Tantallon Castle ghost photograph examined by 3 experts who could detect no trickery!
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Tantallon Castle
is in East Lothian
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Spooky!
Haunting Photo
Baffles
Ghost Busters
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SKY NEWS
March 27th, 2009
An eerie image of
a figure in period
costume has spooked
experts investigating
apparent photographic
evidence of ghosts.
The picture,
taken in May 2008,
appears to show a
man or woman in a ruff
peering out of a barred
.
No mannequins or costumed
guides are employed at the castle,
and three photographic experts
have confirmed that no digital
trickery was used on the photo.
Even confirmed ghost sceptic
Professor Richard Wiseman,
who led the study,
admitted being puzzled.
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“It is certainly very curious,”
he said.
“We ran it by three photographic
experts and they said it hadn’t
been Photoshopped at all.
“The figure appears to
be in period costume,
but we know 100% that
Tantallon Castle is not the sort
of place that has dummies
or costumed guides –
they just don’t go in
for that sort of thing.”
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Tantallon Castle,
a ruined fortress dating
back to the 14th Century,
stands on a remote rocky
headland near North Berwick
on the Scottish east coast.
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It was badly damaged in an
attack by Oliver Cromwell’s
forces in 1651.
Christopher Aitchison,
who took the photo, said:
“I was not aware of anyone,
or anything,
being present in my picture,
only noticing the anomaly
when I got home.
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“Staff have verified that there
were no sinister dummies in
period costume or historical
re-enactments going on that
day at the castle.
“I did not notice any nice old ladies
wearing ruffs walking around the stairs!
Some people have suggested its
just light reflecting on rocks and
one person suggested it may be
King James V of Scotland.”
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Psychologist Prof Wiseman,
who has made many studies
of the supernatural,
launched the investigation
a month ago.
Members of the public were
asked to submit ghostly images
for experts to analyse,
the best of which were posted
(link)
More than 250 pictures were received
from all over the world and more than
a quarter of a million people voted
for what they considered to be the
most convincing photos.
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“The Ghost in the Castle”
took first place,
winning 39% of the votes.
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Here are the runners up:
:: Ghost in the Woods –
Appears to show a strange
ghostly figure in the trees.
Sceptics say it is probably
a mixture of shadows,
leaves and branches.
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:: Ghost on the Street –
A strange shadowy figure
next to the couple in the picture.
Non-believers say blurring in the
image suggests a long exposure.
A person may have walked past
the photographer unnoticed.
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:: Ghost on the Beach –
A mysterious dark hooded
figure stands at the water’s edge.
Sceptics say the figure is an
illusion created by an indentation
in the rock face.
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:: Ghost in the Mirror –
A ghostly face in a
car’s wing mirror.
The photographer says no
one else was around at the
time but sceptics insist the
face could be a reflection
of a headrest,
someone standing nearby,
or the result of digital manipulation.
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Science Festival. (link)
Experts will discuss the
findings at Hauntings,
a one-day public festival event
examining the evidence for
ghosts on April 4.
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Ghosts In
The Machine
by Alice Wyllie
March 27th, 2009
THE SCOTSMAN
WHEN psychologist
Richard Wiseman launched
an online investigation into the
photographic evidence for
ghosts earlier this month,
he never expected such
an overwhelming response.
The project –
undertaken as part of the
Edinburgh International
Science Festival and profiled
exclusively in The Scotsman
on 10 March –
invited people to send in
ghostly photographs for
analysis and,
once they were put up online,
asked web users to vote as to
whether or not they believed
they were the real deal.
To date, the site has received 250
photographs and more than
250,000 votes.
While many of the images
can be easily discredited,
eve Wiseman is finding it
particularly tricky to disprove one –
the spooky face of a woman
at a window at Tantallion Castle
in East Lothian.
The image came out top
in the experiment,
with nearly 40 per cent of
online voters believing that
the photograph shows a
bona-fide ghost.
“The study has been
a huge success,”
says Wiseman.
“The sheer number of people
who’ve got involved shows just
how much interest there is
in ghosts.
We’ve been amazed to find that,
even when an image obviously
just shows the camera flash
reflecting against a surface,
around 10 per cent of people
still believe it’s a ghost.”
A high number of the supposedly
ghostly images can be given
a simple explanation.
What look like mysterious lights,
mists and orbs can, in reality,
be anything from a camera flash
reflecting off dust particles to
condensed human breath in
front of the lens.
However, The Tantallon Castle
image has even the logical
Wiseman stumped.
“It’s a tough one,”
he says.
“This experiment has been
a big success,
not only because we’ve
had so many responses,
but because we’ve come
across this one very curious
image that we simply can’t explain.“
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.The NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS UK GHOST
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I’m as open minded as the next person but the ‘Tantallion Castle Ghost’ is just a flat, cartoon caricature of a person’s face- it looks like the wicked witch in Disney’s Snow White, or even Cruella De Ville! The image has no depth- it just looks like a picture held up against the window.
Neil O'Gorman - March 28, 2009 at 3:19 pm |
It is obvouisly fake,anyone could have sneaked in wearing clothes teamed up with the photographer just so he could get famous…. TAKE THAT EXPERTS!!!! sorry for my bad spellling on my name im really annoyed by you thinking that thing is a ghost
caitlin(Sceptic paraphyscoligist) - March 28, 2009 at 4:52 pm |
[…] Tantallion Castle ghost photograph examined by 3 experts who could detect no trickery! . […]
Top Posts « WordPress.com - March 29, 2009 at 12:33 am |
I agree with Neil O’Gorman.
The ghost figure is flat and look like someone put a poster near windows .
It’s totally fake ghost photo !
p.s. I think I might have see the face in book cover ummm..
stan - March 29, 2009 at 10:54 am |
Yeah, I know, don’t be a killjoy, but really….come on. This is a ghost?
This photo is unremarkable. Notice that most of the “facial” features, the cheek bones, eyes, nose, and possibly the mouth, line up with the vertical and horizontal lines of the mesh. Hence its not an actual face. Moreover, the “face” looks too large in relation to the rest of it – to me it looks like a puppet more than a ghost. The rest of it is just botches. I can see that it looks like there’s a collar and, what -a tie? -a sash? And what are the other blotches supposed to be in this fashion analysis? Never-mind that it’s a poor-quality blurry closeup. I have a hard time believing that anyone would take this seriously. But of course, people can find faces in anything: http://tinyurl.com/c46hdq
David Raikow - March 29, 2009 at 1:14 pm |
A ghost with a face made of bricks? Awesome!
Qwerty - March 29, 2009 at 4:36 pm |
It doesn’t look like a ghost for me.
Your mind deceives your own mind.
Otakore Literantadodist - March 30, 2009 at 10:33 am |
I enjoy a good ghost story, but its disingenuous to suggest that Wiseman is “baffled” by the photo – he just has to be seen to keep an open mind while the experiment is ongoing. You can find more about the investigation here: http://www.richardwiseman.com/hauntings2/experiments4
That staircase is open to the public, so it’s not impossible that another tourist was descending the stairs. The image is not clear enough to prove that the outfit is “period costume”.
Dan North - March 30, 2009 at 10:58 am |
The face indeed reminds me of someone..
but its not a witch from a fairytale..
to me it looks like ANJELICA HUSTON!!!!!
lol
anon - September 10, 2009 at 2:00 pm |
Oh my gosh Anon,
you are right!
That is so funny!!!
Rash
rashmanly - September 10, 2009 at 9:48 pm |