photos. are they ghosts, or long exposures? you decide Blackpool Tower

these are photos i took on my canon 400D DSLR, and they are photos of old photos. i have been able to debunk one of the things as a piece of furnatre on the ground floor of the ballroom. but i have ringed the odd things in the ballroom, and there is also a disemboddied head floating above the two women sat down. also note they are wearing different period clothing. and that there is no show on in the ballroom yet they seem to be sat watching. the man in the hat is reported to be the designer of the ball roomand have seen him myself stood there. so without further a do, here they are please give me feedback as to your theories and thoughts. i used to work at the tower and that is when i got the pics. i have been in the ballroom when it is shut and it is a very strange feeling. it even feels like there is something going on even when no one is in there. i dont know why but the third photo really sends shivers up my spine they have no eyes. but they are looking at you ghosts cant get at you through photos of photos can they lol

Hi mate,

My initial thoughts are that the figures are actually physical people caught up in a lengthy exposure, as you suggested. This is seen quite often in older photographs taken before and during the early 1900's- the real spooky ones are when the subject manages to keep their body still but moves their head, creating the eerie effect of a blurred or expressionless faces! But often a subject only needs to be still or static for a fraction of a long exposure before walking off for a faint imprint of themselves to be left on a negative, or digital sensor. And in early 20th century, camera technology was not sophisticated enough to deal with many indoor lighting conditions, or even outdoor conditions for that matter, and so long exposures were common place in order to gain an adequate exposure. I can quite easily imagine a photographer setting his camera upon a tripod and opening the shutter for a good 10 or 15 seconds, maybe more, enough time for a visitor to stop briefly before walking on. The 'burnt out' look of the reflected light sources coupled with the hazy aura surrounding the brighter areas and the slightly blurred definition of edges all point to quite a long exposure, on a rickety old wooden tripod, so I would guess that this is probably what is happening here!

But I suppose we will never know for certain!

Regards,

Robb

P.S: It might be useful to know what settings you used yourself when taking the photos.

i was on automatic bck the n all i can say is the two ghosts i ha ve physically seen in the ballroom that are on that photo is the woman sat down,. and the man in the top hat. the waman strted as solid and slowly faded out and the man in the top hat was see through, ad neithr paid attention to me. it was in the morning before the ballroom opened and i had no eexplanation for it and they was where they was in the photo. bear in mind though i had not been shown these photos before that. they was shown when i told my then supervisor what i had seen, he showed me the photo of the ghosts. and they turned out to be what i had seen

Hi Ash,

Wow you have been so busy....good to see the forum being used for such interesting stories etc; with regard to the photo (dont ask me anything technical - as i would have no idea) but i think as rob said as picture so old, its one of those "things" which we will probably never know. And the ballroom due to its age and history etc is bound to have quite a lot of spiritual energy within its walls. Very interesting tho, certainly got me thinking.