Posted on 12/15/2004 8:18:49 PM PST by CurlyBill
I'm not one who has ever really believed in ghosts. I've always thought there was a logical explanation for everything.
I have a couple of good friends in Greenwood who have always claimed they have a ghost in their house. Since I have never had a firsthand experience with a ghost, I always shake my head, laugh and think, "Yeah, right."
But after last Saturday night, I'm beginning to rethink my views on ghosts.
It's more than a week later, and I'm still a little spooked by what I saw.
As I was standing by my friend, Melanie Riley, on the porch of the Confederate Memorial Building following the late-afternoon wedding of her sister, Michelle Cleveland, to Ronny Joyner, the freakiest thing happened.
Several of us were taking a break from the after-wedding cleanup, when Melanie saw a cute picture of her sister, Cindy, wearing the boot of her boyfriend, Trampas.
She said, "This is hysterical. I've got to have a picture of this."
Melanie snapped the picture, and then her jaw almost hit the ground when she viewed the image on screen.
It was evident something wasn't quite right when she said, "Oh my God. I've always heard you can catch apparitions on camera, but I've never had that happen before."
We all kind of looked at each other for a minute and let what she said soak in. Then we all wanted to see the picture.
Even on the digital camera's miniature screen, you could see a ghostly image.
Immediately the group on the porch started analyzing the situation. I'd say there were at least a half dozen people standing there at the time.
In the picture, the ghostly image started across Cindy and wound around behind Trampas.
It appeared that at least two ghosts, who I think look like Confederate soldiers, decided to join in the wedding fun.
But being the skeptic that I am, I told Melanie to take another shot just to make sure it wasn't something with the lighting. There was only one person with a cigarette, so it couldn't have put out that much smoke. Plus, I would have noticed it. An image like what I saw in the picture would have been hard to miss.
The second photo was as clear as a bell, so there goes any theory about it being smoke - and it was a cool, crisp winter night, with no fog or haze to speak of.
Talk about a hair-raising experience. I've never had a feeling like that in my life.
There were no ghostly sounds. Things didn't move by themselves. There was no evidence they were even there, except for the images caught by the camera.
Needless to say, that incident has been a big topic of discussion this week.
Melanie immediately went inside to show her mom and dad, Bo and Jean Cleveland, who were downstairs cleaning up with a couple of their friends. Then she got on the phone with the newlyweds to tell them about the apparitions. And her brother, Donnie, and his wife, Angela, were there as well.
We were all trying to figure out what was going on, and we couldn't wait to see the photo on a larger computer screen.
Melanie went home and downloaded the picture, and she called me a little later to tell me what she saw.
On Monday morning, I had her e-mail it to me at the Commonwealth, so I could get a better look.
I thought surely after the weekend I would think about this image in a more rational way.
But there was no getting past it. It would be easy to write it off as something else if I hadn't been standing there and seen it with my own two eyes.
It still appeared to be an image of two men who looked, oddly enough, like Confederate soldiers.
The first thing I decided to do was call Mary Ann Shaw, who has been the driving force in restoring the Confederate Memorial Building. She said she had never heard any ghost stories about the building. But the incident piqued her interest, and she came by Tuesday afternoon to see the picture of the ghosts.
Some of us who were there Saturday have been wondering if there was something significant about Dec. 4. What could have caused the images to appear on the camera?
I haven't found answers to these questions, and I may never know, but it will always keep me wondering.
As people at the newspaper saw the photo, I got mixed reviews. Some are just as caught up in the ghostly image as I am, and others aren't so sure.
One woman came by to see the picture and said it looked like a bunch of smoke to her.
Another friend has examined this picture to the extent that she thinks it is one ghost that was moving so fast it appears to be two. She can show you what she believes are the facial features, the hat and everything else.
Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, and I respect that.
No matter what other people have thought about the picture, it has been so much fun to talk about. It has given me a new perspective about ghosts. I've even gone to Web sites to see if what we saw compares to other sightings.
Oddly enough, the picture Melanie took looks creepier than anything I've seen on the Internet.
The theme song from the movie "Ghostbusters" also has been ringing in my ears since someone on staff said that was what the picture brought to his mind.
And the funniest thing is, it's amazing how many people have ghost stories to share. I've heard more of them in the past few days than I care to admit, and it's not even Halloween.
Ghost ping...
Ghost ping...
Thanks for the ping!
It looks like smoke to me. Is there glass or something else causing a reflection behind them?
Me too.... not sure what to make of it. Even if the smoke was dissipated, it might have been enough to create the effect we see here.
I once got a serious case of the willies on a tour of the Alamo, one of the rooms just spooked the hell out of me, I had to get out of there quickly. Did some reading, evidently people see and feel things there all the time...
Being a former owner fo a digital camera, it looks like she exhaled when she took the shot.
That smoke is the heat from her breath.
NOT a ghost/
She's wearing a "scoop neck" dress, and kicking her right foot in the air...
Or, maybe it's just smoke..
Thanks for the ping. I see the face of the devil in the fog right to the left of the guy. But maybe that says something about me.
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