The best ghostly images in the world

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

An eerie image of a figure in period costume at a Scottish castle has spooked experts conducting the biggest ever investigation into photographic evidence for ghosts.

The picture, taken in May 2008, appears to show a man or woman in a ruff peering out of a barred window at Tantallon Castle.

No mannequins or costumed guides are employed at the castle, and three photographic experts have confirmed that no digital trickery was used on the photo.

Even confirmed ghost sceptic Professor Richard Wiseman, who led the study, admitted to being puzzled.

“It is certainly very curious,” he said. “We ran it by three photographic experts and they said it hadn’t been Photoshopped at all.

“The figure appears to be in period costume, but we know 100% that Tantallon Castle is not the sort of place that has dummies or costumed guides; they just don’t go in for that sort of thing.

“I suppose it could be a visitor looking a little bit strange. Perhaps someone will come forward. Another possibility is an odd reflection of sunlight, but it does look very like a person. The explanation is not obvious.”

Tantallon Castle, a ruined fortress dating back to the 14th century, stands on a remote rocky headland near North Berwick on the Scottish east coast. It was badly damaged in an attack by Oliver Cromwell’s forces in 1651.

Christopher Aitchison, who took the photo, said: “I was not aware of anyone, or anything, being present in my picture, only noticing the anomaly when I got home.

“Staff have verified that there were no sinister dummies in period costume or historical re-enactments going on that day at the castle. I did not notice any nice old ladies wearing ruffs walking around the stairs! Some people have suggested its just light reflecting on rocks and one person suggested it may be King James V of Scotland.”

Psychologist Prof Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, who has made many studies of the supernatural, launched the investigation a month ago.

Members of the public were asked to submit ghostly images for experts to analyse, the best of which were posted on the website www.scienceofhauntings.com.

More than 250 pictures were received from all over the world and more than a quarter of a million people voted for what they considered to be the most convincing photos.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 11:11 am and is filed under Ghosts & Hauntings, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “The best ghostly images in the world”

Geoff Says:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I have seen many images of the castle ghost blown up,
Unfortunately it appears to be a painting or a poster
caught in that pic, definately a 2d image.

If genuine then it is an excellent photo but the larger blown up versions I have seen from Googling seem
to make it look more like a painting than a 3D figure.

These days there are so many hoaxes that it is hard to tell the genuine from the fake.
(Expert opinion these days is usually poor/wrong)

It’s a shame though, I find the car mirror one more beleiveable.
But that face reminds me of certain Linda Blair “Exorcist” pics easily available.
The Many Says:
April 5th, 2009 at 8:02 am
The fourth picture showing the cost line…

The “ghost” in fact appears to be a cave cut into the rocky protrusion and its bottom half is the subsequent shadow in the water.
G.P.S.Arwen Says:
August 16th, 2009 at 2:30 am
The first picture from the scottish castle is debunked, as far as i am concerned.
Have a look for the article here:
http://badpsychics.co.uk/badghosts/modules/news/article.php?storyid=111

The pic with the man standing in the shrubs, well… it really looks as if some see-through person is standing there, but knowing how your eyes can play tricks on you, i would rather say, that it is more a combination of light and shadows in the twigs of the bushes.

On the black and white pic with the couple the blurred person behind them looks more like a double exposure to me. As far as i know double exposure is impossible with new digital cameras, but of course i don’t know with which type of camera this pic was taken.

The beach picture was debunked as well, i think As far as i remember, i read an article about that somewhere not long ago… i will see if i can find it again.

And the face in the rear view mirror is, to my opinion, a reflection of the head rest of the car seat. Again the yes are playing tricks, due to light and shadow.I’ve seen pictures like that before and they were easy to debunk.
Kevin Walsh Says:
March 28th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Great photographs. Paranormal photograpsh can be a pain to verify here is a great article about the use Of EXIF data to prove fakes.

http://paganoccult.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tech&action=display&thread=275
150cc scooter Says:
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:28 pm
That was a nice article,I look forward to some more post from you.