The Cooper Family’s Unexpected Guest
This image has been floating around the internet for a few years now. It features a pair of boys sitting on the laps of two women, reportedly their respective mothers. Fairly normal so far, but to the left of the image, we see the body of a faceless man, hanging upside down from the rafters, as the family smile on, unfazed.
Other versions claim the image was taken just as an unidentified body came crashing through the family’s ceiling, the sitters captured in the last moments before realisation hits. The. Family’s name is thought to have been Cooper.
It certainly makes for a creepy picture.
With its grainy black and white imagery and the mid century styling of the group featured, you’d be forgiven for thinking this creepy picture is legit. However, look again. Is this hanging fiend a little too crisp? A little too clear? Is his face, conveniently, a little too hidden? If a ghost photo seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Notice how the framing is conveniently centred, leaving our spectral figure perfectly fitting in frame, despite it being either supposedly invisible to the naked eye, or in the process of accidentally crashing to the ground.
Furthermore, look again at the vignetting at each corner of the image, clearly, indicating it’s been added post production.
Don’t just take my word for it though, one of the two children -in fact, a pair of brothers – has come forward to explain the image was taken by his mother in 1959, before finding its way onto the Internet and into photoshop. Robert Copper (not Cooper, as per the story) says his mother was in the habit of throwing away photos she did not like, which likely led to someone picking it up and eventually, taking to the Internet with it.
Although a clear fake, it’s a creepy picture all the same.
Creep Factor: 💀💀💀💀 – undeniably spooky.
Believability: 💀 – a clear fake.
The Pawling Fire Department Guardian Angel
Taken in 1988, this sobering photo was taken in the aftermath of a car accident. As is procedure a member of Pawling Fire Department, Sharon Boo (no pun intended), photographed the wreck from multiple angles.
Every photo was normal, except this one, which seems to have captured a translucent figure in front of the car.
Could it be the spirit of the forsaken traveler? That’s unlikely, because the 58 year old driver, thankfully, survived with only an injury to the arm.
This photo has been passed around since the early days of the internet, and many have been quick to explain it away as a hoax or an error in the development process, however, according to Boo, the image is visible on the negative, meaning whatever was captured actually appeared in front of the camera.
It’s claimed that experts have evaluated the image and have verified its authenticity, however I’ve not found any first hand reports of this.
Still in all the years since this photo was taken, it’s yet to be debunked. Similarly, the photo’s origins – a professional accident photo from a respected fire department – makes a hoax unlikely.
Many believe the driver’s guardian angel made an appearance on film and I, for one, would like to think that’s true.
Creep Factor: 💀💀💀 – strangely comforting once you know there were no deaths involved in the accident…
Believability: 💀 💀 💀 – if the photo’s origins are true, it’s an unlikely situation for a hoax, although we can’t completely rule out an anomaly on the camera’s lens.
The Manila Ghost Photo
Taken some time during the 2000s, this infamous ghost photo has been circling internet forums and ghost sites ever since. By now, it’s probably one of the most famous ghost photos of the modern era.
It seems to feature a pair of girls on a night out, but unbeknownst to either of them, a mother figure has joined them, manifesting mostly with a ghostly hand on the girl in black. The figure seems to become less defined as it extends away to the right.
Not much else is known for sure about the image, although it is said to have been taken by a Nokia 7250, in what is apparently the city of Manila.
As a digital photo, we can rule out the possibility of a double exposure, but that doesn’t mean the figure isn’t a blurred third person, does it? After all, the light seems to be affecting it in the same way as the girls – as though it is shining from the right.
Then again, if a third figure was meant to be captured, wouldn’t the photographer have centred all three in the frame, rather than just the first two? If it was a blurred third person, would the figure be as monotone as it is?
Perhaps a third person meant to photobomb the two, but moved in and out of frame too quickly to be captured fully? If that’s the case, wouldn’t one of the girls have turned towards them in surprise at being grabbed one the arm? Why is there no motion blur on the arm and hand?
Then again, we can’t rule out the interference of photoshop, unless we choose to trust the two anonymous girl’s apparent claims that there was no post-production trickery involved.
But what do you think? Were these two girls photobombed by a spirit or stranger?
Creep Factor: 💀💀💀💀 – Real or not, it gives me the heebie-jeebies
Believability: 💀 💀 and a 1/2 – With unclear origins, we can’t rule out trickery, but I want to believe this paranormal photo is real.
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The Hawthorn Files 