What if I told you that ghosts are real. Would you believe me or make fun of me? From the beginning of the 19th-century, photographers would try to capture images of all kinds. Others did it as a job shooting family and wedding photos or would do it as a hobby, snapping photos of beautiful scenery.

Over the years, cameras would sometimes capture more people than the photographer could see with the naked eye. Those extra entities are often referred to as spirits or even as ghosts. Most people don’t believe that such things really exist. They think that said photos are the result of a double exposure or editing.

The creepy part is that some of the photos that captured ghosts have been examined by a number of professionals who found that the pictures haven’t been tampered with. Keep in mind that most of the pictures are older and they were shared, due to the rise of social medias, many years or decades after the original ones were taken.

Some think that these people aren’t ghosts but time travellers whose image was captured in the right second. Others think that it was just a lighting effect and there wasn’t actually a person there or it could simply be pareidolia.

Let’s take a look at a collection of some of the most haunting images as well as the stories surrounding them. You can then decide for yourself if ghosts are real or not. Today we take a look at 15 chilling images of hauntings shared on social media.

15. THE HANGING MAN

It is believed that the original photo was taken back in the 1950s. The Cooper family had just moved into their new house. The first night there, the father decided to take a photo of the mother and the grandmother with the couple’s two children.

But when the photo was later developed, a hanging or falling body can clearly be seen next to the family. It is said that after seeing the picture, the family decided to move out of the house. Even though the picture is old, it was proven that the story and the photo are both fakes.

This was based on the lighting and vignetting errors made while the picture was edited, probably using Photoshop.

14. OUR LADY OF ZEITOUN

Since it was something that millions of passengers and foreigners had witnessed through the years, the story of Our Lady of Zeitoun image is believed to be legitimate and not the figment of someone’s crazy imagination.

The first time the figure appeared, the public thought it was the Virgin Mary. At first, they believed there was a woman trying to commit suicide on the top of the church, but after a few minutes, the silhouette disappeared. The same thing occurred many times and always faded after a while.

It is believed to be a sign of peace and unison, as it appeared when Egypt was in crisis. Experts thought it was a situation of pareidolia from the nearby light lamps’ reflection.

13. THE CEMETERY BABY

This is another example of a photo that is thought to be a fake as there is very little to no information about the story surrounding it. It is said that the picture of the grave was taken by a mother who visited her deceased teenage daughter at the cemetery.

Even though the grave in the picture is the daughter’s resting place, the mother didn’t recognize the baby and stated that there were no babies present in the graveyard the day she visited.

The picture is still a mystery and it remains extremely popular on the internet.

12. LORD COMBERMERE’S GHOST

Lord Combermere was a busy man. He was a cavalry commander and an avid book reader. He was also the Governor of Barbados for some time. The photo of him above was taken at the same time as his funeral which was 4 miles away from the house.

Even though a relatively clear image of Lord Combermere can be seen sitting on the chair, it was thought that it was one of the servants that sat there while the photo was being taken. Due to the long exposure, the photo took over an hour to capture.

The staff denied that any of them entered the room when the photo was being taken as they were all attending the funeral at the time.

11. GHOST ON THE BED

The famous Bed & Breakfast Inn located in Dahlonega, Georgia, didn’t get its popularity for offering great services and hospitality. On the contrary, it is believed that the picture above, which was taken back in 1999 to promote the inn, contained a haunting entity. The owners didn’t realize it until 2003 when they were reviewing the photos to upload on their website.

The boy who appears to be laying on the bed is believed to be Claude Worley, a teenager who was hit by a train in the 1800s and died. The owners originally thought it to be a reflection of the light or a photographic flaw but soon found out the truth, which was far more haunting.

10. MADONNA OF BACHELOR’S GROVE

After over a hundred reports of ghost sightings, strange sounds and balls of light were made, the Ghost Research Society (GRS) decided to take a look at the curious events surrounding the area of Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery.

While researching the team’s equipment started acting strangely so one of the members tried taking black and white photos using an infrared high-speed camera.

The woman appears to be sitting on a tombstone, wearing an old-fashioned white dress and some parts of her body appear to be transparent. The photo is believed to be legitimate as the only people in the cemetery at the time were the members of the GRS.

9. GRANDPA’S GHOST

At first sight, there is nothing wrong with this picture. It’s just the photo of an elderly woman and someone is walking behind her. But at the time the photo was taken, there was nobody standing behind the woman.

Things get even creepier when the granddaughter realizes that the person behind her grandmother looks exactly like her grandfather. The problem is that he had died thirteen years before this photograph was taken.

