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Hello, I am Joshua P. Warren, and this is Joshua P. Warren Daily. And yesterday the Wall Street Journal, all two point six million issues of it, was distributed all around the world, and it included an article with commentary from me. The article was written by Julie Jargon and it was called My Baby Monitor is Haunted Tales of Parental Fright. So I'm gonna get back to that. I want to tell you about this article and some of my additional thoughts about this topic. But first I want to let you know that this is probably going to be my last podcast for about a week. And as you know, if you follow this podcast, of course I'm here in Las Vegas, and the Discovery Channel is here. We are filming a major show, and it's about to get really intense tomorrow. A lot of people are flying in here, and uh so I don't think I'll have another opportunity to probably you know record one of these for you. I mean, we're gonna be doing it's a it's a UFO thing, and we're gonna be out in remote areas quite a bit where I won't even have a cell phone signal. And then, of course, it's hard when you're working on these TV sets anyway to to leave something like a podcast because there's a lot of chaos, you're being pulled in a lot of directions, people are flying by the seat of their pants because there are all these unknown variables, weather and you know, lighting and all this kind of stuff. And then plus, I mean, they really don't like for you to talk about these TV shows until they're ready to market them. And so it it's kind of it it feels weird if you're on a show and your mind is just packed with all of this information related to the show, and that I mean your whole day is this show, but you can't talk about that when you do your podcast, especially when it's a podcast like this one. So you'll understand why uh why this may be the last one you hear for for a week or so. But now uh that said, uh it also is of course Las Vegas here in August. It's hot, it's hot. And but here's something that that intrigues me. Okay, you may or may not have seen that it it's official now that last month, July of 2019, was the hottest month on record on earth. Since they started keeping records. They started keeping records in eighteen eighty. And since then, last month was the hottest month on earth. And in fact, uh you people used to think about Las Vegas and say, oh man, it's whew, it's too hot to go out there. The rest of the country here is now seeing temperatures just as hot, if not hotter, than Las Vegas. It's not a big deal for it to be 110 degrees here uh in the summer. I mean, it gets cold in the winter. Uh the Midwest has seen ridiculous temperatures this summer over 100 degrees. Do you know that two days ago in Mississippi it was 121 degrees? And you know how swampy and humid that Mississippi environment is. Can you imagine that? 121 degrees in Mississippi, at least here in Vegas when it's 110. It's true, it's a dry heat. It's a dry heat. And what's funny is that it's not just about the heat, though. Last year, Asheville, North Carolina, where I'm from, had its wettest year on record. So let's see here. I've I brought up the stats earlier. Yeah, Asheville sets all-time record for rainiest year in 2018, and that happened even before the end of the year. It happened on December 28th, and uh the previous record was 75.22 inches, and they got 79.18 inches. So let's just say 80 divided by 12. Okay, so that's six and a half feet of rain, over six and a half feet of rain. So, I mean, it's it's absolutely amazing to see this connection between how hot it's getting and how in some places it's also creating these very, very uh powerful storms and this uh huge precipitation. And yes, obviously, climate change is a real thing, clearly. And I know you know there is this debate that goes on about whether or not humans have something to do with it. Well, of course we do, because we live in a bubble here, so I mean we're a part of it. We're not separate from Mother Nature. I mean, we have something to do with it. I don't know the extent of that. I mean, I think that's the question. I don't know how how much of an impact that we have. It may be a little, it may be a lot, but the system's too big. Uh but it's kind of like this, all right. Here in in Las Vegas, you know, people don't have grassy lawns usually. I mean, they just have a a sandy uh area, sandy patio, whatever, you know. And um so if you walk outside and it's a nice clear day that's rather calm, well, all that sort of powdery sand is nice and stable, and you can take a nice deep breath and you can breathe clear. But then if the wind kicks up and you have a windstorm, you know, you gotta go inside. You can't breathe. You know, you could go to somebody's house and just pick up some of the sand, throw it up in the air, and they say, What are you doing? You don't put these particulates in the air. But but obviously that's what humans do. We go into the earth and we take coal and oil