Black bag animal phenomenon as ghosts

A few weeks ago, when lockdown was tighter, I was walking along an empty street on a windy day when I saw what I thought were two small animals scurrying across the road. I was wondering what species they might be. It was difficult to say as I only saw them briefly and they were some distance away. Then another thought occurred to me - maybe they weren't animals at all!

I have, on a number of occasions, seen small bits of plastic on the ground being blown around by the wind in a way that resembles a small animal. They are usually fragments of light black plastic like the stuff bin liners are made of. Indeed, that's probably their source. They have a characteristic way of behaving. They form loose cylinders and role around swiftly on the ground, propelled by a strong breeze. The ends of the cylinder often flap around, suggesting appendages. Thus they can look like a small animal scurrying about, particularly in poor viewing conditions. I am sure this phenomenon leads to erroneous reports of small animals being spotted. And if the wind suddenly drops, causing the plastic to deflate and stop moving, it might appear as if the 'animal' has vanished and it was actually a ghost animal!

So my thought then was that this was another example of the 'black bag animal' phenomenon. But then I saw one again, this time closer up. I could see at once it was a squirrel. I was surprised because I'd never seen squirrels in that street and it wasn't an area where I would have expected to see them.

I was lucky in that I personally witnessed the incident. I was particularly lucky in that I got a better view after my initial sighting. In many cases, as paranormal investigators we are dealing with reports from other people. People who may only get an initial distant view. All you can really do is gather as much evidence from the witness as possible and then make a judgement as to what it really was.