Shock and Awe as Ghost is Captured on Film!

[CivCube]

Boo!

Ghostly image at Britain's Hampton Court
Surveillance footage shows spooky figure shutting doors

The Associated Press
Updated: 2:03 p.m. ET Dec. 19, 2003LONDON - Are there ghostly goings-on at Henry VIII’s palace, or is that hazy image of a fellow in fancy robes just a bit of Christmas cheer?

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Closed-circuit security cameras at Hampton Court Palace, the huge Tudor castle outside London, seem to have snagged an ethereal visitor. Could it be a ghost?

“We’re baffled too — it’s not a joke, we haven’t manufactured it,” said Vikki Wood, a Hampton Court spokeswoman, when asked if the photo the palace released was a Christmas hoax. “We genuinely don’t know who it is or what it is.”

Wood said security guards had seen the figure in closed-circuit television footage after checking it to see who kept leaving open one of the palace’s fire doors.

In the still photograph, the figure of a man in a robelike garment is shown stepping from the shadowy doorway, one arm reaching out for the door handle.

The area around the man is somewhat blurred, and his face appears unnaturally white compared with his outstretched hand.

“It was incredibly spooky because the face just didn’t look human,” said James Faukes, one of the palace security guards.

“My first reaction was that someone was having a laugh, so I asked my colleagues to take a look. We spoke to our costumed guides, but they don’t own a costume like that worn by the figure. It is actually quite unnerving,” Faukes said.

Popular tourist attraction
The palace, built in 1525 on the River Thames 10 miles west of central London, is a popular tourist attraction and some of the guides wear costumes of the Tudor period.

Wood said she was hoping people would come forward with similar stories and try to explain the figure.

The palace has been the scene of many dramatic royal events, and already is supposed to have a few ghosts.

King Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymour, died there giving birth to a son, and her ghost is said to walk through one of the cobbled courtyards carrying a candle.

Her son, Edward, had a nurse called Sibell Penn who was buried in the palace grounds in 1562. In 1829 her tomb was disturbed by building work, and around the same time an odd whirring noise began to be heard in the southwest wing of the palace. When workmen traced the strange sounds to a brick wall, they uncovered a small forgotten room containing an old spinning wheel, just like the one Penn used to use.

Henry’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard, condemned for adultery, was held at the palace under house arrest before her execution at the Tower of London. An 1897 book about the palace says she was reportedly seen, dressed in white and floating down one of the galleries uttering unearthly shrieks.

The palace was once a prison for King Charles I, who later was beheaded, and then home to his nemesis Oliver Cromwell, who briefly ruled when Britain was for a short time a republic.

© 2003 The Associated Press.

It's more than likely a publicity stunt, but what do you think?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Looks like some dude in a corny robe standing in a doorway. A ghost??? PUH-leeeeze

 

[Chieftess]

It could be the ghost of Christmas Past.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

It's the first stage in the invasion of Earth by ghost aliens. It's time to rebuild those 1960es bomb shelters !

 

[Yaniv]

Sure, whatever.....

Even if there is such a thing as ghosts, this is just a man in a robe.

 

[BorgeoisBuffoon]

I suppose we can always just call the Ghostbusters and let them figure it out.

 

[Smaasnekje]

...seem to have snagged an ethereal visitor...

For a moment i thhought is stood shagged

 

[Panda]

Shouldn't this be in 'Humour and Jokes'?

 

[Phantom Lord]

Call in the pope and excorzise the ghost, all its living or etheral descendants and the palace itself of course!

This incident looks very grave, since it obviously happened in broad daylight, which is an offence against widely accepted standards of ghost behaviour.

 

[Xen]

if it is, or even if it isnt, its kinda unnerving

 

[WillJ]

If he were a ghost, why would he bother opening the door instead of just going through it?

 

[eyrei]

That place does have a strange feel to it. I got horribly lost in the garden maze while I was there...

 

[Tassadar]

Originally posted by eyrei
That place does have a strange feel to it. I got horribly lost in the garden maze while I was there...

Lost physicaly or spiritualy ?

The next step is to set up a boomy trap on that door to try to catch him.

 

[Civrules]

Hah, you know how it is...now people are confused but in a few months we will probably see stuff on TV about it and there will be two points of view that strongly support their position -- the people that strongly believe it and the people that have evidence that it is not true. In the end people will still be confused and nothing will be proved.

 

[Phantom Lord]

That's why we need the pope for this, let him do the job and no one will be confused anymore.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Maybe it is a giant radioactive monkey in a robe, that would explain the white face.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

A ghost that needs to open the door to leave a building? I guess he needs to read the handbook again.

 

[Esckey]

Ghosts don't go about doing whatever they want, they follow a pattern set out when they were still alive. Which is why he's opening a door.

The picture looks faked, looks like some guy with a white mask opening a door, then got someone to put their greasy hands on that part of the picture.

 

[Strider]

Originally posted by WillJ
If he were a ghost, why would he bother opening the door instead of just going through it?

Technically if there are such thing's as ghosts, there could be the possiblility that ghost really can't walk through walls, or atleast this one is unable to. Some bird's can't fly, so why can't some ghosts not walk through walls?

 

[Sims2789]

wow. another person wearing a good costume.