The Spectre of Newby Church is undoubtedly one of the most controversial "true ghost photos" found floating around the web. The photo in question was taken in 1963 by Reverend Kenneth F. Lord, vicar of the Church of Christ the Consoler, located on the grounds of Newby Hall. Reverend Lord was photographing the interior of his church, and took this photo of a favorite altar. At the time, he was allegedly alone in the church, and the phantom apparition that would appear on the developed film was not visible to the naked eye.
To some, this photo is an excellent example of true ghost photography. The church had not previously had any reports of paranormal activity, yet the photo clearly showed an apparition looking directly at the camera. It appeared to be wearing a monk's robe, and have a shrouded face. (Today's skeptics are quick to point out the resemblence to the Scream mask.) As soon as the photo was released to the public, many people believed it to be the result of double exposure. However, from the perspective shown, the apparition, which is standing on the first stair to the alter, would have to be around nine feet tall!
In the late 1970s, a group of experts was consulted by the BBC for a program on famous ghost photos and hauntings. Karl Denchly, a member of this consultation group, claimed that the consensus was that there was no tampering to the photo itself or the negative, and that the most up-to-date technologies available were used in analyzing and examining the photo. Still, the clarity of the apparition, the fact that the shroud could be used to hide a hoaxer's identity, and the ambiguous historical documentation raise red flags for many skeptics.
The church was built between 1871 and 1876 on the grounds of Newby Hall. It was to be a memorial for Frederick Vyner, who was murdered in Greece, and whose mother's family owned the Newby estate. The apparition in the photo, however, does not appear to be contemporary with when the church was built...rather, it is more reminiscent of monks dating prior to the 16th century, before Henry VIII's religious oppressions.
Whether or not this image is genuine ghost photography or not is debatable. In any event, it is an image that has haunted many with its ghastly face and imposing stature.
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ReplyDeleteI have always been fascinated by this photo and have read many different opinions and theories about it. First of all let me comment on the image of the figure. Many have said that the humanoid figure appears to be wearing a dark robe and a white cloth that marks its face. Although I do agree that the robe does appear to be exactly that the facial mask is actually something else altogether! Others have stated this too, yes I believe this is actually the stretched and distorted image of the subjects hands which are being held up to the lower portion of it's face (reminiscent of the scream painting by Edvard Munch). This brings me to another theory which I believe explains how the entity's height is so tall (being 9ft)! If it was a normal individual say of no more than 6ft but their image stretched to 9ft I believe you get a similar distortion of their hands etc. Also the stretching isn't uniform I.e.from just below it's eyes to the top of it's head the stretching and distortion is minimal yet from below it's eyes down the stretching and distortion is much more pronounced making its hands so distorted that they look like a cloth instead. I would be very interested to see someone who is skilled in digital photo editing to correct the stretching of the image and see if it brings into detail aspects of it's anatomy such as it's hands back into their correct proportions! Another interesting aspect is it's almost like looking at an x-ray of somebody the bones of the skeleton being clearly visible with the faint blur of soft tissue barely discernible. For example if you look closely into its eye sockets you can discern the very faint impression of its eyeballs even its pupils are discernible as points of light pointing to its left and slightly upward! This is extremely interesting to me because many ghost sightings have described the apparition as having faint outlines of where the flesh would be with much clearer outlines of the inner skeleton. All said I will conclude with this final statement the humanoid presence in the photo is too detailed to be an anomaly or artefact created by a chance malfunction in the photographic process. That just leaves an elaborate hoax or an actual photograph of a supernatural entity! To be honest I think with today's technology such as photo-shop this effect could be achieved with digital manipulation. However this picture was taken in the early 1960s when no such technology existed! I even remember being terrified when I first saw it as a child in the early 70s! Even then there wasn't technology to create it! So maybe in the end there is only one conclusion!?
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