If seeing is believing, then these photos will convince you of the existence of ghosts. Here are some incredible ghost pictures and the equally remarkable stories behind them. They say seeing is believing. And while in this day of digital image manipulation that might not be as true as it once was, these photographs are considered by many to be the real deal - photographic evidence of ghosts. Faking ghost photos through double exposure and in-the-lab trickery has been around as long as photography itself; and today, computer graphics programs can easily and convincingly create ghost images. But these photos are generally thought to be untouched, genuine portraits of the unexplained. We are pleased to present what are generally believed to be the 25 most famous ghost photographs of all time, complete with their story (click on all photos to enlarge). Please be patient; due to the large number of photographs this page may take a moment or two to fully load.

#1 – THE BROWN LADY
Perhaps the most famous and well-respected ghost photo of all time is that of the “Brown Lady of Raynham Hall”. On September 19th, 1936, at 4 PM, a photographer, Mr. Indre Shira, was commissioned by Lady Townsend of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England to take a series of photographs of the house for “Country Life” magazine. Shira and his assistant were just setting up their equipment for shots of the grand staircase when the photographer saw what he described as “a vapory form which gradually assumed the shape of a woman in a veil.” The figure slowly began to ascend the stairs and, very excited, Shira took a hasty photograph. The assistant however, was amused by his employer’s excitement, maintaining (even afterward) that he had seen nothing on the stairs. In fact, he admitted that he thought Shira was delusional.

He changed his mind after the plate was developed though and saw the phantom outline of a human figure on the stairs. Experts who examined the plate were puzzled and agreed that the image was not the result of any form of trickery (both the original and an enhanced version are presented). Author and researcher Thurston Hopkins also studied the photo and he too declared it genuine. “It may well be the most genuine ghost photograph we possess,” he added, “and no study of the supernatural is complete without a reference to it.”

This is what happened, according to Shira: "Captain Provand took one photograph while I flashed the light. He was focusing for another exposure; I was standing by his side just behind the camera with the flashlight pistol in my hand, looking directly up the staircase. All at once I detected an ethereal veiled form coming slowly down the stairs. Rather excitedly, I called out sharply: 'Quick, quick, there's something.' I pressed the trigger of the flashlight pistol. After the flash and on closing the shutter, Captain Provand removed the focusing cloth from his head and turning to me said: 'What's all the excitement about?'"

Upon developing the film, the image of The Brown Lady ghost was seen for the first time. It was published in the December 16, 1936 issue of Country Life. The ghost has been seen occasionally since.

The ghost is thought to be that of Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount of Raynham, residents of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England in the early 1700s. The Raynham Hall mansion was the home of the Townshend family for over 300 years. Dorothy was the sister of Sir Robert Walpole, Charles' one-time partner with whom he had a falling-out. It was also rumored that Dorothy, before her marriage to Charles, had been the mistress of Lord Wharton, "whose character was so infamous, and his lady's compliant subservience so notorious, that no young woman could be four and twenty hours under their roof with safety to her reputation." Charles suspected Dorothy of infidelity. And although according to legal records she died and was buried in 1726, it was suspected that the funeral was a sham and that Charles had locked his wife away in a remote corner of the house until her death many years later.

Dorothy's ghost is said to haunt the oak staircase and other areas of Raynham Hall. In the early 1800s, King George IV, while staying at Raynham, saw the figure of a woman in a brown dress standing beside his bed, noting that her face was pale and hair disheveled. She was seen again standing in the hall in 1835 by Colonel Loftus, who was visiting for the Christmas holidays. He saw her again a week later and described her as wearing a brown satin dress, her skin glowing with a pale luminescence. It also seemed to him that her eyes had been gouged out. A few years later, Captain Frederick Marryat and two friends saw "the brown lady" gliding along an upstairs hallway, carrying a lantern. As she passed, Marryat said, she grinned at the men in a "diabolical manner." Marryat fired a pistol at the apparition, but the bullet simply passed through.

