Ghosts Caught on Camera - Hoaxes and Misunderstandings?

[Cellar_Door]

Last week my best friend's boyfriend showed me a seemingly normal photo on his phone. However, if you look closely, you can see a small, dark figure of a child, with well discernible features, crouching by one of the subject's legs. According to Marc, the child wasn't there when the picture was taken.

I'm a born sceptic, but I had to admit the face of the 'ghost child' didn't look like a chance formation in the wallpaper. In fact, it was a markedly different colour to its surroundings (unrecognisable to Marc and unlike anything he had taken a picture of previously) and therefore, I came to the conclusion that it must either be deliberate or real.

The picture soon went from phone to phone as more and more people heard about it. The general opinion is divided.

What is your opinion on such photographs? Do you put a blanket of disbelief over them all or have you even seen or taken one to make you think twice. We all know that 'orbs' are bullshit - but some are quite unnerving.

http://paranormal.about.com/od/ghostphotos/ig/Best-Ghost-Photos/Grandpa-s-Ghost.htm

While some seem obviously doctored...

http://z.about.com/d/paranormal/1/0/2/a/1/filipino-ghost.jpg

 

[Stryder]

What is your opinion on such photographs? Do you put a blanket of disbelief over them all or have you even seen or taken one to make you think twice. We all know that 'orbs' are bullshit - but some are quite unnerving.

http://paranormal.about.com/od/ghostphotos/ig/Best-Ghost-Photos/Grandpa-s-Ghost.htm

First off in a situation of the "Example" you've put forwards you've got someone making a claim and giving a story which could be completely false. Secondly if you are to take the story as them being genuine about what they see, you should understand that the human mind is a funny thing. While they sit looking at their departed granny in an old photo, memories of their life and the lives of others are accessed in their mind. The article in the background would then manifest into being that memory, in this case "The ghost of their grandfather" however there is likely a more rational explanation.

If I was to investigate this photo, I would ask which Hospital this image had been taken, as it's likely that in the grounds of that hospital stands a statue of the man the hospital is named after and that is in fact what exists in the background. (I'm gathering it was a hospital however even parks have statues)

As for artifact's on mobile phone again it's really down to the story teller. Although their is a suggestion that camera's can pick up hidden inputs (As stated by who I believe was a Professor over at Edinburgh University a couple of years back who intended to create "Hidden" artwork that could only be seen through mobile phones). However the likelihood that any hidden content was picked up is pretty unlikely as it would require staging... I think it's a classic example of "pull the other one, it's got bells on" (And I don't mean the Moderator)