I'm not sure if this has ever been posted on here, or everyone could have already seen these photos, but I'll give it a shot anyway...I thought these were very interesting, given some of the dates that some of these were taken....

What do you think?



The Brown Lady
This portrait of "The Brown Lady" ghost is arguably the most famous and well-regarded ghost photograph ever taken. The ghost is thought to be that of Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount of Raynham, residents of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England in the early 1700s.



Lord Combermere
This photograph of the Combermere Abbey library was taken in 1891 by Sybell Corbet. The figure of a man can faintly be seen sitting in the chair to the left. His head, collar and right arm on the armrest are clearly discernable. It is believed to be the ghost of Lord Combermere.



Tulip Staircase Ghost
Rev. Ralph Hardy, a retired clergyman from White Rock, British Columbia, took this now-famous photograph in 1966. He intended merely to photograph the elegant spiral staircase (known as the "Tulip Staircase") in the Queen's House section of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. Upon development, however, the photo revealed a shrouded figure climbing the stairs, seeming to hold the railing with both hands.



The Back Seat Ghost
Mrs. Mabel Chinnery was visiting the grave of her mother one day in 1959. She had brought along her camera to take photographs of the gravesite. After snapping a few shots of her mother's gravestone, she took an impromptu photo of her husband, who was waiting alone in the car. At least the Chinnerys thought he was alone.

Information recieved from: http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa101402a.htm

That first one is a fake it was made by double exposure

i seriously doubt it would be a well regarded 1700's photo if it was a double exposure.

You cannot have a normal double exposure with most of the old cameras. They used single plates for each shot, and usually exposed over a long period of time. (some photographs were set up to expose over an hour) Some famous "ghost photos" were taken by having people walk in during a photography, stand for a second, and walk out. Making a semi-transparent figure appear.

Although I think the above pictures (at least a few) are the ones where it was unknown how they could have faked it due to extraneous circumstances.

The first pic I have seen in various books and it has always been a fav of mine. There is something so brilliantly elegant about the way it's captured on the staircase like that.

I've seen those, they are classics. I don't think any of them are real spirits, but I think they are classics.

I wonder why all ghost pics are always well centered, like the photographer were aware that the ghost would apear right there. I those photos, I think thats the case of the first one.

But, the Lord in the chair and that thing climbing the stairs are freak!

Well I would say most of time where ghostly apariations appear in photos the person wasn't aware of it at the time. They were taking a photo of something else. Or if they were aware of one at the time by feeling, sound or sight then it would make sense to point the camera directly where you sense it to be!

Of all of those pics, the Tulip Staircase pic intrigues me the most. It's the context in which the pic was taken, as well as, the purpose for and person taking the pic. All of those variables lends to the authenticity of the image captured....now what that image is.....that's whole other can-o-worms to open.

All of these photos are classics. I find the photos of the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall
and The Tulip Staircase Ghost particularly fascinating. But if I'm not mistaken they've
all been proven to be fakes.

That Tulip Staircase pic has always fascinated me. I think it's 2 people in the picture and not just one.

What do you guys think?

I agree it is quite fascinating. It's probably just one person.
If your interested in ghost photos, you should look at the paranormal pictures of
William Mumler on this website. Excellent examples of obvious fakes. But
amusing all the same.

Yeah, the right arm seems to be stretched out a little to far...seems like something is in front the obvious spirit, climbing up ahead of him. Does the spirit need to hold on to the rail to get up the stairs? Afraid of falling? Little to late for that isnt it?

Thanks, I'll check that out. I've seen most ghost pics as I've been interested in the paranormal for a long while, but I'm willing to look at everything!



But if they don't know they're dead, they'd have to hang on!!

Although the hands are on the railing, they dont look like they are grasping the railing properly.

The image looks ok. It's even kind of creepy. One of the better fakes I've seen.

at first glance i thought the stairway ghost was two "things" or "entities" whatever you want to call it/them.

Love the pics.
I have seen some of them before but the staircase one is new to me, and yeah, it does look like theres more than one something there, dunno what tho.

