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Lack of fully formed human apparitions

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Iamroachford

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Mar 24, 2002
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I was thinking the other day that in a lot of the older cases of ghosts being photographed (say, pre 1975-80) there seemed to be a larger number of photo's that had definitive human type figures present.

Where as these days, orbs are the in thing. You cant help but be swamped with alledged ghostly presence as signified by the little balls of light.

My point is this, why the sudden drop off of human type ghosts and the rise of orb sightings?

Is it because orbs are 'easier' to capture on a digital medium (pardon the pun)? That is assuming that orbs are supernatural.

Or could it be because most of the older ghosts pictures were fakes and people cant be bothered going through the whole fake photo polava these days? I would have assumed that modern technology would have paved the way for more substantial ghost pictures.........???
 
roachford said:
Or could it be because most of the older ghosts pictures were fakes and people cant be bothered going through the whole fake photo polava these days? I would have assumed that modern technology would have paved the way for more substantial ghost pictures.........???
Click to expand...

Yeah, no pride in their work these day, people just can't be bothered...

I suspect it's because it's so easy to fake ghosts with something like Photoshop, everyone looks at a humanoid spectre picture and goes 'Huh, Photoshop.' So it really isn't worth the bother.

Orbs at least look like they might have have been captured spontaneously and not fudged up on a PC.
 
If I saw any ' apparition ' taken on camera I wouldn't believe it now, as you say, it's too easy to fake, unless, I took it myself, and knew there was nothing there at all. My favorites remain the Newby monk , and the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, for older pics. Orbs just do nothing for me at all :( where's the frission of fear you get from looking at an orb? :roll:
 
If you don't like orbs, you can always photograph a vortex (whatever that is) that they seem to favour on these ghost sites . . .

Carole
 
I agree with Lethe. Those waves of fear that some of the old photos used to elict seem to have slowed to an occasional drip of cynacism.
 
Yup, all the good old'uns have been debunked. :(

I believe that my home town, a hotbed of Spiritualism right up to the present day, was at one time famous for its cough 'spirit' photographers. :shock:

My camera goes everywhere with me and I've never caught any ghosts on it. :?
You'd think, with all that effort........ :roll:
 
Are there any of the "good old ones" that haven't been debunked?

And as for orbs, I think before people knew of the properties of digital shooting, they just didn't know about the way they really pick up light from other sources, creating the orb-effect. I think orbs are a passing thing....
 
I don't know, I know a lot of famous ones have, but there may be lesser known ones that haven't been tested, I'm sure there are.
I read of a case, in a recent-ish library book, of a variety of hauntings, about a man who had suddenly become frighteningly aggresive, allegedly a photo was taken of him at some party, and when it was developed showed a demon like creature on his shoulder. He was diagnosed with cancer not long after and died. ( It never said what sort, possibly this changed his behaiviour? ) Sadly NO photograph to go along with this story, and none in the whole book. But is such a photo exists, it should be looked at.
 
Actually I am still slightly spooked by old spirit photos. I know they look as if they are made out of old cheesecloth which has been shoved in a front-bottom for a couple of hours. But supposing there were spirits which wanted to look just like that! Or things made out of paper and folded or horrible winged things emerging out of heads . . .

. . . goes to lie down. :err:
 
I think that people are being lazy in their observations and interpretation of what may or may not be a ghost.

Theres the picture (apologies for not getting the name but someone will correct me I'm sure!!) of a very grand drawing room with light pouring in through the gloomy atmosphere. Chair in foreground with what appears to be ghost of dude sat in it. Apparently its the ghost of the geezer who used to own the house and his funeral was taking place when the pic was taken. Slightly corny take on it, but infinately better premise that small non-descript orb of light that could be any one of a dozen things.

Another thought, if so many images of spectres were captured on old photo film, surely the scope to film, either on video or digi, a real piece of frightening footage that has supernatural content is huge. Especially as more households these days have a video camera or alternative......
 
Oddly enough I was reading about this photograph in my second-hand copy of Arthur C Clarkes World of Strange Powers only this morning. It has this to say about the Combermere picture:

Miss Corbet was adamant that the plate had not been exposed before and she was equally sure that the figure was that of a gentleman and not of a servant...But Professor William Barrett, who together with a Mr Gordon Salt, investigated the case, thought differently: indeed he managed to produce an almost identical photograph. He wrote: "I believe that one of the servants came into the room, sat down in the chair, crossed his legs and then uncrossed them, looked down for a moment and then at the camera, saw that he was being taken, so got up and walked away, having been in the chair about 20-30 seconds. This will give the ghost of an apparently older man from a young man, with no legs, and a semi-transparent face"
Click to expand...