Interesting side note: Charles Townshend is the ancestor of Thomas Townsend Brown, an American physicist who experimented with anti-gravity and flying saucers in the 1930s, and whose name has been connected to The Philadelphia Experiment.






#2 – THE SPECTER OF NEWBURY CHURCH
This photograph was taken in 1963 by Reverend K. F. Lord at Newby Church in North Yorkshire, England. It has been a controversial photo because it is just too good. The shrouded face and the way it is looking directly into the camera makes it look like it was posed – a clever double exposure. Yet supposedly the photo has been scrutinized by photo experts who say the image is not the result of a double exposure.

The Reverend Lord has said of the photo that nothing was visible to the naked eye when he took the snapshot of his altar. Yet when the film was developed, standing there was this strange cowled figure.

The Newby Church was built in 1870 and, as far as anyone knows, did not have a history of ghosts, hauntings or other peculiar phenomena. Those who have carefully analyzed the proportions of the objects in the photo calculated that the specter is about nine feet tall!






#3 – THE GHOSTLY PASSENGER
This photo was taken in 1959 by Mrs. Mabel Chimney in a British churchyard. She had just finished photographing her mother’s grave and then took a picture of her husband, who was waiting for her in the car. He was alone in the auto at that time, yet the developed photograph clearly showed Mrs. Chimney’s mother in the back seat of the car. A photo expert examined it for a British newspaper and declared the photo to be authentic. In fact, he went as far as to declare, “I stake my reputation on the fact that this picture is genuine,” he said.

This picture is one of the most puzzling ghost photographs ever taken. The woman in the back seat was supposed to be in her grave when the photograph was taken. Experts say that the film has not been altered in any way. Yet if you look closely you will see that the corner of her scarf seems to overlap the side pillar of the car. This would only be possible if her face was placed in the picture after it was taken. Yet if the experts are correct and the photograph is genuine, there is no explanation for how it could have happened - unless the woman in the back was a ghost.






#4 – THE TOYS R US GHOST
This picture was reportedly taken with infrared film during an investigation at the Sunnyvale, California, Toys 'R' Us store. The man leaning against the wall was not visible and did not appear in photos taken at the same time with normal film. A June 1991 Ad week article tells the tale: "The children have left, and the din has subsided. Another hard day's shopping is history at the Sunnyvale, California, branch of Toys 'R' Us. Yet there might be activity inside the vast, silent emporium this midnight, none of which has to do with the straightforward business of retailing.

Inside, it is said, toys topple from their shelves. A skateboard rolls down an aisle, clanking aimlessly into a wall. But nobody is in this Toys `R' Us this midnight. Or anyway, nobody alive. In the heart of high-tech Silicon Valley, could there really be such a thing as a haunted retail outlet? "I'm a skeptical person," says Toys `R' Us assistant store director Jeff Linden. 'But something's definitely happening here.'

In the past few years, store management has tried to get to the bottom of several curious developments. Linden recounts stories of objects flying 20 feet through the air and hitting employees. Shelves left neat in a locked store have been found in disarray the next morning. And then there was the talking doll that cried "mama" over and over - but would only do so when put in a locked box...But that doesn't mean that store workers laugh off the matter. "Some of our employees are spooked," Linden says. "They won't go into certain parts of the store alone." He hastens to add that the "ghost" hasn't affected day-to-day store operations in any tangible way. Yet the incidents were taken seriously enough that management let a local psychic [Sylvia Brown] visit the store."

It was this investigation that yielded the infrared photograph and information about the identity of the ghost, which has not been verified by historic records.






