Sylmar High School ghost (2013)

[johne1618]

A girl’s mother caught what looked like a ghost of a boy winning a race while she videoed her daughter performing with the Sylmar High school cheerleaders in November 2013. No one saw the figure at the time which was only noticed by the mother a month later when she was reviewing the video. The video was included in Paranormal Caught on Camera season 1 episode 16. I recorded a clip from the TV screen with my Ipad.

It seems unlikely to be a real runner as the stadium was locked while the football game was underway (according to a video or web page that I can't find at the moment).

Screenshot from video clip at 0:03



Video clip from Paranormal caught on camera

Here is a CBS Los Angeles report of the incident:

Source: https://youtu.be/ezYdxn6SdP0?t=31

 

[NorCal Dave]

Here's a local news clip about it. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be much better than yours form the TV. And of course it's a Halloween story.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezYdxn6SdP0


I don't have a lot of time right now, but I did notice if you freeze right at 00:11 on your recording, you'll note that the "ghost" looks almost the same as the cheerleader in white, at the lower left, that is being caught by the other girls after being up in the air.

EDIT: Upon further review, the cheerleader isn't in white, she just looks like it when she blurs. Trying just watching her, she gets pretty ghost like while moving fast.

In appears that what ever camera was being used, it has a hard time with fast moving objects. The girl that is falling down is blurred and ghost like when moving fast. Could be a kid sprinting around for some reason and the camera can't keep up with him.

Weather the field is locked or not is an irrelevant detail made to add to the "mystery". There are plenty of people there already.

Mind you, this is a screen shot of a recording of a TV from a mid '00s or earlier camera:

 

[deirdre]

i think it was oct 4th 2013. this is also the only date the schedule has for sylmar vs san fernando, which is what the article says.

and by mid october/ early nov the cheerleaders (in other game videos) are wearing long pants.

these highschool games are filmed in full. but not sure we can find a full version almost 10 years later. lots of highlight clips though. https://www.maxpreps.com/search/default.aspx?type=video&search=san fernando 2013&state=&gendersport=




it must be half time or before game...as we dont see the players lined up ? in the alleged ghost (it's just a girl running) video, so not sure we can find the girl in team highlights. i'm leaning toward half time as it looks (hard to tell) like the police have put on jackets in the ghost film.

 

[NorCal Dave]

Nice work @deirdre!


Looking at johne1618's TV video again and pulling some screen shots, it appears that our ghost might have on a purple/blue shirt with possibly light colored shorts and black socks.



Then if we look at this screen shot from the highlight reel, we have 2 and possibly 3 players not dressed to play. Red arrow looks to have jersey on, but with a backpack over it, blue is hard to tell. Green has a jersey on and black socks, but no pads and is wearing light colored shorts instead of uniform pants.



If it's 1/2 time, a non-player wouldn't be doing warm ups or run-throughs with the rest of the team. Just a thought.

Here's 3 more frame grabs showing the flying cheerleader going from "full corporeal" to "full apparition". Ghosts are sneaky:

 

[deirdre]

it appears that our ghost might have on a purple/blue shirt with possibly light colored shorts and black socks

i got the impression of a greyish sweatshirt and short black shorts. i dont see socks and to me she moves like a girl.

the travel channel uploaded a version in 2020 that seems clearer, but not sure if they enhanced it ?
Source: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=614924652479488



but basically youtube is only offering 720 p.

 

[deirdre]

kinda like this girl


https://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/cl...?videoid=24447825-2072-4d7a-9d79-8475cd7d702a

 

[NorCal Dave]

kinda like this girl

That's a good candidate too, depending on which frame we look at. What I saw as black socks could be shadows and likewise the black shorts could be shadows. Who knows?

The TC video is much clearer, which to my mind, just makes it look more like a kid running to the field. But it's also cropped and then zoomed in on. There still seems to be no original footage out there. The daughter in the the TV video I posted indicates it was shot on a phone, but if so it was in landscape, which is unusual on a phone, or was cropped to appear landscape, further degrading the quality. There is also the zoom right before our ghost appears making me think its an older video camera. Maybe?

Lastly the mom has now been on the local news and the Travel Channel. Never discount a hoax for a moment of fame.

I also found this:

Unlike analogue film, phones tend to take a photo in stages – in the same way a scanner moves over piece of paper. It is a slower process, especially in darker places where the camera phone’s image sensors need more time to record enough picture information. This is called 'image aliasing'. As a result, anything moving through the shot at the time could appear distorted.

Content from External Source

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150629-the-intriguing-history-of-ghost-photography

 

[deirdre]

an older video camera

well it was 2013 ..my phone back then the camera was basically useless. even for still shots up close.

