Famous Ghosts in Photos - Just in time for Halloween

A woman named Mrs. Andrews was visiting the grave of her daughter Joyce, who died at 17. Andrews saw nothing unusual when she took this photo for Joyce’s gravemarker. 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 seem to be aware of Mrs. Andrews since he or she is looking straight at the camera.

According to Brad Steiger’s 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.

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 schoolchildren were killed – but their ghosts linger at the spot and will push idled cars across the tracks, even though the path is uphill. A strange transparent figure turned up in a recent photo.

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, took photos from across the street. One of the photos shows what looks like a small, partially transparent girl standing in the doorway. Neither O’Rahilly nor any of the other onlookers or firefighters recalled seeing a girl there. In 1677, historical records note that 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 other occasions.

Visiting the grave of her mother in 1959, Mrs. Mabel Chinnery took a photo of her husband waiting alone in the car. When the pictures were developed, they were surprised to see the figure in the backseat was her mother.

Terry Ike Clanton took this photo of his friend 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. There were startled when the saw a figure among the gravestones, just to the right of his friend, the image of what appears to be a thin man in a dark hat. He appears to be rising up out of the ground or kneeling.

Freddy Jackson: In back of the airman positioned in the top row, 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 suggestion that Jackson, unaware of his death, decided to show up for the group photo.

The Brown Lady by Captain Provand: This portrait of “The Brown Lady” ghost is arguably the most famous and well-regarded ghost photograph ever taken. The ghost is thought to be that of Lady Dorothy Townshend, a resident of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England in the early 1700s. It was rumored that before her marriage to Charles, Dorothy had been the mistress of Lord Wharton. Charles suspected her of infidelity. 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.

Denise Russell took this picture of her grandmother in 1997, and was shocked to see a picture of her grandfather behind her grandmother years after it was developed..

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 so clear. The shrouded face and the way it looking directly into the camera makes it look like it was a posed as 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.