#5 – THE BURNING GIRL
(Photo copyright 1995, Tony O'Rahilly) - On November 19, 1995, Wem Town Hall in Shropshire, England burned to the ground. Many spectators gathered to watch the old building, built in 1905, as it was being consumed by the flames. Tony O'Rahilly, a local resident, was one of those onlookers and took photos of the spectacle with a 200mm telephoto lens from across the street. One of those photos shows what looks like a small, partially transparent girl standing in the doorway. Nether O'Rahilly nor any of the other onlookers or firefighters recalled seeing the girl there.

O'Rahilly submitted the photo to the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena which, in turn, presented it for analysis to Dr. Vernon Harrison, a photographic expert and former president of the Royal Photographic Society. Harrison carefully examined both the print and the original negative, and concluded that it was genuine. "The negative is a straightforward piece of black-and-white work and shows no sign of having been tampered with," Harrison said.

But who is the little girl? Wem, a quiet market town in northern Shropshire, had been ravaged by fire in the past. In 1677, historical records note, a fire destroyed many of the town's old timber houses. A young girl named Jane Churm, the legends say, accidentally set fire to a thatched roof with a candle. Many believed her ghost haunted the area and had been seen on a few other occasions.






#6 – THE STANDING GHOSTS
This 1970s-era photo shows what appears to be a memorial marker on private family property in Massachusetts. Upon development two individuals can clearly be seen standing near the plot. The photo has been analyzed twice and shows no signs of tampering. The family, who wishes to remain anonymous, recognized the faces as a mother and adult daughter who were killed in an automobile accident in 1968. However, neither of the individuals were related to the person buried at the site - so were they mourners, or did they just want to make their presence known to the photographer?






#7 – BORLEY RECTORY
This old photo was taken at Borley rectory, perhaps one of the most famous hauntings in the United Kingdom, dating from the 1920s and 30s. It shows a white figure walking, (floating) in front of a group of trees, could this be the main cause of the hauntings? Next to that is the famous ”floating brick” image, showing a brick from the ruins of Borley – after its destruction by fire (as forewarned by a ghost during a séance) – levitating in the air on its own. No signs of wire or other medium, as well other signs of fakery, have ever been found.






#8 – A PERSON’S SPIRIT CAUGHT ON FILM?
This turn-of-the century photo was taken a short while after the person died, and has caught some pretty odd things. Is the glow that shows over the body the person’s spirit or soul departing the body at the moment of death? Or is it the light streaks just above the head?









#9 – THE MADONNA OF BACHELOR’S GROVE
This daytime photo was taken during an investigation of Bachelor's Grove cemetery near Chicago by the Ghost Research Society (GRS). On August 10, 1991, several members of the GRS were at the cemetery, a small, abandoned graveyard on the edge of the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, near the suburb of Midlothian, Illinois. Reputed to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in the U.S., Bachelor's Grove has been the site of well over 100 different reports of strange phenomena, including apparitions, unexplained sights and sounds, and even glowing balls of light.

GRS member Mari Huff was taking black and white photos with a high-speed infrared camera in an area where the group had experienced some anomalies with their ghost-hunting equipment. The cemetery was empty, except for the GRS members. When developed, this image emerged: what looks like a lonely-looking young woman dressed in white sitting on a tombstone. Parts of her body are partially transparent and the style of the dress seems to be out of date.

She was not visible to anyone who was present and in fact, the image appeared in a much larger, almost panoramic view of the cemetery. The portion of the photo where the woman appears was enlarged when investigators noticed there was something out of the ordinary about it. Included are both the original, and an enhanced version. Skeptics declared the photo a hoax (as usual) but there is every reason to believe it is genuine. A copy of the photo was examined by a number of professional photographers and while they would have liked to say that it was a fraud, they admitted that they were unable to. They ruled out the possibility of a double-exposure and the theory that it was a photo of a live woman who was made to appear like a ghost. One critic declared she was casting a shadow, but this is nothing more than the natural coloring of the landscape. Besides that, if she is casting a shadow in that direction, why isn’t anything else?

Other ghosts reportedly seen in Bachelor's Grove include figures in monks' clothes and the spirit of a glowing yellow man.






