I was recently sent an alleged ghost photo, with the following message….
“Hello my name is xx, I recently received this photo from my father which was taken by a friend of his in Jaffna, Sri Lanka where many atrocities have occurred. My father told me about the appearance of what seems to be a lady in the window of the house. I was quite shocked by the photo and wondered if you could shed any light on its authenticity?”
Here is the image
and here is a close-up of the ghost…..
What do you think? A genuine ghost? The full-sized file can be downloaded here (about 1MB)
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February 16, 2010 at 6:52 am |
easy one: that same ghost is almost a meme and is featured in tons of animations and “ghost sightings”… it’s almost a classic! Obvious photoshop, obvious troll…
February 16, 2010 at 6:53 am |
What type of camera? I must admit its spooky. A bit like ‘ the grudge’ . Shit we are doo
February 16, 2010 at 6:54 am |
see here some examples http://www.ghostresearch.org/ghostpics/fake/frauds.html
February 16, 2010 at 7:04 am
That “ghost” sure has a limited set of clothes and her hair dresser doesn’t have much creativity. She does travel a lot though
February 16, 2010 at 7:09 am
yeah… I even saw that same “ghost” in one of those animationes designed to catch your attention, make you focus and then freak you out… LOL… it seems to be from a japanese horror movie, I’ll make some research and I’ll trace the source of this “ghost”
February 16, 2010 at 8:16 am
Could it be Samara from The Ring?
http://www.neodymsystems.com/ring/r_img/remake/os_dnw/os_dnw_samara1.jpg
February 26, 2010 at 6:24 pm
I must say that a lot of those in the link, the old ones im talkin about, are duplicats made on purpose
February 16, 2010 at 6:55 am |
No ghost. But the human mind is very inclined to see faces even where there are none. My guess would be that those are the drapes or something equally trivial.
February 16, 2010 at 6:57 am
Pareidolia.
February 16, 2010 at 6:56 am |
Ghosts! Photobombing since the birth of Photoshop!
February 16, 2010 at 7:00 am |
Photoshop, definitely Photoshop.
Pretty amateur at that.
February 16, 2010 at 7:17 am |
http://www.alienufoart.com/images/FAKE2.jpg … still looking for the source (probably a movie) … anyway, the issue is settled: FAKE
.. and OLD, BTW
February 16, 2010 at 7:38 am |
It’s called “The Ghost of the Sundarbans”… still no info on the real source, but it’s a widely discussed hoax, falls into the “meme” category
Found the animation I mentioned earlier: http://www.castleofspirits.com/hoax2.gif – while being fake, it stills gives freaks me out, LOL
also, featured in another widely e-mailed picture: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_sundarbans_ghost4.htm
February 16, 2010 at 7:49 am |
She is down right bold and obviously an attention seeker as she is willing to show up in the day time! Ghosts just aren’t like they used to be…. followed the rules….not now….. just show up all willy, nilly any old where and time….just what is it all coming to?
February 16, 2010 at 7:53 am |
The ‘ghost’s’ is in front of the decoration of the window but cut off by the windowsill, a very skinny ghost indeed. It looks slightly too big too. The stringy white bits in front of it are fuzzy and more of a uniform colour compared to the other stringy bits which is how things end up when you go back over them with the draw tool in photoshop then blur. Or is it meant to be cracked glass, drawn on and blurred?
Perhaps the friend in Jaffna is a big fan of Shaun of the dead?
February 16, 2010 at 8:09 am |
Under digital analysis, there is some subtle chromatic aberration in the area of the ghost doesn’t seem to match up with the rest of the photo. Photoshop job, though not a terrible one. Hard to say for sure though, with the high compression of the image.
The examples posted by Remis are pretty conclusive though
February 16, 2010 at 8:22 am |
This is a fake for two reasons.
1) we all know that ghosts don’t exist
and
2) the image of the girl has been photoshopped in. If you look very closely at the bottom edge of the ‘ghost’, you can see that it overlaps the bottom edge of the window frame itself. It also is on top of the leading in the stained glass, not behind.
Busted.
February 16, 2010 at 1:38 pm
oh yeah! i see it now!
thx stephen!
February 16, 2010 at 8:30 am |
Nope.
It is the very first REAL ghost photograph.
There is literally NO other explanation!
February 16, 2010 at 8:43 am |
Remis Ramos, you’re wrong. All that means is that this particular ghost is EVERYWHERE!!!!!
AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
February 16, 2010 at 9:54 am |
Even if it were a real photograph, surely there being a very pale woman standing in the window is a much much much more plausible explanation than there being a disembodied mind of a deceased person which can somehow reflect or emit photons in the image of a human being.
