FAMOUS GHOST PICTURES
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THE TOYS R US GHOST

This picture was reportedly taken with infrared film during an investigation at the Sunnyvale, California, Toys 'R' Us store. Witnesses claimed the man leaning against the wall was not visible and did not appear in photos taken at the same time with normal film. A June 1991 Adweek article tells the tale:

"The children have left, and the din has subsided. Another hard day's shopping is history at the Sunnyvale, California, branch of Toys 'R' Us. Yet there might be activity inside the vast, silent emporium this midnight, none of which has to do with the straightforward business of retailing.

"Inside, it is said, toys topple from the their shelves. A skateboard rolls down an aisle, clanking aimlessly into a wall. But nobody is in this Toys 'R' Us this midnight. Or anyway, nobody alive. In the heart of high-tech Silicon Valley, could there really be such a thing as a haunted retail outlet? 'I'm a skeptical person,' says Toys 'R' Us assistant store director Jeff Linden. 'But something's definitely happening here.'

"In the past few years, store management has tried to get to the bottom of several curious developments. Linden recounts stories of objects flying 20 feet through the air and hitting employees. Shelves left neat in a locked store have been found in disarray the next morning. And then there was the talking doll that cried 'mama' over and over--but would only do so when put in a locked box...But that doesn't mean that store workers laugh off the matter. 'Some of our employees are spooked,' Linden says. 'They won't go into certain parts of the store alone.' He hastens to add that the "ghost" hasn't affected day-to-day store operations in any tangible way. Yet the incidents were taken seriously enough that management let a local psychic [Sylvia Brown] visit the store."

It was this 1978 investigation that yielded the infrared photograph and information about the identity of the ghost. According to Brown, the ghost told her he was named John (or Johan) Johnson. At the turn of the 20th century, he was a mentally handicapped worker on a ranch at the current site of the store. He was smitten with Elizabeth Yuba Murphy Tafee, daughter of the owner. His love was not returned and after his death from an accidental leg wound many years later, he remains tied to the site. To date, however, this information has not been verified in the historic record.

 
GHOST OF MURDERING MOM

This photo was reportedly taken in Marblehead, Massachusetts, during a seance in a house where a mother murdered her children and then committed suicide. The seance, coordinated by psychic researcher John Spence, was held in the house after a new resident complained of a ghostly presence and felt influenced to harm her own children. In the photograph there appears to be the semi-headless shape of a woman in a dark dress with a large white bow, as well as the dark, faint shapes of several children. There is also quite a bit of light streaking, which is usually associated with a long exposure.

Other phenomenon reportedly took place at the seance, including a rug folding itself into the letter W, cold spots, the formation of visible energy orbs and rays of neon blue light, and the odors of ozone and a cloying sweet decay. After the seance, the residents moved out and the house remained vacant for several years

 
GRAVE GIRL

This infrared photograph was taken by Jude Huff-Felz during a daylight parapsychological investigation by the Ghost Research Society in Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, on August 10, 1991. It was apparently part of a larger panorama of the cemetery and not the focal point of the photograph. The photo shows a woman with long hair and bangs sitting in a relaxed position on a tombstone. She appears to wear a light-colored dress that reaches her ankles.


 
GIRL IN THE FIRE

This photograph was taken by local resident Tony O'Rahilly on 19 November, 1995, as Wem Town Hall, Shropshire, England, burned to the ground. When O'Rahilly took the photo, neither he, nor other onlookers, saw the little girl in the doorway. The picture was taken with a 200mm lens from across the road because O'Rahilly and other onlookers were prevented by police and fire personnel from approaching the burning structure.

After the image was developed, O'Rahilly submitted it to the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena. They, in turn, sent the picture and the negative to photographic expert Dr. Vernon Harrison, former president of the Royal Photographic Society. Dr. Harrison analyzed the print and negative and reported that he was satisfied that the picture is genuine. "The negative is a straight forward piece of black-&-white work and shows no sign of having been tampered with," said Harrison.

A fire ravaged the town hall once before, in 1677. The historical record indicates that the 1677 fire was caused by a young girl, Jane Churm, who was careless with a candle. In later years, Churm's ghost was reputed to haunt the town hall.