#10 – THE TULIP STAIRCASE PHANTOM
This photograph is another fascinating one. It depicts a cowled figure that was photographed by a Canadian tourist, Reverend R.W. Hardy, who was visiting England in 1966. The photo was taken at Queen’s House in Greenwich and it was intended to be solely of the grand Tulip Staircase there. When the photo was developed, the figure was seen, apparently climbing the stairs. The photo has been examined many times over the years, but thus far, has withstood all allegations of fraud.

Rev. Ralph Hardy, a retired clergyman from White Rock, British Columbia, took this now-famous photograph in 1966. He intended merely to photograph the elegant spiral staircase (known as the "Tulip Staircase") in the Queen's House section of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. Upon development, however, the photo revealed a shrouded figure climbing the stairs, seeming to hold the railing with both hands. Experts, including some from Kodak, who examined the original negative concluded that it had not been tampered with. It's been said that unexplained figures have been seen on occasion in the vicinity of the staircase, and unexplained footsteps have also been heard.

Interesting side note: This photo isn't the only evidence of ghostly activity at the Queen's House. The 400-year-old building is credited with several other apparitions and phantom footsteps even today. Recently, a Gallery Assistant was discussing a tea break with two colleagues when he saw one of the doors to the Bridge Room close by itself. At first he thought it was one of the lecturers. "Then I saw a woman glide across the balcony, and pass through the wall on the west balcony," he said. "I couldn't believe what I saw. I went very cold and the hair on my arms and my neck stood on end. We all dashed through to the Queen's Presents Room and looked down towards the Queen's Bedroom. Something passed through the ante-room and out through the wall. Then my colleagues all froze too. The lady was dressed in a white-grey color crinoline type dress."

Other ghostly goings-on include the unexplained choral chanting of children, the figure of a pale woman frantically mopping blood at the bottom of the Tulip Staircase (it's said that 300 years ago a maid was thrown from the highest banister, plunging 50 feet to her death), slamming doors, and even tourists being pinched by unseen fingers.






#11 – THE MINISTER’S PHOTOGRAPH
The next print is a color photograph that was taken in the Australian outback by the Reverend R.S. Blance at Corroboree Rock, located 100 miles from Alice Springs. The photo was taken in 1959.

According to the legends of the site, the place was known for being a spot where the Aborigine tribesmen carried out terrible ceremonies in the past. According to the minister, there was no other human activity in the area at the time the photo was taken.

This photo, and others like it, have become important pieces of evidence in the search for authentic photos because in many cases, the identity of the photographer (in this case, a respected reverend) go a long way in making it possible for the photos to be deemed authentic. Rarely is a witness or a photographer as far above reproach as a minister is.






#12 – LORD COMBERMERE’S PHOTOGRAPH
The photo shown here is the famous “Lord Combermere Photograph”, which was first published in 1895. It gained almost instant fame among psychic researchers and remains a mystery to this day.

The photo was part of an account by Miss Sybell Corbett who took the photograph in December 1891 while staying with her sister at Combermere Abbey in Cheshire, England.

The photo was actually taken of the splendid library of the house and the camera was placed with a long exposure of about one hour, details of which were carefully noted in her photographic diary. Although no one was in the room at the time of the exposure, the developed plate showed the head, body and arms of an older man, seated in a high-backed chair to the left side of the room. The photo was shown to a relative of Lord Combermere and she announced that if did resemble the man. However, not everyone agreed about this. Regardless, the features of the man are hard to distinguish.

The strangest thing about the photo was that, at the time it was taken, Lord Combermere was attending his own funeral at the local churchyard in Wrenbury, four miles away. Lord Combermere had been killed a few days earlier in a road accident in London, having been struck and killed by a horse-drawn carriage.

