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FAVORITE GHOST PHOTOS

Here is a sampling of some of my favorite ghost photos I've come across while doing research for my book, The Case for Ghosts. These are those photos I consider the most authentic photos of ghosts ever caught on film, but I leave it to you to decide for yourself. (P.S. I found all of these on the internet, so I assume they're in the public domain. If not, let me know and I'll remove the offending photo asap. Also, if anyone has additional info on them that I haven't included, please shoot me an e-mail.) Also, check out my recently added photo anomalies and hoaxes page for a look at some of the most common and curious fake or hoaxed ghost photos out there.

Perhaps the most famous of all ghost photos, this shot from 1936 of the Brown Lady of Rynham Hall has an interesting pedigree. What makes it so compelling is that the photo was taken not be a ghost hunter looking for the things, but by two innocent photographers sent by the London magazine Country Living to take some interior shots of the building. What's also interesting about this shot is that in contrast to most photos in which the figure is not seen until after the film is developed, the spectral figure of a woman was seen descending the stairway seconds before the shutter was snapped. The negatives on this photo have been scrutinized by literally hundreds of experts (and no small number of skeptics) who can find no evidence of it being either a hoax or a double exposure. It has been, however, suggested the figure could be the result of a smudged fingerprint on the lens, though this seems unlikely and doesn't account for why the same smudge wasn't seen on the many preceeding photos taken by the same camera. As such, this highly controversial and almost universally recognized "capture" remains among the best photographic evidence for the existence of ghosts ever taken.

This one's a little a little more difficult to make out, but it remains among my favorites. If you look very hard, you can make out what appears to be the face of a boy among the branches in the upper right hand corner of the photo (the close-up at right brings these features out more clearly.) I don't have much information on this shot other than that the photographer was trying to take a picture of a bird outside his second-story window when the boy's face appeared, making it especially spooky. Normally I'm not a big fan of "faces in bushes" photos as I think most of them are simply shadows of light and dark tricking the eye, but since this one is in color and the face has fleshtones, it takes on a certain authenticity I find hard to ignore.

This famous ghost photo of a young girl looking out from a raging fire was taken during a 1995 structure fire at Wem town hall in Shropshire, England. Shot from across the street by a local photographer, nothing unusual was seen at the time but once the negative was developed he noticed what appeared to be a young girl standing in the doorway of the burning building. Though at first thought she appears to be a very alive person caught in the flames, firemen found no bodies in the building afterwards. Interestingly, however, there is a bit of local folklore which claims that a young girl named Jane Churm accidentally burned the town hall to the ground in 1677 by dropping a candle, and her ghost has been reputed to haunt Wem town hall ever since. Once a firebug, always a firebug it seems.

You've got to love this one; it's one of the all time classics.When visiting her mother's grave in 1959, Mrs. Mabel Chinnery took this shot of her husband seated in the car. When the photograph was developed, a female figure appeared, sitting in the driver-side back seat. Mrs. Chinnery and several family members insist that the female figure is that of her mother, who appears to have taken her customary place in the back seat and is patiently waiting to be driven home. A photographic expert examined the print and declared it to be neither a reflection nor a double exposure. Notice that "mom" appears to be a pretty solid ghost, with no hint of transparency or light from the rear windows shining through her!

My favorite ghost photo is this one I came across on the web back in 2000. It shows what appears to be a transparent, reflective figure standing in front of the hood of the car on the left side of the photo (see detail at right). I don't have many details about the photo other than the boy in the picure had just purchased the car and he and his Mother were shot washing it (the flair of light in the middle is sunlight reflecting off the spray from the hose) when the mysterious figure appeared. I do recall something about some teenager having committed suicide in the house at right, but that sounds a little suspicious to me (though one never knows.) Easily one of the more interesting ghost photos I've come across over the years.

Another interesting photo is this one I also found on the web back in 2000. Again, I have few details about the picture other than the couple who shot it didn't notice the little girl watching them from the dining room at the time they took the picture (detail at right), nor did they have any other children. It has been speculated the figure could be a child's doll, but I understand that the couple denied they had any dolls (the baby certainly appears too young for dolls yet) and I find it difficult to imagine the couple would deny having such a thing on hand when it could be easily checked out. If it is the ghost of a child, however, what is she doing there? Could she be attracted to the display of affection being displayed in the next room—or perhaps could she be jealous?

This well known photo was taken in the Combermere Abbey Library in 1891 by Sybell Corbet. The exposure length was approximately one hour, and the figure of a man appears to be sitting in the armchair located in the foreground (it's difficult to make out, but a head and arm can just be discerned sitting in the chair). At the time this photograph was being taken, Lord Combermere (a top British cavalry commander) was being buried four miles away and the house was said to have been locked and empty at the time. One explanation frequently offered by skeptics is that during the lengthy exposure a servant inadvertently sat in the chair for a short time, noticed the camera, and hastily left, leaving what is effectively a fuzzy double exposure. The main thing that argues against this theory, however, aside from the fact that all members of the household were supposedly attending the funeral at the time, is the lack of lower torso. A double exposure should have left a more substantial image of the entire torso with the arms and legs being indistinct (being that they would have been in motion during the exposure time). Difficult to decide either way, but an interesting—and perhaps one of the oldest—examples of all the allegedly bonifide spirit photos.

