Image Said To Be Ghostly Evidence
by David Bale
Could a photograph be evidence of Norwich’s ghost?
When Janice Mark decided to take a picture on the corner of Elm Hill the best she hoped for was a nice shot of historic Norwich. She never imagined that it would lead her to question whether she had snapped evidence of ghostly life in the city centre.
But when she downloaded the picture of St Peter Hungate Church, on the corner of Princes Street and Elm Hill, she was drawn to a white image in the church window. And on closer inspection she noticed that the image is remarkably similar to a human figure.
Could this photo be evidence of a ghost?
The senior telesales executive at Archant said, “I have an open mind, but I have had someone say that he is a medieval preacher. “We also have a friend who has gone to the church to see if there is something in the window, but there isn’t anything there. If you zoom into the top window of the church, you can see an image of a white figure with a long bushy beard. If you look closely, you might be able to see his eyes, nose, mouth and ears. You may just about be able to make out that the figure is wearing something on his head, which also goes down his back.”
The church, which is open to the public one day a week, is run by The Norwich Historic Churches Trust, which manages, preserves and maintains many of Norwich’s redundant medieval churches.
The trust’s chairman Rory Quinn said he had never heard of any ghosts in the church, but he suggested one possible identity.
He said, “It could be the spirit of Mordecai Hewett, who gave his name to the Hewett School in Norwich. It’s the 50th anniversary of the Hewett School next week so it could be something to do with that. There’s a memorial to Mordecai in the church.”
However, according to city-based paranormal investigator and author Dominic Zenden, 45, from Old Catton, who has been a spiritual medium for more than 25 years, those hoping it is evidence of an after-life will be sorely disappointed.
He said, “I have had a really close-up look and have seen this type of picture before. Sorry to disappoint but this in my opinion is not a photo of a ghost. It is the light relaxing back from the angle of the window to the camera. This is a very common misconception when it comes to photographs of ghosts.”
A study last month identified Norwich as the ninth most haunted city in Britain in terms of the number of ghostly sightings.
The Supernatural Britain Report was conducted by Lionel Fanthorpe, president of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, who studied archives, websites and his own reports to identify sightings and recordings.
Derby came out as the most haunted in the survey with 315 sightings of ghosts, poltergeists, werewolves and vampires since records began, which equates to an average 14 sightings per 10,000 members of its population. By comparison Norwich had an average six sightings for every 10,000 people.
St Peter Hungate Church was built in 1254, but the current structure was only finished in 1460. It was used as a museum of church art from 1936 until 1995.
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/
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The hunter on Friday, September 12, 2008Look! In the window! It’s porfessor Dumbledore!