There still seems to be no original footage out there

the baseball team uploaded something in November 2013 but it looks like maybe the baseball guy videoed it right off her phone? so..not clearer.



Source: https://www.facebook.com/SylmarBaseball/videos/490388514402279

 

[johne1618]

If the cheerleader drops for 0.5 secs then her velocity as she is caught is about 10 m/s/s * 0.5 s = 5 m/s. She does look like a blur at that point.



I calculate that the runner takes about 4 secs to run a distance about 10 times the height of the figure standing on the left. If that standing figure is a female police officer who is say 1.7 m tall then the runner is going at 17/4 = 4.25 m/s.



The cheerleader looks more of a blur than the the runner, and is travelling at roughly the same speed as she is caught, so I guess we can't use blurring as an argument to rule out the runner being a normal human being.

Is there any way we can rule out the runner being a normal person? He does seem out of place as he appears too short and skinny to be a football player exercising.

The female police officer on the left (red arrow) only starts to react to the runner (blue arrow) when he's well past her which seems strange as he approached her running with his hands in the air.

 

[Mendel]

The cheerleader looks more of a blur than the the runner, and is travelling at roughly the same speed as she is caught, so I guess we can't use blurring as an argument to rule out the runner being a normal human being.

I read this double negative as stating that your calculations show the data is consistent with the "ghost" being a human runner that is blurred because of the camera technology employed.

You seem to also suggest that the lack of further evidence makes this the simplest and most likely explanation.

Is that correct?

 

[johne1618]

I read this double negative as stating that your calculations show the data is consistent with the "ghost" being a human runner that is blurred because of the camera technology employed.

You seem to also suggest that the lack of further evidence makes this the simplest and most likely explanation.

Is that correct?

I’m conflicted as usual. My analysis does imply that the running “ghost” is consistent with how a real human being would appear if they ran past the camera.

But I have two questions regarding the hypothesis that the runner is a real human being:

1) Why is the left-hand police officer so late in reacting to the runner? She should have seen him in her peripheral vision running towards her with his hands in the air and reacted as he passed her. Instead she doesn’t start to react until a second after he has passed her. It’s almost as if she just sensed his presence as he passed her.

2) The runner seems too small and slender to be a football player exercising. If he’s not a football player why is he there racing past the cheerleading team at halftime during a football match?

 

[deirdre]

He does seem out of place as he appears too short and skinny to be a football player exercising.

why would the ghost 1. be a he? and 2. be a football player? it is a high school football game at half time or before the game starts. meaning there are no football players in sight, they are likely just coming out of the locker room a the end of the footage, which is why all the fans and cheerleaders are looking to their left and start cheering all a the same time.

There are girlfriends and siblings and cheerleaders all over the place on the sidelines, if you watch the maxpreps footages of the actual game. zero reason to assume it is a football player.

The female police officer on the left (red arrow) only starts to react to the runner (blue arrow) when he's well past her which seems strange as he approached her running with his hands in the air.

what makes you think she is reacting to the runner? there are kids (high schoolers) bopping about all over the place, unless the kid was streaking (ie naked) the officer would have very little interest in a random kid running about.


ps. since when do ghosts 1. wear shorts or 2. run (let alone a gazelle like jete)? I've seen alot of ghost films and pics in my day and in none of them is the ghost wearing modern clothes or running.

 

[Mendel]

1) Why is the left-hand police officer so late in reacting to the runner? She should have seen him in her peripheral vision running towards her with his hands in the air. Yet she doesn’t start to react until a second after he has passed her. It’s almost as if she just sensed his presence as he passed her.

The background is full of moving people, I think you overestimate what peripheral vision can do under these circumstances. I make the reaction time to be about 1/4 second, which is average. And "sensed his presence" is a weird way to express "noticed the runner" or "saw the runner".

 

[NorCal Dave]

1) Why is the left-hand police officer so late in reacting to the runner? She should have seen him in her peripheral vision running towards her with his hands in the air and reacted as he passed her. Instead she doesn’t start to react until a second after he has passed her. It’s almost as if she just sensed his presence as he passed her.

Just adding onto what's already been said, (being in the us Pacific Time Zone I'm one of the last to check in the morning), a late reaction assumes that the officer didn't see the person already. The runner comes from off camera, so it's very possible the officer has already see him/her and isn't overly interested. It's just one more kid running around for any number of reasons.

As usual with these things, we get a whole 13 seconds of "proof", so there's no before or after to establish some context. It may be that our runner becomes very obvious if the camera panned back to the left, but we don't get any of that. All we're shown is the "ghost". Conveniently.

2) The runner seems too small and slender to be a football player exercising. If he’s not a football player why is he there racing past the cheerleading team at halftime during a football match?

