“Ghosts” Captured on Film at The Stanley Hotel?

The Huffington Post reported yesterday of two ghosts appearing in the same photograph taken at the Stanley Hotel. Ben Hansen, former FBI agent and host of Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files, stated there weren’t any obvious signs of trickery. However, that doesn’t mean the images taken with the digital camera are real. In fact, there are several issues with these “ghosts.”

The first “ghost” is obvious. It’s a little girl wearing a nightgown or dress while standing on the top stair before the landing. Her back is turned away from the photographer. She is partially transparent.

1. Honestly, I’ve never seen such a clear and crisp photograph of a ghost. That’s not to say there aren’t any out there; however, they don’t seem to pop up often. A light is reflected toward the image.
2. The light doesn’t pass through the girl. It looks like the light bounces off of her head. Light bounces off of solids not transparent objects. Instead, lights go through transparent things.
3. The girl appears to be walking up the stairs; however, neither leg is lifted. Her gown hangs without movement. Granted, she may be a residual ghost who remains stationary. I just find the top step an odd place for her to appear. I would have expected her to be on the landing.
4. There are parts of her that are more solid than transparent. Becoming a solid means taking a physical form. I really think that if she was materializing, then someone would have noticed her, especially the kids sitting across from her.

The second image is a little bit easier to dismiss. On the left staircase, a figure appears to be walking upstairs. The photographer doesn’t remember a person standing there. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t someone there. The article states that there were 11 in his party on the larger tour. This person on the stairs is moving quickly. The camera shutter speed was slow in taking the photograph. We know that by looking at one of the boys sitting on the bench. He, too, is moving faster than the others. He is blurred just like the image on the staircase. Therefore, this image was created, intentionally or unintentionally, with a slow shutter speed.

Additional photographs taken right before and immediately after would help authenticate this picture. These pictures would serve as baseline images to show whether something or someone was in one photo but not the next one in succession. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. We get only one image to discuss.

The blurry person on the staircase is a person who was moving too quickly for the shutter speed on the camera. Honest mistake. The second semi-transparent image is not a ghost either. Is it trickery on the part of the photographer? Who knows. But it made for an interesting discussion.