and all these different petroleum products that have been sort of, you know, to some degree stabilized there for millions of years, and uh we transduce it, we transform it, we throw it up in the air and say, well, well, let's see what happens. We take all this stuff from the ground, we put it up in the air. Of course it's gonna make a difference. But the question is how much of a difference? So I don't know. Uh you know, it's i I understand when you talk about this stuff, you have all these political controversies, and I because look, I I think scientifically it's so difficult to figure out exactly what's what and sort all this out that politically speaking, we have to say, well, um, what do we do? Like, you know, do you do you really want to change your life? Uh, because that's what it's gonna take. If uh, you know, you are gonna have to change what you do, and the type of thing that you drive, and you know, it's so it's it's a matter of how much do we change if we think that you know we want to test out the impact that we're making. So anyway, it's very interesting for me to be here in Las Vegas and see that people used to say, How hot is it? And you'd say 110 degrees, and they would go, oh wow. Now they say, How hot is it? You say it's 110 degrees, and they're like, Yeah, it was 110 degrees here yesterday. It's like not a big deal anymore. So it's very, very strange and very interesting. And uh again, there are a lot of things about this area that people don't seem to realize. The soaring mountains that have snow on top. I mean, we there are mountains here outside my window that probably still have snow on top of them, 12,000 feet tall. It's very cold here in the winter. And I was reading about uh, well, you know that the the town of Rachel, Nevada, where um that's that's the and again I hesitate to call it a town because I mean that like 50 people live there, but that is the town that's closest to Area 51. That's where you have the little alien, and they put out a notice, a press release, on their official website to the people who are planning to storm Area 51. Because apparently this thing just keeps morphing, and now it's gonna be some kind of a musical festival. I think they're calling it Alien Stock. Let me see. Um yeah, Alien Stock Festival is what they're calling it now. And it's gonna happen right around September 20th, still keeping with those dates. And and they're saying it's gonna be kind of like, you know, Burning Man and uh Burning Man and Woodstock and I don't know, some kind of uh electronic festival. I don't even know. Anyway, but uh s they claim the people who are loosely organizing this that they have some huge names who want to be there for this. So this is getting so much attention that the official Rachel Nevada website put out this release. And you know what? I'm just gonna read the whole thing. Because it says in red letters for the September 20th event, please read. So they want everybody to know this. With the social media attention this event is getting, we want to clarify a few points for those not familiar with the area. Other than the little AE in, a small bar slash restaurant slash motel, there are no services in Rachel. There is no gas and no store. The inn is booked for that weekend. If you plan on attending the event, you must be experienced in camping, hiking, and surviving in a harsh desert environment and have have a vehicle in good shape. You must be prepared to come to be completely on your own for food, water, gas, etc. We expect cell service and the internet in Rachel to be offline. Credit card processing will not work, so bring enough cash. If you camp on public land, pick up all your trash and they give some links to preparation and stuff in an FAQ. It says expect daytime highs in the eighties and nighttime lows in the forties. It is not uncommon to go below freezing at night in late September. This event will undoubtedly attract crooks trying to capitalize on the chaos. Be on your guard and always lock your vehicle, and stay away from the residential part of Rachel. Most residents do not like where this event is going and will respond accordingly. And then there is in red letters a warning, and it says a dubious group claiming a connection to chaotic events like Burning Man and the Las Vegas Electric Music Festival has taken over the Rachel part of this event. They threaten to quote take over Rachel and claim that the residents are quote on board. Well, the residents were not asked and are not on board and will certainly not allow their town to be taken over. Law enforcement will be overwhelmed and local residents will step up to protect their property. If you want to be part of the event, the Alien Research Center in HICA will be a safer and fun place to hang out and enjoy live music and good food. Base Security and the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department will be on high alert. Several federal agencies will be present as well. Anyone trespassing in the restricted zone around