Ghost car?

Here's a fun piece of video from truTV. A police video camera captures the pursuit of a dangerously speeding car - which then apparently drives straight through a chain link fence, leaving the fence undamaged and the cops baffled.

At first I couldn't figure out how this happened. But when I Googled "Garden City" + "ghost car," a helpful discussion on the JREF forum cleared it up.

First, watch the video and see if you can guess the answer. I'll wait right here.

.... (hums, taps his feet, checks his watch) ...

Okay, so how was it done?

There's actually only a short section of fence. The speeding car has already passed the fence when the camera swings back to it. The taillights are visible from behind the fence, but because they are bright and the fence is dark, they give the momentary impression of being in front. 

Thus it looks as if the car is miraculously passing through the fence, when in reality it zipped around the obstacle before the camera reacquired the car.

-----

HT: Ace of Spades.

Comments

[Sandy]

OK, I didn't find anything mysterious about what was shown. I found it pretty self evident. Then I watched it a second time with the sound on. It is the narrator suggesting sometime odd is happening that makes you think maybe there is.

[MatthewX78]

haaa. Nice work debunking that. I suppose it isn't a quantum dimensional ship that looks like a car after all.

[Aftrbrnr]

In other words Sandy, it's reality TV trying to make things interesting at the cost of dishonesty?

[Aftrbrnr]

I also hate to throw the comments section off-topic, but skeptic Martin Gardner died on the 22nd this past Saturday (of which Michael has written a critique on about). Interestingly, Gardner is one of very few skeptics who believed in God (although was critical of religion).

Anyways, back to the mysterious disappearing car.

[Nursing PJs]

Great!! Thanks for the links!! Hmm cant wait to watch that video!!

[Kathy]

Did the police department confirm your conclustion? Did anyone obtain a copy of the report or talk to the PD? Why would you trust the conclusions of the JREF forum?

[Michael Prescott]

"Why would you trust the conclusions of the JREF forum?"

When you look carefully at the video, pausing on key frames, you can see they're right.

[Sandy]

Kathy, when I first watched this, I had the sound off because I was also watching TV. Without the narration, it seemed pretty self evident. The police car was making sharper turns to the left or right than the car it was chasing to shorten the distance between them in the chase. Unfortunately, the driver of the police car was so focused on the other car that he/she didn't notice the fence.

I assumed the car being chased just just drove around the fence (we are never shown how far to the left the fence goes, so it could be quite a short distance) and straightened up again just as the police car caught up with it.

When I watched it a second time with the sound on, it was the narration that made it seem like something unusual had happened. But I didn't need the JREF forum to tell me nothing paranormal had occurred.

[Sam]

Did the police department confirm your conclustion? Did anyone obtain a copy of the report or talk to the PD? Why would you trust the conclusions of the JREF forum?

Huh... so you seem to be defending the ghost car hypothesis?

[Nursing clothing]

Wow that's cool!! Hmm thanks for the link can't wait to watch that video... hmm a ghost car..

[Angela Artemis]

Michael,

I watched the video. The last part was so hazy I couldn't be sure what was happening.I highly doubt the car dematerialized and went through the fence though. The driver is probably familiar with the area and led police there because he knew he could escape them by driving around the fence.

Dematerialization is a cool topic though!

[Angela Artemis]

Michael,
Not long after posting the comment earlier I had a long forgotten memory surface from over 20 years ago.

I was a passenger in my friend's car and we were driving much too fast on a highway during a violet rain storm. She was in the farthest left lane next to a concrete barrier and lost control of the car. It hydroplaned into the middle lane heading straight for the car that had been ahead of us which she'd overtaken with her speed. There was no doubt we were on a collision course with that car.

At the moment of impact our car seemed to pass right through the car we were about to hit. It happened in an instant. First we were about to hit the car and then in the next second, our car was stopped and facing the opposite direction back in the far left lane next to the concrete barrier.

At the time I remembered seeing the interior of the car that we "hit" as we passed through it, and my friend said she'd seen the interior also. We were both stunned at what had taken place and both of us said the same thing - we'd passed through the car. It was so vivid at the time....now it's just a faded memory of my youth.

Thinking about it now I wonder if it was real?

If it was real are there some governing scientific principles that would explain it?

[Art]

It's a holographic universe thing.....

excerpt from Arthur's NDE:
"Three things came to my thoughts. 1) That if the vehicle was to hit me again that would be it! 2) That my wife was in danger again. As she was standing in front of my body with her hands waving to the automobile in a fashion as to flag them down. Only they were going way to fast to stop and way to close to miss. 3) My 6 month old son was foremost in my mind. I remember sensing a presence, nothing visual but I knew I was Not alone! I said, "Please Dear God, No! Not Now!" I saw the car pass through the scene, it did not swerve, it did not turn. It passed directly through, leaving my wife and my body untouched. Instantly after that I found myself laying on the ground, back inside my body writhing in pain. This story can be confirmed! Teresa, who was my wife at the time can confirm it."
http://www.nderf.org/arthur_w's_nde.htm
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excerpt from Robert's Mystical experience:
"Robert Blair Kaiser is an author and a former correspondent for Time magazine. Reviewing a book about miracles he wrote: "In 1994, behind the wheel of my Mercedes, I lurched out of my driveway and was awakened from my dreamy preoccupation by the sight of a speeding car bearing down on me, not five feet away on my left. I knew I was a dead man.

"All of a sudden, that car was on my right. The driver weaved a bit, braked for a moment and then drove off, shaking his head in disbelief, as I was. For it was clear to me, there was no way he could have missed crashing into me, no way he could have steered aside. His car had flashed through my car, his steel and glass and rubber passing through my steel and glass and rubber like a ray of light through a pane of alabaster."
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/atheists01.html
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We may all be holograms: NYC science festival brings exciting, wild science to the masses By: SAMANTHA GROSS
Associated Press
05/30/10 4:10 AM EDT

NEW YORK — Brian Greene works in a world where scientific reasoning rules all and imagination leads to the most unlikely truths.

Greene and other "string theorists" are exploring a possible scenario in which people and the world around us are actually a 3-D holographic projection of two-dimensional data that exists outside the accessible universe." ......

Read more at the Washington Examiner:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nation/we-may-all-be-holograms-nyc-science-festival-brings-exciting-wild-science-to-the-masses-95210884.html