As mentioned, the photo caused quite a stir and attracted the attention of Sir William Barrett, an investigator for the Society of Psychical Research. He experimented with a similar photo process and then first dismissed this photograph as an unintentional mistake. He surmised that a servant had entered the room while the shutter of the camera was open, sat down in the chair and then left, leaving behind a faint, and rather “ghostly” image.

After further investigation though, Barrett reconsidered. He later learned that the image did not resemble any of the servants in the house and that all of the male servants had been away attending their master’s funeral anyway. He confessed to being perplexed and the photograph remains mysterious today.

Lord Combermere was a British cavalry commander in the early 1800s, who distinguished himself in several military campaigns. Combermere Abbey, located in Cheshire, England, was founded by Benedictine monks in 1133. In 1540, King Henry VII kicked out the Benedictines, and the Abbey later became the Seat of Sir George Cotton KT, Vice Chamberlain to the household of Prince Edward, son of Henry VIII. In 1814, Sir Stapleton Cotton, a descendent of Sir George, took the title "Lord Combermere" and in 1817 became became the Governor of Barbados. Today the Abbey is a tourist attraction and hotel.

Interesting side note: Lord Combermere is connected to another well-known paranormal story: the famous "Moving Coffins" of Barbados. The coffins inside the sealed vault of the Chase family are said to have been moved about by unnatural forces. The heavy coffins were repeatedly put in proper order, but often when a new coffin was added to the vault, the coffins were found strewn about. Lord Combermere, while governor of Barbados, had ordered a professional investigation of the mystery.






#13 – FREDDY JACKSON’S PHOTOGRAPH
This intriguing photo, taken in 1919, was first published in 1975 by Sir Victor Goddard, a retired R.A.F. officer. The photo is a group portrait of Goddard's squadron, which had served in World War I aboard the HMS Daedalus. (Click the photo at left to see the entire photograph.) An extra ghostly face appears in the photo. In back of the airman positioned on the top row, fourth from the left, can clearly be seen the face of another man. It is said to be the face of Freddy Jackson, an air mechanic who had been accidentally killed by an airplane propeller two days earlier. His funeral had taken place on the day this photograph was snapped. Members of the squadron easily recognized the face as Jackson's. It has been suggested that Jackson, unaware of his death, decided to show up for the group photo.

Interesting side note: In 1935, Sir Victor Goddard, now a Wing Commander, had another brush with the unexplained. While on a flight from Edinburgh, Scotland to his home base in Andover, England, he encountered a strange storm that seemed to transport him through time into the future.






#14 – THE GHOSTS OF THE SS WATERTOWN
James Courtney and Michael Meehan, crew members of the S.S. Watertown, were cleaning a cargo tank of the oil tanker as it sailed toward the Panama Canal from New York City in December of 1924. Through a freak accident, the two men were overcome by gas fumes and killed. As was the custom of the time, the sailors were buried at sea off the Mexican coast on December 4.

But this was not the last the remaining crew members were to see of their unfortunate shipmates. The next day, before dusk, the first mate reported seeing the faces of the two men in the waves off the port side of the ship. They remained in the water for 10 seconds, then faded. For several days thereafter, the phantom-like faces of the sailors were clearly seen by other members of the crew in the water following the ship. On arrival in New Orleans, the ship's captain, Keith Tracy, reported the strange events to his employers, the Cities Service Company, who suggested he try to photograph the eerie faces. Captain Tracy purchased a camera for the continuing voyage. When the faces again appeared in the water, Captain Tracy took six photos, then locked the camera and film in the ship's safe. When the film was processed by a commercial developer in New York, five of the exposures showed nothing but sea foam. But the sixth showed the ghostly faces of the doomed seamen. The negative was checked for fakery by the Burns Detective Agency. After the ship's crew had been changed, there were no more reports of sightings.






#15 – THE RAILROAD CROSSING GHOST
A strange legend surrounds a railroad crossing just south of San Antonio, Texas. The intersection of roadway and railroad track, so the story goes, was the site of a tragic accident in which several school-aged children were killed - but their ghosts linger at the spot and will push idled cars across the tracks, even though the path is uphill.

