Despite claims by seance holders and modern day ghost-hunters, historical records do not report sighting of ghosts at the historical houses in Milford. Seances, a form of ghost stories made personal by invoking someone a participant one knew, were popular after the Civil War until the early 20th century. They attracted many famous people to participate although some did so only to be entertained. Magicians such as Houdini have tried to debunk and expose fakery. One medium claimed to summon Houdini's mother but his mother only spoke German not the English attributed to her during a seance. Since 1964 a modern magician has offered a reward to the first person to present for independent review actual proof of a ghost. The payoff is now up to $1,000,00.00.

Magicians and spiritualists use the same tricks but a magician performing the same illusions to supernatural adherents results in them saying the magician has summoned up a spirit. The tendency to stick closer to what they believe when presented with proof or links to information contradicting a set ideology. Seeking only input from like-minded individuals runs the risk of falling into group-think which leads to poor decisions. This trait is often found with partisan politics, ghost-hunters and cult followers by providing believers circular logic with easy answers to complex questions. The techniques have changed but no verified documentation has been shown of ethereal remains of the departed worldwide let alone in Milford.

Knowing the techniques magicians use for their tricks can help us understand and figure out when people are tricking or trying to influence us. Many entertainers are shy and perform to get more comfortable around people. To overcome this, magicians will practice in front of a mirror or videotape themselves to build up their skills. One magician I worked with did card tricks to exercise his stiff fingers.

Several methods magicians use are:

• What they say or do:
  • People get bored with facts so entertainers tell stories or jokes to entertain and distract people from looking for how the trick is done. The magician I knew was short and dressed as a clown. A common way to tell a joke is to say some word and after a complicated story, you say the same word again when they aren’t expecting it
  • Surprise what the audience is expecting by saying the trick is one thing but you do another trick, people expecting a rabbit out of a hat try to see a real rabbit instead of a cartoon one.
  • Be mysterious by using fancy words like Abracadabra! or tapping and waving a magic wand.
  • Misdirection is making you look somewhere away from what they are doing. They will look at one thing while secretly hiding or getting a prop. When they say there is nothing up their sleeve, it is because they hid the trick’s prop someplace else.
  • Leading questions is when someone suggests what they want people to think. A magician might name a card for a card trick to get a mark to choose that one. A historical example of this technique was a government investigation into whether the lyrics to the song Louie, Louie were obscene concluded that when they read the supposedly dirty words, they thought the song was inappropriate but considered the vocalist sounded drunk when the investigators were presented with the actual sheet music. Another musical example is during a trial, singer Ozzy Osborne was perplexed (more than his usual self) when a lawyer tried telling him what the lyrics were to a song he wrote before he correcting him. An example of what some think Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven sounds like when played backwards is at 9:30 in this video
    • This is an example of incorrect lyrics to a popular song, usually it is more subtle with fewer changes to an unfamiliar tune:
      
      He's shaking a fist of chicken and rice;
      Gonna find out who's mommy or mice.
      Santa Claus is really a clown!
• What they use:
• Ordinary objects or clothing are used to not make people get suspicious. A jacket or sweatshirt that is left partly open can be used to quickly toss an object into to make it disappear. I worked with a magician used as a magic wand a wooden spoon he painted black with white ends.
• Props have hidden compartments or pockets. Black is used to make it harder to see a hidden compartment's opening.
• Mirrors are often used to make something look larger or hide behind. Smoke used to obscure and make things mysterious combined with mirrors gave us the phrase Smoke And Mirrors.
• Strings such as black thread or thin fishing line can make objects seem to float. Velcro can be used to hold small objects such as silk cloths.
• Palming is holding something like a playing card, ball or coin in your hand so it doesn’t look like anything is there.
• Limit what the audience can see such as not let them go behind you. Avoid lights from behind that might create a shadow to gives away a trick. When a magician is on TV he aims the camera so it doesn’t show how the trick is done
• Someone dressed identical to the magician can make it seem that he escaped from being locked up. Using twin assistants, one twin looks like they were shot out of a canon over the audience and then the identical twin shows up at the back of the room. Often the audience doesn't see both of them close up enough to spot any differences.

Unusual lighting, coloring or camera angles for photos can influence us. Low light results in grainy black and white images which imparts a mysterious mood to what we are seeing. A tilted photo gives the impression that something is not right. An extreme example of this effect was used to denote the bad guy in the Batman TV show. Each criminal was lit with a different color scheme such as green or magenta for added effect.

I've operated $80,000.00 Ikegami cameras fitted with high quality lenses designed to avoid picking up light reflections that are often purported to be evidence of ghosts. Electronic displays on TVs and wireless devices tend to have a blue tint in photographs. This can be observed by noting that from outside a house, a TV in a darkened room will cast a blue light in the window. One paranormal group from the Northeast visited a Milford house that was built around 1700. They show a photo of a square ghost called blue energy resembling a cell phone or tablet.