Ghosts of the white house.

[Brian Johnson]

Tell me what you think about this article/photo.

http://mysterytopia.com/2008/08/ghost-in-white-house.html

[PPI Tim]

Good picture.
I hope it is a fake.
and if it is not.
that ghost needs to be slapping George Bush
upside the head screaming
"YOU ARE FRAKING UP THE COUNTRY!"

[PPI Tracy]

That is a very interesting photo.  I would like to be able to see it in a book to get a closer look at it.  The one thing that I do find strange about the photo, is that if you look right in front of the supposed apparition, the ground is bright as opposed to darker soil around the rest of the photo.  Also, to the left of the apparition, it almost appears as if there is some sort of line or difference in texture to the wall and immediate area.  Take another look and see what you think.

[PPI Karl]

Also, to the left of the apparition, it almost appears as if there is some sort of line or difference in texture to the wall and immediate area.  Take another look and see what you think.

I think you've struck on the salient factor, Tracy.  If this were a color photo, I think it would be much clearer to us that this is paradoelia.  It's just coincidence that this part of the wall is different and the ground in front of it is disturbed, creating the illusion of a transparent figure.  The caption suggests that the figure is to scale with the other men off to the left; however, even though the alleged figure's head is as high as the others, his alleged feet (also, as you pointed out, Tracy) stand somewhere nearer to camera, right in the middle of where that dump truck had been parked the night before (follow the tread marks back to their origins).  What we're mistaking for legs are actually indentations from the parked wheels of one side of that dump truck.  That anomalous bright spot, another disturbance in the dirt (spilled engine oil?)

Furthermore, the fact that this anomaly happens to be relatively centered in the photo just means that this artifact of paradoelia is the one easiest to dwell on, but it's not the only anomaly.  Why not, for example, make even more significance out of the hooded Vulcan Ambassador (below, top right) or that sneaky little ghost kid with his hands in his jacket pockets, staring right at the cameraman (below, bottom left).  And what about that voluptuous Mae West figure (below, marked in green)?  They seem like they should be candidates for ghosts as well, except that they're easier to subject to closer scrutiny, which gives away the truth of the matter.  The putative apparition on the far wall is less apt to be scrutinized in any way that can prove or disprove it's a ghost, and under those circumstances the majority who want to believe it's a ghost will conclude it is.