Article: The April 2006 Newcastle Keep Ghost Explained

[Tony]

Article:  http://www.otherworldnortheast.org.uk/articles/newckeep.html

In the early hours of the morning, April 2nd 2006, a photograph was taken at an investigation at Newcastle Keep run by Darren Ritson and The North East Ghost In-Spectres (now the North East Ghost Research Team/Wraithscape) that has recently taken the online paranormal community by storm, as well as local press.


The original picture by Mark Winter that caused the media storm

The photograph in question seems to show a crouching figure at the north-west end of the Galleries in Newcastle Keep, obscuring the data logger and tripod set there, and I have to admit that at the time I myself was convinced that the team had potentially photographed something out of the ordinary.


Close up of 'anomalous shape' detail

The vigil in the Galleries took place between 00.28am and 01.27am on the morning of the 2nd, with a motion sensor and temperature/humidity logger set in the north-west corner, with the team restricting movement to the south west corner, logging the western and southern corridors with camcorder and digital cameras. During this time it wasn't noted that any peculiar photographic anomaly had been taken, and wasn't until the next vigil in the Garrison room, over an hour later, that Mark Winters noticed that he had something peculiar on camera.

At the next break, the photograph was downloaded to computer, and as the precise time the photograph was taken had not been noted, the image's EXIF data was accessed, showing the photograph had been taken at 00.34am, and when comparison to the notes was made it was found that the corner in question had been vacated by investigators two minutes earlier, meaning that the figure shown on the photograph was anomalous in nature.

Unfortunately it is the reliance on the EXIF data, and the visual investigator's favourite old enemy, pareidolia that creates this anomalous image. What looks like a figure crouched looking down the corridor towards the camera is actually simply myself setting up the data logger and motion sensor in the north west corner, and not in any way or shape an apparition or ghost. The first suspicion that all was not what the data seemed to show was a glance out of the corner of an eye at the image printed in the Sunday Sun, when the 'apparition' from first glance looked like the back and side of someone. The curve of the shoulder is the curve of the back and shoulder, the left arm crooked out of sight behind the left alcove and the pale area of colour or 'face' is the ear, with digital extrapolation making the area seem visually bigger. Measuring the height of the figure by the courses of stone behind the image, it was surmised about 3-4ft, and the small legs are simply legs crouched over. The end of the 'cloak' as it has sometimes been described is simply the tail of the coat.

I consulted with Darren Ritson, founder of The North East Ghost In-Spectres about the accuracy of the EXIF data, and it was found that Mark Winters' camera was slow, as of 7th June, by 15-20mins, meaning that immediately the EXIF data that claimed the corner had been empty was invalid. However, this still didn't explain the image, from the point of view of it being myself down the corridor, as being slow by 15-20mins certainly didn't fall under that 2 minute window needed. At that point the EXIF of all of Mark Winters' photographs for the night was examined, and was found that the 15-20mins error couldn't have been present on the night as it would have meant photographs taken at the end of the Garrison Room investigation would have had to have been taken through the break following that vigil. Unfortunately this means that the EXIF data cannot be relied upon: my guess is that the camera batteries must have been changed a number of times, and the ability to examine relational EXIF subsequently lost.

Next stage was to try and recreate the image using myself as a target. On the evening of the 24th June, myself and Sarah Hutchinson of OWNE went to the Keep with the permission of Paul McDonald, the warden and tried to recreate the photograph. For the recreation I wore pale trousers and shoes to try and create some definition, but wore the same jacket I had on the night of the April investigation. My hair, it was noted, was also longer, meaning less ear pixellation to create a 'face'. The results are shown in the picture below:


Reconstruction

So is the photograph a fake as has been suggested on many sites? The answer is NO: it is merely a misinterpretation based on faulty EXIF data, and underlines one of the many dangers in digital photography: always check your date and time is set properly!