By Brittany Brooks
LincolnHerald.com Contributor

What would you think if a security camera captured something that looked like a ghost?

That's the question raised by a strange video shared with me by members of my family. The footage, reportedly captured on a Blink security camera, shows an almost human-like figure moving through a yard before seemingly disappearing.

Could it be something paranormal, an unusual camera effect or something entirely ordinary?

With Halloween approaching, the recording offers the perfect opportunity to explore a question people have wrestled with for centuries: Are ghosts real or is it all in our heads?

And what is it about October that makes even the most skeptical among us look twice at the shadows in the hallway? Could it be the chilly night air, the leaves that rustle in the wind or the fact that we've all decided that this is the one month of the year when deliberately scaring ourselves is considered a perfectly acceptable form of entertainment? Whatever the reason, Halloween seems to awaken our fascination with things we can't quite explain.

And sometimes, those mysteries hit a little closer to home than we'd like.

Something Strange in the Yard

Recently, I was sent a video from my family that left me scratching my head. The footage, captured by a Blink security camera and shared directly from the camera's app, shows an ordinary yard at night. Beyond the yard sits a wooded area, the kind of place where darkness has a way of making familiar surroundings feel a little less familiar. Everything is still and quiet, except for the cat on the porch, until out of nowhere a faint, almost human-like shape seems to appear near the wooded area, where it moves quickly through part of the yard before completely disappearing.

WATCH THE VIDEO: Was a Ghost Captured on Security Camera?

Video courtesy of Brittany Brooks' family. The footage was reportedly captured by a Blink security camera. The identity of the unusual figure and the cause of its appearance have not been established.

At first glance, it almost looks as though something has appeared out of thin air. Not only did it seem to appear out of thin air, but it almost seems to be translucent.

But staying true to all security footage, it's very grainy. And being that it only appears very briefly, it makes it hard to determine exactly what we're looking at. There are certainly reasonable explanations. It could be an animal, an unusual lighting effect or even a distortion created by the camera itself. An examination of the video didn't reveal obvious signs of deliberate visual manipulation, although that alone cannot establish that the recording is completely unaltered or explain what appears in it. As far as I currently know, the unusual figure was discovered when the homeowner reviewed the footage rather than being witnessed in person.

Still, there's something about watching an unfamiliar shape move through an otherwise ordinary yard that gets the imagination working, and it got me thinking... What if there's more to some of these stories than we've always assumed? Or, perhaps more importantly, why are we so fascinated by the possibility?

So Why Does Halloween Bring Out Our Ghostly Curiosity?

Have you ever wondered why October seems to be the one month when ghosts, spirits and all things supernatural take center stage?

The answer has roots much deeper than candy, costumes and plastic skeletons hanging from front porches. Many Halloween traditions are associated with Samhain, an ancient Celtic seasonal festival marking the transition from the harvest season into winter.

In later traditions and folklore, Samhain became associated with the idea that the boundary separating the living from the dead was especially thin around this time of year. It was believed that spirits could cross between worlds and customs involving fires, disguises and remembrance became associated with the season.

Over centuries, older seasonal traditions interacted with Christian observances, including All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, helping shape the Halloween celebrations we recognize today.

The precise origins of individual Halloween customs are more complicated than any single story suggests, but the connection between autumn, death, remembrance and the supernatural has endured.

And honestly, it makes a certain amount of sense. The days grow shorter. The nights grow longer. Trees shed their leaves, gardens begin to die back and the natural world seems to be preparing for a long winter's sleep. Even without a single ghost in sight, there's something hauntingly beautiful about the season. Perhaps our ancestors felt the same way.

Of course, there's no scientific evidence that spirits become more active on October 31. But I think Halloween gives us something we don't always allow ourselves during the rest of the year — permission to wonder.

For a few weeks, we embrace the mysterious. We tell ghost stories, visit supposedly haunted places, watch scary movies and entertain possibilities we might otherwise dismiss. And perhaps that's part of what makes the season so enjoyable. We don't necessarily have to believe in the supernatural to appreciate the thrill of wondering whether it could exist.

A Skeptic, With a Few Questions

Now, I'll admit something right off the bat, I've never particularly wanted to believe in ghosts.

Not because I think people who do believe are foolish, but because the thought of sharing my home with an invisible roommate who doesn't contribute to the electric bill isn't especially appealing. And let's be realistic. If there's something lurking around my house in the middle of the night, I'd much rather it be a raccoon than somebody's great-great-grandfather.

Basically, I want to be able to see it and know that it's there. And while I wouldn't necessarily call myself a believer, I wouldn't call myself a complete skeptic, either... I'm more of an open-minded person.

I've always felt that somewhere within the mysteries, myths, folklore and ghost stories passed down through generations, there may be a little truth. Maybe the truth has been exaggerated. Maybe it has been misunderstood. Maybe it's something perfectly ordinary that people simply didn't have the knowledge or technology to explain at the time. Or maybe, just maybe, there are things about our world that we still don't understand.

