Extraordinary claims. Ordinary investigations.

Terrifying! Watch as the Colombian news program presents the ghost video, complete with a horror movie soundtrack! They also interview a local Catholic bishop, who says matter-of-factly that it’s just a “parapsychological phenomena!” — Christians do not, or at least should not believe in ghosts, but paranormal is kind of OK. They also interview a spiritualist lady who tells us something we could never have imagined by watching horror movies or hearing scary stories: “The little girl [ghost] doesn’t realize she is dead”. The Others!

On the following day, the TV news followed the popular comotion and presented further stories and claims:

But, seriously, what was that thing in the video? As anyone may test with their cell phone cameras, filming a bright light source may produce a lens flare, that’s always pointing to the light source and whose movement is related to the movement of the camera. Exactly what happens in the Colombian “ghost of Cucuta” video.

And, as we could expect, a rival TV news program also debunked the claims:

Photo of an one year old girl taken with a new digital camera. There were only two people in the house when the picture was taken, the girl and her mother behind the camera. But when they looked at it, this unknown person was by the side of the little girl.

Our reader Felipe Rodriguez solves this one:

“I looked at the photo, and concluded that it’s the photo of a TV behind the girl! Being son of a photographer, I deal with cameras and equipment a lot. When you photograph a television, the image turns up extacly like the one in the image… besides, there’s a square frame above the face of the unknown person”.

Seen above, a very famous photograph of Janet Harper related to the alleged Poltergeist phenomena in Enfield, UK. It’s the Enfield Poltergeist.

Below, a very similar photo of a child jumping in the air, from Mighty Optical Illusions.

Photo taken on a hospital in Indonesia

Comment: One of the most (in)famous ghost photographs on the internet, the girl in the corridor was actually composed on a computer to be viewed with 3D glasses: the girl will jump out of the image.

To those without 3D glasses, we made the animated GIF at right, alternating between the stereoscopic images on the original.

That is the real meaning of the spooky red and blue distortions.

After uncovering the truth behind this, we could not help but to create our own version of it.

The background image is from a Japanese corridor, and the ghost is very famous.

It’s not as scary as the original, but it’s hard to find photos of girls in black dresses with a hanged doll.

F.L. from San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, sent this image and the following report to the Argentinian website Dios!:

“Well, I would like you to answer me what appears on this photo. It was taken by my sister from a cell phone when I was alone on my grandma’s house, and when she came back home to download it, she found this. This happened around five months ago [July 2006], on a Sunday night.”

Dios! graciously forwarded the message to us, and we publish it here preserving the identity of the girls. Except for the ghostly one.

Comment: One of the best images I have ever received. There are no signs of digital tampering, the many horizontal lines are common on low quality cellphone cameras, and they are over the alleged ghost in the background. Some enhancing also reveals a reflection on the floor.

This all suggests there was indeed something there. But maybe it wasn’t a ghost, or even a little girl.

Only half of what appears to be the girl’s face can be seen on the image, and all her body is covered by what appears to be a dress. Well, maybe it was actually just the corner of a table or bed covered by a sheet, which by chance (and some pareidolia) happened to look like a girl.

Note how what would be the little girl’s foot may actually be the foot of a table or bed which the “dress” follows closely — and in a very straight manner. Also note how its height is very close to the table that can be seen in the front right of it.

But there’s a problem to interpret it as a table or bed, which is that it would be in front of the open door. That door will not close unless the table/bed/ghost get out of the way.

It’s not that uncommon to leave a table or bed to hold a door open. And we know tables and beds are real. Oh, large dolls are also something you can even buy, if you’re into it.

On the other hand, ghosts…