Quandaries of Filming at Haunted Locations

Hey everyone! So this is my first blog (Ever xD). I'm Excited! I'll start off by introducing myself. I'm Nelo (pronounced like jello), I do film, photography, and almost anything media related on the west side of Atlanta. It's all freelance work with my little business I run. I've done book trailers, music vids, and plenty of photo editing. As a director, photographer, and designer, you quickly find out this isn't your regular 9 to 5. I get the strangest request, everywhere from the "Make me look skinny and younger" to getting suckered into dressing up as a cowboy and roaming around festivals. So these adventures should give me good material. And with that I have my first story.

I just finished a job today for a book trailer. My 2 good friends in Cartersville are going out to the big auto show coming up and wanted a video to represent their book there. So I was like sure I could do that and we quickly worked out the details. The plan was I would get my equipment and come over and set up for an interview. That went all according to plan. I came over with my sound equipment, lights, backdrops, and all the gizmos. For filming I actually use my camera. This isn't anything little. I have a nice big Pentax DSLR that I love so dearly. 

So after spending an hour going over the scripts and setting the equipment and tripods up I mounted the camera, focused it in, and was all set to make movie magic. Keep in mind this is a big camera. It takes plenty of power to take pictures and plenty more to record. I got the fancy rechargeable Nickle-Zinc batteries, and I spent the previous night charging 4 sets just in case. So as soon as I reach for the trigger the shudder shuts on me and the battery depleted sign comes up. I'm like ....no way. But, being prepared, I had 3 more sets. I popped the back off and put in 4 more fresh ones. Flipping it back on I reach to start recording and bam! batteries depleted. From there I executed a perfect smh maneuver or "smack my head." You know your working with a professional when he stands there for 5 minutes changing batteries. This phenomenon happened again on again. Through all 16 batteries that I watched charge the previous night died as soon as the camera started.

I was like....*rkgjehjhergvjkerhjhgerjkhwgerkj* but faith was not lost. The camera does film in high definition but only has mono sound, I used a smaller flip camcorder for the actual audio since it has wide stereo microphone. I ended up filming with it and thankfully it was able to make it through the entire interview. And with enough finesse, some elbow grease, and a little duct tape, I was able to make a decent looking video for my client.

After the interview we all went out to this restaurant where the Cartersville Songwriters Exchange holds their meeting and had a bite to eat and listened to some good music. Over dinner I was telling them how I was bewildered that those batteries just died in a flash, and they dismissed it as normal and started telling me all the spooky occurrences that go on in the house. The usual toys without batteries coming on, things with batteries dying without notice, doors shutting by themselves, and of course lots of foot steps. I am not afraid of ghosts, I just choose not to be around them or their haunts, haha. I told them if they ever need any more work done, its definitely not gonna be at that house. Tho it does make you wonder how much extra battery packs and equipment do all those paranormal TV shows have to bring.

If you have any stories of your own, post them in the comments!