Real life ghosts?

In a short conversation we had today with our Romanian friend, she told us that in Romania it is still very common to believe that when a person dies, the ghost stays around for 40 days.

It will be haunting the survivors, but usually not in a bad way. She went to explain how strange sounds during these 40 days can be heard, especially around the things that the deceased held dear. Afterward the ghost disappears to the afterlife. As our friend tells it, this is a very real and serious thing for the survivors. They believe in these ghosts.

I am hardly the one to start a discussion on the existence of ghosts or spirits on a blog for horror literature, but it sparked something. So I went around the Internet and found some links of pictures of real ghosts. Whether you believe it or not, some of these are very eerie, so be warned.

Demonic Creature haunts accident scene - The longer you stare at this picture, the more real it becomes. The haunting thing is that it is actually an accident scene. Your brain just ties the two things together.

Ghost child in group photo - This one comes off pretty friendly at first, especially since its a group photo of a party. Once you start to realize what you're looking at and what the implications might be, it becomes a little scarier.

Friendly ghost posing for photograph - This could easily be trick photography or an accident of exposure. Since it's late at night, long shutter speeds, etcetera. The strength in this lies in a simple question: what if its not?

Ghost Monk of Newby Church - Waaah! Not for the faint of heart! This could easily come out of some horror flick from the 30s. Skeptics might be a distrustful of the black-and-white and the grainy quality of this picture, but it still leaves an impression.

Ghost Face in Cemetery - With most pictures you have to stare at it for a while, but this one is very in-your-face. Literally. Not very scare, but certainly odd.

There you have it. I must say that during the viewing of some of these I had to check over my shoulder from time to time and I might leave the light on when retiring tonight. If you search a little more around the Net you will find loads of videos, pictures, some of dubious quality, but some quite convincing.

Have a good evening!