From: rap@wag.caltech.edu (Rick A. Pinson)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Re: Boy Ghost in Three Men & Baby
Date: 15 Dec 1992 20:17:17 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: sgi1.wag.caltech.edu




	I've been looking for the "ghost" in 3 men and a baby for
	some time now.  Last night, I finally found it.  I rented
	a laser disk of the movie.

	Here is what I've found:
		All of the scenes that we are interested in are on side B.
		At 9:53 in the window between Ted Danson and his mother,
		you can see the outline of a rifle/shotgun pointing
		straight down.

		At 10:23 Teds mother is holding the baby and starts to walk
		to the left side of the screen, Ted is to the right of her.
		In the window on the left side of the screen, you see someone
		standing, looking through the curtains at you.  It is the
		same window that the "gun" was in.

	Finding these scared the hell out of me!  I was all alone at about
	9:30 at night.  At the very instant I saw the figure in the window,
	a paper bag fell off the counter behind me.  My response was less
	than dignified.  Anyway, after my heart started again, I took a
	closer look at the frames one at a time.  I started with the gun.
	The first thing that I noticed is that the angle of the window
	was a little strange.  (If you are looking, take a look at the
	picture on the wall to the right.  It's the one hanging crooked.)
	If you look at the curtains, you can see the outline of an arm
	pointing to the right behind them.  What you are looking at is
	the right side of the cutout of Ted Danson.  The "trigger" of the
	gun is the beltline of the tux the figure is wearing.  There is
	a wide post behind the figure so you can't see its head at this
	angle.  At this point, I went screaming through the rest
	of the movie trying to find a good picture of the cutout to compare.
	The best view of it is at 10:25.  It is on its left side.  If you
	hold your hand over the screen where the curtain would be, you
	can clearly see the outline of the gun again.  (The gun would be
	pointing to the left).  It is also at 35:20-35:40, this time it's
	standing up behind Ted.  I then moved on to the figure in the window.
	I watched this section in slow motion. (1/8th speed)  If you
	are looking, again notice the picture to the right, you are at
	a very different angle to the window.  They are using some kind
	of fish-eye lense in this shot.  As the window goes from the left
	to the right, the figure in the window distorts a little and actually
	shrinks.  It never really comes into focus.  At the point where
	the window is in between Ted and his mother, take a look at the
	figure.  You can make out the top hat of the cutout.

	What are my conclusions?  I can't say anything about the existence/
	non-existence of ghosts with this information.  All it tells me is 
	how this illusion was done.  It doesn't tell me anything about if
	it was an accident of camera angles or a setup by a ghost.
	Chances are that it is just an accident of light and angles, but
	what if that is how "ghosts" communicate? :-)

	Let me say that I don't know if ghosts exist.  I've been looking
	for proof one way or the other for a long time, and I still haven't
	been able to make up my mind.

	Now on to figuring out why those stupid street lights go out
	when I walk by them!

Rick Pinson