I don't believe that every strange sound, shadow or unexplained experience is evidence of something supernatural. But I also don't believe we should automatically dismiss an experience simply because we can't explain it.

After all, there's a difference between believing something is paranormal and admitting that something remains unexplained. And that little space between the two is where curiosity lives.

Is It a Ghost, or Is Our Brain Playing Tricks on Us?

Before we start declaring every unexplained video evidence of a haunting, there's another side to this conversation worth exploring. The human brain is remarkably good at finding patterns. In fact, sometimes it's a little too good.

There's a psychological phenomenon called pareidolia, which describes our tendency to recognize familiar shapes or meaningful images in things that are ambiguous or random. It's why we see faces in clouds, animals in rock formations or a person standing in the shadows when there isn't necessarily anyone there.

Our brains are constantly trying to make sense of what our eyes see. And when we don't have enough information, the brain sometimes fills in the blanks.

Add darkness, poor visibility, a little fear and perhaps a scary movie you watched earlier that evening, and suddenly that pile of laundry in the corner looks a whole lot more suspicious.

Modern security cameras also add another layer. Night-vision footage can produce strange effects from insects, animals, reflections, motion blur and digital compression. Something that appears to materialize from nowhere may simply have moved into an area where the camera could detect it. A figure that seems to vanish may have disappeared into darkness or blended into the background.

These are all reasonable explanations worth considering when looking at the footage, but here's what I find interesting... explaining how our brains can misinterpret things doesn't necessarily explain every unusual experience someone has ever reported.

And acknowledging that something might have a logical explanation doesn't mean we have to pretend we already know what that explanation is.

Sometimes the most reasonable answer is simply, "I don't know."

And personally, I think we should be more comfortable saying that.

So, Are Ghosts Real?

After thousands of years of ghost stories, countless eyewitness accounts and an entire entertainment industry devoted to investigating the paranormal, we're still left with the same question:

Are ghosts real?

Scientifically speaking, we don't have reliable, reproducible evidence establishing that spirits of the dead are appearing among the living. But that hasn't stopped people from reporting experiences they genuinely believe were paranormal.

And I think there's something important about listening to those stories, even when we don't necessarily share the same beliefs.

Because whether an experience has a supernatural explanation, a psychological explanation or an ordinary explanation that hasn't yet been discovered, the experience can still feel very real to the person who lived through it.

Maybe some mysteries will eventually be solved by science and technology. Maybe some will turn out to be misunderstandings. And maybe a few will remain mysteries for generations to come.

I don't know that we'll ever stop telling ghost stories. And I'm not entirely sure I'd want us to.

After all, what would Halloween be without a little mystery?

Now It's Your Turn, Lincoln County

This is where I'd love to hear from our readers.

Have you ever experienced something you simply couldn't explain? Maybe you've heard footsteps in an empty house, seen an unfamiliar figure in the woods or caught something unusual on a security camera.

Maybe you've had a child describe something that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Perhaps your family has a ghost story that's been passed down for generations. Or maybe you're a complete skeptic who believes there's a perfectly logical explanation for every bump in the night.

Whatever you believe, I want to hear it.

Do you think ghosts exist?

Do you believe children might be more sensitive to the unexplained or is it simply the power of imagination?

Do we become less open to the paranormal as we grow older or do we just become better at understanding the world around us?

And what do you make of the unusual footage captured by the family's Blink camera?

Watch the video, share your theories and tell us about your own experiences in the comments. I'd especially love to hear stories from Lincoln County and our surrounding communities.

After all, our region is no stranger to a good mystery. Just look at the stories surrounding North Carolina's famous Brown Mountain Lights.

Maybe your story has a perfectly ordinary explanation, maybe it doesn't. Either way, I think there's something wonderful about sharing a little local folklore, especially this time of year.

As for me, I'm still not ready to declare myself a believer. But I'm not ready to rule anything out, either.

I suppose I'll just keep an open mind, enjoy the occasional ghost story and hope that if something supernatural ever decides to make an appearance in my yard, it has the decency to do so during daylight hours. Preferably while I'm not home.

Happy Halloween, Lincoln County. Keep your cameras rolling, your imaginations open and your porch lights on.

Because sometimes the most fascinating part of a mystery isn't what we see. It's everything we still don't understand.

Sources & Further Reading

Historical and scientific information referenced in this article is supported by the following publications and research:

• The Guardian / British Museum (2021): Figures of Babylon: Oldest Drawing of a Ghost Found in British Museum Vault
• Pliny the Younger, Letters, Book 7, Letter 27: Ancient History Sourcebook — Fordham University
• Library of Congress (2021): The Origins of Halloween Traditions
• Wardle et al. (2020), Nature Communications: Rapid and Dynamic Processing of Face Pareidolia in the Human Brain

The security-camera footage discussed in this article was provided by the contributor's family. The cause of the unusual appearance has not been independently established.