"Spotted Ghosts" Photos Debunked!

First lets start with their own description of themselves from Twitter
"I hunt ghosts to see if they really exist! I make my own mobile investigation apps & run a cool para website. Join me on my quest!"

I might do an article on their terrible ghost hunting apps in the future, but for now the reviews do enough damage.

Anyway I thought I would check out their website. And more specifically their ghost photos page. After-all what better place to start when looking at the credibility of such a group, than to see what they consider "evidence" of the paranormal, and if they have the basic skills to debunk a simple ghost photo. (Hint they have no skills whatsoever)

The photos on their site seem to be ones either taken by themselves or sent in by people. They are posted in the "Ghost Photos" section of their site. I will take 3 examples and see what I think.

First photo

Their description:
"I can 100% c a baby face?? Ne1 else?? This was taken on fast camera and only showed in 3 pics??"

Now lets ignore the horrendous grammar and teenybop speak if possible.
I can kinda see a smudge type image in the centre of the photo? I assume this is the baby face they refer too?
Remember this is on their site under the ghost photos! They consider this evidence of the paranormal.
As far as I can see this is a zoomed in part of a photo, from a larger image.

The circular smudge looks to be a classic photographic anomoly, or as spiritualists like to say "an orb".
For people are who capable of going to the toilet on their own, this is just an out of focus artifact near to the lens of the camera. Orbs have been thoroughly and completely debunked by the likes of Fujifil for decades and decades now.

Check out this link
http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital/tips/reflect/

I cant even put this photo down to pareidolia as I simply cant see any baby face? Can any of you?

Second photo

Their description:

"This is a pic my brother took look close ther seems to be a face in the fire spooky ass"

Now anyone who follows me on Twitter will know I absolutely love photos like this, and I post quite a few. And this photo seemingly taken by an Andrea Turner, does without doubt seem to show a face in the fire. I don't believe this photo was faked, and the photo has not been manipulated at all.

So what is the explanation? Well you may have noticed me already mention the word "pareidolia", first of all let me say when you have finished reading this, type pareidolia into google, then click images, and enjoy!

"Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus (an image or a sound) wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern of something where none actually exists.

Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations"

The man in the moon is the most famous pareidolia image of all time and has existed for millenia!
Here are a couple of great examples of fire pareidolia

I like this one particularly since it is not your usual face, but what looks to me like a bunny!

And this one is epic, could it be the devil? Looks more like Ned Flanders to me!

Anyway back to the original photo of interest. Is it a ghost? No, is it a demon? No, is the face of a dead murdered child? No. It is 100% pareidolia, which is completely understand and explained within psychology.

If you have any good pareidolia images please do tweet them to me, as I do love them!

Third photo

Their description
"One of my friends mother on her wedding day can you see the little boy on the left of the picture"

Now, I can tell you straight away this photo is faked, but wait, I am just the big nasty skeptic, lets give a chance for followers of "Spotted Ghosts" to speak and give their opinion, surely they will also know its faked and call them out on it? 

Oh dear, they all think it is real.

Look to the left of the photo and you can see a little boy in black and white! Now how do I know it is faked I hear you ask? Well I know it is fake because I have seen the boy before, and i have even used the iPhone app that allows you to fake these kind of ghost photos.

Here is the ghosts you can use in the app.

And here is the exact little ghostly boy used in the faked ghost photo. Side by side with the faked photo for proof.

Oh and its not the first time that someone using this ghost boy has fooled someone either. The Sun and Daily Mail both fell for a hoax photo using this boy.

So there you have it. 3 Ghost photos explained and debunked. And 100% proof that "Spotted Ghosts" have published a 100% faked photo as "evidence" of the paranormal.

Do I really need to say more on this?


Disclaimer:
Regarding the use of the photos on this article, They are used for the purpose of criticism, comment and news reporting.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."