The story may be just the stuff of urban legend, but the accounts were intriguing that Andy and Debi Chesney, their daughter and some of her friends visited the crossing to test the legend, and Debi took some photographs. Inexplicably, a strange, transparent figure turned up in one of the photos. "They had no idea that it was in the picture until the next day when I printed out the picture and showed them," said the Chesneys. "It was really freaky. It appears to be a little girl carrying a teddy bear." Other readers who have viewed the photo think it shows a little girl with a dog sitting at her feet.






#16 – THE BABY GHOST
A woman named Mrs. Andrews was visiting the grave of her daughter in a cemetery in Queensland, Australia in 1946 or 1947. Her daughter Joyce had died about a year earlier, in 1945, at the age of 17. Mrs. Andrews saw nothing unusual when she took this photo of Joyce's grave marker. When the film was developed, Mrs. Andrews was astonished to see the image of a small child sitting happily at her daughter's grave. The ghost child seems to be aware of Mrs. Andrews since he or she is looking directly into the camera.

Is it possibly a double exposure? Mrs. Andrews said there were no such children nearby when she took the photograph and, moreover, did not recognize the child at all – it was no one she would have taken a picture of. She remarked that she did not believe it was the ghost of her daughter as a child. Investigating this case, Australian paranormal researcher Tony Healy visited the cemetery in the late 1990s. Near Joyce's grave he found the graves of two infant girls.













#17 – THE GHOST OF THE SEVEN GABLES
While touring the historic House of the Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts – the birthplace of American author Nathaniel Hawthorne – Lisa B. snapped this remarkable photo. The ghostly image of a small boy seems to be in the shrubbery, peering over the wooden fence. The most amazing part of the story of this photograph is that she subsequently did some research about Hawthorne and the house. While looking through a library, she came across one of Hawthorne’s books, Twenty Days with Julian & Little Bunny by Papa. On the cover of that book is a portrait of Hawthorne's five-year-old son, Julian. And as you see, the portrait of little Julian bears a striking resemblance to the ghost in Lisa's photograph.

A comparison between the portrait of Julian Hawthorne on a book jacket and the apparition at the Hawthorne house. There is a striking resemblance. (All photos, except book jacket art, are the property of Lisa, used here with permission.)






#18 – THE GHOST IN THE CHOIR LOFT
In 1982, photographer Chris Brackley took a photograph of the interior of London's St. Botolph's Church, but never expected what would appear on the film. High in the church's loft, seen in the upper right-hand corner of his photograph, is the transparent form of what looks like a woman. According to Brackley, to his knowledge there were only three people in the church at the time the photo was taken, and none of them were in that loft. According to London Paranormal Database Records, "Mr. Brackley was later contacted by a builder who recognized the face of one that he had seen in a coffin in the church."






#19 – THE SEFTON CHURCH GHOST
Sefton Church is an ancient structure (started in the 12th century and finished in the early 16th century) in Merseyside, England, just north of Liverpool. This particular photograph was taken inside the church in September, 1999. According to Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits and Haunted Places, where this photo was found, there was only one other photographer in the church beside the person who took this picture. Neither of them recalled seeing the ghost or any flesh-and-blood person standing there who could account for this image. Because the figure is all in black, it has been theorized that the apparition could be that of a church minister. Reader Mark Tomlinson reports that a pub next door to the church, called the Punch Bowl, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a man in blue nautical garb, which has been reported there for many years.






