Thursday, July 24, 2008

Hampton Court Ghost


Article from DAILY MAIL - UK

By David Harding, Metro
19 December 2003

To the sceptic it may simply look like a fuzzy CCTV image of someone in a long coat walking through a doorway.
Experts say the long-coated figure could be the best proof yet found that things really do go bump in the night... and the day too.
The mystery surfaced two months ago at the 16th-century palace, once home to King Henry VIII.
Security staff heard alarms ringing near an exhibition hall, indicating fire doors had been opened. But on investigation they found the doors closed.
Perplexed, they examined CCTV footage, and that is when it got spooky.
The cameras showed the heavy doors popping open but no one there. Then, suddenly, the long- coated figure appeared and slammed the doors shut.
The guards were told the same thing happened at the same time - about 1pm - the day before.
To add to the mystery, the doors also flew open at the same time the very next day. But the ghostly figure has been spotted only once.
The suspected spook has not just been sighted by CCTV. Australian tourists also claim to have seen a ghost near the exhibition area. The palace, in West London, has ruled out its guides as suspects because they do not enter that part of the building.
Psychologist Dr Richard Wiseman said the spectre, nicknamed Skeletor, might prove to be a significant discovery.
'It could be the best ghost sighting ever,' he said. 'I haven't seen anything that would match that at all.'

HENRY AND A HISTORY OF HAUNTING

This is London

19 December 2003

• CATHERINE HOWARD

The best known haunting at Hampton Court is by Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife.

Charged with adultery in 1541 and placed under house arrest, she broke free from her guards and ran to her husband to plead for her life. The guards dragged her back and she was executed. To this day, it is claimed, a woman in white can be seen floating down the Haunted Gallery.

• JANE SEYMOUR

Henry VIII's third wife, who died in childbirth in 1537, is said to walk through the cobbled courtyard carrying a lighted taper.

• LADY IN GREY

Sibell Penn was nurse to Prince Edward, Henry's only son. She died in 1562 and was buried in Hampton Church. When the church was pulled down in 1829 her remains were disturbed and it is said she returned to the rooms she once lived in.

• THE WOLSEY CLOSET

The room has a 'strange atmosphere'. A phantom dog has been seen and heard here on more than one occasion.

CNN NEWS REPORT

Palace 'ghost' caught on camera Friday, December 19, 2003 Posted: 1:54 PM EST (1854 GMT)

LONDON, England (AP) -- Are there ghostly goings-on at Henry VIII's palace, or is that hazy image of a fellow in fancy robes just a bit of Christmas cheer?

Closed-circuit security cameras at Hampton Court Palace, the huge Tudor castle outside London, seem to have snagged an ethereal visitor. Could it be a ghost?

"We're baffled too -- it's not a joke, we haven't manufactured it," said Vikki Wood, a Hampton Court spokeswoman, when asked if the photo the palace released was a Christmas hoax. "We genuinely don't know who it is or what it is."

Wood said security guards had seen the figure in closed-circuit television footage after checking it to see who kept leaving open one of the palace's fire doors.

In the still photograph, the figure of a man in a robe-like garment is shown stepping from the shadowy doorway, one arm reaching out for the door handle.

The area around the man is somewhat blurred, and his face appears unnaturally white compared with his outstretched hand.

"It was incredibly spooky because the face just didn't look human," said James Faukes, one of the palace security guards.

"My first reaction was that someone was having a laugh, so I asked my colleagues to take a look. We spoke to our costumed guides, but they don't own a costume like that worn by the figure. It is actually quite unnerving," Faukes said.

The palace, built in 1525 on the River Thames 10 miles west of central London, is a popular tourist attraction and some of the guides wear costumes of the Tudor period.

Wood said she was hoping people would come forward with similar stories and try to explain the figure.

The palace has been the scene of many dramatic royal events, and already is supposed to have a few ghosts.

King Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, died there giving birth to a son, and her ghost is said to walk through one of the cobbled courtyards carrying a candle.

Her son, Edward, had a nurse called Sibell Penn who was buried in the palace grounds in 1562. In 1829 her tomb was disturbed by building work, and around the same time an odd whirring noise began to be heard in the southwest wing of the palace.

When workmen traced the strange sounds to a brick wall, they uncovered a small forgotten room containing an old spinning wheel, just like the one Penn used to use.

Henry's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, condemned for adultery, was held at the palace under house arrest before her execution at the Tower of London. An 1897 book about the palace says she was reportedly seen, dressed in white and floating down one of the galleries uttering unearthly shrieks.

The palace was once a prison for King Charles I, who later was beheaded, and then home to his nemesis Oliver Cromwell, who briefly ruled when Britain was for a short time a republic.

