Is there a ghost in my photo?

[Bob A]

Often referred to as "The Holy Grail of Paranormal Research" a photograph of a full bodied apparition is among the rarest and most sought after pieces of evidence there is. So, it is understandable why one would pour over their photos for hours zooming in looking for anything resembling a face. Unfortunately, this makes us vulnerable to a very well documented psychological phenomenon called pareidolia or matrixing. Matrixing is where your brain tries to make familiar patterns out of sights or sounds where none actually exist. Our brains are naturally wired to do this. For instance, we have all at one time or another seen the shapes of animals in the clouds.

When presented with photographic evidence of a haunting matrixing is usually the first thing to consider. Like clouds, faces have been seen in TVs, mirrors, windows, smoke, trees and shadows. Unfortunately these can usually be dismissed or explained away. The glass older windows and mirrors typically is not as smooth as modern glass, this can cause strange distortions in the light they reflect. Picture frames and television sets have much smoother glass and often times reflect images of people in the room or other objects. Smoke and mists are a common source of odd images and often look like what people imagine a ghost may look like.

In all of these cases it is important to try to recreate or analyze the photograph as best as possible. Before being swept away with excitement at the possibility of having caught a picture of a ghost do your best to explain it away. If possible go back to the location at the time of day the photo was taken and do some detective work, take careful notes of what may attribute to the picture. Could the glowing eyes in the window be lights from traffic passing by? Does the heated pool produce a mist at night when the temperature drops? Is there anything in the window that can be mistaken for a human figure? What can you see in that reflective surface? Answering these questions and more before hand will do a great deal to preserve your credibility.

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you have a photograph you would like us to look at post it below and we will be happy to weigh in on it.