In the same chapter is another good old fashioned ghost picture taken by the Rev Kenneth Lord at Newby Church. The Reverend took a snapshot of the church altar which, when developed, revealed a ghostly figure which looks like a ghastly monk carrying a newspaper under his arm.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/gr ... yghost.jpg
 
Well we are back to some classic photos!

Has anyone every seen the seamen following the ship photo in any form other than that with the big arrows? That seems to have come from a publication, possibly a newspaper, though I have never seen a proper attribution.

Where did it first appear and what happened to the original negatives? :confused:
 
All the old spooky photos that I know of have been explained away. Newer 'ghost' photos are easier to fake so most peeps, including me, are probably inclined to be sceptical.

It's not about having a closed mind, or being lazy. It's just harder to fool peeps nowadays.

Remember that old saying - 'The camera never lies'?
Well, it does. ;)
 
Perhaps lazy is the wrong word, but to me it seems like in earlier days when all we really had to go on were the likes of The Unexplained mag and an occasional outing of Arthur C Clarkes Mysterious World, things used to hold a bit more creedence.

I guess its just because I was younger and more impressionable back then!! :?
 
Yup Roach, we all were, as individuals and collectively.
I wouldn't call myself just 'sceptical', but 'cautiously sceptical' might cover it.

If ghosts were easy to photograph they'd be on everyone's snaps all the time but they're not. All we have are fakes, anomalies and, um, orbs. :lol:

Last week one night I crept round my house in the dark taking photos, half-heartedly hoping to 'catch' something, and all I proved was that the cats and dogs sneak onto the beds when they think we're not looking. :(

But what if I'd snapped a ghost and posted the photo on here? I'd get, 'Haha, 'scarg's pulling our legs!' :lol:

In this day and age, ghost photos are passe.
 
So I wonder what evidence would most people accept as proof of ghost existence? Short of seeing one themselves that is??
 
I don't know if it was on a prog called ' the Worlds Scariest Ghosts ' or something, but they had film footage of anomalies, which were all explained away, when looked at by specialists. I would like to see some film footage that cant be, especially if it was on something everyday, appearing behind a newsreader possibly. I have seen some newish ones which did make me think :shock: There's one, and I have no idea of what it was, but it was supposedly in a house with an entity, which showed as a black looming shadow over a childs cot, or something, atmospheric! I expect the Society for Physcical Research has hundreds of them.
 
Yup Roach, that's precisely my point! :D
What level of evidence do we need now that photos, film, video etc are so easy to fake and debunk?

My Da had the original 'Flying Saucers Have Landed' books from the 60s, with photos of flying saucers which turned out to be..... car hubcaps flung in the air. :roll:

In his position, of having believed this 'evidence' only to feel a fool when it was exposed, I'd never believe a photo again.

As you say, seeing a ghost oneself might convince someone. But they'd have to allow for making a mistake, dreaming it, being hoaxed and so on. After all that, if they still believe they've seen a ghost, they are still at Square One in terms of convincing others.

At this point, we arrive at the Cottingley Fairies. ;)
 
""I have seen some newish ones which did make me think There's one, and I have no idea of what it was, but it was supposedly in a house with an entity, which showed as a black looming shadow over a childs cot, or something, atmospheric!""

I remember this one too. I remember it was attributed to a lamp on the bedside table saturating the video camera with light and that in turn caused the blob to appear. Or something like that anyway.

And the faries!!!!! you mean to say that they were faked??? ;) ;)
 
I think simply because they can't be believed anymore. Why orbs should be any more believed beats me.
 
Yup, orbs're rubbish even when they are feverishly buzzing Yvette. ;)

I recently read on here about a Tube security worker who saw a ghost on CCTV on a track, having sent another person to check who was hanging round a tunnel. The 'checker' couldn't see anything even when the 'ghost' was right beside him! :shock:
Wish I'd seen that.
 
A friend of mine worked as a magistrate at the local Sheriff's office. She saw a young man wearing jeans standing outside so-and-so's office door on the CCTV. It was only when she called to find out who the stranger was that she was told no one was there!
 
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