• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Ghost in the Reflection

TheRiddler

TheRiddler

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
May 23, 2017
Messages
14
This is my first real post on this site. I've always been into the paranormal world; at a young age I experienced a full body apparition at an old farm house of my uncles and since then always been drawn to the paranormal.

I've been on several ghost hunts and took a paranormal research and parapsychology study classes in college.

Now, this story starts with my sister asking me to house/catsit for them while away on vacation. I was on my way to their place around 11:30pm that night, Waiting for a bus and talking to a friend on the phone.

What I saw, if you look at the attached picture was a reflection only seen on the glass door frame, behind the bus shelter of someone walking right to left.. it was clear and right in front of my eyes yet there was clearly nobody walking that way on the street to cause the reflection. It couldn't have been inside cause it looked lit up by the street lights. And there's no room to walk that way inside the building.

Funny part of it was the friend I was talking to was watching a spooky ghost show at the time and only mentioned she was watching it after I mentioned what I saw.

A few minutes after mentioning it and joking about the coincidence of it. I started to feel like it was attaching to me (started to feel that spiderweb sensation on my head and face) I immediately lit myself on fire (metaphysically) and went on with my night.

Finally got to my sisters place, fed and watered the cats and put on a spooky ghost show.

Fin
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1675.JPG
    IMG_1675.JPG
    390.2 KB · Views: 56
Last edited:
Hi and welcome to the board!

Sorry but I can't see it. In the doorway you say?
 
min_bannister said:
Hi and welcome to the board!

Sorry but I can't see it. In the doorway you say?
Click to expand...

Yes, thats where I saw it. I snapped this picture right after. It was only there for a second to walk past the door frame.
 
TheRiddler said:
Yes, thats where I saw it. I snapped this picture right after. It was only there for a second to walk past the door frame.
Click to expand...
Oh I see, you took the photo after you saw the ghost! I was looking for a ghost in the photo.

Did you see any detail on the figure at all or was it just an impression?
 
What's the (precise) location of this scene?
 
So is that your reflection we can see in the bus shelter?

Why were you wearing a gas mask?

:eek:
 
min_bannister said:
Oh I see, you took the photo after you saw the ghost! I was looking for a ghost in the photo.

Did you see any detail on the figure at all or was it just an impression?
Click to expand...

It did look very clear, which is why it caught my attention so vividly. Looked like it was male, short buzzed brown hair, white or light brown t shirt with dark pants.
 
Also, zoomed in I noticed over to the left of the bus shelter by the ground is a misty form.. Anyone else see that too? That could be the apparition I saw. I did snap this pic right after I saw it.
 
TheRiddler said:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Intersection of King St E and Rosedale. Exact:
43.231677, -79.808291
Click to expand...

Thanks! I've now located the scene:

Holy Cross Croatian Parish Hall
1875 King St E
Hamilton

You can view it on Google Street View at:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...6535462c648102!8m2!3d43.2318656!4d-79.8082428

I've grabbed and excerpted a couple of photos to illustrate the scene from different angles.

ParishHall-1.jpg


ParishHall-2.jpg


You'll notice the door enters into a small foyer with a glass side wall as well as the glass door. You'll also notice the open parking lot beside the building. (It was my impression of open space to the side that motivated me to go photo-hunting.)

My first guess would be that the phantom figure you saw was in effect 'rear-projected' (via a bank-shot reflection or directly) into / onto the glass doors from behind, coming in from an angle (relative to your line of sight).

Double-layered exterior glass (and even single-layer thick glass) can give this effect, which is usually not seen except in a low light environment with a relatively stronger light source on the illuminated object(s). In the double layer scenario, I think it results from internal reflection between the layers. In the thick single layer scenario I imagine it's more likely to be a refraction effect.

One possibility is an image from out in the parking lot. Another possibility would be a figure from inside the building (just off the visible foyer). It appears there's a stairwell, and perhaps a corridor, immediately off the foyer.

The rear projection type scenario would explain why the phantom figure's progress seemed to be cropped or contained within the doors alone.

Anyway ... That's my guess ...
 
EnolaGaia said:
My first guess would be that the phantom figure you saw was in effect 'rear-projected' (via a bank-shot reflection or directly) into / onto the glass doors from behind, coming in from an angle (relative to your line of sight).

Double-layered exterior glass (and even single-layer thick glass) can give this effect, which is usually not seen except in a low light environment with a relatively stronger light source on the illuminated object(s). In the double layer scenario, I think it results from internal reflection between the layers. In the thick single layer scenario I imagine it's more likely to be a refraction effect.
Click to expand...
Sort of like a Pepper's ghost?
 
min_bannister said:
Sort of like a Pepper's ghost?
Click to expand...

Wow! Blast from the past ... I haven't though of a Pepper's Ghost arrangement since the last time I was involved in assessing techniques for high-resolution display of multi-layered imagery and data (1990's).

For the record: A good box 'n' mirrors setup still beats the hell out of the best digital screens for impressive image quality in person, though it's unavoidably cumbersome and eats up a lot of space.

Anyway ...

For those of you scratching your heads at home:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper's_ghost

'Sort of' - yes, but not identical. A Pepper's ghost illusion combines a 'front-projected' (reflected off the front / viewer's side) image blended with a 'straight behind' (the displaying surface) image.

There's still a chance the phantom figure at issue here was a frontal reflection (off the exterior surface of the doors), but I've started out under the assumption TheRiddler would have (or should have ... ) mentioned any possible image sources from his side of the street (off to either side or behind him).

In any case, if you go to Google Street View and pan around you'll see there aren't many options for someone to have been in those relative locations without his noticing them.

