from someone who believes in the supernatural. Revelation awakens to the eyes when they see a ghost in the reflection of a lens, the eyes of the camera are the electronic storytellers as they document the story before the eyes of the witness. The rational is dissolved from reality while the onlookers see what they don’t wish to see or understand.

[Camera continues to film, something is captured on the other side of the viewfinder --- while in the plain view of the lens, the things floating range from books to doll parts. Anything and everything was floating around the room. What could not be nailed down was actually launched in the air -- either in the Glen Ellyn Property or the Urbana property. It just becomes one thing -- the ghost story which resides on the other side of the reflection of a lens.]

From the residence of the producer, Todd sits in the living room and watches the footage collected from both places -- he looks a little alarmed by what he sees because he never thought he would actually capture some ghosts on camera.
     “I got more than what I bargained for when I wanted to do this show, “ he said speaking into one of the cameras, “though there were no one dying on camera I am thankful for that, but to see a ghost on the show it is something that does become quite fascinating. I wonder if you guys are going to be using this footage as well for the special. Living around the Chicago area, one gets a bit intrigued about the history -- one of the reasons I elected to go about doing a show of haunted places around Chicago and Urbana. Just that it seems to have a place in the folklore or literature -- as the book I‘ve been reading about both the places.”
     Todd then motioned the cameraman to turn off the camera and call it wrap. The show aired, as they did the taping again in Urbana with the cast members chasing them around --- he was watching the footage from Glen Ellyn and the plans for them to interact didn’t go as planned because they could not get the connections needed. For him to come up with this kind of show, he must of stumbled across some Aleister Crowley because he wanted to find some inspiration. The camera stumbled across a few Crowley books in the house. Talk about wanting to get one’s hands dirty and really adding a dimension to the television special, picking up all sorts of books about the occult -- camera getting a glimpse of each one of them as well. The books which document the details of haunting and the supernatural line his walls. Including essays written by Richard Pacione.
     “Pacione, the reason I am doing this special. His wife, Anna, actually suggested that I had some of his books for the special. She actually called me because she’s read a bit about the specials on an article somewhere, she read about me on an interview of filmmakers looking to break it into the industry. One thing comes to mind when they see the footage, the viewers would be thinking that was all special effects done by movie magic. The whole ‘smoke and mirrors‘ as they say, but this is not Hollyweird. I can imagine the viewers at home saying, ‘holy shit -- is that for read?’ when they are watching what I am watching on here. I can promise this, what they are going to see with the show is real beyond any belief.”
     The whole term “smoke and mirrors” refers to the special effects in horror movies and illusions performed by stage magicians. Though even with the whole “smoke and mirrors” theory can be argued when it comes to haunted properties. It is a thought that plays out in both the mind of a producer or the viewer, knowing the forces they are watching are real and cannot be controlled. Even if they have an understanding of how the ghosts were -- either the ghost in the Maryknoll or the Gray woman in Urbana. Even when the camera captures only bits and pieces of someone who wanders from beyond, it is only in fragments and they don’t see the full extent of what is going on. The full panorama captured in a point of view of the first person’s eyes.
     In Urbana, Illinois, the other cast and crew managed to capture more footage of the Gray woman. She would appear only in the reflection of the mirror along with the poltergeist who has a thing for throwing shit. Throwing shit much as monkeys like to fling around their waste. Though some would watch the footage, as a viewer they would call it bullshit behind smoke and mirrors even though the supernatural happenings are as real as the interaction with the cast with them. What they claim to be nothing but smoke and mirrors until it is sitting there; looking at them clearly in the face.
     Even on camera, the ghosts create an atmosphere the viewers could not begin to imagine -- something to capture their imagination when the society is desensitized to everything on the television screen. Nothing shocks them anymore -- even when they stand in the presence of two ghosts on the property. From one property to the next, one can see the conclusions drawn from them as the cast and crew witness such entities appearing before the camera or trying to throw something at them. Even when they watch something in the vein of eight strangers picked to live in a house, then they toss in something with a supernatural being in there -- the question of it is what happens when they stop being polite then knowing they are the house guest of the gray woman.
     House guests of a ghost inviting a camera crew into her world, but another ghost throwing everything but the kitchen sink (everything that isn’t bolted down or nailed down could become a projectile.) “Damn I cannot believe they are actually seeing this, it is fascinating to watch but at the same time just plain scary when it registers in the brain,” Todd said looking at the footage some more. There had to be about 80 hours of video tape collected from both properties, “I can sense how frantic this can be especially when someone sees a candlestick flying in their direction. I am sure when the cast and crew seen that in the house, they were scared shitless. The atmosphere around them is one the tension is so thick, one can slice it with a machete. For I personally can actually feel this tension as the camera rolls, every thing that is seen on camera and in the reflection of a lens.”
     Todd felt the camera rolling on him as he collected the footage from the special, and drove to the studio in downtown Chicago. The footage in both properties were fresh on his mind, knowing someone could get hurt or worst. He could only imagine what the folks in Hollyweird could think after seeing the documentary footage, especially if they think that ghosts are nothing but smoke and mirrors. Even then -- he began to really see the ghosts play into the details as the footage was collected. Even from the wide collection of footage from the properties, he could not even fathom the idea that something fascinating as a ghost was to appear on the documentary.