Who Ya Gonna Call? Ghost Hunters & Hunting

Steven said:
Is it suspicious, or not, that the figure is apparently within such blindingly white light? Church interiors, even those with marvellous lighting via large windows, simply aren't like that.
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It wasn't a bright sunny day when we took that photo and I didn't see how something could have been lit up that brightly in that spot if it had been. Perhaps it was a developing fault instead of a genuine ghost capture?.
 
Swifty said:
It wasn't a bright sunny day when we took that photo and I didn't see how something could have been lit up that brightly in that spot if it had been. Perhaps it was a developing fault instead of a genuine ghost capture?.
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I think that the person is moving - perhaps trying to get out of shot, which is why the figure is so blurred and indistinguishable. The brightness seems to be coming from the big window - didn't the couple say that the day had been really hot? And that's why they chose to go into the cool of the church? You can see the sunlight reflecting off the back of the pew and also shining onto the floor - it is clearly absolutely streaming in. The contrast between the window and any darkness in the rest of the church, plus the figure moving, might account for the whiteness.

You might just not have been there at the right time of day, Swifty. Really, to recreate accurately it would need to be the same day of the year and the same weather conditions - to allow for angle of sunshine.
 
Wittingly or not, blurring or (apparent) transparency or movement really adds to the atmosphere of ghost-photographs and makes them even more memorable (Not saying that the photo is manipulated or faked, by the way.)
 
Steven said:
Wittingly or not, blurring or (apparent) transparency or movement really adds to the atmosphere of ghost-photographs and makes them even more memorable (Not saying that the photo is manipulated or faked, by the way.)
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Oh I'm pretty sure this photograph isn't faked. I think it's just one of those occasions where a photograph is taken and by the time it is processed (which, in those days of having to take the film in to Boots, and waiting until the entire film had been used up before even getting it that far), the photographer has forgotten the circumstances of the taking of the picture. The 'there was nobody else in the church when the picture was taken' just means 'I don't remember there being anyone else in the church when the photograph was taken.' And after a span of what could be months, trying to think back will be pointless.
 
Even at my church, which during Mass probably holds a maximum of about 100 people, there's always a tremendous variety of worshippers (young, elderly, white-skinned, dark-skinned and so on) and attire etc etc. Seeing as this isn't the most cosmopolitan of areas, maybe - perhaps similarly - the figure's headwear shouldn't have seemed remarkable to me.
 
You can see the sunlight flaring off several surfaces in the church. I also wondered if there was anything reflective just behind the second pew (where the 'ghost' is sitting), because there is light flaring there and also on what looks like a bookcase just beside the door. Highly polished surfaces, I think, so there must have been a very great deal of light getting into the church on that day.
 
Steven said:
Even at my church, which during Mass probably holds a maximum of about 100 people, there's always a tremendous variety of worshippers (young, elderly, white-skinned, dark-skinned and so on) and attire etc etc. Seeing as this isn't the most cosmopolitan of areas, maybe - perhaps similarly - the figure's headwear shouldn't have seemed remarkable to me.
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do some women wear a mantilla? I'd love to but hesitate becuase of the small p church political messages it sends.
 
Frideswide said:
do some women wear a mantilla? I'd love to but hesitate becuase of the small p church political messages it sends.
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Yes, two of them do (youngish women, that is, separately). One of the nuns I know doesn't like it - quite fiercely - because in her view it denotes submission to men.
 
I started to tell the nun how inspired I was by the devotion to the faith and the humility of the mantilla-wearing women, and she was having nun none of it! :D
 
Oh, I totally agree, but I didn't know what wearing the mantilla signified at that time; whereas now I think it should be binned.

And on Sunday we had to listen to the passage in which women were/are told to defer to their husbands at all times...read by a woman too(!) Gawd blimey. :(
 
Swifty said:
The hat's been interpreted by some people (people open to the idea that this could be a genuine ghost pic) as the kind of shape of hat wool weavers traditionally wore in Worstead.
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But they wouldn't have worn their work headgear in church anyway, would they? Women traditionally (in the wool weaving era anyway) covered their heads with shawls or scarves, I thought.
 
catseye said:
But they wouldn't have worn their work headgear in church anyway, would they? Women traditionally (in the wool weaving era anyway) covered their heads with shawls or scarves, I thought.
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I'm not sure social situation rules of headwear would be a factor if we go one step further to believe ghosts are real. I've always wondered why ghosts would be clothed at all. Could it be the clothes they died in, were buried in or were most fond of wearing in life?.
 
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Swifty said:
I'm not sure social situation rules of headwear would be a factor if we go one step further to believe ghosts are real. I've always wondered why ghosts would be clothed at all. Could it be the clothes they died in, were buried in or were most fond of wearing in life?.
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Very true. I was just thinking along the lines of any potential ghost in a church would likely be wearing the clothes it would have habitually worn in church. Ghosts in churches are normally clergy, reported as wearing their vestments, or monks/nuns in their habits, but there is no logical reason why church ghosts shouldn't be naked or wearing a tracksuit etc. So I am positing that location and clothing are linked in the ghostly realm

I don't know why really, because this is obviously (along the lines of our Amy Hobnob, the Ghostly Rag Woman) a real life person.
 
No idea whether the following is in any way significant or not:

In the photos which Swifty posted earlier in the thread, the second one (featuring Mrs Swifty) shows what are likely to be 'Stations of the Cross'* upon the wall i.e. 'a series of images depicting Jesus on the day of his crucifixion' which are a common feature of many, if not all, churches.

Yet such is the astonishingly bright and glaring light in the original, 'ghost' photograph that the Stations are either rendered invisible or were, strangely, not there in the first place (not very likely, given Christian tradition).


* There are three Stations images visible in Photo 2; square or rectangular in shape, two of them placed on the far wall from where Mrs S was sitting.
 
One of the Stations images in the church can be seen in this photo (near to that thing with wheels) which I edited for size very, very badly:

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Interesting to see, also, the grave slabs; one of which shows a sword-hilt. I'm only used to associating grave-decorations like that with Templars or gallowglass warriors but would like to know what the decoration actually signifies in this case.
 
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Steven said:
One of the Stations images in the church can be seen in this photo (near to that things with wheels) which I edited for size very, very badly:

View attachment 81293

Interesting to see, also, the grave slabs; one of which shows a sword-hilt. I'm only used to associating grave-decorations like that with Templars or gallowglass warriors but would like to know what the decoration actually signifies in this case.
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Phew. It's a sword hilt. I was worrying about the standard of anatomical drawing in that church.
 
Steven said:
One of the Stations images in the church can be seen in this photo (near to that things with wheels) which I edited for size very, very badly:

View attachment 81293

Interesting to see, also, the grave slabs; one of which shows a sword-hilt. I'm only used to associating grave-decorations like that with Templars or gallowglass warriors but would like to know what the decoration actually signifies in this case.
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We visited a few other small churches in the area that day, all with similar grave slabs and I would say that's a figure of a standing man and not a sword hilt only because that was the case in all the other churches. I could be wrong though.
 
Ah, you're very likely right, mate - just remembered that other, similar slabs I've seen featured the impression of an entire sword and not just the hilt.
 
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