If any of these are intentional 'fakes' then hats off to the people responsible for creating them since they had limited technology to work with to create the realistic effects shown here - they were pioneers and amazing artists in photography to which they deserve merit to in thier own right.
I think the white figure standing in the center of the stairs to be the most authentic-looking of the lot but im undecided to whether they are actual fakes or not.

its kinda hard to believe the first one not to be authentic for since its been circulating for so long and i have yet to see any pro photographer to even discrediit it till the pic came here lol.

I think they all have been classified as possible hoaxes at one time or another. They know that even with the technology back then they still could have faked pictures like these. It's just hard to prove it.

When delving-into the realm of hoaxes and fakes the first thing that must be examined is the circumstances around which the pic was taken....now considering the amount of time that has expired since the pics have been taken....who's to say what the motivation was behind each pic for sure???? or even if the background of each pic is factual and correct????

But you are very correct when you say that it would be very hard to prove.

Yes exactly and the spiritualist movement was beginning then as well so a lot was going on and people were very interested. A lot of money could be made from 'ghost' pictures.

I hope the third one isn't real. Scary...

You know, I don't get it. How did they take these pictures in the first place?
Do Ghosts allow themselves to have their pictures taken?
I think that these pictures a fakes.
Some of these pixs are faint, and unbelievable.

I think the brown lady's caused by light from a window on the opposite side of the stairs, you can see it on the hand rail's also the edge of the figure is shaped as if it's projected, i.e. the light follows the edge of the steps as you would expect, the window could have been stained glass or just had drapes on it.

I like this one....Freddy Jackson, 1919
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/galle...ts.php?pos=-690

Damn that would creep me out if I saw a ghost standing behind me and at the time I didn't know it....


the fingertips that extend from the knuckle don't appear to be there on the hand of the ghost clutching the railing. if its fingers were curled around it I'm sure we would see the tips.......but just how its holding the railing is unnatural, one of its arms looks too long.

My second glance was....you're right! There appears to be a left hand with the thumb protruding.

Yep!

I watched a show where someone was trying to recreate the same effect of the picture with the man sitting in the chair and they were able to do it, so it leads me to believe the picture could have been faked.

is there anywhere you can find this photo without the close-up image added??? if so, i'd like to see that.

I'm not sure what to think about the Lord in the chair. Many people have suggested that the photographer left the room cos she left the camera exposed for around an hour- as this needed to be done in the 1890s- and someone could have sat down for a short time and then left- explaining the quite vague, legless figure in the photo. But at the time, no one was at Combermere Abbey, or no male servants or other men at least, so it is said, because of Lord Combermere's funeral. So it's a really strange picture. Nothing has been said about Ghosts in Combermere Abbey since, though. I wonder if anyone has photgraphed the library agian? I've never known of any ghosts being captured in photos twice- Surely someone at some point must photograph a ghost that's been caught on film before?

Creepy. I also agree that, while a classic and great picture, the Brown Lady almost seems too perfect. Unless maybe its cropped from a bigger pic? That pic with the fella sitting in his chair seems like a double exposure, or someone sitting in for a few mins on an hour long exposure or whatever the technique. but these are more intriguing, to me, than orbs or ectostrings or whatever people are calling dustmotes and camera straps that are too close to the lense and the flash.

Has anyone seen that video clip of i think an abandoned prison or something shot from above looking toward a doorway where a dark figure steps out and back into the door? that one is pretty creepy too.

Also, just because you CAN fake something doesnt mean it IS fake. I can sit in a chair and, with an elaborate moving background, make it look like im in a car. That doesn't disprove the existence of cars, just that you can duplicate the image. (although i admit it would be pretty hard to do, at least for me )

es, ive seen all of these photos many times before..they are all pretty interesting..its hard to really judge or say "this is double exposure/camera failure..ect.." because of the age and technology of the time..it would be hard to fake anything..much less make it look authentic..i love the pic of the staircase, with the ghost with "3 eyes" and the figure leaning on the railing...awesome...