Area 51 will be arrested. If you choose to visit, do not go near the border and absolutely do not cross the line. Along all major dirt roads, the border is marked with clear warning signs. In other areas, orange posts mark the border. There is no fence, and then they have a link to maps. So they say also note the gas station in Rachel is closed. The nearest gas stations are 50 miles south in Ash Springs and 110 miles north in Tonopah. So you know they're doing a good job of just being reasonable about this. But can you believe that this all started with one guy putting up a Facebook page as a joke? I mean, this shows you how overwhelming that social media can become when something just hits a nerve at the right time and goes viral. It's it it's amazing. And that can be applied to anything. But I was reminded of that because I was talking about the weather, and again, you know, people think about the desert of Nevada, and they're saying you might not think about the fact that in late September it's gonna be below freezing here and Rachel, possibly, you know. So you might envision that as being like a hot, blazing, sweaty, sunny experience, but no, it could be a freezing experience. You're freezing, you don't have any gas, there are no stores. Uh I mean all right. So let's get to the Wall Street Journal article. And um you know the I the Wall Street Journal is one of the most prestigious publications in the world, and I was just delighted to receive an email from Julie Jargon, J-A-R-G-O-N, Julie Jargon. You'll see that I've uh tweeted about her and posted about her uh in Facebook. And she is the person who writes a section for the Wall Street Journal called Family and Tech. Now that's kind of a weird combo at first, isn't it? Family and tech. Because you you think of tech, you kind of think elect that solo geeky guy or whatever. But you know, the reality is, um, yeah, families are sharing technology. And see, I don't have kids. It's just my my wife Lauren and myself, and so I don't really have to think in those ways. But gosh, if I did have kids, then uh yeah, you'd be figuring out like how this is more complex. Like, how do we distribute all of our technology and how do we restrict certain things and all that? So she contacted me and we talked on the phone, and one of the reasons that she contacted me was that it turns out her husband, and I won't give his name without his permission, but her husband is a big supporter of mine who has I I've corresponded with him, and he's uh taken my online class, and I mean, so it was just a it was a wonderful, fortuitous thing, you know, for her to be working on this article and um us to be able to connect over that. The article, again, is called My Baby Monitor is Haunted. Tales of Parental Fright. Now, the thing is, this was published in the Wall Street Journal first digitally, which let's see, what is this Wednesday? So I guess it was uh or no no uh yeah, today's Thursday. So I guess the the digital uh version came out on Tuesday, and then it was in print yesterday, and so uh I went out and bought a print copy. And uh the thing is, i if you want to read the Wall Street Journal online, you have to subscribe, and so it only costs twelve dollars for a certain you know trial period, and so it's well worth it. It's well worth it. But it but if you go to the link, you're not gonna be able to read the entire thing. However, it was covered by the Daily Mail in uh the UK, which you can read for free. So you have options to access the information. But if you go to the Wall Street Journal article, I'll just give you um a few bits of her piece. Again, this is Julie Jargon. Uh says parents catch ghostly images near their babies. Quote, I could not go to sleep that night, end quote. So here's how she starts out this article. Natalie Wallace was lying in bed one night more than a month ago, when she glanced at her cocoon cam baby monitor. She noticed splots of pink and purple all around the baby's bassinet. The colors are supposed to indicate motion, but her baby was in a deep sleep. A few days later, Miss Wallace, who helps run a leadership development company in Los Angeles, came home to find her husband at the kitchen table looking distraught. He showed her a screenshot he'd taken of a human-like figure on the baby monitor floating above the ground near the baby who was napping upstairs. Shortly after that, they saw what looked like a whole family of ghostly shapes looming over the bassinet. Now, before I uh give you a little more info, um when she contacted me, she said, May I send you some of these images for you to take a look at and give me your opinion? I said, Why sure So one thing she sent me was was a video clip of a closet door opening in one person's home captured on a baby cam. But I felt we couldn't we couldn't conclude that that was necessarily something paranormal because when the door opens, you do see some kind of an object that falls. And apparently that was a a blanket or something. But anyway, at