Mike leaned in the van and nodded to Gary.
“We’re here tonight to document a paranormal investigation taking place at this modest rural home,” Leslie explained to the unblinking camera. “These researchers were brought here by claims of unusual activity on the unfinished second floor.”
“One point zero,” Gary called out from the van.
Leslie nodded as if to acknowledge Gary’s level. “The man you hear is announcing the power being sent to a unique piece of equipment,” she spoke into her microphone. “This is a paranormal pump, if you will. Imagine that a ghost is like a flashlight whose batteries are almost completely drained, so you could just barely make out the beam. They claim that their machine acts like a fresh set of batteries, and when they power it up, we’ll be able to capture the ghosts on these cameras.”
The cameraman moved with Leslie as she crossed the yard. “This machine works by lending power to supernatural entities so they can manifest visually, or affect our physical world. The creators are scientists who wish to remain anonymous until their findings can be verified, but they’ve allowed our cameras here today to help them document this investigation.”
Mike tore himself away from the filming to check in with Gary and Katie.
“Four point three,” Gary read as Mike climbed into the van.
“Any response yet?” Mike asked Katie.
“Completely flat on the meter, but we thought we caught some movement on one of the cameras.” Katie pointed to the third monitor.
Mike configured one of the review monitors to display the camera Katie indicated and moved through the footage backwards at fast speed. Mounted on a tripod and pointed at an empty room, the video show the same unchanging scene with the occasional dust mote floating by.
Mike saw something flash by the right side of the screen. He backed the video several times and watched the movement in slow motion.
“Four point four,” announced Gary.
“What do you think it is?” asked Katie.
Mike rubbed his chin and regarded the video again—“I think maybe it’s fabric from something just off-screen. Why did we point the camera this direction anyway?” he asked Gary. “If we had gone just a tiny bit to the right, we could see the entrance to this room.”
Gary shrugged and read the next number.
“I’m gonna go reposition number three,” said Mike, placing a hand on each knee and getting ready to stand.
“That’s a little hinky,” said Gary.
“Yeah,” agreed Katie.
“But that’s the corner,” said Mike. “Or it should be. That camera is almost pointing at the same corner that Gary complained about. If there’s something there, I want to catch it. It was just a stupid mistake that we didn’t repoint the camera before.”
“Four point six,” said Gary.
“I’ll tell those guys and do it really quick,” said Mike.
Gary shrugged again.
Outside, the producer coached Leslie—“Let’s go from the top again. Just dumb it down a tiny bit more this time. Give it to me so my grandmother would understand what you’re saying. Just ghosts, and making them stronger.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” said Mike. “I have to go move one of the cameras.”
“Let’s get that,” said the producer, nodding at Mike.
“Okay,” Mike trotted over to Bill’s front porch as Leslie moved further down the face of the building to get a clean shot of the house.
Upstairs, Mike turned the tripod to cover the area where Gary had felt a cold spot. Mike moved in front of the camera, trying to reproduce the feeling that his assistant had mentioned. He reached down for his radio, so he could ask Gary and Katie if the camera was repointed well. His hand found his belt, but the radio usually clipped there was absent. Mike felt panic flood up over him as he realized that he was out of communication with his team.
Remembering the microphone placed near the camera, he leaned down and addressed his team—“Can you guys hear me? I left my radio down there. I’m wondering if the camera is placed well. I guess there’s no real way for you to let me know. I’m coming back down.”
Mike nearly wet his pants when Katie’s voice rang out.
“Check your back pocket,” said Katie. “I saw it when you were walking towards the house earlier.”
Mike reached back and blushed when he found the radio clipped to his back pocket instead of its normal location.
“Thanks,” he said into the radio.
“Did you move the camera? We don’t see any difference here,” said Gary over the radio.
“Yeah,” said Mike. “I sure did. What do you mean, no difference?”
“We still have the exact same scene as when you left,” said Gary.
“Are you sure you’re looking at the live feed? Sounds like you’re looking at replay down there. I’m currently in front of camera three.”
“What’s that, Mike?” asked Katie. Mike heard his assistants discussing the camera position before Katie released the radio send button.
“I said that I’m in front of the camera,” Mike spoke slowly and with a slightly raised voice.
“That’s negative Mike,” said Gary. “We’re looking at live feeds and we have no visual of you on any camera.”
“Impossible,” said Mike. He moved quickly between the bare stud walls and waved his hand in front of a different camera. “How about now?”
“Still nothing,” said Gary. “Stay put, I’m going to bring a cable tester to you.”
“I’m at camera five,” Mike said into his radio.
“Got it,” replied Gary.
Mike walked around the bare floor and glanced at the readouts of the different cameras. Everything appeared to be operating normally, and no camera showed any signs of a communication problem with the van. Gary crested the stairs after a few seconds and tracked down Mike.
“Did you tell the news guys?” asked Mike.
“Yup, don’t worry,” said Gary. “I gave them the whole story.”
“Let’s get this fixed,” said Mike.
Gary removed the cable from the fifth camera and plugged into a handheld device as he explained to Mike what he was looking for. “We could just be seeing a digital lock on this signal,” he said. “Any loss of signal on these digital devices can make the signal totally freeze up.”
“You know what’s weird about that?” asked Mike. “I reviewed the footage and I saw plenty of dust and random noise in the image. It didn’t look like a still frame at all. There were plenty of normal video artifacts.”
“Maybe it happened after you came up?” suggested Gary.
“Did you leave the amp on?” asked Mike.
“Yeah,” said Gary. “Four point something,” he said.
“Five point five,” Katie announced from Mike’s radio.
Gary furrowed his brow. “That’s too much,” he commented.
“Go ahead and shut it off for a second please Katie,” Mike.
They waited several seconds before she responded: “It won’t shut off.”
“What do you mean?” asked Gary slowly.
Mike felt all the hair on the back of his neck stand up and a deep chill, as if his bones had turned to ice. A frigid breeze passed by the men, fluttering Mike’s shirt. The skin on his arms tightened as Mike shuddered against the sudden blast of cold.
“Guys?” Katie sounded panicked over the radio. “What’s going on? Two of the cameras just shut off, and this thing will not …” her voice dissolved into static. The radio chirped and buzzed with feedback until Mike reached over and turned the knob.
“What was that?” Gary whispered.
Mike whipped around but found nothing moving or out of place. “Stay calm,” said Mike touching Gary’s elbow.