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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

So I'm not all that on 'woo' but this picture that a friend took - well AIBU to be a bit shocked?

104 replies

FarFromAnyRoad · 30/05/2015 22:02

Taken at Norwood catacombs today but a friend who is the very antithesis of anything woo - as am I, mostly. I mean - I can see a person shaped shape - but she insists there was nobody there and I do believe her. What do you think?

So I'm not all that on 'woo' but this picture that a friend took - well AIBU to be a bit shocked?
OP posts:
iHAVEtogetoutofhere · 31/05/2015 15:34

Hang on, the youtube Brazilian Lift clip has disappeared from my page....
Aaargh... .(runs screaming....).

I grew up in a Victorian house.
The attic (prior to parents converting it) was reached via stairs with a door at the bottom and no one went up there.

It was the winter of power cuts so I was around 4 and we went to bed by candle light (also as parents stony broke and meter often 'ran out').

One night, big brother decided to burst out of the attic stairs door covered in a white sheet yelling and screaming.

They had to get the Doctor out to sedate me.

He got a real telling off but I am still scared of the dark Blush

Original poster
FarFromAnyRoad · 31/05/2015 16:45

I see what you mean Grumpy - and I STILL say I can see through that 'shape' - I refuse to call it a ghost! - someone upthread implied I was a stark raving mentalist Grin but I can see through it!

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 31/05/2015 17:28

You can't see the grill through the person.

The shadow is clearly that of the person. You can't make any kind of judgement where the shadow should be as there is no way of knowing where the lights are really when it's a bad quality 2D picture and you can't see the actual light source in the picture.

betseyfly · 31/05/2015 17:29

It might be my screen, but I can see bog all. BTW why would your friend be photographing an empty doorway? Is it a doorway?

SoupDragon · 31/05/2015 17:30

You can't see the actual light source, only where it is reflected off the wall.

Catsize · 31/05/2015 23:21

I took a picture of my baby daughter having a bath in front of a fire on holiday last week. The lighting was low and you could see straight through her. Entire rim of the bath etc. Very weird. But I am pretty sure my daughter isn't a ghost.

Original poster
FarFromAnyRoad · 31/05/2015 23:25

BTW why would your friend be photographing an empty doorway? Is it a doorway?

I have explained this up thread but in case you've not seen or can't be arsed to look - and I'd not blame you for that!! - she is somewhat given to taking a shitload of photos of just about everything. I know other people who do this in the (sometimes vain) hope that in amongst them all will be a gem!

OP posts:
Original poster
FarFromAnyRoad · 31/05/2015 23:26

Bloody bollocky BOLD fail [Angry

OP posts:
Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost · 31/05/2015 23:30

Perhaps he's escaped from my lighthouse Grin

Pedestriana · 31/05/2015 23:48

Someone took a photo at Hampton Court recently which purported to show a ghost. When the picture was examined it transpired that someone had taken a panoramic shot, and whilst doing so, someone else had walked past. The person walking past was moving faster than the shutter speed could 'freeze' their image, and so they were a semi-transparent blur.
This pic seems similar. Someone walked in/out of shot as your friend was taking the photo. You can see through them because the camera was capturing the entire image of the wall/door, at a slower speed because of the lower lighting. The person was moving faster than that speed, and so appeared transparent.
I've been in a photo where we deliberately did this to try to spook someone who believed a place was haunted, and we were showing him 'proof'. Unfortunately my footwear was very recognisable, and I moved my feet slower than my body, so we were rumbled as ghost imposters.

bruffin · 01/06/2015 07:33

Farfromtheroad
Look on my profile you can see through my ds in his photos. He took them himself and its due to long exposure. In his case it was very long exposure and he ran in and out of the picture.

bruffin · 01/06/2015 07:51

Why wouldnt you take a photo of a doorway, if your interested in the architecture of the place Confused

SoupDragon · 01/06/2015 08:03

It's not that odd to take a photo. Google Norwood Catacombs and you'll see photos that are taken with better equipment so you can see what the architecture is. If you have made the effort to go on a special tour of somewhere, is it really so usual to take photos?

Original poster
FarFromAnyRoad · 01/06/2015 09:07

Ah I see bruffin - I see - So I'm not the stark raving loonballs - I can see through it! Grin
I agree - I take pictures of the most unlikely things - bits of buildings, benches, pavements - there's always some interesting detail in pretty much everything so I really don't think the subject matter is weird.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 01/06/2015 09:37

I think this is the same door with better lighting

So I'm not all that on 'woo' but this picture that a friend took - well AIBU to be a bit shocked?
Original poster
FarFromAnyRoad · 01/06/2015 09:39

It is Soup - and if I'd been there I would have photographed that - it's rather beautiful actually. Wish I lived nearer because that's one tour I'd love to do.

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JoffreyBaratheonFirstofHisName · 01/06/2015 10:27

First thought? Pareidolia?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

It's a cracking shot, though. I'm one of nature's sceptics, too but then have had several 'paranormal' experiences - including seeing a full apparition along with another person who saw it too - which sort of challenged my natural scepticism! So I try to keep an open mind.

I do get why she'd take that shot. My son's a keen photographer and he might take 100 shots randomly to get one usable one, or just be recording it for himself as he ambles along - esp in a new, interesting place.

Original poster
FarFromAnyRoad · 01/06/2015 11:09

That's an interesting concept Joffrey - I've kind of always reserved a special place in my judgement slot for people who see Jesus in a piece of toast to be honest but who's to say there are not greater forces at work!
I've never really had an experience. I did work in a supposedly VERY haunted place once where almost all the staff had tales to tell - I never saw anything but there were places I wouldn't go alone or after dark just in case! Wussy or what? Grin

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SoupDragon · 01/06/2015 11:17

I do live close and am annoyed that I didn't hear of them until the day after one of the tours!

Although all those coffins might freak me out a little...

Pipistrella · 01/06/2015 11:48

I had a thread on here once when Jesus appeared in the artex on my ceiling. I'm totally normal.

SoupDragon · 01/06/2015 13:08

I had Jesus appear in a Cabbage Van.

JamNan · 01/06/2015 13:32

Sorry to spoil the 'woo' but if you look closely at the pic Soup posted you will see a balustrade on the left of the step. I think the ghostie is actually the finial on the end of the handrail which was in shot but blurred because it was too close to the camera.

bruffin · 01/06/2015 13:53

Jamnam
There isnt a finial on the handrail, but it is a real person walking past not a ghost.

JamNan · 01/06/2015 14:01

Oh I just enlarged the pic and looked again. No finial Blush

CornChips · 01/06/2015 14:43

Soup were you the poster with the Jesus in the cabbage van really? That is now my favourite expletive 'Jesus in a Cabbage Van!' (Instead of Christ on a bike).