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Urban Legends Investigated: Dear David – Part 2 / Is Dear David Real?
August 22, 2018

Urban Legends Investigated: Dear David – Part 2 / Is Dear David Real?

Now I told you all about the “Dear David” story in my previous post, let’s dive into some more detail and investigate whether this thing is real or not.

The Polaroids

As proof of his claims, Adam offers some polaroids which are completely black. Polaroids taken of his hallway. He also shows a video of him making the polaroids, but he does this in two different videos.

On one video, Adam takes polaroid pictures of his living room. The pictures develop normally.

Then, in a second video, he takes pictures of the hallway. The pictures turn pitch-black.

Since the pictures aren’t part of one clip, it’s impossible to determine if he messed with them at first or not. Adam could’ve changed something on the settings of the polaroid, for example.

The Anomolies Research Society mentions in their blog post about “Dear David” that black tape is covering up the flash when he puts down the camera during the second video – this caused the black mass in the second video. Also, the hall light isn’t on in picture two – there is zero light being cast inside the living room from the hallway, like you have in picture one. You can see it clearly just by checking the room, which is clearly much darker in the second picture. I spotted that too.

Take a look at their picture explaining everything here.

The Rocking Chair and Turtle Accident

Despite these videos being really cool, it “is” easy to fake things. Get some rope to pull the chair, to pull the turtle down, and with the overall darkness of the room, you can easily hide your tracks.

Just search for it on Youtube. It’s easy to make some homemade ‘haunted house’ videos.

The Other Weird Stuff in the Pictures

Ever heard of pareidolia, the human tendency to see faces in just about everything? This is a psychological phenomenon most people suffer from (well, suffer, we just have it).

Take for example, this picture Adam took of the hallway, where some people apparently saw a human figure in (see picture on the left).

Yeah, that’s obviously pareidolia – the human figure isn’t really there, it’s our mind trying to discern things that aren’t there.

The Video That Changes It All

Here is the actual game changer, though.

Check out that video. The jar moves. It freaking moves. And Adam doesn’t even mention it, apparently not having seen it the first time around.

Now, I can easily figure out how the rocking chair could’ve rocked, or the turtle shell dropped down, but that’s a glass table and two cats. I have zero clue how that jar could’ve moved like that. Still, I’m no expert, and maybe there’s a logical solution for all of this. It could also be physics – apparently, wet glasses can move of their own accord using the mysterious power of physics.

Still, sure, a jar can move; but right then? Right when Adam was filming, right when the cat was acting up? I mean, I have two cats and trying to get them to do anything I want when I want it, is a nightmare. They’re not like dogs, they won’t jump when you say jump. Something spooked that cat, and then the jar moved.

The Picture in the Warehouse

When Adam went to investigate the warehouse again, he took a picture of the inside, showing what looked like isolation or something lying on a chair, and a malformed figure in the back, which he believes is Dear David.

The picture doesn’t show much at first, and all I can see is a smudge, not a ghost.

But then, someone edited the picture, bringing everyting up to 100 except brightness and contrast. And for God’s sake, not only is there a dent head figure to the right, there’s also a pair of eyes staring at you from inside the picture. It’s impossible to miss.

While this looks pretty good, my bet is still on Photoshop, or still pareidolia.

The Peephole Pictures

Let’s take another look at the picture Adam took on October 14, through the peephole of his apartment front door, leading to the hallway.

So, I see absolutely nothing in this, to be honest. Some people see something, and tried to enhance or brighten the picture, but I still see absolutely nothing.

The Figure on the Roof

On October 27, Adam allegedly spotted a figure on his roof, posting this:

When you brighten the picture, it looks like this. There’s  a figure on the left, looking suspiciously like a doll – is this Dear David? There’s also a figure on the right, but this one can’t be spotted that easily.

Okay, so obviously this isn’t pareidolia. This is either a real ghost, a doll, or Photoshop.

Dear David Attacking Adam

When “Dear David” attacks Adam, in this picture and the following sequence of pictures, it’s definitely not pareidolia. This is something. A ghost or a doll, I’m still leaving that in the middle.

Also, on one of the pictures of David sitting on a chair, the picture was clearly messed with. David’s legs also blend in with the bedspread, indicating it was layered on top instead of behind. Credit to Reddit for figuring this out.

David now seems to resemble this type of doll – just with his head caved in. I have to admit the likeliness is remarkable.

The Hatch

I totally don’t buy it that Adam “just” discovered the hatch one day, although living the apartment for quite some time already.

Some items drop from the crawlspace Adam discovers above the hatch, including a children’s shoe (really, really old) and a marble. Still, that’s no evidence – Adam could’ve planted those there himself. We don’t see the marble tumble from the hatch either (the landlord, not in any of the pictures, came with a ladder to inspect the crawlspace, and then retrieved the marble) so he could’ve gotten that anywhere.

The Final Countdown

Then, things get very weird. Adam says he’s fine in one of his tweets, after not communicating with his followers for a while.

This was posted at around midnight, and it’s weird. Adam usually starts his sentences with caps, he’s quite articulate. Also, there are two spaces between “is” and “fine”. Could be a coincidence, right?

Until he does it again, here. Two spaces between “feel” and “good”. Twitter at least is convinced that Adam is now working for David.

Adam posts a few cryptic messages in the following days, some cat videos that are slightly eerie, and then he’s quiet again.

The Documentary

Then, there’s the June 6 tweet about Dear David getting its own documentary.  And later on, although Adam states he never intended to convince anyone ghosts were real and that, if the story was fiction, he probably would’ve posted more often than once every few weeks, it’s still pretty odd that then, despite not allowing “ghost hunters” in his house, he is fine with a documentary.

Still, publicity is publicity, I guess.

The media has been engrossed with this story, and a lot of outlets posted about the upcoming documentary.

The Verdict

Is the “Dear David” story fact or fiction? Well, although I want it to be true, and it started out like this really awesome, somewhat-plausible ghost story, I have to admit that by now, I’m pretty convinced that it’s all fake. The two major facts that convince me are the documentary that is being made and how it’s now all quiet on the “Dear David” front, and the seemingly doll-like appearance of “Dear David” when he crawls on top of Adam’s bed.

Still, it’s a great story and one worth checking out, and using a new type of media, Twitter, to tell a spooky tale is original and entertaining.

Related posts:

Meet a Monster: Sirens
Real Haunted Houses: Bragg-Mitchell Mansion
Urban Legends Investigated: The Bleeding House
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