least we can tell there's something putting pressure on the back of the door, uh, hence it wouldn't have fallen, you know. Or you know, or hence the fact that it falls, let's put it that way. Um but now when it comes to these other images, the ones that I was just reading about here, these are quite interesting because I the I I was not familiar with this cocoon cam. And it's weird because I have a number of thermal cameras, and when you look at a cocoon cam, it shows this image that's more or less kind of like a black and white night vision image, but then you have an overlay of colors that look like a thermal camera. But when you go to their website, Cocoon Cam says that this is detecting motion. It doesn't say it's detecting heat, it says it's detecting motion. But it looks like the way a thermal camera looks. So, for example, if you have a baby there, you have a little glow around the baby that might be kind of purple or orange or whatever. Meaning, well, this baby is moving, it's breathing, everything's okay. There, and in some cases, there's even a little breath rate, you know, it shows you a little number there that shows well that here's how many times this baby's been breathing in in this certain amount of time. Um and then there were some control photos, like, well, here's how it looks when you have something like an alarm clock that's moving, you know, you got a little color around the alarm clock, and then you have well, here's the here's uh the dad comforting the baby, and you get a lot of motion around that. But what was weird was that you know we have these pictures that you can see in her article where it looks like there are these humanoid figures standing around this baby's crib, even though nobody was there. And I mean it looks humanoid enough. I mean, that it's it's notable. I mean, it it's notable enough to. Be in the Wall Street Journal. So I was saying, well, look, I don't know, I don't understand exactly how this technology is working. It looks like something thermal to me, but they're saying, well, they don't explicitly say on their on the Cocoon Cam website that this is thermal. They are saying, well, this picks up motion. And it and it's illustrated or expressed in a way that looks very similar to how thermal imaging looks in an overlay. Okay. So I told her, just given what I have here to work with, it looks to me like this could certainly be something paranormal. I mean, not understanding this technology, not having, you know, this camera, uh, if it works the way I understand, I mean, I don't know why you'd have something that looks like a humanoid form standing there when the controls show that it's only supposed to be around things that are obvious, like people or something else that's moving. So when we finished the interview, I ordered one of these cocoon cams. And um when I received the cocoon cam, I went through this setup process that took me a couple days, and it turns out I was never able to set the thing up. I could not get it to um to cooperate with my with my phones, and you can't set it up on your computer, and uh so that kind of sucked. I mean, I went back and forth with their support team, and their support team was really nice, but I I think that they could have done a better job up front of uh of expressing in their cell like what things are compatible and what things are not, and all that. So I don't know what the problem was, but I was never able to get the cocoon cam to work, and I use two different nice phones, you know. So I don't know, but I but my phones are um uh uh they're Android-based, and and they say that's fine, but I don't know. So I couldn't get the cocoon cam to work. But what I did learn in the process of communicating with the company is they were saying that their technology actually is using some kind of thermal measurement in order to represent motion. But it's it's very fuzzy, okay? It's very hazy to me exactly what you know, and and I maybe intentionally so, because they say, like, we have this proprietary, you know, special software, so I'm not sure what they're doing. But when you when you read her article, she, Julie Jargon, contacted the company, Cocoon Cam, to find out what they had to say about these ghostly figures that were appearing on this particular baby cam. And Gary McGath is their marketing chief. He said, and this is I'm gonna read from what she wrote, uh, he said it appears the monitor was placed on a dresser and not mounted on a wall as intended. He says, quote, when the camera is properly installed, the computer vision would focus on the baby's motions, waking, sleeping, even breathing, he said in an email. He added that the system tries to find a movement area to focus on, and that the quote ghosts could be various points of movement, such as lights, shadows, or blowing curtains. He said, quote, I hope this clarifies the matter, end quote. Julie Jargon writes, not really. For one thing, there are no curtains in the room, just wooden blinds. Besides, small