Posted on 01/24/2008 5:05:05 PM PST by BGHater
At first glance, it seems to be an ordinary snap of a group of young people.
But look more carefully and there appears to be an extraordinary, ghostly presence among them.
Peeping out between the knees of two of the girls is the face of a child.
Ghostly: A ghoulish child stares back as a little girl cries in Matthew Summers' photo
The eerie image - clear enough to show a pair of eyes, a nose, a mouth and hair - was captured by 17-year-old Matthew Summers on his mobile phone as he and his friends were preparing to go out.
"I zoomed in to my sister's mate's little sister who was crying and I saw a face,"
Matthew said. "You can see all the facial expressions and everything.
Mysterious: The floating face can can clearly be seen at knee height between two girls
"Usually when you see pictures like that it's a blur but this one is really weird.
"I was really shocked because I don't believe in that stuff."
Matthew took the picture in his sister's friend's front room in Billingham, Teesside.
"I've sent it to my girlfriend and she thinks it's a bit weird," he added.
Haunted: Matthew Summers took the mysterious photo on his camera phone
His photo joins a long line of apparently paranormal snaps. The most memorable in recent times was a cloaked figure photographed standing in a doorway at Hampton Court Palace in 2003.
However, Ciaran O'Keeffe, a parapsychologist on Living TV's Most Haunted show, has a more down-to-earth explanation for the "child" in Matthew's photograph.
Dr O'Keeffe said: "As human beings we're very good at finding a pattern in randomness and related to that we're good at finding faces in randomness. The term for this is pareidolia.
"First it was ink blots, then things like clouds in the sky and now mobile phone pictures.
"There is no ghost in this picture, just the coincidental effect of pixelation and darkness and light which combine together."
The “child” has a mustache.
Rod Serling was a nice touch.
A ghost is hardily the creepiest thing about that picture.
LOL! Thanks! Did you out Harry Reid on one of the girls’ face? Who is on the little kid’s face crying in the corner?
This photo was taken in the summer of 2004. The girl on the left is my friend Victoria (not sure who is on the right.) If you look over Victoria's shoulder, there is a hand making a mocking "V" over her....Her next door neighbor was killed in a car accident 2 months prior to photo and was always joking around. Photo taken with a digital camera...background is basically a 20 foot drop behind the deck. We think she was "picked" because she would have immediately sent it to me & I'm into all this ooky-spooky stuff. Victoria DOES NOT believe in ghosts.
Victoria sent the photo to the Montel Williams Show to have Sylvia Browne look at it...Victoria was asked to be a guest, but they had these awful arrangements she had to abide by and just couldn't (she's a tax accountant, they scheduled her for the end of march and she had to take a train and possibly stay for over a week due to Sylvia's schedule...Vic finally said 'screw it')
Not saying I buy this stuff.
Yes that's Harry and the kid is Islamic Rage Boy.
LOL! Lucky for my I wasn’t drinking anything or you’d owe me a new keyboard.
LOL... oh my! The Ghost of Popeye!
LOL!
ping
I do believe in ghosts, but not in ghosts of the Halloween type. Ghosts are disembodied spirits, and as such are non-physical, existing outside of space and time. Ghosts are Scriptural as well: Our Lord spoke of ghosts (a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have, Luke 24:39) and of course there is the well-known Witch of Endor incident (1 Samuel 28) during which King Saul hires a medium to conjure the ghost of the prophet Samuel. (It all ends badly for Saul, of course. Scripture warns us against attempting to conjure spiritual beings for our own purposes.)
I have no idea if the image in this picture is that of a real ghost, and it doesn't matter. The worst a ghost can do is frighten; a disembodied spirit cannot interact physically with the living in any way. If there is any lesson to be learned from ghost stories, it is that life does not end at physical death; we have an eternal afterlife awaiting us all, and we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling now, today, while we are on this earth.
For those interested, the Order of the Legion of Saint Michael (may he defend us in battle!) has an interesting web page dealing with the subject of ghosts from a Catholic perspective.
I don’t understand why people have such a hard time simply saying it’s a ghost. The child appears drawn to the young people and aware.
I don’t believe in ghosts... But, truthfully, the reason I don’t believe in them is because I don’t WANT to believe in them. There are few things scarier, conceptually, than some unseen presence hanging out, maybe watching, maybe right next to you when you’re sleeping... ugh! There are no ghosts!
The little girl is crying because the older kids have eaten all of her candy.
There is no need to fear. Ghosts cannot harm you. And even if they could, each of us (even non-Christians!) is accompanied by a guardian angel who defends us constantly from all spiritual danger. Any time you feel uneasy, just remember that the same powers that ejected Satan from Heaven stand guard over your soul.
The little girl has a mustache!
Go to #57 I must be a ghost.
FReepers have lost it. Photos combine, it happens.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.