February 16, 2010 at 10:55 am |
I’m voting ‘shopped as well.
February 16, 2010 at 11:18 am |
We said it before Richard – no more ghost photos. There are far more (real) interesting things going on in this world.
February 16, 2010 at 11:41 am
But this is the real world.
I have lived in the UK for the past five years and I have met a lot of people that really believe in ghosts.
For some reason, despite being sceptical about the claims of religion, they still think there might be some truth to stories of supernatural beings.
It’s mind boggling, when people you think of as well-informed and intelligent, suddenly tells you about their ghost encounter without even considering alternative explanations.
February 16, 2010 at 11:50 am
What is real and what is not real?
The fact that afaik there is no scientific evidence for ghosts, does not imply that
(a) ghosts are not real
(b) the perception of the world of a group of people is to be considered wrong (whereas that of another group is supposed to be correct).
The latter is a form of fundamentalism that scares me more than ghosts, regardless if they exist or not
February 17, 2010 at 7:55 am
oh no I love ghost photos!
February 16, 2010 at 11:27 am |
hoax
February 16, 2010 at 11:45 am |
its a fake photo,
how come the same ghost seems to be wandering every where in most of the ghost pick
February 16, 2010 at 12:23 pm |
Demis well done for recognising her. Case closed!
I do enjoy the shiver these ‘ghost’ pics give tho, and I love reading all your explanations – keep them coming please.
February 16, 2010 at 12:31 pm |
why would anyone take a photo in front of an abandoned house in the first place? unless hes gonna photoshoped the image and make a “ghost sighting issue” nice try..
February 16, 2010 at 12:42 pm |
I analyze ghost photos every day. This one is Photoshop’d or it’s otherwise doctored.
One clue is the detail around the eyes and nose. The clarity, contrast and details of those exceed the details of other objects nearby.
In addition, in real ghost research, ghosts rarely appear as apparitions, in or out of photos.
When they do appear as apparitions, they’re usually most vivid around the face, and then fade toward the extremities. Scientific research in Japan (not ghost related) supports this as a physical phenomenon.
Apparitions rarely blink. So, this photo would be an even stranger fluke since the eyes seem to be closed.
(If they’re supposed to be all white — with no pupils or irises — that’s completely outside all likelihood in ghost-related research.)
Apparitions usually appear the way that they want to be remembered. Men and women are generally young and attractive, not gruesome or ghoulish. (The “Sixth Sense” imagery is fun for movies, but not accurate in the field.)
That said, whether or not people want to believe that the explanation is always something ghostly, we can document considerable phenomena that cannot (so far) be explained in normal terms, and most logically points to paranormal or parallel realities.
To quote Sherlock Holmes in “The Sign of the Four”:
“…when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth…”
February 16, 2010 at 2:43 pm
“in real ghost research”
Love it! I had no idea there were different levels.
“…when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth…”
I think you’ve got a little further to go before you can claim to have eliminated the impossible.
February 16, 2010 at 12:49 pm |
Una amiga muy asustada, y sin posibilidades de utilizar trucos fotográficos me mostró un rostro inesperado en el vidrio de una pantalla de televisión apagada, en una habitación y perspectiva que impedían reflejos perfectos.Apareció igual que éste, al posar para sacarse una foto personal.
Cristina
February 16, 2010 at 1:34 pm |
From a distance it looks like curtains tied at the top. Up close it looks like a creepy-looking, real live person. I agree it looks too creepy; like something out of a movie.
My Dad claims he saw a ghost of his mother once and he never mentioned her looking scary.
February 16, 2010 at 1:37 pm |
i can make a twin of that girlie over there or triplets or more
and im not even pro with photoshop… lol
February 16, 2010 at 2:39 pm |
With simple forensic error level testing of the image, it is obvious the “ghost” was added in some way after the initial capture of the imaged. That and the fact the same “ghost” is used in other images sort of tells the tale.
February 16, 2010 at 2:43 pm |
That “Ghost” look like a another human in the windo but when i look mor closly it looks edited
September 27, 2010 at 3:53 pm
are you on club penguin?
February 16, 2010 at 2:46 pm |
Good joke anyway
February 16, 2010 at 2:48 pm |
I like how the first thought is “ghost” and not “someone standing in the window”
February 16, 2010 at 3:02 pm |
Today if somebody tells an academic that ghosts don´t exist you usually get the familiar ´hahaha you must be joking´reply.
February 16, 2010 at 3:05 pm |
*Cough PHOTOSHOP *Cough
February 16, 2010 at 3:37 pm |
solve, ok. ghosts = fake. that´s it!
all ghosts = fake!!
