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Ghost Or FOAF?

Tunn11

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Nov 23, 2005
Messages
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Location
Under the highest tree top in Kent
What do you think?

Something the other day made me recall a story told to my mother by a work colleague. This must have been forty or more years ago. I’ve not heard it anywhere else but it has all the trappings of a FOAF story. It goes like this:

A couple lost their only daughter in a tragic accident. After her funeral they decided to have a holiday – West Country I think, and took a camera with them. On their return they had the photos developed. In each photo they could see the image of their daughter. Not as a person or ephemeral image but in the landscape as her profile in a cloud, her face in the leaves of a tree or the sun on a rock, etc. This was too much for them and they destroyed camera, negatives and photos.

An undated story about unidentified people with no evidence sounds like a FOAF. Has anyone else heard it? If it isn’t then the obvious explanation is pareidolia together with their grief. I also found the alleged destruction of the photos a bit odd. I would have thought most people in those circumstances would find them comforting.

I put this in ghosts but if it is a FOAF perhaps it could be moved?
 
I've known grieving people who go through an extended period during which they see (or claim to see) things strongly reflective of the deceased (face; movements; behaviors; etc.) all around them and all the time. It can be quite creepy if / when such folks openly and repeatedly discuss such incidents - especially if they point out the similarity / simulacrum in real time.
 
What do you think?

Something the other day made me recall a story told to my mother by a work colleague. This must have been forty or more years ago. I’ve not heard it anywhere else but it has all the trappings of a FOAF story. It goes like this:

A couple lost their only daughter in a tragic accident. After her funeral they decided to have a holiday – West Country I think, and took a camera with them. On their return they had the photos developed. In each photo they could see the image of their daughter. Not as a person or ephemeral image but in the landscape as her profile in a cloud, her face in the leaves of a tree or the sun on a rock, etc. This was too much for them and they destroyed camera, negatives and photos.

An undated story about unidentified people with no evidence sounds like a FOAF. Has anyone else heard it? If it isn’t then the obvious explanation is pareidolia together with their grief. I also found the alleged destruction of the photos a bit odd. I would have thought most people in those circumstances would find them comforting.

I put this in ghosts but if it is a FOAF perhaps it could be moved?
It could be completely true and even explained by double exposure of film.
I've seen this firsthand - my Dad took some pictures of myself and my sister when we were very young and was surprised to find that a couple right at the end of the film clearly had images of an old lady in them. It was a mystery until my Dad had worked out that the film hadn't wound on correctly and the pictures had blended perfectly.
 
It could be completely true and even explained by double exposure of film.
I've seen this firsthand - my Dad took some pictures of myself and my sister when we were very young and was surprised to find that a couple right at the end of the film clearly had images of an old lady in them. It was a mystery until my Dad had worked out that the film hadn't wound on correctly and the pictures had blended perfectly.

Are you saying that you & your sister, when blended together as children, resembled an old woman? That's a bit weird in itself.
 
Are you saying that you & your sister, when blended together as children, resembled an old woman? That's a bit weird in itself.
Yes, here they are.

My_Wife_and_My_Mother-in-Law.jpg
 
Are you saying that you & your sister, when blended together as children, resembled an old woman? That's a bit weird in itself.
Uh, no. The old lady was a neighbour who'd been friendly and my Mum and Dad had photographed her on a separate occasion.
It was the end of the film and it didn't wind on correctly, so there was a double exposure.
AFAIK, this can't happen with digital cameras.
 
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