I guess that even the saying “‘Til death do us part” couldn’t stop grandpa from being close to his beloved wife. Even after his death, he still looks over his cherished partner.

8. TULIP STAIRCASE GHOST

When Mr. Hardy took a photograph of the beautiful spiral tulip staircase in the National Maritime Museum, I don’t think he expected to capture that entity as well. In the photo, the silhouette seems to be grabbing the rail with both hands while his head is lowered like he is grieving.

This photo was taken in 1966 and prior to this, many people had reported hearing strange sounds and some even saw a figure on the base of the staircase. Many experts and even some people from Kodak have reviewed the picture and stated that they found it to be legitimate.

7. THE BACKSEAT DRIVER

This photo was taken by the daughter in-law of the deceased woman right after her funeral. It was taken while the daughter in law was standing next to the grave her mother in-law after she had been buried, but her husband’s dead mother can be seen in the backseat of the vehicle.

Many experts have checked the image for evidence to see whether it has been tampered with and many faults have been found. Only one person thought it to be legit so few people still believe that it hasn’t been doctored.

Either way, it still remains creepy and deserved a place on this list.

6. MANILA GHOST

It is creepy enough to find a ghost standing behind you in a photo. It would feel infinitely more terrifying if you saw it was holding you by your arm. That is the case with this photo of two friends in the city of Manila, Philippines, who just asked a bystander to snap their photo.

The picture was captured using a digital camera and after being reviewed by many people, both amateur, and professional photographers, it is still not clear if the photo has been doctored.

According to the girls, there was no one passing by them or standing anywhere near them apart from the person who took the photo of them.

5. THE GHOST OF MARY LEE

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium is just what you would expect from a psychiatric hospital in a horror movie. Patients were kept captive like prisoners, tortured so that they may “heal” their sick mind. Deaths and suicides were abundant, so many believe it to be a place propitious for ghosts.

Even though there have been numerous reports of ghost sightings, the most popular is by far the ghost of Mary Lee. She was a nurse there who got sick with tuberculosis while treating patients and when she found out she was pregnant with an illegitimate child, she couldn’t bear the shame so she hanged herself in room 502. Some time went by until her body was discovered.

The curious thing is that another nurse had suicided by jumping out of the same room’s window.

4. THE WEDDING GHOST

When Neil Sandbach, a wedding photographer, was taking pictures of the area before the ceremony took place, he couldn’t imagine that when he would develop the photos he would find the ghost of a boy dressed in white floating before him.

The photographer asked the staff of the farm if they have seen it and they said they have seen it multiple times hiding and looking at them while peaking around the corner of a wall. Nothing is known about who the boy was when he was alive or what happened to him. Maybe he is just a lost soul wondering what had happened to him and looking for some companionship.

3. THE SPECTRE OF NEWBY CHURCH

The image was taken by Reverend K.F. Lord in 1963. It is described as an artifact because it doesn’t resemble a person very much, mainly because of its extreme height, as he looks to be well over 6 feet tall, and because of the strange appearance.

Most think it probably is the ghost of a monk from the 16th century because it appears to be wearing something that resembles a mask to cover a disfigurement or possibly leprosy. Others believe it may be an associate wearing a costume.

Experts don’t believe the image to be the result of double exposure even though it looks like many other similar cases of haunted pictures.

2. THE WHITE LADY OF WORSTEAD CHURCH

In 1975, Diane Berthelot, alongside her husband and son, visited the church of St Mary. It was August, and they wanted to get out of the sun’s heat. She didn’t know someone was sitting behind her. She discovered it after looking at the picture when they returned home.

Wearing what appears to be a bonnet and an old fashioned kind of dress, the figure is believed to be a ghost that, according to the legend, appears only to those who are sick or need healing.

Reports of seeing her go as far back as 1830, when a man climbed to the top of the church promising he would kiss her if she appeared. After some time, his friends went after him only to find him tucked in a corner scared to death. After telling them, “I’ve seen her, I’ve seen her” he left his last breath.

1. THE AMITYVILLE GHOST

Featured in the popular film Amityville Horror, the house was investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren and many paranormal researchers like them. It could be one of the dead Defeo family’s children, the youngest one who was murdered in the house. The story behind this image is probably one of the most haunting legends surrounding this place.

Some believe it could be one of the people that worked with the Warren couple named Paul Bartz, because he looks like the little boy and he is wearing similar clothes to ones the boy wears in the photo. As for the glowing eyes, it could be the reflection of his glasses in the infrared camera.

To this day, it remains one of the best pieces of evidence that ghosts really do exist.