Ghost hunters, etc. - Opinions?

[Ree]

OK, so last year when I was in New Orleans, I snapped a picture of a carriageway, as I tend to do, because I just find them to be so cool. Sometimes they are the gateway to this gorgeous other world behind the homes.

Anyway, back at the hotel that night, I slipped my card into my computer so my friend could have a look at my pictures for the day.
While I don't really have a strong belief in the paranormal, I do have a curiosity.
I find that abnormalities in pictures can often be explained away.

Anyway, my friend saw this picture and was pretty excited.
It turned out that it was taken in the carriageway beside the Pharmacy Museum. I didn't realize until later when I was reading a guidebook about haunted places that this place is reputed to be haunted.

Legend has it that Dr. Dupas dumped the bodies of these people through a trap door on the second-floor, where there was a wagon waiting in the carriageway on the left side of the building. It is also inferred from this that bodies were snuck in the building by the same means.

So, opinions?

[Ree]

I was playing around yesterday and remembered this picture. (My friend often reminds me of it from time to time, and he had mentioned in an email that he sent a copy of it to a ghost busting group for an opinion.)

Just for fun, I zoomed in on the picture and found something really odd.

This is from the same article I linked to in my first post:

...There is also another unknown entity of a woman that is seen in the courtyard by the fountain.

(Source: Dwyer, Jeff. Ghost Hunter’s Guide to New Orleans. 2007.)

So, is it pixelation or something more?

[firecat88]

Hmm...do you have/can you acquire other pictures from roughly the same locations to compare to? The first picture could just be lens glare (unless the abnormal thing about it *is* that light on the right side of the picture. o.o In which case, awesome find). The second one, because of the quality, might just be pixelation and matrixing. Again, though, the best way to say for sure is to have pictures from those exact spots to compare to.

[Ree]

I forgot to add that I wasn't using any type of flash.
It was mid to late afternoon.
I took a couple more pictures a few seconds later, and I will see if I can find them.
I tried to recreate the scenario this year, but no success.

There is an iron grate in front of the entrance, so I put my lens against a clear opening and aimed it into the alleyway.

[firecat88]

I forgot to add that I wasn't using any type of flash.

This alone makes that first picture more awesome and more 'This could be something'.

[Ree]

This is one that was taken a few seconds later, but I zoomed in a bit more to the courtyard.

[Ree]

From this year.
The first is my friend's picture, and the other 2 are mine.

I was also using a different camera this year.

The day was sunnier this year as well, and it may not have been at the same time of day either.
Last year's could have been a bit later in the day.

My cameras both years were just a small digital camera, while my friend's was a slightly higher quality.

[firecat88]

After looking at those last three in particular, I'd say that the first picture with the weird light-mist anomaly is definitely something. Which is awesome. Congrats on such cool find. I'm still iffy about the one of the courtyard, though.

[AccountingDrone]

Though to be perfectly honest, I would go for a film camera over a digital in general. Quality has improved but nothing beats a medium format camera for lack of graininess when using the right film.

[MoonCat]

Interesting. We did a local ghost walk last October (yes, right before Halloween!) and a lady was taking pics outside of a school while the guide was talking. Afterward she showed us the pic. There was mist all over the place right around where he was standing. We did NOT see any such thing with the naked eye while we were standing there listening to him talk.

[bhskittykatt]

Honestly, it just looks like a lens flare to me.

[Ree]

Do you get lens flare without a flash? I don't know all that much about photography.

It was a cloudy day and the courtyard wasn't brightly lit, and the alleyway was shaded.

[cashierbex]

I have pictures of my roomies finds and my stuff. Its kinda creepy. There was a mist for my roomies, actually a couple of them. Bright orange. Not manipulated in any way. Mine was of an actual figure and took a second one of the same spot and it was just an orb.

But I also believe in the paranormal. I have experienced it myself.

[bhskittykatt]

It is possible. Lens flares are caused by light reflecting off the lens, not necessarily from the flash.

There's a pretty quick test to find out. If you can, physically look at the color of your camera lens. If it's about the same color as the bluish haze, then it's a lens flare. If it's a different color (some lenses are red, for instance), then you might have something.

[Ree]

Unfortunately, that camera has gone missing in the past year. (I suspect it was stolen.)
I don't know what colour the lens was.

Like I said, I do realize a lot of anomalies in pictures can be explained away by very simple reasons, so I'm not disputing the lens flare as an explanation at all.

Now, is it possible to have lens flare in one picture and only seconds later have none?