August, 2007: Our 2nd visit to Woodenhead field. I took the camera after Bill's image stopped appearing & got many shots of Robbert with this "fog." No one is smoking. Photo: N. Talbott

Before Bill began his travels--when we were kids growing up in Maryland and we knew each other best--I remember two things he particularly loved: the Beach Boys' music and the ocean. After his death I had intended to buy a Beach Boys CD and drive to the ocean somewhere near my home in Massachusetts to play the music for him on the car stereo. I guess it seemed a fitting way for me to privately say "goodbye."

But I had not yet done this by the time I arrived in Holland. After seeing all the photos Robbert had taken of my brother's face at the Woodenhead field I did go into town and buy a Beach Boys CD, intending to return to the field to play it for Bill. I don't know if my brother's spirit was actually present the afternoon before when his face had appeared over and over on my camera...but I wanted to return and play the music anyway.

And, so, Robbert and I went back again to the "Woodenhead" field. I backed the car a little farther into the field than I had the last time, turned on the CD, and opened the car doors so the music would pour out into the air. Almost immediately Robbert asked for my camera again. I had put a brand new numbered and dated chip and new batteries into the camera before going to bed the previous night and had also checked the new chip to make sure it was blank. Before handing it to Robbert again, I also checked to make sure the camera was still set in "auto."

The first couple of photos Robbert took were totally normal but by the 6th shot large pink light-balls were appearing. The flash did go off in all of these first shots. On this occasion I did not stay near Robbert as I usually do, but sat in the car instead, listening to the Beach Boys and remembering my brother, as Robbert walked further out into the field. My interest that night was focused on letting Bill know--if such a thing is possible--that he was loved and admired, and would not be forgotten.

As the reader looks through the following photos, remember that although the camera is always set in "auto,"the flash never fires when a human image is present or is beginning to appear...regardless of the actual ambient light conditions.

By the 7th shot on the 2nd night what looks a "mist" had formed. Robbert is aiming camera at Nancy who is in the car, listening to the music. Flash did not fire.

In the 9th shot (almost 12 minutes after we arrived), Bill's face is clearer. Again, the flash did not fire.

10th shot--the smokey stuff is present again (neither of us is smoking) & ambient light appears darker than it really was. Flash did fire.

11th & 12th shots were normal, except that ambient light still appears darker than it really was. Flash did fire in shots 10, 11 & 12.

In the 13th shot Bill's image appears again. During this session Nancy was often sitting in the car & not with Robbert. Flash did not fire.

14th shot--Bill's image seems very close to lens & is distorted. Flash did not fire.

15th shot--notice left side of photo out-of-focus, grey "mist" on right. Flash did not fire.

16th shot (8 seconds later)--Beach Boys are playing loud & clear. Left side of photo again blurred. Flash did not fire.

17th shot (1 min.later)--Robbert has moved away & aims camera toward far side of field; this "mist" is not a precursor to a face. Flash did fire.

18th shot (10 seconds later) and big pink light-balls now present. Flash did fire.

26th shot-original (top) and with "auto smart fix" (bottom). Note extreme, abnormal darkness in original. Flash did fire.

27th shot--2nd green light stripe. 22 minutes have elapsed since our arrival at field & this photo again looks darker than it really was.

28th & 29th shots--Both taken seconds after #27 & these photos much darker than true lighting. Flash did fire in #26 thru #29.

Shots #30-#34 all showed normal lighting (it is now actually getting dark) and big pink BOLs. Flash did fire in all.

Photos #35 through #48 vary a lot with some shots being "fuzzed," or with big pink light balls present--some showing the real light conditions, others pitch-black dark as if it were midnight. Shots #43 and #44 are basically normal, showing the real available light and nothing strange in the shots.

But 4 shots later (only 1-1/2 minutes after #44, where the image had been lit as it actually was), photo #48 (below) is suddenly totally black except for the reflection of the flash off the car's tail-lights and license plate. Although the flash did fire in this shot, the field in front of the camera is not lit as it should be.

48th shot. Original (top) looks as if it is completely dark out, although it is not. Enhanced image (bottom) shows nothing else abnormal. The flash did fire in this shot.

49th shot (original=top); sky shows accurate light situation. This time the flash did not fire & when enhanced (bottom) shows Bill's face again.

50th shot, taken 8 seconds after #49. This is the last photo in which Bill's face appears when photo is enhanced. Flash did not fire.

Two different enhancements of shot #50. Square lighted object to right of Bill's head is a 3-D camera I was holding.

51st shot (original=top) & (enhanced=bottom). The original black image is totally abnormal--& this is last photo that night where the flash did not fire.

Shot #51 was taken 36 minutes and 16 seconds after our arrival at the "Woodenhead" field and shot #1. From this point on, although we stayed for another half-hour, Bill's image did not appear again...and the flash did fire in all the rest of the photos that night.

Remember that Bill's left ear was sticking out in an unnatural manner in the 50 shots of his face taken on our first visit to the "Woodenhead" field? I had noticed this, but hadn't paid it much attention and didn't mention it to Robbert at all. Remember, also, that I had wanted to play the Beach Boys' music for Bill (although my original idea had been to be at the ocean somewhere)--but hadn't done so by the time I arrived in Holland?

Then, on this second visit to the "Woodenhead" field I did play the music for Bill...and his face did appear again. On this second trip his image appeared only a few times and wasn't as clear as some had been the previous afternoon--but looking at the clearest images we have from the second session Bill's left ear now looks normal. It is no longer sticking out as it had been in the earlier images.

Bill's image from the first afternoon, his left ear protruding unnaturally.

Bill's image on our second visit, with the Beach Boy's music ringing out across the field. Bill's ear now looks normal.

When I got back home to the States and thought about this difference in Bill's ear in those two photo sessions I could not help wondering if the extended ear in all of the first photos was related somehow to my very strong-minded brother's essence, his soul, or consciousness, or spirit--some aware residue of Bill-- knowng that I still wanted to play this music for him and "signaling" to me to get on with it. Bill did have an unusually commanding (many would say charismatic) personality--and it would have been just like him to do whatever it took to push me to go ahead and do what I needed to...so he and I could finally say our "goodbyes" and he could get on with whatever was next. I still ponder this question every time I look at these photos.

Robbert and I stayed in the field for almost another half-hour with the Beach Boys' music playing the whole time and various photo anomalies--interspersed with totally normal shots--did occur, both in Robbert's photos and also when I was using the camera. But Bill's image never appeared again, not that night nor during the rest of my stay in 2007, and not during my three subsequent visits to Holland since then.

Nancy & Bill - Baltimore, Maryland circa 1946.

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