Ghost Stories

[Candy]

Retired Professor Hunts Ghosts in Tennessee (http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pub&dt=041031&cat=strange&st=stranged861dm1 g0&src=ap)

Gather around little kiddies, it’s time for some ghost stories. :o
Halloween isn't the only time ghosts and spirits haunt parts of Tennessee. Nancy Acuff should know. The retired East Tennessee State University professor has investigated many sightings in the region and helped people understand why places might be haunted.

[Gullible Jones]

Ye gods, not another one off the deep end. #-o

[mickal555]

I'm scared :cry:

[NEOWatcher]

Yep; I'm taking advantage of an old thread, but the title works...

Fox: Teen's Accidental Photo Shows Eerie Ghost-Like Hand on Banister (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,359142,00.html)
Which is actually a front end of the UK Sun :sick: story: Teen snaps eerie ghost (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1216051.ece) (this is where the picture is)

Despite describing themselves as ‘sceptics’, Connor and dad Mike are now convinced the ghost they snapped is real and are hoping experts will examine it and prove them correct.

Looks like some kind of glare or something... Ideas?

[mike alexander]

I figured it would be something like

Ghost: Boooooooo!

Teen: Hey, you look white as a sheet!

Ghost: Ooooh, snap!

[Spock Jenkins]

The hand looks almost like an x-ray. Almost an exposure trick of sorts. I have no idea.

I do always like how the people that go to the news with these stories claim to be skeptics, as if it lends credibility. A skeptic would either still be trying to figure out the cause of the flawed image, or just delete it. A skeptic wouldn't just say, "I can't figure it out. Call the news, we got a ghost!"

[Fazor]

Despite describing themselves as ‘sceptics’, Connor and dad Mike are now convinced the ghost they snapped is real and are hoping experts will examine it and prove them correct.
So, they're "skeptics" that unquestioningly believe this is a ghost and want it proven to be so? It's novel that you can call yourself whaver you like.

I'm a Decorated War Hero that's some day hoping to recieve metals for something I do.

Anyway, it *does* look like a hand on a rail with some kind of blurred shape where a body should be. But that doesn't rule out glare or smudge on the lense that just happens to look like something we'd expect to see on stairs.

And when you look closely at the "hand", how much does it really look like a hand? I count 4 "fingers", but see no thumb, or any extension of the back of the hand that would indicate a thumb. If the figure is heading up the stairs, the thumb would be towards the "top" of the picture. But to me, the wrist appears to end after the edge of the banister, i.e., the thumb couldn't be wrapped around the banister in a "grasping" position.

If the figure was headed down the stairs, the thumb would be towards the bottom of the picture. There's no real bump indicating the presence of a thumb on that side either, though from that angle it's more possible that a thumb would be hidden. The fingers also look a little fat for the size of the hand, in my opinion.

[hhEb09'1]

Anyway, it *does* look like a hand on a rail with some kind of blurred shape where a body should be. But that doesn't rule out glare or smudge on the lense that just happens to look like something we'd expect to see on stairs. I think it looks a lot like a hand. :)If the figure was headed down the stairs, the thumb would be towards the bottom of the picture. There's no real bump indicating the presence of a thumb on that side either, though from that angle it's more possible that a thumb would be hidden. The fingers also look a little fat for the size of the hand, in my opinion.Clearly headed downstairs.

They only noticed the image after they got home. I'm pretty sure (having seen many of these in my own ahem work) that it is an artifact of a time exposure. Perhaps the lighting was dim, and the shutter stayed open long enough that the body was smeared. The hand, grasping the rail (with the thumb under), would not have moved so much, and would have been imaged.

I used to take images where I'd open the shutter, walk to in front of the camera, stand still for thirty seconds, then walk back and shut the camera. In the photo, you could not make out my image walking across the room.

[Warren Platts]

Poor Candy. . . .

:neutral:

[KaiYeves]

I'm one kiddy who's too scared to listen to ghost stories, so I'll be going now...

[Nadme]

The photo of St. Paul's Cathedral and alleged ghost is probably an older lady in a white coat moving rather quickly; would account for the blur.

Or...it's a ghost. :D

[cosmocrazy]

Better call them!! Who ya gonna call? Ghost busters!!!

[cosmocrazy]

I don't believe in ghosts simply because i ain't seen one yet! but where i live there is a 150yr old abandoned train tunnel and it don't half give you the creeps when you get near the entrance! very eerie!

[HenrikOlsen]

Yep; I'm taking advantage of an old thread, but the title works...

