The Supernatural Slacks of Ecuador
By Cole Herrold
As time goes on, we are getting more and
more paranormal evidence caught on camera. With this paranormal photographic surge,
we have captured some of the best evidence for the existence of Aliens,
Cryptids, and Ghosts, yet these entities are seemingly mundane as compared to
some of the footage captured over the recent years. One of the most ridiculous
yet interesting pieces of footage comes from Ecuador, and it shows not a South
American Sasquatch or similar supernatural humanoid but a pair of spectral slacks
running around on their own, free of any owner.
A girl named Magaly was out in the rural
streets of Ecuador playing and recording her pet rabbit. As she filmed the
small animal, she noticed that the animal began to look towards the right and
then hop further away. She continued to record and seemed to not notice anything,
but the rabbit was not the only being to realize that something was off as a
little boy looked on in the same direction as to where the rabbit had looked.
Magaly, however, not seeing whatever the other two did, simply ended the video
and did not think anything else about it before uploading it to YouTube.
However, as the world began to look at what was originally thought to be a cute
rabbit video, they soon noticed something bizarre that was caught along the
right side of the video. Those who caught this paranormal photobomber were
perplexed, for this was not some classic ghost photo or some Ecuadorian Bigfoot
but a, both comically and eerily enough, a disembodied running pair of white slacks
with a belt. Now I know how difficult it can be to simply describe the video
when its something that does need to be seen to understand, so in the Works
Cited, there is a link to what I believe to be the original upload of the video,
so I highly recommend viewing the clip before reading my breakdown.
Now in the video, we see at the 4-second
mark that this strange white pants-like anomaly starts to wander out from
around a building and run or jog in a rather bizarre way along the sidewalk. The
pants do not make contact with the sidewalk, and there are no noticeable shoes,
socks, or obviously feet, and yet they do leave a shadow as they move,
indicating that something physical is there moving. The pants jumping leaping
sort of motion is bizarre and rather whimsical and brings to mind the scene in
James Whale’s The Invisible Man where Jack Griffin chased a girl while
invisible, wearing only a pair of pants and joyfully singing. Now, as you watch
the figure move past the 8-second mark, the figure seems to of disappeared.
Whether this is due to the low lighting or from actual dematerialization is
difficult to tell as we do not see the figure move past a shadowy section from
the tree part of the difficulties with this is also the fact that the video
ends at the 11-second mark. Other than this, there's not too much to break down
in regard to what's being shot in the video.
Now just what is the reason that a pair of
pants were caught running on camera? We do need to take this footage with a
grain of salt as there is obviously the possibility of the footage being
doctored either through CGI or double exposure, or some other form of
technological trickery. Yet the reason I feel that there is something more
physical than CGI is the fact that both the rabbit and boy at least noticed the
pants as they ran along the sidewalk. The same goes for the fact that there was
a shadow from the pants, so both of these concepts imply that there was
something physical that was captured on camera. This does not, of course, rule
out a hoax, as there is always the chance that the pants could be puppeteered by
strings from the top of the building, yet none can be seen from the footage and
that certain sections of the pants do seem to follow the movements of someone
running.
Another possibility is that what is being
seen is a genuine video of a spirit. Ghosts appear in countless forms and
guises, and one of the most common types of apparitions are those that appear
in the manner in which they died, such as the ghost of Anne Boleyn, who
manifests without her head, so perhaps in this video what we are seeing is the
spectral apparition of someone who was separated from the waist and the torso
and that now the spirit appears as a running set of spectral slacks. Of course,
the problem with this is the fact that there also were no feet or reported and
also that there is no history, at least that I have found, of someone who
suffered such a fate.
Another theory that I sort of
mentioned/joked about early on is that perhaps what was being reported was some
sort of individual, either with supernatural abilities or through some sort of
technology, managed to make themselves invisible. This could explain as to why
the pants seem much more physical than what one would expect from a traditional
ghost video. It also could explain just the absolute insanity, which is the
video overall. Scientific advancements are made every day, so it's completely
possible that some individuals found the key to invisibility through technology
or found some way to make themselves invisible without the aid of tech through
some serum or something similar.
Another possibility that I feel I need to
mention is that perhaps even though the object running does appear to be a pair
of pants with a belt that perhaps this is some sort of technology. There have
been cases of seemingly sentient or ambulatory pairs of pants that run on their
own fruition. Some of these pants seem to be interconnected to UFO and
extraterrestrial cases so perhaps what we are seeing is some kind of
extraterrestrial technology or even some as-yet-unknown earth technology
reminiscent of the pants from the Jimmy Neutron “When Pants Attack”
episode.
Another thing I feel I need to also
mention is the concept of the Tsukumogami. In the lore of Japanese Yokai, there
is a belief that when an object reaches its 100th birthday, they
come alive and develop humanoid features. Some of these objects also come about
when a human spirit fuses with the object and transmogrifies, as seen with the
legend of Hokusai, the ghost lantern. These entities spring about from the idea
that all things have a spirit or soul, and if this is something universal and
not just something described in the Shinto belief of Japan, then it's possible
that, that is what we are seeing here.
Another thing that I feel needs to be
mentioned is the idea of a haunted object. Traditionally haunted objects are
not incredibly mobile as many move slowly over a long period of time or have
quick, jerky movements, but this is not universal, especially when one looks at
how Poltergeist activity happens. Perhaps this pair of pants was haunted by its
previous owner or had some sort of spectral energy attached to it that allowed
it to move about on its own. Needless to say, if this is the case, then this
was one of the best-captured pieces of evidence of such a phenomenon.
As with all photographic evidence,
especially the ones captured in modern times, we have to be extremely
skeptical. With the advancements in technology, there are also the advancements
in hoaxing, and so with cases like this, we have to accept that that could
always be a possibility. Now with that said, I do find this footage interesting.
I think that it should be looked into more thoroughly and that perhaps there
are other similar phenomena or examples of this phenomenon elsewhere. Until
that day, when more information comes to light, this piece of evidence is
incredibly interesting and strange and will be hypothesized about until it is confirmed
to be real or found to be a hoax.
Quick Facts:
Species/Potential Species: Paranormal
Entity, Scientific Experiment
Location: Ecuador
Sighted: 2020
Works Cited:
Clint “Ghost Pants Caught Running Down
Sidewalk Before Disappearing” Gater 98.7. August 6, 2021. https://gaterrocks.iheart.com/featured/clint/content/2021-08-06-ghost-pants-caught-running-down-sidewalk-before-disappearing/.
Accessed June 23, 2022.
“Pants walking by themselves." July
16, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2rwU-h6F2c. YouTube.
Paranormal Caught on Camera Season 5 Episode
7. Travel. 2022.
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