New technology always brings new glitches. That’s just par for the course. When digital cameras first came out, everyone went orb crazy, as their flashes on their new cameras illuminated dust particles, bugs, and moisture droplets that people immediately thought were ghosts. Now that everyone has a smartphone, those cameras are experiencing weird glitches of their own, and every anomaly is being seen as proof of the paranormal.
The latest example is the ghost photo on the staircase at the Stanley Hotel, in Estes Park, Colorado. Of course the Stanley Hotel is famous for being the inspiration for the hotel in Stephen King’s book The Shining, and it has been investigated on paranormal reality shows like Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. A photo taken recently by a guest at the Stanley allegedly shows a ghost, but I’m guessing this is more about a glitch in the technology rather than a ghost in the hotel.
The Red Circle of Paranormal Certainty strikes again!
The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, has been called “the most haunted place in America.”
Aside from inspiring Stephen King to write The Shining, it’s apparently built on a foundation of quartz that purportedly attracts all kind of spirit activity, the latest of which has been allegedly captured on camera by hotel guest Henry Yau.
Yau was walking around the hotel after dinner snapping photos when he took a picture of the Stanley’s famous lobby, apparently capturing a woman dressed in period clothing standing to the left of the stairwell.
Yau says he waited until the area was empty to take a picture and one paranormal investigator has weighed in, claiming that the picture shows not one, but two ghosts – the other a child to the left of the woman.
In an interview with Colorado’s 9News, Yau said, “I’m terrified of ghosts. I’ve always been superstitious…This has completely solidified my beliefs about ghosts.”
“When I was taking this photo, there was nobody there,” he added. “I didn’t feel anything abnormal. It wasn’t until the next morning when i realized this figure was in the photo.”
As for the fact that people have pointed out more than one figure in the snap, Yau said: “That gave me the chills!”
Researcher Kenny Biddle of the Geeks & Ghosts podcast chalks the image up to the “panorama” feature on Yau’s phone, which takes photos over the course of several seconds rather than instantly, and would allow for guests not present at the initial moment to show up as ghostly apparitions.
Indeed, an entire blog, “Panorama Fail,” is dedicated to otherworldly glitches caused by the feature. As per usual, it probably depends on what you’re predisposed to believe.
We know where King would fall, at least.
The Stanley Hotel has made a lot of money the past few years capitalizing on the ghost hunting craze and running ghost tours (which they have since stopped), but I think a heaping mix of technological glitches and the power of suggestion from publicly claiming to be a haunted hotel is helping people to see something that just isn’t there. The panorama feature, as well as the iPhone’s feature of “live” photos that sort of look like mini movies, can create some bizarre effects. If someone popped out for just a second, it would look like a ghost in the photo. As far as paranormal “experts” saying you can “clearly” see a child’s head in the photo, I think someone needs a dictionary so they can look up the words “expert” and “clearly.”
