Spooky Camera


*collaboration with Calli Higgins and Christine Qnguyen

Spooky Camera is using an antique camera as a storytelling device.  The camera is a haunted camera that traps people inside of it after their pictures are taken.  Whenever the participants pulls the knob on the camera, the shutter opens and a projection of those who are trapped is revealed and their stories and experiences may be heard.

Nobody really knows where this camera came from but legend has it that a witch casted a spell on the camera so that it would predict the future of those whose pictures it took.  However, if the camera predicted that if those being photographed were going to inflict harm or destroy the lives of others, it trapped them inside to protect all of humanity.  Those trapped in the camera are not guilty of anything, but they will be.  They are completely unaware of their predictions and why this is happening to them.

A couple of stories from the camera:

“I was playing with my sister in the attic and we found this box with some knobs on it.  We didn’t know what it was and my sister started fiddling with the buttons.  We soon realized it was a camera.  After the first shot, all I heard was screaming, and everything turned black.  I could feel the room shaking and saw her eye peering at me through a big hole in the room…”

“I was with my family at the carnival when a fortune teller told me that there was a camera that would predict my future.  I asked her how it worked and she said that she when she takes a picture of me photo would show me in my future.  I was curious and decided I had nothing to lose, but then she took the first shot of me, then I realized I was no longer at the carnival and was trapped in a box.  I’ve been her for some time.  She stole my future.  Help me.”

Each person trapped in the camera experienced it at different times and different places.  Each person experiences different things within the camera but in the end, they all want help escaping. The user of the camera cannot help them escape, rather they can only listen to their stories.