Another "baffling" ghost pic

[Deetee]

There has been another "ghost" pic story, apart from the google maps one reported this week.
It was in the papers today, courtesy of Richard Wiseman. The Times had a story on it (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5983612.ece), as well as other outlets.
The ghost is supposedly that of James V of Scotland.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/4096/ghost.th.jpg (http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ghost.jpg)CLICK ON THUMBNAIL FOR LARGER IMAGE

My own view is that it is an outcrop of redsandstone similar to that from which the walls are made. The sun's angle has picked out a bit of rock, basically. The shadows of the railings (or the railings themselves) seem to correspond (in angle and spacing) with the eye and mid-face horizontal lines of the ghost's face. The downturned mouth line is also a horizontal grille shadow, but cast on a bit of the rock which is more cylindrical/shperical, hence the downward curvature.

[Gate2501]

There has been another "ghost" pic story, apart from the google maps one reported this week.
It was in the papers today, courtesy of Richard Wiseman. The Times had a story on it (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5983612.ece), as well as other outlets.
The ghost is supposedly that of James V of Scotland.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/4096/ghost.th.jpg (http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ghost.jpg)CLICK ON THUMBNAIL FOR LARGER IMAGE

My own view is that it is an outcrop of redsandstone similar to that from which the walls are made. The sun's angle has picked out a bit of rock, basically. The shadows of the railings (or the railings themselves) seem to correspond (in angle and spacing) with the eye and mid-face horizontal lines of the ghost's face. The downturned mouth line is also a horizontal grille shadow, but cast on a bit of the rock which is more cylindrical/shperical, hence the downward curvature.

I see many similarities between this ghost and "The King" from recent burger king ads!

[bob_dezon]

I have to say that I agree it is the interplay between the rail mesh and the natural sandstone. This is covered in my second article on badghosts. As soon as my cable provider decides to stop messing with my bandwidth, I can upload the images.

[desertgal]

There has been another "ghost" pic story, apart from the google maps one reported this week.
It was in the papers today, courtesy of Richard Wiseman. The Times had a story on it (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5983612.ece), as well as other outlets.
The ghost is supposedly that of James V of Scotland.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/4096/ghost.th.jpg (http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ghost.jpg)CLICK ON THUMBNAIL FOR LARGER IMAGE

My own view is that it is an outcrop of redsandstone similar to that from which the walls are made. The sun's angle has picked out a bit of rock, basically. The shadows of the railings (or the railings themselves) seem to correspond (in angle and spacing) with the eye and mid-face horizontal lines of the ghost's face. The downturned mouth line is also a horizontal grille shadow, but cast on a bit of the rock which is more cylindrical/shperical, hence the downward curvature.

I don't disagree with your assessment - but I wish the newspaper had run another picture, without the "ghost", of the same area, for comparison. I imagine that would dovetail with your assessment.

I also wonder if there is glass in that window, and perhaps the camera picked up a combined reflection of sandstone and railings. (I know some of the castles in Europe have put plexiglas in windows to prevent tourists from going where they shouldn't.) If the camera angle was right, the glass might not be apparent, but the camera would still pick up the reflection(s).

[Matty1973]

This is surely the worst ghost photo of all time.

Local medium Jane Cohen, 39, said: "But what is really strange is that she doesn't appear as a full figure - you can't see all of her."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01372/Ghost_1372657c.jpg (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/google/5051309/Victorian-ghost-picked-up-by-Google-Street-View.html)

Click on image for article from one of the main 'serious' UK newspapers.

Have journalistic standards really sunk this low?

[bob_dezon]

Yes they have. News is all about sensationalism now, they no longer seem to be responsible or ethical when it comes to reporting the news. I have tried to address this deficit on BadGhosts, but I fear we are largely ignored because we do not make money for anyone.

[richardm]

The Times had a story on it (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5983612.ece), as well as other outlets.


I spotted this in The Scotsman on Friday and it really annoyed me. There was a whole double-spread of photos, along with Wiseman's prosaic explanations for what they actually were. The castle photo, though, he thought was probably light on stone behind the railings, or maybe actually someone standing up there, but he conceded that it was impossible to be sure exactly what it was.

And how did the Scotsman represent this in a panel on their front page?


THE GHOST PICTURE EXPERTS CANNOT EXPLAIN


grrrrrr