New Zealand’s Ghost a Reminder of Spiritual Photography

Recently a group of New Zealanders photographing around New Zealand’s haunted hot spots in St. Bathans snapped a quite unexpected picture through a window at another supposedly not haunted building.  When it came back, they were surprised to find that of all the photographs of near misses, they had caught sight of what appeared to be a human shape in the other building.  What does this newest case tell us about ghost photography?

There’s no doubt that photographic evidence of ghosts is one of the most coveted forms of evidence collected in the field.  With thousands of fakes and cases of mistaken identity, many have called into question the veracity of some photographs.  Of those that have been consistently analyzed throughout the paranormal field’s history, several have stood as testament to the field and offered repeatedly as proof of the existence of life after death, or rather some form of paranormal manifestation that can appear both to the eyes and on film.

One interesting aspect that seems to remain consistent in most ghost photography cases is that the images captured on film are rarely seen by the observer as the picture is snapped.  One theory that has arisen suggests that these images appear on film as a result of the ghost directly burning itself either onto the film or somehow manipulating the digital components within the camera to cause it’s spectral visage to appear on film.  Of course one exception to this is one of the most famous ghost photographs, that of the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall.  In this case the photograph didn’t manifest the image spontaneously after development, but rather the lady was seen ahead of time by photographers in 1936 as they were doing a piece on the historical location.  The Brown lady was photographed in black and white as a foggy apparition.  Another exception is the alleged spiritualist mediums who would often spontaneously generate ectoplasmic residue which would turn to hands, and faces and would often be secreted out of nowhere from the pores of skin in the mediums.  Several photographs were taken of these apparitions as well, though many have discounted a great number of the spiritualist apparitions as fakes, as many would later come forward and claim the whole movement to be comprised of charlatans.  Many others, including several respected scientists, maintain that the movement was perfectly legitimate and warrants a considerable amount of research by scientists.

Others have attempted to fake ghostly photographs by a number of means, from double exposures to sprinkling dust on the lens, and even holding a camera strap in front of the camera with the flash on in order to generate the appearance of a spectral phantasmal line streaking across the field of view accompanied by a shadow.

Despite the fakes, some incredible images have been shown in recent days, including some that quite simply defy explanation.  We will certainly keep you posted on the latest evidence and images as they arise, as we collectively sit and wonder, does consciousness end at death?