The fact the phantom image was cropped / contained within the door frame could work with both a rear and a frontal source.

The effect I'm postulating would be along the lines of a Pepper's Ghost with the glass at the same relative angle to the viewer (45 degrees), but reverse-mounted (on the sides) so that the secondary image is (figuratively) rear-projected rather than front-projected.

I led off with the rear-projected version because that's the one that would best explain why the figure wasn't readily visible outside the door frame (because the image was coming from an angle to the rear and a position remote or obscured from TheRiddler's viewing position, and the interior off the foyer and the parking lot area provided two straightforward candidates for the source's obscured location).
 
EnolaGaia said:
Wow! Blast from the past ... I haven't though of a Pepper's Ghost arrangement since the last time I was involved in assessing techniques for high-resolution display of multi-layered imagery and data (1990's).

For the record: A good box 'n' mirrors setup still beats the hell out of the best digital screens for impressive image quality in person, though it's unavoidably cumbersome and eats up a lot of space.

Anyway ...

For those of you scratching your heads at home:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper's_ghost

'Sort of' - yes, but not identical. A Pepper's ghost illusion combines a 'front-projected' (reflected off the front / viewer's side) image blended with a 'straight behind' (the displaying surface) image.

There's still a chance the phantom figure at issue here was a frontal reflection (off the exterior surface of the doors), but I've started out under the assumption TheRiddler would have (or should have ... ) mentioned any possible image sources from his side of the street (off to either side or behind him).

In any case, if you go to Google Street View and pan around you'll see there aren't many options for someone to have been in those relative locations without his noticing them.

The fact the phantom image was cropped / contained within the door frame could work with both a rear and a frontal source.

The effect I'm postulating would be along the lines of a Pepper's Ghost with the glass at the same relative angle to the viewer (45 degrees), but reverse-mounted (on the sides) so that the secondary image is (figuratively) rear-projected rather than front-projected.

I led off with the rear-projected version because that's the one that would best explain why the figure wasn't readily visible outside the door frame (because the image was coming from an angle to the rear and a position remote or obscured from TheRiddler's viewing position, and the interior off the foyer and the parking lot area provided two straightforward candidates for the source's obscured location).
Click to expand...

Having taken the paranormal research classes I enjoy seeing it from all sides, and definitely value the input. I just want to add that what I saw did seem odd and the movement was rather ethereal. The image even though being clear enough to distinguish was also strangely vague. The silence of it, the randomness of the event.

The light on the subject was as if it was walking right down the sidewalk in front of the doors. The shape of the apparition was full sized, again as if it was walking right in front of the door. I feel if it was a reflected image from elsewhere, especially if it came from the parking lot: 1. I wouldve seen the subject and 2. it wouldnt have looked as large as it did.
 
Last edited:
Something else I've been meaning to ask ...

Did you take the photo you posted from exactly the same spot from which you saw the image?

I'm wondering because:

(a) It's not clear whether you were standing within the bus stop shelter at the moment of the sighting, and
(b) as far as I can tell the bus stop shelters on each side of the street there aren't directly across from each other.
 
EnolaGaia said:
Something else I've been meaning to ask ...

Did you take the photo you posted from exactly the same spot from which you saw the image?

I'm wondering because:

(a) It's not clear whether you were standing within the bus stop shelter at the moment of the sighting, and
(b) as far as I can tell the bus stop shelters on each side of the street there aren't directly across from each other.
Click to expand...

Hey, Yes the picture was taken across the street from the exact spot I saw it, I was actually leaning on the outside of the opposite shelter in the image, so I was outside with no glass in front of me while looking at the doors.

For the alignment of the shelters, no I wouldnt say they were directly opposite eachother. The one I was at mightve been futher from the intersection by a couple feet than the ghostly one.

The picture you're looking at was zoomed in from the original to get a closer look at the doors. I can't post the original, it's on my phone and says file is too large.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the clarification ... I just wanted to make sure the posted photo was an accurate representation of the observation vantage point, and neither glassed-in shelter was intervening in your sight line at the moment you saw the image.

The :evil: is in the details.
 
not the strangest thing to happen in hammertown, but interesting nonetheless ... of all accounts of ghost sightings, those observed in mirrors or through glass as reflections with no apparent source i find the most convincing, esp. after having one myself in a server room of all places, in the 90s
 
henry said:
not the strangest thing to happen in hammertown, but interesting nonetheless ... of all accounts of ghost sightings, those observed in mirrors or through glass as reflections with no apparent source i find the most convincing, esp. after having one myself in a server room of all places, in the 90s
Click to expand...

I had one this last winter.
 
henry said:
not the strangest thing to happen in hammertown, but interesting nonetheless ... of all accounts of ghost sightings, those observed in mirrors or through glass as reflections with no apparent source i find the most convincing, esp. after having one myself in a server room of all places, in the 90s
Click to expand...

Hamilton seems to be very active for paranormal activity. I see strange shapes moving around at night often and lights in the sky a lot. Actually, I got a video of a strange fast moving red light in the sky Friday night.
 
I looked out the study window late last night and for a moment I thought I saw my father (who killed himself a decade back). Then I realised it was my own reflection, but my heart leapt.
 
Coal said:
I looked out the study window late last night and for a moment I thought I saw my father (who killed himself a decade back). Then I realised it was my own reflection, but my heart leapt.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that about your father, Coal.
 
TheRiddler said:
Hamilton seems to be very active for paranormal activity.
Click to expand...
i lived in hammertown for several months a few years back, at the tail end of a very crazy set of circumstances ... whatever my feelings about canada as a whole, ontario, or toronto, i freakin loved the hammer

very strange topography, the escarpment and all ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top