Catching Elusive Creatures on Camera

You know when you see an alleged Bigfoot or other monster video and it’s all wonky? By wonky I mean out of focus, not zoomed in, shaky, or otherwise very raw and full of flaws?

Every time I see a video claiming to have caught a Bigfoot, an alien, or some other kind of creature I think, “Good grief! How hard is it to point a camera and frigging shoot and get a decent picture?”

The other day I got my answer. I had just picked Murph up from doggie daycare down in Nolensville. We were passing a church when I noticed something in the church’s parking lot.

“Was that a fox, bud?” I asked Murph. (Yes, I talk to my dog. No, he doesn’t answer me with words, but he does answer in his own way sometimes. Most times, really.)

Anyway, I backed up to check it out and was shocked to discover not one, but a couple of  foxes. Young ones.

I got all excited and grabbed my little Canon PowerShot ELPHand tried to get some pics. That was uber unsuccessful. The evidence of which I submit here:

I knew even as I was taking the pictures my zoom function was too weak to capture them as clearly as I was seeing them. I decided to switch to video.

What made me think it would do any better, I don’t know. I was just so excited to see foxes. I think I’ve maybe seen foxes in the wild all of three times in my life, including this one. The first two times I only caught glimpses of a single fox before it darted out of sight into brush. This was the only time I’ve ever seen young foxes romping and playing without a care in the world. And then it turned out I had stumbled on a family of foxes. Of course I was trying to get pictures!

But when I tried to capture it on video, that was even more disastrous than trying to take still pictures.

I knew the video was all fuzzed up as I was taking it. I didn’t know just how shaky my camerawork was, however, until I went back and watched the video later.

This intrigued me. Imagine if the foxes had been a Bigfoot or a Mothman or something of that nature? Sure, I could’ve gotten something on film. But it would’ve joined the list of other poorly filmed somethings that make for intriguing, yet inconclusive, evidence of the existence of beasties.

However, it also made me appreciate hoaxes and hoaxers. Last month Lon at Phantoms and Monsters wrote about a possible Bigfoot in Ketchikan, Alaska that was caught on tape.

In his post he included the video. I re-watched it recently and something caught my eye. It’s filming it’s too smooth.

Granted, I’m just starting to learn techniques for capturing steadier videos. I’m a total novice. Perhaps the person filming the Bigfoot video was more seasoned.

Yet, you’d think if they were “tripping out” and shaking as much as they claimed while they were shooting (listen around the 38 second mark), the camera would absorb that and it would show up in the video. It doesn’t. Except for when the person is running, the camera is steady.

Take a look. It might make you question the veracity of the video too. (If you weren’t already questioning it. At first glance it’s pretty impressive really. But delving deeper and thinking about it more, especially when I compare it to my video, which was a truly “I can’t believe I’m catching this on tape” video, it doesn’t stack up.)

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.