The brown lady pic has been modifyed so much. Try do a picture search on google for "the brown lady" and you'll see what i mean.

She was one of the first ghost pics i saw as a kid in a book. She's special to me

I read the book that these pics are from.....it's an intrieging book.

I have to add one thing... Do we have a year from where the lord-photo is taken? thhe second one?
Cameras of that stage (kind of early anyway) required objects that stood still for hours! Otherwise they wouldn't be printed at the photo. So if this photo was a fake they would had need a man to be sitting there for half the time to create that effect... Things that moved to fast wouldnt be exposed at the photo... and how do I know this? My father is a photographer and he have a great example of a photo taken at early stage. The motive is a busy road. But all you can se is the houses, some trees and some shadows but no peaple... but most intresting...a shoe boy who cleaned shoes is on the photo... probably because he stood still at the same place to long. I dont know the requirements for ghosts though.

She makes a good point.
I don't know though, that staircase one gives me that eerie feeling...probably low blood sugar.

Have a Snickers.

1814
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce achieves first photographic image with camera obscura - however, the image required eight hours of light exposure and later faded.

They never had photographs in the 1700's..... The photograph was not invented until the 1830's and the term itself 'photograph' was not coined until 1839 by Sir John Herschel....

I remember hearing about a portrait painted of Lady Pennyfeather in 1706 that supposedly had a ghost in the background. But it turned out that during the 2 week painting process, someone sat behind her for like 3 days, thus causing the translucent figure.

Sorry if someone has picked any of this up before but:



The photo was taken for an issue of Country Life magazine. The photographers had no intention of providing paranormal evidence. Their objective was documenting Raynham Hall. This was a 'one-off' photo and none of the others on the reel contained anything supernatural.



How can it be "well regarded as a 1700's photo" when it was taken in 1936?

Two professional photographers, Captain Provand and his assistant Indre Shira, noticed a misty form ascending the stairs and took a photograph.



You can achieve a double exposure using a large format (For example, a Gandolfi) plate camera. However, in the 30's, most cameras used small format Kine 35mm film.



There isn't a second person on the stairs. If you were to actually analyse the picture properly, you would notice that the staircase is made of two flights, with a short landing half way up. The photographer was at an angle, shooting to the right of the bottom step. The handrail also splits half way up, suggesting the large black shape that 'appears' to be a ghost, is actually a large banister post with a finial on top.

Now, I must sleep...

That Tulip Staircase one scares me so much, I can't look at it.

I have a book called "Ghost Sightings" that I got 10 years ago, maybe more. They have the picture of the study, with the ghost in the chair, and I remember that it said next to it that the picture was taken the day of the funeral of the ghost...person.

It doesn't help that there's a huge version of the Tulip staircase picture at the beginning of that book *shudder*.

Are you talking about the straight on pic of the ghost on the stairs? the first one?

I can't work out what is wrong with the left hand side of the staircase/wall

Me either, I think they were talking about the Brown Lady photo... it just doesn't look right.
*edit - I tried digging for photos of the staircase without the ghost but couldn't find anything. My best guess is the staircase extends to the left somehow but is cut out of the photo from this view. I'd love to see a wider view of the staircase, the pictures I saw of the hall were amazing!

Ok this should clear up some info about the dates on the Brown Lady photo.



"The Brown Lady" is supposidly Lady Dorothy Townshend who lived in the early 1700s.

The quote was taken from an about.com article ( <--clicky ) which also includes information on the 3 photos the OP posted as well as the Freddy Jackson photo.

I find all four photos to be impressive, but take particular interest in the Freddy Jackson photo because of the background story and the circumstances in which the photo was taken.

interesting...I wondered if there was another stairwell leading off from that or if the photo had been messed with so the wall doesn't line up correctly ( the paintings get me), but there does seem to be something dark standing at the wall

The guy looks creepier than the ghost!

(To the tune of "If I Only Had a Brain", which would also apply...)
If I Only Had A Snickers!

Ok, I've topped out my dork quota for the day...sheesh...good night all!