Not necessarily, these are high school kids. It's dark, so it's probably the Varsity game which would be seniors and juniors (15-18 years old). Back in the '80s when I was a junior on the football team (3rd string) I was a whole 5'6" and 140lbs. Without pads, that is, a team member who is injured or otherwise not playing but is still wearing his jersey, that can make one look even smaller.

And this is all assuming it's a player. deirdre pointed out a girl on the sidelines that could be our runner, and I'm leaning that way as well. Note in that picture there's at least 2 other girls that look similar to the one deirdre pointed out. Besides, there's all kinds of people on the sidelines, players, non-dressed players, cheerleaders, coaches, student assistants, officers, equipment managers, maybe some EMTs and more.

And I'll reiterate, this lady got on TV multiple times with this. Not that she used CGI to hoax it, but maybe she didn't bother to look through the rest of her footage for any clues to what she saw. Or maybe she did and decided that wasn't any fun. Just show everybody this 13 seconds and you get to be on a Halloween segment. And on a Metabunk thread!

 

[deirdre]

a late reaction assumes that the officer didn't see the person already. The runner comes from off camera, so it's very possible the officer has already see him/her and isn't overly interested. It's just one more kid running around for any number of reasons.

yea i think the officer is responding to the cheerleaders as they all start yelling YAY! at that point (easier to see in the Travel channel video).

also there is a chain-link fence to the stands. while there may be a stair opening where the gal ran down from the stands, it seems to me from angle that she was running along the sidelines so the officer would have seen her coming...

 

[Rory]

The female police officer on the left only starts to react to the runner when [it's] well past her which seems strange as [it] approached her running with [it's] hands in the air.

The reaction seems pretty normal to me - especially for someone in the middle of a conversation. And don't they both turn to look at the runner?

Seems like they saw something that was actually there and therefore it supports the mundane explanation of a normal not-dead human.

(Also feels more like a fraction of a second rather than a full second. But more accurate timing needed to pin that down.)

 

[deirdre]

while it sort of seems like the officers follow the runner, i think the reason they turn that far is because the team is coming out to the field from that direction. all the fans are looking in that direction, the cheerleaders are etc. i,personally, really think from the cheering and direction everyone is looking, that the team is running out onto the field.

 

[deirdre]

just before my pic right above..we see that girl's friend point down the field. that is why the girl is looking down field, before that she was watching the cheerleaders do their pyramid thing.

 

[johne1618]

why would the ghost 1. be a he? and 2. be a football player? it is a high school football game at half time or before the game starts. meaning there are no football players in sight, they are likely just coming out of the locker room a the end of the footage, which is why all the fans and cheerleaders are looking to their left and start cheering all a the same time.

There are girlfriends and siblings and cheerleaders all over the place on the sidelines, if you watch the maxpreps footages of the actual game. zero reason to assume it is a football player.

Ok, it might be a boy or a girl and it’s probably not a football player. It seems to have short hair which makes me think it’s a boy.

Just adding onto what's already been said, (being in the us Pacific Time Zone I'm one of the last to check in the morning), a late reaction assumes that the officer didn't see the person already. The runner comes from off camera, so it's very possible the officer has already see him/her and isn't overly interested. It's just one more kid running around for any number of reasons.

But in that case the officer seems very relaxed given that someone is sprinting almost directly towards her. You would have thought that she would have stepped backwards to get out of the way.

 

[johne1618]

The reaction seems pretty normal to me - especially for someone in the middle of a conversation. And don't they both turn to look at the runner?

Seems like they saw something that was actually there and therefore it supports the mundane explanation of a normal not-dead human.

(Also feels more like a fraction of a second rather than a full second. But more accurate timing needed to pin that down.)

Ok it looks like they both react but I’m surprised how nonchalant they seem given someone has run past them so fast and so close.

 

[Rory]

I’m surprised how nonchalant they seem given someone has run past them so fast and so close.

If they've done that particular shift before they're unlikely to be surprised by seeing someone running.

 

[deirdre]

Ok it looks like they both react but I’m surprised how nonchalant they seem given someone has run past them so fast and so close.

some of your (in this and other threads) expressions of life experience...or in your case, lack of life experience.. make me wonder about your life situation. Are you a home bound person confined to a wheelchair or something? I'm not trying to be rude, honest. I'm just curious.

 

[deirdre]

It seems to have short hair which makes me think it’s a boy.

actually now that you made me go back and focus on the hair, i am even more content it is the girl i circled. cool.

 

[johne1618]

some of your (in this and other threads) expressions of life experience...or in your case, lack of life experience.. make me wonder about your life situation. Are you a home bound person confined to a wheelchair or something? I'm not trying to be rude, honest. I'm just curious.

I had a sheltered childhood and I live a quiet, stay-at-home life it’s true!

