What is this...?

Ghost photo from
haunted Gilson Road Cemetery, Nashua, NH

Fiona's comments:

This real "ghost photo" was taken at Nashua's Gilson Road Cemetery when we were researching ghosts and hauntings. It's one of our favorite "What is this?" pictures.

I took this ghost photo with a $6 disposable Fuji camera. On that night, a group of us were testing inexpensive cameras to see what an amateur could expect when taking photographs at random in a haunted location.

By the time I took this photo, the fog was just starting to roll in. We could see clearly without a flashlight, and many of our cemetery pictures were normal, but the mist became a factor later in the night.

We took two identical shots at every spot, and the photo immediately before this was almost entirely black and crisp.

The photo after this one was also sharp, with no evidence of humidity or fog. No one was smoking. There were no houses nearby when this picture was taken, so there was no risk of woodsmoke from a fireplace, either.

(Since then, a subdivision has been built immediately across the street from this cemetery.)

What is this weird, swirly mist...? Is that a gravestone to the right?

It should be, because that's what the camera was pointing at.

We've had dozens of letters from readers, suggesting everything from a ghostly finger to the Virgin Mary. This is our most popular real "ghost photo."

Whatever it is, it's weird. And cool. And yes, this is real. It's not altered from the original film print in any way at all.

I don't think that it's scary, but some people do. In fact, it reminds me of an old InfiniteFish background, in a way.

Camera: Fuju disposable Quicksnap, 800 ASA
Developed at: One-hour processing, Shaw's Royal Ridge, Nashua
Location: Gilson Road Cemetery, Nashua, NH
When: 26 Nov 1999, about 5 p.m.