#20 – GRANDPA’S GHOST
This photo was taken by Denise Russell of Texas. "The lady in the color photo is my granny," she says. "She lived on her own until age 94, when her mind started to weaken and had to be moved to an assisted living home for her own safety. At the end of the first week, there was a picnic for the residents and their families. My mother and sister attended. My sister took two pictures that day, and this is one of them. It was taken on Sunday, 8/17/97, and we think the man behind her is my grandpa who passed away on Sunday, 8/14/84. We did not notice the man in the picture until Christmas Day, 2000 (granny had since passed away), while browsing through some loose family photos at my parents' house. My sister thought it was such a nice picture of granny that she even made a copy for mom, but still, nobody noticed the man behind her for over three years! When I arrived at my parents' house that Christmas day, my sister handed me the picture and said, "Who do you think this man behind granny looks like?" It took a few seconds for it to sink in. I was absolutely speechless. The black and white photos show that it really looks like him.






#21 – BOOT HILL CEMETERY
"This is the photo that changed my opinion about ghost photos," says Terry Ike Clanton, who runs the TombstoneArizona.com website. Clanton is an actor, recording artist and cowboy poet, and is also a cousin of the legendary Clanton Gang who clashed with the Earps and Doc Holliday at the famous gunfight at OK Corral. Clanton took this photo of his friend (click the picture to see the complete photo) at Boothill Graveyard. The photo was taken in black and white because he wanted Old West-looking pictures of himself dressed in Clanton's 1880-period clothes. Clanton took the film for developing to the local Thrifty Drug Store, and when he got it back was startled at what he saw. Among the gravestones, just to the right of his friend, is the image of what appears to be a thin man in a dark hat. By height, the man appears to be either legless, kneeling... or rising up out of the ground.

"I know there was no other person in this photograph when I shot it," Clanton insists. And he believes the small figure in the background is holding a knife. "We thought this was a tie at first, but after further review, it appears to be a knife," Clanton says. "The knife is in a vertical position; the tip is located just below the figure's right collar. If you're not convinced that something is weird here, look at my friend's shadow in the photo. It appears to be going back slightly to the right of him. The figure in the back should have the same shadow, but it doesn't!"






#22 – CREMATORIUM PHANTOM
This undated photo was taken sometime in the 1950s at a morgue in Great Britain. The facility had - ironically - been heavily damaged in a fire and the condition of the building was being documented for insurance purposes to determine whether the existing site should be torn down and a new one built. This photograph shows a basement hallway leading to one of the crematoriums at the facilty. A strange misty shape was captured in the lower right hand corner of the image that was not seen at the time the photgraph was taken. One of the morgue's former residents?





















#23 – THE HAMPTON CASTLE GHOST
LONDON, England (AP) -- Are there ghostly goings-on at Henry VIII's palace, or is that hazy image of a fellow in fancy robes just a bit of Christmas cheer?

On December 19, 2003, closed-circuit security cameras at Hampton Court Palace, the huge Tudor castle outside London, seem to have snagged an ethereal visitor. Could it be a ghost?

"We're baffled too -- it's not a joke, we haven't manufactured it," said Vikki Wood, a Hampton Court spokeswoman, when asked if the photo the palace released was a Christmas hoax. "We genuinely don't know who it is or what it is."

Wood said security guards had seen the figure in closed-circuit television footage after checking it to see who kept leaving open one of the palace's fire doors. In the still photograph, the figure of a man in a robe-like garment is shown stepping from the shadowy doorway, one arm reaching out for the door handle. The area around the man is somewhat blurred, and his face appears unnaturally white compared with his outstretched hand.

"It was incredibly spooky because the face just didn't look human," said James Faukes, one of the palace security guards. "My first reaction was that someone was having a laugh, so I asked my colleagues to take a look. We spoke to our costumed guides, but they don't own a costume like that worn by the figure. It is actually quite unnerving," Faukes said.

Experts say the long-coated figure could be the best proof yet found that things really do go bump in the night... and the day too. Security staff originally heard alarms ringing near an exhibition hall, indicating fire doors had been opened. But on investigation they found the doors closed. Perplexed, they examined closed circuit televison footage, and that is when it got spooky.