February 16, 2010 at 4:36 pm |
i say, its some kinda ghostly thingy hanging in the back ground. pretty spooky though.
February 16, 2010 at 4:40 pm |
You can actually see that the ghost image was posted on TOP of the real photo. Changing the colour of the tree branch and the grill of the window. Meaning that it was not behind the tree or in the house. But what do I know. Maybe that’s how ghosts are.
February 16, 2010 at 4:54 pm |
My first impression is that its a cartoonish fake.
February 16, 2010 at 5:07 pm |
Yes, it’s a fake of a famous fake.
February 16, 2010 at 5:12 pm |
Not only is the ghost a fake… I’m not even sure the guy in front is real! (j/k).
February 16, 2010 at 5:13 pm |
Why does it have to be a ghost? just because it’s spooky?
February 16, 2010 at 5:50 pm |
i watch ghost shows all the time and i am 100% sure that is fack.you thought you could trick me:)
February 16, 2010 at 6:24 pm |
photoshop, simple layer blending…they should have at least erased the bits of the ghost that are supposed to be behind the tree :/
February 16, 2010 at 6:28 pm |
It doesn’t even look particularly like a face to me, the details are just jpeg compression artefacts surely? No further explanation required..?
February 17, 2010 at 7:48 pm
I would go with jpeg compression as well. If you zoom in as far as your browser allows on the full size pic (or around 500% in a photo editor) it is obvious it is very heavily compressed – the 8×8 pixel blocks should not be visible or only just in a well-compressed image. Even the ‘detail’ around the tree next to it or any random part of the image seems to be mostly random noise.
No photoshop needed.
February 16, 2010 at 6:39 pm |
Looks like the guy photoshopped what’s in his pants, too!
February 16, 2010 at 6:41 pm |
Hm. So there’s the “photoshop” group and the “it’s just curtains” group. I suggest a compromise: it is a photoshopping, but they just photoshopped in some curtains, not a ghost.
February 16, 2010 at 7:45 pm |
Ah! Faça-me um favor…
February 16, 2010 at 8:51 pm |
That ghost looks similar to Sammy Davis Jr imo
February 16, 2010 at 9:07 pm |
Is it a real ghost ? No i don’t think so…Cause Ghosts don’t exist,real ?
February 16, 2010 at 9:44 pm |
I vote real ghost! What’s more is that it’s the ghost of Mrs. Munster on vacation. G13 Media: The guy in the foreground is not the ghost of Sammy Davis Jr. That’s his long lost bastard son.
February 17, 2010 at 12:14 am |
It is amazing what Photo Shop can do these days!
February 17, 2010 at 12:15 am |
ive seen the ghost before, on a different picture…
but all the same, it’s still spooky… 
February 17, 2010 at 12:21 am |
no. no ghost, but I do believe in paranormal activity. Not in the creepy sense, just in the sense that there are ghosts around us, but we will never be able to see them.
February 17, 2010 at 12:39 am |
I take that back about Mrs. Munster. It looks like Octomom to me.
February 17, 2010 at 1:14 am |
Why a man is taken photo like that? A house been left alone and a ghost as if she came from the series of Ring. I think ones want to frighten others. If in a place assumption is supported by traditional imaginations, human intervention is inevitable there. Conversely we say that a ghost image must be perceivable by human mind; so ghosts remind of each others, they must be uniformly frightening image. Yet I can not be persuaded by this.
If a ghost must appear like a “ghost” and we must perceive it with this image by our limited senses; so both of are bound with our limits; we must not fear because of our compelled condition.
February 17, 2010 at 9:57 am |
Ever notice how “ghosts” knows what a camera is, and when the picture is being taken to look directly at it and have a wierd creepy smile on their faces.
February 17, 2010 at 11:08 am |
Like others,I have seen this ‘ghost’ on other pictures..lol. Very badly done.
February 17, 2010 at 8:03 pm |
You people NEVER read the comments before posting your own? It’s solved. Google “Ghost of the Sundarbans”. Case closed.
February 17, 2010 at 10:14 pm |
http://regex.info/exif.cgi?dummy=on&url=http://go2.wordpress.com/%3Fid%3D725X1342%26site%3Drichardwiseman.wordpress.com%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Frichardwiseman.files.wordpress.com%252F2010%252F02%252Fsri-lanka.jpg
Note the exifdata on this: classical ps work
February 18, 2010 at 12:08 am |
[...] Can you solve this ghost photo? I was recently sent an alleged ghost photo, with the following message…. “Hello my name is xx, I recently [...] [...]
February 18, 2010 at 11:31 am |
It’s Saint MJ, obvious!
