One  of  the  earliest  recorded  incidents  was  December  5th  1891  a  photograph  taken  by  Sybell  Coret  of  the  library  at  Combermere  Abbey  in  Cheshire,  which  revealed  the  translucent  shape  of  an  elderly  gentleman  sitting  in  a  chair.  The  figure  was  later  identified  as  that  of  Lord  Combermere  himself:  but  at  the  time  the  photograph  was  taken,  he  was  being  buried  a  few  miles  away.

 

Also  a  photograph  taken  of  the  inside  of  a  church  in  Eastry,  Kent,  in  1956  depicts  a  ghostly  type  figure  of  a  vicar.  The  photograph  was  shown  to  a  Women's  Institute  group  some  years  later  only  to  hear  stories  of  a  phantom  vicar  who  used to  be  seen  during  the  1940s.  This  may  well  be  an  example  of  what  is  called  a  'Place  Centred'  ghost.  A  overwhelming  attachment  to  the  church  could  have  been  the  reason  why  a  'record'  of  his  image  had  been  imprinted  upon  the  photograph.  However   this  is  only  speculation.  There  has  never  been  any  substantial  evidence  to  come  to  such  a  conclusion.

 

When  taking  a  photograph  or  still,  the  light  levels  are  stored  onto  a  film  which  is  housed  in  a  box  which  is  void  of  all  light,  until  that  brief  moment  when  the  shutter  is  opened  to  allow  any  form  of  light  images  to  be  stored  onto  the  film.  The  images  stored  are  of  light  reflecting  off  the  scene  the  camera  was  pointing  at.  The  photographers  only  see  the  shot  they  look  at  through  the  lens,  so  why  do  images  appear  on  the  processed  film.  The  processing  of  still  photography  requires  chemicals  to  produce  the  negative  which  in  turn  allows  prints  to  be  made,  so  is  it  using  certain  chemicals  that  can  cause  blemishes  and  images  which  were  not  present  when  the  picture  was  taken?  

 

I  think  not !  There  is  no  proof  that  these  strange  images  are  stored  on  the  film  before  chemicals  are  applied  to  them,  however,  if  there  were  it  would  certainly  shed  new  light  on  the  subject.

Images  which  are  captured  on  film  unknown  to  the  originator  have  always  been  a  mystery.  For  example,  a  photograph  is  taken  of  a  wedding  in  a  church  and  when  the  film  is  processed,  it  may  be  by  chance  that  one  of  the  photographs  will  show  something  to  be  there,  which  was  not  visible  at  the  time  of  the  photograph.

 

There  have  been  many  accounts  from  around  the  world  of  unusual  images  or  spectre  like  shadows  showing  up  on  snapshots.