 

[NorCal Dave]

But in that case the officer seems very relaxed given that someone is sprinting almost directly towards her. You would have thought that she would have stepped backwards to get out of the way.

But I don't think our "ghost" is running "at" the officers, rather in front of and past them. He/she looks to be heading onto the field between the officers and the band director's stand.


The stand tells me this is very likely 1/2 time. It may be that it is the band that is about to enter the field from the left. The band leader's stand is set up and this guy is standing on the 50 yard line looking left before he checks the scoreboard. He has that band teacher vibe to me.


In addition there is some sort of podium or something (drums?) still on the field. And just to confirm that the deirdre's highlight pictures we're using is from almost the same time frame, white hoodie (jumper for you UK folks) person seems to appear in both.

 

[NorCal Dave]

I had a sheltered childhood and I live a quiet, stay-at-home life it’s true!

Well you came the right place! Stick around and you'll be questioning whether the sun actually rose this morning, or maybe it was a hoax.

 

[deirdre]

and the band director's stand.

is that what that thing is? makes sense, so yea they likely would have moved it before the teams came back out.

and...talk about feeling old, these girls look like they are about 10 years old up close but check out the group of girls behind them. they are dressed in what i see as the runner's outfit. they might be junior cheerleaders or a dance team. they do have the same bows on their heads as the varsity cheerleaders.


there is also a mascot... i was wondering about that, if maybe the mascot was what they were all looking at.

 

[Rory]

white hoodie (jumper for you UK folks)

Hoodie is hoodie in UK also (assuming it has a hood). A jumper is a big sweater, like a woolly jumper or the kind of thing a fisherman would wear.

 

[deirdre]

Hoodie is hoodie in UK also (assuming it has a hood).

even if its a hoodie you have to pull over your head? i always thought uk jumpers were only sweaters you pull over your head (vs ones ith zips or buttons.) hhmm.. probably would have been less typing to just google that than ask you!

 

[NorCal Dave]

Hoodie is hoodie in UK also (assuming it has a hood). A jumper is a big sweater, like a woolly jumper or the kind of thing a fisherman would wear.

I stand corrected! A bit off topic but, I had an Aussie working with me a few years ago and he always called his hoodie a jumper. I told him that was fine in front of me, but if we went to The Tackle Box, a local redneck combo bar & gun store (seriously) he's going to want to go with hoodie:

Jumper: In the UK this just refers to an garment you wear over your shirt for warmth. It doesn't have buttons, and it pulled over your head.

In the US this has a completely different meaning. It is a type of girl's dress, a top, with attached shorts basically. (Google will be happy to show you images.) It has a kind of "little girl" sense to it kind of like pinafore, however, for sure adult women wear them too.

Content from External Source

https://english.stackexchange.com/q...nce-between-a-jumper-a-pullover-and-a-sweater

and...talk about feeling old, these girls look like they are about 10 years old up close but check out the group of girls behind them. they are dressed in what i see as the runner's outfit. they might be junior cheerleaders or a dance team. they do have the same bows on their heads as the varsity cheerleaders.

Haaa! I found the same video and thought the same thing! The wife and I even pulled out an old yearbook to compare. We're going with the idea that these girls are the JV or maybe even Freshman squads. And yes, it looks like your "ghost" candidate is some sort of Song Girl or Dance team member.

 

[FatPhil]

even if its a hoodie you have to pull over your head? i always thought uk jumpers were only sweaters you pull over your head (vs ones ith zips or buttons.) hhmm.. probably would have been less typing to just google that than ask you!

Anywhere in the UK I'm familiar with (mostly south and east), sweater=jumper=pullover = knitted thing with long sleeves and no front opening.
It contrasts most closely with a tank top (which lacks the sleeves), a cardigan (opens at the front), and a sweatshirt (not knitted, typically cotton flocked on the inside). Hoodies are therefore 2 or more steps removed (being sweatshirt material, and having a hood, and sometimes opening at the front).

 

[Rory]

i always thought uk jumpers were only sweaters you pull over your head (vs ones ith zips or buttons.)

In the UK this just refers to an garment you wear over your shirt for warmth. It doesn't have buttons, and it pulled over your head.

That reminds me: we also call them "pullovers" (though if there's a difference between "jumper" and "pullover" I can't remember).

A sweater in my vocab is similar but thinner and wouldn't be made out of wool. A hoodie can either have a zip or no but definitely needs a hood. And a jumper with a zip is a cardigan.

We also have body warmers and tank tops that you guys label differently.

I wanna say that's UK-wide but then there may be regional variations also, same as there is with breadcakes.

 

[Rory]

Oh, and then I read that Phil just said pretty much the same thing.

 

[JMartJr]

It seems harder to clear up what sweaters are called on either side of the Pond than it is to debunk this "ghost."