February 18, 2010 at 12:11 pm |
Thanks for scaring me at 4 in the morning lol
I’m pretty sure this is either shopped or a good use of cutains
February 18, 2010 at 3:22 pm |
Theres Haunted House in my neigborhood, it has this strange man, blond hat,red tie,white shirt, blond jacket,brown pants,black belt,midnigt shadow,scare and dark glasses. And he is undentified Ghost Like Object. I’ll do some research!
February 19, 2010 at 1:14 pm |
You must be good with photo shop or similar because this ghost is famouse on the internet and appears on another photo.
February 19, 2010 at 6:24 pm |
FAKE
February 19, 2010 at 11:55 pm |
The window has some structures ahead of the ghost which change colour? that was a clear flaw that depicts clear pixel manipulation. Photoshoped!
February 20, 2010 at 5:12 am |
OMG – That is my Aunt Millie!!!
February 20, 2010 at 5:13 am |
What is this, Disney Lands’ Haunted House in Sri Lanka?
February 20, 2010 at 5:14 am |
Quick! Someone tell that man to RUNNNNNNNN!
February 20, 2010 at 11:52 pm |
@incog man lol
February 21, 2010 at 3:18 am |
It is obviously added on top of the original, as the branch vines hanging in front of the window are made lighter by the posted image where it has color, otherwise the vines/branches in front of the image would be unaffected by it.
February 21, 2010 at 5:12 pm |
Even a person willing to believe in ghosts – if only there were something convincing – has to say:
“Haaaaaaahahahahahahahaha!”
February 22, 2010 at 12:30 am |
Why are ghosts always sneaking into pictures? If they want to be seen why don’t they just come out in broad daylight, or just stand right next to this guy and take a proper picture? Are they camera shy or something?
February 22, 2010 at 8:12 pm |
I did a blog post a few years ago of photos we had taken at a party, that had weird visuals on them. see it here http://egodeity.blogspot.com/2006/04/ghosts-proof-is-out-there.html
I can honestly say I didn’t shop them, or manipulated any of them, but they are quite unsettling – even for someone who doesn’t believe in ghosts.
February 24, 2010 at 5:44 pm |
hi you are so cool and thats are sceay pictures ??????
February 24, 2010 at 5:47 pm |
i like your pictures there are so not cool just kinding pCe out
?//?//////
March 3, 2010 at 2:59 pm |
I don’t get the point of these ghost pictures. It’s obviously not a ghost since there is no such thing. It would be mildly interesting to speculate about what’s going on if someone could then tell us the real answer. But what’s the point of speculating randomly when we’ll never know what the answer is?
For what it’s worth, since it’s been photoshopped, it seems likely that it’s just a fake. Boring…
March 8, 2010 at 8:22 am |
OMG
IS THAT REAL OR AM I SEEING THINGS
March 10, 2010 at 6:40 am |
Amateur error: Download photo and view EXIF data – the photo was created in Adobe Photoshop 7.0 They didn’t bother to change the data to even make it appear that it came from a digital camera.
Even if they did, it’s still ridiculous
March 25, 2010 at 1:17 pm |
that is a indian ghost idiots that is my photo
March 27, 2010 at 1:51 pm |
i dont think tht the ghost is real coz they dont appear in bodiely manner…….
March 28, 2010 at 5:15 am |
Download the original file and see the properties of the Jpg file.
Properties–>Summery(tab)
it says
Creation Software–>Adobe Photoshop 7.0
April 3, 2010 at 9:49 am |
damn hoax!!!
April 19, 2010 at 8:01 am |
huh huh huh…. hilarious….. I dnt know why Sri Lankans are so dumb…. this is very pathetic….. and…. really fucked up….
April 20, 2010 at 8:43 am |
hoax. and idea behind is create blogs like these and get more click on them.
April 20, 2010 at 11:02 am |
Hey sri lankans are not dumb…
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March 18, 2011 at 8:48 am |
We can prove there are unknown thing happen around us.
March 31, 2011 at 3:58 am |
closed up photo must be not clear. but your closed photo is full clear.
it’s say that fake.thanks for your graphics.
November 1, 2011 at 1:11 pm |
it’s real joks
November 1, 2011 at 1:12 pm |
it’s real jokes
December 16, 2011 at 8:55 am |
buy beds in manchester…
[...]Can you solve this ghost photo? « Richard Wiseman[...]…
December 30, 2011 at 12:03 am |
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[...]Can you solve this ghost photo? « Richard Wiseman[...]…
February 24, 2012 at 9:08 am |
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[...]Can you solve this ghost photo? « Richard Wiseman[...]…