Ghostly image at Britain's Hampton Court

[DuctapeFatwa]

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?

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.

http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3760119&p1=0

[sistersofmercy]

1. Oh those Brits are a funny lot

Can't a tired old dictator fart in peace!
And meanwhile the US has the look-a-like.

[Melsky]

2. Creepy!

I wonder if this will turn out to be a hoax. The picture almost seems too perfect.

[creativelcro]

5. What do you mean too perfect?

if it was a person in a costume it can well be a real picture (I mean, NOT fake)...

[wanderingbear]

3. So..Im not suprized..

Shuch places are useually haunted..

[NJCher]

4. photo enlarged

bushed out posted this yesterday. Here's the URL:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=556540

I enlarged the photo so you can see it close up:




Cher

[Vadem]

6. Wow! Henry the VIII I am, I am! Fantastic picture....

Verrrrry interesting. By the way, when I clicked on the URL, I got a blank page.

[Devlzown]

7. Shaggy....Ghost!

I saw that and thought it would make a great publicity stunt for a movie. I believe in ghosts and all, but that picture is just tooo good.

[arewethereyet]

8. Its Sauraman, escaped undetected from LOTR - Return of the King

my daughter saw it this evening, what a terrific movie !

[John_Shadows_1]

9. Now, this is news ...

... the guy's face looks whiter than Michael Jackson's!!!!

[wanderingbear]

10. Someone in a large fur overcoat..

Um..Why do they assume its a ghost?

[the_real_38]

11. Here's another link (boo!)...

...
http://more.abcnews.go.com/onair/goodmorningamerica/gma000531_ghost.html

[AlFrankenFan]

12. Creeeeeeeeepy

And I'm a sucker for things like these. To me, it looks like Death, a monk with a cane in a long robe, or something else. It's very baffling indeed.

[durutti]

13. Wait 'til next month...

It'll be interesting to see what Skepticial Inquirer has to say about this pic.

[cliss]

14. Spooky image.

thanks for posting, DTF. I'm not sure it isn't a paranormal phenomenon.

So palace security set up the surveillance camera to keep an eye on the fire door, which someone keeps leaving open. They've set the camera up on the roof on another wing, and the camera captures a figure.

Question: If palace security has a camera rigged at this spot, wouldn't they have cameras all over the place? After all, security is an issue at the royal estates. I'm sure they all have sensor devices around the grounds, and cameras to keep track of the visitors.

So we're assuming that this is a person who dressed up in a Halloween costume to have a little fun with the security guys in the room behind the kitchen. He would probably be picked up on other cameras; in a bedroom as he changes his clothes, walks down the hall, etc. Did any other cameras pick him up?

Also, it might be seen as a "publicity stunt" to increase tourism revenue. I don't believe this is a money-maker. I think on the contrary; palace publicity would rather that this type of thing go away; because it scares a lot of people away. Like "haunted" inns and other royal estates. If people hear that they are supposedly haunted, they do not want to spend the night there. So it's probably not a PR stunt.

Looking at the "fellow", and I can't tell if it's a man or a woman. I'll say 'him' for the moment. He's wearing a long type of robe and it looks like either fur or lace around the collar and the cuffs. The robe is long, and you can see it's open at least partway down, but it's buttoned up on top. He looks like probably a nobleman, since royalty in those days was very skewed (1% wealthy; 99% peasants). He has long brown or black hair. He's definitely a caucasian.

We should be able to, without too much trouble, identify the period that the robe was from. Probably the Elizabethan period. Could we possibly find HIM in a painting somewhere?

There's one thing that makes me suspicious, though. It's my understanding that 'ghosts' can't open doors, and this one apparently does. Not sure about that.

However, the thing that makes this believable is that the palace would have no financial reason to pull a stunt like this. Royalty and their advisers tend to be very conservative (no Hollywood here), and they would have been able to pick up the stuntman on other cameras. Any thoughts?

[cliss]

15. An added thought:

Upon looking at the photo again, I'm wondering about the height of this fellow. People in the Elizabethan era were quite a bit shorter than us (ever seen the beds they slept in? They were tiny).

If a DU:er were to stand in this very opening, how tall would he/she be? It's hard to tell how tall this 'man' is, but that would be another way of detecting a fraud.