movements generally show up as little blobs, not human-sized apparitions. I asked Mr McCath if Cocoon Cam could share with me any reference images that could serve as an explanation. He said he could not. However, he added, quote, We have gotten a few calls slash emails asking about similar phenomenon, end quote. And that's where she goes, Well, I thought I'd ask a different kind of expert, and then she asks me the great and terrible Joshua P. Warren for my opinion. And again, you'll have to just go check out the article to learn about that. But, you know, i the the thing is I have been I've been working with capturing images most of my life. And, you know, when I was still a teenager, I went out and I bought a medium format camera. That was a big purchase for me, and used to take big pictures and you know, develop them, and then I got into motion picture and I started shooting 16 millimeter, and I would shoot 16 millimeter and then have it developed and then sit down and splice it with a razor blade and you know some adhesive. I mean, like to see how things have have come so far now is astounding. And we've gotten to the point so that when you're you know you're trying to analyze images, it's harder than ever because yes, people are capturing more stuff than ever, but also, I mean, you can break out your cell phone and find a variety of apps that say, hey, here's how to trick your friends, and they're always coming out with with technologies that will disrupt that and you know to be used to prank people and whatnot. So it's harder than ever. So when somebody just sends you an image from a single point of view, it's very, very difficult to look at that and and say, here's what this is, unless it's something that you have definitely seen before. You know, I'm pretty good at identifying bugs and sun flares and dust and moisture and all that kind of stuff. You would not believe how many people contact me to send me a paranormal picture when they're pointing their camera right toward the fucking sun. Okay, you would not believe how many of those I get. Don't point your camera at the sun or any source of bright light and then send it to me and say, Oh, look, there's an anomaly because you have a little glare, a little flare. I mean, come on. So in this particular case, I don't know. Um I don't know exactly what to think of this because I have so far been unsuccessful in testing the technology myself. Um the Cocoon Cam Company has not been very clear about explaining how their technology works. But what I can tell you is that just based upon what I have seen, the control images versus the apparitional images, sure enough, it still does look to me like this may be some kind of a ghostly phenomenon. So I wonder just how widespread this is. And I was telling Miss Jargon, well, uh we certainly don't want to scare the hell out of parents out there, right? I mean, because you know, if I I people are understandably so sensitive and protective regarding their children. I mean, if they are of a spiritual mindset and they believe that there's something coming in there, some demon coming into the baby's room, I mean, this could just be uh a horrifying situation. I mean, you could you could turn a whole household upside down and people would just descend into hysteria. You could also say, well, these are guardian angels, or these are ancestors from the past who are coming there to look after the child. Look, all I can tell you is that I there's no reason to to be afraid of this, whatever it is. If this is something apparitional, when I look at it, I don't see anything dark and sinister. It might be an angel, it might be, you know, past members. Uh it may it might be something else, but I I don't think there's anything harmful going on in these images that I've seen. So it's nothing to worry about if you've seen that kind of thing. But if you think you have some really interesting baby monitor type footage, well uh you can send it to me. It might even end up in the Wall Street Journal. Uh but if you do, well, you know, if you send me something and you know, because the stuff that I saw for this article was sent to Julie, wasn't sent to me. If you send me something and I find it interesting, well, then I'm gonna grill you in ways that you're not expecting. Okay, I'm gonna want to probably get you on the telephone and ask you a lot of questions about this and try to figure out whether this is some bullshit or not, you know, before I spend some more serious quality time analyzing this. But if you think you have something that might be notable, go to joshuapwarren.com. There's no period after the peak. Go to joshua pwarren.com and uh scroll down, you'll find my email address there where you can contact me. Um couple things I want to leave you with before I jump off here. Number one, uh you know, of course, I uh I own the Haunted Asheville Ghost Tours in Asheville, North Carolina, and the Asheville Mystery Museum. And investigator Shelly Wright contacted me a couple days ago, and she was doing research for her Paranormal Daily group that she does on Facebook. And she was uh scouring the website called Atlas Obscura. Atlas Obscura, and you've probably been there, Atlas Obscura.com. I'm looking at the description here online. An online magazine and travel company. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via user generated content. Goes on to say uh has articles uh regarding history, science and food. Uh it's a definitive guide to the world's most obscure places, and here she is clicking around, and lo and behold, there is a listing for the Asheville Mystery Museum. It's got some pictures from the inside, and here is what it says. This unique museum houses a collection put together by a man named Joshua P. Warren who worked as a paranormal investigator in the Asheville area. Kinda sounds like I'm dead, doesn't it? Goes on to say it displays mysterious photos of supposed paranormal phenomena, as well as pieces that illustrate the stories. It is currently located in the basement of the historic Asheville Mason Lodge down a narrow and twisting back stairway off of an alleyway behind the building. It is well worth the time to visit, especially to see the impressive photos of unexplained images. And then it says No before you go. The museum is only opened at the end of the ghost tours given by Haunted Asheville, also run by Warren, which offers guided walking tours of the town filled with history and mystery. Tours can be booked via the website, and that website is haunted asheville.com. That's Asheville, North Carolina, in the mountains of western North Carolina, the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains, where you find the Biltmore estate, right there near the Great Smoky Mountains. Also, want to remind you now, every weekend we're doing the creepy Vegas Ghost and UFO show here in Las Vegas, and on September the 7th, Saturday, September the 7th, 2019, every penny from the show goes to the No Kill Animal Shelter, the Nevada SPCA. And this is you've probably seen this before. This is the place where Zach Bagans goes and adopts his dogs, and he he gets hands-on and supports a lot there. And uh, you know, Lauren and I love the staff there, and they're in a situation where they need they need to do some modifications. There are leaks that need to be repaired, they need new air conditioning, they need obviously just funds for the care uh and feeding of these animals, and I'm talking cats, dogs, bunny rabbits, guinea pigs, and um, you know, we humans domesticated these animals, so I think we have a responsibility to take care of them, and so it's easy to sort of blow money on meaningless things, but if you are able to if you're able to attend the Creepy Vegas show on September the 7th, then you can go to creepyvegas.com, buy your ticket for $19.95. But here's what impresses me there are people out there who cannot come to Vegas, but are buying a ticket. There is a fellow who's been a big supporter of mine for many years named Jim in South Carolina, for example. He bought a ticket for the Creepy Vegas show on September the 7th, and then he emailed and said, just want to let you know I'm not gonna be able to make it to Vegas, but I wanted to support the cause. Isn't that kick-ass? Isn't that amazing? So you can do the same thing. Even if you don't intend to attend or you can't attend, go to creepyvegas.com, just go ahead and buy a ticket for the show on September the 7th of 2019. It's probably a good idea to email me like Jim did afterward, contact at creepyvegas.com to let me know that you're one of those people who won't be attending, so I won't save a seat for you. But that's one way that you can make sure your $19.95 goes to the Nevada SPCA. It is a great fundraiser. Alright, my friends, I gotta jump off here. Lots and lots to do. You wouldn't believe the equipment that I'm prepping for what's about to happen here. It's unbelievable. I have too many little gadgets, that's for sure. And some that nobody else has. Things that my team and I have invented. Uh okay, well, I'll keep you updated, but uh, in the meantime, if you enjoy this show, I hope you go to joshuapwarren.com. There's no period after the pee. Go to joshuap.com. Click the link to the Curiosity Shop. Check out the wild stuff I have there. Every time you purchase something, it goes to help keep this podcast running. Joshua PWarren.com. And while you're at that website, click the link to this podcast called Joshua P. Warren Daily. Always short, always free, always commercial free, independent, uncensored. You can subscribe through various means, various platforms, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, also, or you can just follow me on Twitter at Joshua P. Warren, at Joshua P. Warren, and I will tweet when a new one is available. So that said, guess I'll talk to you again in about a week. So thank you for listening. Thank you for your interest and support. Thank you for staying curious. And I will talk to you again soon.