Halloween Ghost


This picture was taken on October 31st 2005.

This is my daughter, she just went to a door and got some candy and my husband snapped a pic of her. We uploaded the pictures the next night. My husband called me into the room and we saw what appears to be a mist or something in the shape of a real ghost.
Very spooky...This picture was taken with a digital camera not sure what kind but not a good one.
I have never seen anything like this in any of my other pictures.

The night was very clear and warm, not common for Halloween where we live as its usally freezing or raining. No one was smoking either

I have no idea who or what it could be.. I just thought it was cool...

Submitted by: Sarah, Connecticut, USA

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Great Ocean Road


Submitted by: Andrew and Lucy Hayhurst

We had been on a year long trip of Australia. We started in Sydney but when we got the news that Andy's grandma had passed away back home in Littleborough, England we decided to hit the road. So bought a 1982 Toyota Hi-ace Camper Van .

It started when our van kept breaking down as soon as we reached a town after being on the raod all day. We thought it was just a coincidence but when drove past a little town called Iron Knob Sout Australia ( just at start of the Nullarbor, a 2000 km stretch of road with not much at all along the way) our van started to shudder, we thought it was going to break down but the van kept going. We stopped off three nights before reaching Norseman campsite. We pulled into the car park and the van just conked out, not starting all night till the AAA guys turned up next day.
After this the van broke down several times on the way up to Darwin, each time we were actually in the town with a garage. As this happened so many times we where convinced someone was watching over us. We thought it might be Andy's grandma and maybe mine too, who passed away 3 years before.
We took this picture on The Great Ocean Road between Melbourne and Adelaide. We used a Kodak 3.5 megapixel camera with no flash and there were no other people around at the time.
The picture is of a Koala and we did take several more pictures, but only this one turned out with what looks like two (maybe three) skinny figures (both our grandparents died of cancer so where both quite frail).
Even though the picture looks quite scary we would love to believe that they were in fact our Guardian Angels.

Grandfathers Ghost?



This is a picture of my two sons taken last summer (yes they have diapers on their heads). Notice the white mist that seems to be moving through the picture?.

My husbands grandfather used to live in the apartment we live in now. Three days after he died my husbands uncle and aunt were sleeping in his apartment. His aunt woke up early in the morning and watched in horror as my husband's dead grandfather walked across the room and looked out the window (something he did often) and then disappeared. She, of course, was extremely shaken up. I'd like to believe the picture captured my son's great grandfather enjoying their company.

Grand Caverns


This is a very dark picture taken from a palmcorder with digital still camera.

My husband and I were coming back from his grandmothers funeral in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
On the way home to Delaware we decided to stop at the Grand Caverns in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. I took over a hundred of pictures. I didn't notice anything strange, I didn't feel creepy or anything like that.
When we got home later that night, I started to download the photos to my PC. My sister-in-law and husband, came by to see the pictures we took (they were also at the caverns). I was about to delete it because it was too dark. I took a double look and noticed what to me looked like a face and body on the left. (You really have to look at it. In the middle of the photo it looks like a big dark foot in the middle. Then you look to the left.) I sent it to my dad without telling him what I was sending and he said he saw a man that looked like beetlejuice, lol. I showed a friend and she said looks like a woman holding a baby and if you look between them it looks like a creature of some sort. I haven't heard of any hauntings going on there.

I tried to do some research on the Internet about the place to see if anyone else has pictures. so far I have got nothing. All I know is that the Grand Caverns has been open since 1806 During the Civil War, and the Valley Campaign. The cave was visited by both the Confederate and Union Soldiers.

This picture was taken April 28, 2002.

Thanks,

Kim Jarrell -Newark, DE

Gore Hill Cemetery, Sydney NSW


Same photo with the contrast turned up which shows the strange mist clearly.

Submitted by: Joel Greaves, Bondi, NSW, Australia

Camera Used: Kodak Digital

Photo taken 9:35pm 23/july/05, clear warm night very little wind.

Photo taken at Gore Hill Cemetery. There was no mist or smoke in the air at all.

I took this photo when a strong icy chill came over us like cold hands around our ankles and necks. Also a strong feeling of being followed and watched...

Ghostly Van Photo


Submitted by: Daniel Mainoo
From: Manchester, UK

The photo was taken by my boss before I started work here. The image was taken with a digital camera, the weather was overcast, the file is dated august 2004.

The effect which draws attention is obviously the cloudy spectre accross the entire photo, especially in the top right hand corner of the the picture.

I came accross this photo when I was scrolling through our work portfolio of van singing jobs in the Dukenfield area. We take pictures to show new potential clients what we can do for them. Dukenfield has always had rumours of ghostly happenings.
This image has not been played with but I guess everbody sais that.