One of those "too-good-to-be-true" photos, this one actually has a pretty good pedigree because it was shot by a professional paranormal investigator (and notice it was also taken in broad daylight, as opposed to most cemetery investigations which are almost always shot at night). The picture was taken at the Bachelor's Grove Cemetery in Illinois by the Ghost Research Society on August 10, 1991. Photographer Mari Huff was using high-speed monochromatic film in the area where their equipment had detected several electromagnetic anomalies, and captured this image of a woman in period costume—complete in a burial shroud of the era—sitting on a gravestone. Note that parts of her lower legs appear to be transparent. Looks staged, I know, but then what's a real ghost supposed to look like?

I don't know much about this picture other than it appears to have been taken sometime during the First World War, making it unlikely to be a hoax. My guess is that the ghostly figure at the back of the room (enlargement at right) was one of the group's comrades who simply refuses to admit that he's dead and sees no reason why he shouldn't be in the picture. Notice that even as a ghost he still wears his uniform. This would be an obvious Photoshop hoax if it weren't for the fact that the picture was taken a good sixty years before Photoshop was invented!

This classic shot has one of the best pedigrees among spirit photos because it was shot under carefully controlled circumstances with numerous witnesses present, making fakery especially difficult. Taken in 1978 at the Sunnyvale, California Toys-R-Us by the crew from the TV program That's Incredible! this infra-red film image of the young man leaning against the wall was NOT seen by any of the people present at the time, and he does not appear in the high speed footage shot from the same vantage point at the same time.There's a story that a young man died at the location where the store now stands back in 1869 from a accidentally self-inflicted axe wound, which might explain his unusual clothing. The store was known for the intense poltergeist activity that took place there prior to the investigation, implying that at least some "noisy ghosts" are more than simply misdirected telekinetic energy as has been frequently suggested.

Another famous photo, this one from 1924, shows the faces of two recently deceased crewmen who appeared in the waves alongside the merchant ship S.S. Watertown. Normally I'm not a big fan of faces appearing in grainy photos due to the brain's tendency to see make order out of chaos (known as "matrixing") but this case is different in that the faces were seen by numerous members of the crew for several days prior to the shot being taken and were positively identified by members of the crew as those of two crewmen who suffocated while cleaning out an oil tank a few days earlier. The Burns Detective Agency analyzed the negative for fakery and found none.

Another old classic and one of the better captures, this photograph from 1919, taken by retired RAF officer Sir Victor Goddard, shows his squadron from the Royal Navy vessel HMS Daedalus. Notice the transparent face peering around the man in the upper left corner of the photo. Several men from this squadron identified the face as belonging to mechanic Freddy Jackson, who had been killed two days earlier when he accidentally walked into a spinning propeller blade. His funeral had taken place earlier that day. Apparently, Freddy didn't want to miss all the fun.

Taken in 1946 in Queensland, Australia, this photograph was taken by a mother standing at her teenage daughter's grave. Nobody was in sight at the time, but when the picture was processed the image of a young child appeared, apparently sitting on the grave. There were no children nearby and the mother does not recognize the child, thereby reducing (though not entirely eliminating) the possibility that it's a double exposure. Some skeptics have pointed out that the picture looks staged, especially since the apparition appears to be looking directly at the camera. I find this to be a poor argument for a hoax, however, as one would expect human spirits to react to someone shooting a picture of them in much the same way they would during life. Notice also that in nearly every picture on this page the apparition appears to be looking directly into the camera lens, further challenging the logic of this objection.

This picture made the rounds on the internet a few years ago and though that alone is enough to make one suspicious of its authenticity, it's still an interesting photo. Supposedly taken in Manila (Eastwood City) a few years ago, the story goes that these young ladies had asked a passing stranger to photograph them with their Nokia 7250 phone with integrated camera and the transparent figure on the right appeared. Further details are unknown and while I admit this could be a photoshop trick, if it is, it's a good one.

I put both of these pictures together not because they were taken at the same time, but becasue of the similar look and subject matter. Both supposedly show a transparent monk or religious figure of some kind standing in front of alters, they were not apparent to the photographer at the time, and I believe both were shot by members of the clergy.The picture on the left was taken in the 1960s by the Rev. K.F. Lord at Newby Church, N.Yorkshire. A BBC team examined this photo back in the 1970s and concluded that it was definitely NOT a double exposure and that the negative had not been tampered with, but the picture still generates a lot of disagreement today due to the creepy appearance of the figure. The photo on the right was taken at Sefton Church in September, 1999, and shows what appears to be a figure in the all-black clothing of a vicar or minister. I guess some religious folks love to hang out at churches even after they're dead.

This is a picture that was sent to me for my opinion by a lady from North Carolina which, unlike most I receive, has an air of authenticity about it. The photo was taken with a Sony Cybershot 3.2 mp in Conover, North Carolina on July 16th, 2005. Notice the shadowy image of a little girl standing directly behind the baby (especially clear in the close-up). The woman who took the photo didn't notice the little girl when she took the photo and claims that her and the baby were the only ones home at the time. In a follow-up investigation, she told me there is no history of paranormal activity in the home but the woman's family has had a number of paranormal incidents in their life that leads me to surmise they might somehow be prone to attracting entities. (Photo used with permission.)

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