Ghosts in Japan
Tuesday, 13. October 2009, 01:31:27
Some people like to be scared, some don't. I recently read that this can be tracked down to DNA; apparently a gene exists that makes some people squeemish at scary things, while other get a sick kind of pleasure from it. I'm one of the latter, but it seems many, many Japanese are the squeemish type, especially women.
But when looking at some Japanese ghost photos, I can understand why they are squeemish. It's the middle of the day, and looking at these I got a chill run down my spine.
This will probably be a long article, filled with pictures, so please click the link below to keep reading.
But when looking at some Japanese ghost photos, I can understand why they are squeemish. It's the middle of the day, and looking at these I got a chill run down my spine.
This will probably be a long article, filled with pictures, so please click the link below to keep reading.
The catching of a ghost or something paranormal in a photograph is called a 心霊写真 shinrei shashin, or literally, spirit photograph. While many photos can be explained as either blatant hoaxes or tricks of the mind (humans have a tendency to see shapes in many objects, clouds for example), some are just downright hard to explain and creepy.
A common theme of Japanese ghost photos are things popping up where they were either unnoticed before, or where they shouldn't be:
A man seen walking on a roller coaster ride. If in fact it is a person, how did they get there? Aren't they concerned for their safety?
After taking a picture with his child, he noticed that the mirrors in the background all showed a strange face...
What looks like a Western man's head pops up in the strangest of places. He seems to be far away... won't see her panties from that angle I'm afraid.
Another head popping up, this time more vivid.
This one looks intentional, but there are a surprising number of photos that show too many hands for the number of people shown. You can see some more at the video located on Youtube.
Another theme in Japanese Ghost photos is that of 幽体離脱 yuutai ridatsu, or the spirit leaving the body. This is often shown by body parts missing:
While this could be a genuine one-legged girl, she'd have to be a pretty good sport to volunteer for this sort of thing.
At first glance, this picture didn't strike anything wrong with me. I couldn't find the hidden ghost in the background or anything. Then I realised, the middle girl has no damn legs! Either that, or she is wearing a grey-colored skirt...
I'm always on the hunt for more, but there are a LOT of (obvious) photoshopped images around. The most believable ones are from the 70s or so.
*UPDATE*
I managed to find another 幽体離脱 yuutairidatsu photo:
While the following are not from Japan, I found them on a Japanese web site, so just enjoy:
Well, if you wanna see more pictures, mostly from the west, check out Ghost Study.
*UPDATE*
I found a good site with a lot of these pictures. Some are so obviously photoshopped it's ridiculous, but here are the more believable ones.
Look at the guy's head on the right. That's right, WHAT HEAD?
Ghostly vapor? Or broken TV set?
A ghost? Tengu?
A pretty famous picture showcasing the aforementioned 幽体離脱 yuutai ridatsu
And another.
(67%)
WIDGETIZE
How to use Quote function: