The case files are stories. These are not. Practical, sceptical notes on how home cameras work at night, what fools them, and how to check your own footage before you post it.
What infrared, cheap sensors and compression actually do to a night recording.
Why doorbells send motion alerts with nobody there: PIR heat sensing, insects, IR bounce, headlights, wind in plants, and how to trace a repeat 3 a.m. alert.
Sep 4, 2026
Whispers on a baby monitor usually come from cross-talk, gain control, white noise or the app itself. Here is how each one works and how to secure your monitor.
Aug 28, 2026
Why dashcams record figures on empty roads: cabin reflections, headlight flare, low frame rates, motion blur, dark-clothed pedestrians and driver reflections.
Aug 26, 2026
Infrared cameras invent shapes all the time. How IR lighting, dust, reflections, rolling shutter and compression turn nothing into a figure in your footage.
Aug 25, 2026
Step-by-step checks before you decide a clip is unexplained, and how to keep footage that holds up.
How to download camera clips before they expire, keep the original file and metadata intact, back it up and share it for review without editing anything.
Sep 3, 2026
What the timestamp overlay on security footage shows, why camera clocks drift or jump, how to check file metadata against it, and what corruption looks like.
Aug 30, 2026
A practical checklist for strange security camera clips: keep the original, check the clock, find a physical cause, compare nights and step through frames.
Aug 27, 2026
What matters in a camera that has to see in the dark, and where to look for one.
How to choose a baby monitor that sees in the dark and keeps a record: non-Wi-Fi vs Wi-Fi, night vision, audio sensitivity, playback, battery life and classes.
Sep 2, 2026
What matters in a cheap indoor camera for night recording: IR range, sensor, 2K vs 1080p, microSD vs cloud, continuous recording, privacy and product classes.
Sep 1, 2026
Have footage that none of this explains? Send it in.