Fox: Teen's Accidental Photo Shows Eerie Ghost-Like Hand on Banister (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,359142,00.html)
Which is actually a front end of the UK Sun :sick: story: Teen snaps eerie ghost (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1216051.ece) (this is where the picture is)

Looks like some kind of glare or something... Ideas?
Looks like a long exposure of someone descending, with the hand semi-stationary and therefore visible while the person gripped the railing and the rest of the body smeared out to the elongated light smear on the stairs.

It was a digital camara (article talks about downloading the imagesbefore noticing the "ghost") and they are notorious for automatically adjusting exposure times to extremes if the light is bad and the flash doesn't.

[Fazor]

Looks like a long exposure of someone descending, with the hand semi-stationary and therefore visible while the person gripped the railing and the rest of the body smeared out to the elongated light smear on the stairs.

It was a digital camara (article talks about downloading the imagesbefore noticing the "ghost") and they are notorious for automatically adjusting exposure times to extremes if the light is bad and the flash doesn't.

The only disagreement I have with that with a long exposure time, say 1sec+, then the kid had to have done an amazing job holding the camera steady. It's VERY difficult to do by hand.

That doesn't mean it couldn't have been done by someone on purpose, and they're lieing about how the picture was "discovered".

[KaiYeves]

It's easy to mess up a picture when you're using a digital camera. That's why I stick to film.

[HenrikOlsen]

The only disagreement I have with that with a long exposure time, say 1sec+, then the kid had to have done an amazing job holding the camera steady. It's VERY difficult to do by hand.
From the angle it looks likely he took it while resting either the camera or his arms on the railing, which would help a lot.

[Nadme]

with the hand semi-stationary and therefore visible while the person gripped the railing and the rest of the body smeared out to the elongated light smear on the stairs.

I find the overall features very interesting.

But can you explain how there seems to be a gradation of "solidity" of the "apparition" from left to right? It goes from extremely faint and transparent on the left to quite "materialized" on the extreme right, as we're viewing the photo.

If this were merely a person passing along...would this gradation of solidity occur?

[mike alexander]

Think of how you walk down stairs; your body moves more or less continuously, but often your hand slides and stops on the bannister

[HenrikOlsen]

When the left hand is stationary, the right hand is moving forward faster than the body.

[BigDon]

I'm a Decorated War Hero that's some day hoping to recieve metals for something I do. .


[InvoluntaryGillianMode] Really? I'm decorated and I have medals. Where do I apply for metals? [EndInvoluntaryGillianMode]

[BigDon]

Oh, and what killed Candy BTW? 12 thousand posts and then banned sounds like a RL problem spilled over to the forum and you killed her before she could regain equalibrium.

A fear I constantly have due to my seizure disorder. My computer still works even when my brain doesn't.

[BigDon]

Okay, got a very informative PM on the subject. Never mind.

[NEOWatcher]

[InvoluntaryGillianMode] Really? I'm decorated and I have medals. Where do I apply for metals? [EndInvoluntaryGillianMode]
So you have the cheap plastic medals? :shifty: Sorry, Couldn't resist that one.

Anyway; The long exposure is so obvious to me now that it has been pointed out. I never really saw the hand, and a camera resting on a railing does make sense.

[Nadme]

Think of how you walk down stairs; your body moves more or less continuously, but often your hand slides and stops on the bannister.

Of course. :)

But why isn't the moving body filmy/nebulous overall??

There is this seeming gradation of solidity even concerning "the body," from left to right.

Explanation? Our bodies are evenly solid after all.

[Roving Philosopher]

But why isn't the moving body filmy/nebulous overall??
This is just an educated guess, but possibly because at that point in the person's descent, the range of motion was greater on the right side than the left side. The left side of the body (from the body's perspective, not ours), having just stepped down, is moving less than the right side, which is now swinging the right leg down to the next step.

[mugaliens]

I love this quote: "it’s a digital camera so you can’t accidentally double expose the shot."

Perhaps not. However, you can do it on purpose, either using the camera, or Photoshop!

[KaiYeves]

At camp some kid was telling a scary story and I wanted to be funny, so...
Him: "So they built a place for all the insane, crazy people-"
Me: "Called the Internet!"

[Fazor]

[InvoluntaryGillianMode] Really? I'm decorated and I have medals. Where do I apply for metals? [EndInvoluntaryGillianMode]

Um...no? I want metals so I can, um...go into the metal fabrication business? Yeah, that's the ticket!

[BigDon]

Hey Faz, sorry. I couldn't resist. You know how it is sometime.

[Fazor]

Hey Faz, sorry. I couldn't resist. You know how it is sometime.

Lol, I would have done the same thing ;)