Do YOU see the ghost in this photo?

This photo was taken inside the Cave Church, deep within Gellért Hill in Budapest, Hungary. I was fascinated with the eagle, lighting, textures and mise en scène; I took several photos of this particular setting. When I looked into my small view finder to review some of my images, I was shocked to see what looked to be the image of a robed figure, standing in the pews, with right arm raised towards the heavens and left arm slightly elevated.

I carefully studied the scene before me, glancing back at the digital image I had captured. I could not understand how I came to capture it. Was it a trick of the light? A shadow?  Standing there, in front of the pews, it was not obvious. I took several more pictures, from different angles, and could not reproduce the effect. The figure appeared solely in that one image.

Now, I don’t believe in ghosts – not in the traditional sense; however, my interest and curiosity had piqued. I decided to show the image to staff. I approached an official looking gentleman; I told him I had captured something interesting and asked if he could have a look at the image and tell me what he saw. Straining at the small screen on my digital camera, the attendant  – misunderstanding my intentions – immediately launched into the history of the eagle. While I appreciated the history lesson, I told him to have another look – a closer look. I asked what he saw.  There was a long pause, as he concentrated. A look of amazement crept across his face. This was all he could say: “Wow… wow… wow. What is that?” He asked a female co-worker to look at the image. They were amazed. I asked if anyone had reported this before; he said no. I explained that I could not determine how the image was created. I left them to ponder the image.

When I arrived at my flat back in the UK, and displayed the image on my laptop, the mystery abruptly ended. The larger screen and improved resolution made it immediately obvious how the image came about – but I’ll leave it up to you to discover for yourself. Do you see the ghost?