This story is not about blog writing for business or creating branded content. Instead, I offer to you this fascinating video that was taken from our home surveillance system.

We have seven cameras, six on the outside of the house and one on the inside. This clip was taken from the only inside camera. It is located in the upstairs hall looking down to the first floor hall. This footage would have been forgotten and erased if my son hadn't suggested that we check it.

As you can see from the time stamp, the camera captured a very interesting sequence on Christmas Eve at approximately 10:26 pm. The image is in black and white and of relatively low quality because the cameras work on "night vision" when the lights are off. There is no audio.

The six cameras on the outside of the house captured nothing more interesting than the occaisional passing car. They provided no indication as to how the person in this video entered or exited the house.

The person in this video is not the father or relative or close friend of anyone in the family. This person's height, shape, and manner of movement are not familiar to us or our two children.

A few observations as to what is happening in the video:

First, the family dog enters from the livingroom - not too far from the fireplace. The dog walks into the frame leading a familiarly dressed visitor to where our Christmas stockings are hung alongside the stairs. The visitor appears to be bearded, wearing a stocking hat of some kind and is carrying a sack. The fact that he is taking the lead from Winston, our Australian Shephard, suggests the possibility of some kind of special communication with our family pet. (They certainly seem to get along well enough!)

The visitor then takes a few steps up the stairs but stops. We can not tell if he is listening for members of the family or if he has, perhaps, somehow misunderstood the dog.

The visitor then steps back down and moves around the stairs to the stockings. He spends a few moments there, mostly out of view of the video camera. He may have given Winston a treat, we're not sure.

The visitor then walks back out to the living room, turning slightly toward our fireplace, and out of view. Again, the video cameras outside the house record no one exiting our home.

On Christmas morning our kids found their stockings filled and a few extra toys by the tree. And the cookies, milk, and carrots left for Santa and his reindeer were mostly eaten. Our neighbors also discovered that similar events had also taken place in their homes.

Draw your own conclusions.

Ben Porter
COO Brandsplat