Video ITC

20th October 2017. Reading Time: 5 minutes General, Famous Paranormal Cases. 6231 page views. 0 comments.

ITC is all the rage these days predominately with audio in the form of ghost boxes. Way back in 1985, Klaus Schreiber developed video ITC which people still today are trying to improve and experiment with. So what is all about? Is it spirits we are looking at or is it pareidolia?

ITC is an extremely controversial yet popular form of communication by paranormal investigators. It has most commonly been experimented within today's age with ghost boxes in an audio format. There are people out there who do experiment with a video version, but it isn't really mainstream. It is controversial as quite a lot of people write it off as a form of pareidolia. Invented in the 1980s, here is all you need to know about video ITC in its different formats.

How was video ITC discovered?

Klaus Schreiber was a man who considered himself to be a psychic. After the passing of his 18-year-old daughter, he used a voice recorder in an attempt to make contact with her. That he did and through EVP, his daughter actually told him how to communicate on a visual level. In 1985, after a few weeks of experimenting, he successfully transmitted what was thought to be the first visual image of a spirit appearing on a television set.

How is video ITC achieved?

Referred to as video looping ITC, the process involved using a black and white television, a black and white video camera and 2 video recorders which had a pause function (for obvious reasons). The antenna on the television was disabled or not plugged in so there was no signal. The video camera would be pointed to the television at an angle and hooked up to one of the video recorders. The video camera was also hooked up to the television so it would display what the camera was seeing. This creates a feedback loop. The settings on the camera such as the shutter speed and aperture are adjusted and different levels of lighting (such as UV lights) were used which would create strange visual displays. After recording for an amount of time (between 30 seconds to a few minutes), Schreiber would then playback the recorded image and freeze frame each still to see if an image came through. If a possible image did come through, it was copied to the second recorder and back and forth again until the image became more prominent.

Other researchers also like to use the white noise which is generated on a screen simply by not having a signal received by the television and claim to receive similar results - very much like in the movie 'White Noise'.

Another method used is applying an electrical current to water and recording the water with a camera. After a while, people claim to see the faces of spirits coming through.

What do the images look like?

Schreiber claimed to receive the images of notable figures from history including Albert Einstein.

He also was able to summon King Ludwig II

People would come through randomly and as a psychic, he was also able to call people to come through during his sessions.

In 1988, Schreiber passed away from a heart attack and is said to of sent images of himself through to family members and colleagues with claims he is living in the 'river of eternity' with family members.

Are we looking at the faces of spirits or is it pareidolia?

We all know how pareidolia works - our brain tries to make sense of random patterns. It is the reason why we see an elephant in the clouds or a face in the moon. A lot of these images look to be a bit more detailed than your typical case of pareidolia. There are a lot of cases of video ITC that I would personally automatically write off as pareidolia. Some of the images available are really pretty amazing in likeness but me being me has to ask how authentic are they? I cannot vouch for that as I wasn't there and I cannot prove either way that there was no deception. If however let's say there was no deception, this is pretty interesting stuff!

The concept of having to continuously copy an image between video recorders is questionable because every time you are essentially making the quality worse and this means that the image could get grainer and grainer. It means the grainer it gets, the more your brain tries to make sense of it and then pareidolia sets in. If these images are genuine and have not been doctored in any way, it would be difficult to write them off as pareidolia, just because of how detailed they are and close to the original. It doesn't however mean that pareidolia is not possible. It certainly is a very interesting concept and one that would warrant some investigation and experimentation under controlled circumstances. Perhaps there are ways to tighten the controls down, however, I am not sure how you would eliminate the problem of pareidolia.

Is it reliable? Again with the pareidolia aspect, it is really no more reliable than a ghost box or any other piece of equipment really but they are still widely used in the field. It is more what you make of the results and how you interpret them. Take it for what it is. I feel it is worth doing your own experimenting to see what results you get. Sometimes when investigating the paranormal, you have to just let it all go and see what happens. I know I can get caught up in trying to debunk things all the time and it may mean I am missing out on something. Would I try this? Yes, and in fact I have set up video loops on many occasions, however in my case nothing happened. This of course is something that would be a long process not just a one-off test on a random investigation. It is an area you would have to dedicate your time to. I think it would be really interesting to study. It won't necessarily give me proof of the paranormal but really what is proof? Will there ever be proof? Some things are just worth trying and experiencing for yourself. I mean we aren't necessarily trying to prove anything to anyone but ourselves!

Have you used video ITC? What format do you use and what results have you received? Do you think we are looking at the faces of spirits or is it a case of pareidolia?

If you enjoy LLIFS, consider buying me a book (otherwise known as buy me a coffee but I don't drink coffee and I LOVE books). Your donation helps to fund the LLIFS website so everyone can continue to access great paranormal content and resources for FREE!