How we investigate a clip

1. We start with the original file

A screen recording of a screen recording tells us nothing. We ask for the file the camera app exported, with its own timestamp overlay, and we note the camera model, where it was mounted, the date, the time, and who was in the house. If the sender cannot supply the original, the clip does not become a case.

2. We watch it the boring way

First at normal speed, twice. Then at a quarter speed. Then frame by frame around the moment that matters. We are looking for four things: when the shape first appears, whether it has a hard or soft edge, whether it moves with the camera or independently of it, and how it ends. A shape that slides out of frame behaves like an object. A shape that dissolves in place behaves like light.

3. We rule out the usual suspects

Before anything is written up, the clip is checked against the ordinary causes:

• Insects, dust or a hair near the lens (large, blurred, bright under infrared).
• Reflections from glass, picture frames, glossy paint or a phone screen.
• Light from outside: headlights through curtains, a neighbour's security light.
• Pets, fans, curtains, vents, and people who were in the house after all.
• Compression artefacts, a dropped stream segment, or a camera clock that has lost sync.
• The sleeper's own shadow, which moves when they do.

If one of these explains the clip, we say so and it stays out of the archive. The guides cover each of these in detail.

4. We build the file

Every case is written in the same five parts, so a reader who has seen one file can read any other without learning a new layout:

1. Summary. What the camera recorded, in three sentences.
2. Timeline. Second-by-second, in the camera's own clock, with each entry linked to that moment in the clip.
3. Witness statement. The sender's own account, in their words, lightly edited for length. Names are redacted.
4. What investigators found. The camera, the light, what we ruled out, and what we could not explain. This section never claims more than the frames show.
5. What happened next. What the household did afterwards.

5. We change the details that identify people

Towns, street names, witness names and sometimes dates are changed before publication, and the file says so. The footage itself is not altered. The case files are presented as dramatised accounts for entertainment; see the disclaimer.

6. Then you decide

Every case ends with a verdict poll and a reports section. Votes are real and counted once per person. Reports are read by a person before they appear. Neither is evidence of anything, but the archive is more honest with them than without them.

Want your clip investigated?

Read the five checks first, then use the submission form. We reply to every submission.