In the ghost hunting scene, however, it remains popular. Graham Lewis is an Engineer in Sydney and has fashioned a ghost hunting device from a Kinect. It attaches to a portable screen and hard-drive recorder, and so far he’s found the results compelling. “At the Q station I experienced a chilling moment,’‘ Lewis explained to ABC Radio Australia. “On the screen I noticed a small figure the size of a child. The figure seemed to be limping, and when I waved the little figure waved back.” Q station is known in the community as one of Australia’s most haunted locations, and Lewis’ friend Libby, a medium, found an instant connection. She told him the ghost was of Oliver, the son of a former worker at the station, lame in his right foot.
Mysterious Spirit or Visual Glitch?
Of course, this all sounds very difficult to believe, and Graham has uploaded the footage to YouTube so people can draw their own conclusions.
He also notes that he started out as a skeptic himself. Lewis began looking into the supernatural after the passing of his father in 1997 and says he’s seen so many strange events since. “Look, I started out as a sceptic, and I’ve been experimenting with gear to find the ultimate piece of equipment to most convincingly capture paranormal activity,” he said. It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time the Kinect has been used for such endeavors. Microsoft acknowledged it last year, and the sensor has even featured in the Paranormal Activity films. Others believe the anomalies are due to inaccuracies, and I’m inclined to agree. Users of Kinect know it’s far from foolproof, especially the Xbox 360 version. Sometimes it won’t pick up the user, and other times it will misidentify them. It’s possible, for example, that the Kinect is just picking up a shadow and identifying it as a human. Users report that restarting it removes the detections, and it would be difficult to test in a lab. If you still want to try yourself, however, you can buy a Kinect from the Microsoft store. Lewis even has some advice. “You must go out with the right attitude,” he says. “If possible go out with a group of friends, don’t be looking for dark things, have an open and honest mind, be respectful, and most importantly don’t be mocking.”