The cameras showed the heavy doors popping open but no one there. Then, suddenly, the long- coated figure appeared and slammed the doors shut. The guards were told the same thing happened at the same time - about 1pm - the day before. To add to the mystery, the doors also flew open at the same time the very next day. But the ghostly figure has been spotted only once.

The suspected spook has not just been sighted by television cameras. Australian tourists also claim to have seen a ghost near the exhibition area. The palace, in West London, has ruled out its guides as suspects because they do not enter that part of the building. Psychologist Dr Richard Wiseman said the spectre, nicknamed Skeletor, might prove to be a significant discovery. 'It could be the best ghost sighting ever,' he said. 'I haven't seen anything that would match that at all.'

The palace, built in 1525 on the River Thames 10 miles west of central London, is a popular tourist attraction and some of the guides wear costumes of the Tudor period. Wood said she was hoping people would come forward with similar stories and try to explain the figure. The palace has been the scene of many dramatic royal events, and already is supposed to have a few ghosts.

King Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, died there giving birth to a son, and her ghost is said to walk through one of the cobbled courtyards carrying a candle. Her son, Edward, had a nurse called Sibell Penn who was buried in the palace grounds in 1562. In 1829 her tomb was disturbed by building work, and around the same time an odd whirring noise began to be heard in the southwest wing of the palace.

When workmen traced the strange sounds to a brick wall, they uncovered a small forgotten room containing an old spinning wheel, just like the one Penn used to use. Henry's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, condemned for adultery, was held at the palace under house arrest before her execution at the Tower of London. An 1897 book about the palace says she was reportedly seen, dressed in white and floating down one of the galleries uttering unearthly shrieks. The palace was once a prison for King Charles I, who later was beheaded, and then home to his nemesis Oliver Cromwell, who briefly ruled when Britain was for a short time a republic.






#24 – GHOSTLY SPECTRE
This image dates from around 1990 and its provenance cannot be ascertained. It seems to show a transparent, wispy, full figure almost skeletal form of person slowly taking shape in what is an otherwise innocent snapshot of a child. It has been examined by two photo labs who cannot find any signs of tampering. Wispy trails of mist or "ectoplasm" can be seen swirling around the figure almost as it it seems to be coalescing out of thin air; lighter areas actually seem to be reflecting off the walls and surrounding objects which also argue in favor of it being a three-dimensional manisfestation. The jury is still out on this one, but if authentic, it would rank as one of the most remarkable spirit photographs ever taken.

















#25 – A SHADOW PERSON?
One phenemenon that seems to be increasing with ever greater frequency seems to be an almost new type of ghostly "spirit" - shadow people (see our FAQs page for a fuller explanation). There are numerous therories of what they might be and whether or not they are actually related to "ghosts" or "spirits" in the traditional sense. They seem to be aware of their surroundings and respond and interact with their environment rather than behave just as a "residual" haunting would, and they may in fact not even represent deceased individuals who have crossed over to the other side. Darker and more "dense" or "solid" than the standard ghost, they are being reported in all cultures and socities from around the world in ever increasing numbers beginning around the early 1990s. By their very nature they are fleeting, often just caught out of the corner or the eye, and almost impossible to capture on film. These photographs from 2000 are two stills from a video camera which was left going during the day in a house suspected of paranormal activity. Dark wispy almost transparent tendrils rise up to the ceiling, and the form even casts a faint shadow on the ceiling and walls behind. The photographer has chosen to remain anonymous, not the behavior one would expect of someone seeking publicity, and no readily apparent signs of fakery have yet been found. These photographs merely serves to be representative of the phenomenon as a whole as the best and clearest yet taken.


(Selected articles courtesy of Stephen Wagner.) Please note that Cleveland Supernatural Investigations (CSI) takes no stand on the authenticity of these images nor do we vouch for any of them. New investigations into their backgrounds may turn up new facts. We present them here merely as a matter of historical and professional interest.