Japanese Ghost Pictures

Inspired by recent discussion about the appearance of apparently supernatural phenomena in photographs, I uploaded some old pictures of mine for your continued interest.

These particular pictures I had for 8 or so years. I had thought them lost but recently re-indexed every picture in my possession using , a process that took over a day(!). I make no claims as to their authenticity or anything else; however, I might say that as far as I know, they predate the era of easy fakes using Photoshop, and if they are fake, they are very good ones.

As always, every picture is a link, click for a full-sized version.

Japanese Ghost Pictures

eerie photographic noise

Starting off, at first glance this is not a particularly compelling case for the existence of ghosts. The “noise” in this photograph could be easily explained by faulty film, double exposure, or mishandling during development.

However, it certainly does look strange, especially considering where they appear to be standing.

face in mirror

In this picture, a man holds his daughter up for a photograph, and in the developed picture we can see what appears to be a face in the mirror behind him.

A trick of the light? A side-effect of the human mind’s tendency to find “faces” in everything? It certainly looks like a face, and it appears three times.

face in mirror - magnifcation

Magnification of the above.

head at waterfall

A woman poses in front of a scenic waterfall. Below her, in a seemingly impossible position, we see a fuzzy image of what appears to be a western man’s head.

head at waterfall - magnification

Magnification of the above.

mysterious clouds

I don’t really know what to make of this one. I don’t see anything conclusively reflected in the windows indicated. They do seem to reflect something different to the windows above, but the angle is also slightly different. It is a ghostly effect, but to my critical eye there are just too many variables.

hands in television

Now this one is strange. The hands that appear in the television screen are extremely clear and obvious. That would usually make me suspicious. But look at the magnification.

hands in television - magnification

Besides the fact that, if this is a fake, it is an extremely good one, focus on the little fingers on each hand. They seem to be distorted and twisted.

Again, if this is fake, it is an extremely good fake, and the effect is quite unsettling. I have no explanation for this picture.

ashi wa doko?

A group of schoolgirls pose for a memorial picture. In the final developed image, one of the girl’s legs is missing.

Perhaps it was staged, perhaps she really only has one leg. It would have been difficult to edit.

man on rollercoaster track

An action picture of an amusement park rollercoaster in motion -the moving carriage is visible in the foreground, complete with motion blur. In the background, what is almost certainly a person is walking on the track, high in the air.

The only possible explanation I can think of for this picture is that the track the man is walking on is not actually a track for the rollercoaster but, instead, some sort of access walkway. But it certainly does not look like a walkway, and it certainly looks like a man is there to me.

man on rollercoaster track - magnification

Magnification of the above.

face in the tree

A group of schoolgirls pose in front of a wooden building. In the tree next to them, we can see what appears to be the distorted face of an old woman.

face in the tree - magnification

Magnification of the above.

eyes in television

Perhaps the easiest photograph here to fake, but also quite compelling. Make of it what you will.

38 Responses to “Japanese Ghost Pictures”

  1. stella.cheung Says:

    no no no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    i regret having seen those pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    nightmare!nightmare!!!

  2. Sho Says:

    I’m sorry!!

    But don’t you think it is interesting?

  3. China corn Says:

    Really interesting, and I think the Japanese Ghost Movies are the best in the world.

  4. fdhhgkfgd Says:

    WOW!

    i think 3,7 and 8 are the truest

  5. mimi Says:

    NIGHTMARES!!! NIGHTMARES!!! NIGHTMARES!!!

    try

    http://www.trueghoststories.com

  6. NIA Says:

    The ghost of old women always makes me having a goosebumps….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    oh Noooo….it happens again…………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  7. minty_leaves Says:

    cool pics, Dude! do you have more?

  8. Pujan Rai Says:

    the one with old woman was good. Is that for real?

  9. ghosts are whack Says:

    thats some bullshit

  10. Says:

    wow! i’m actually studyind on spirits and apparitions and ghosts and these pictures REALLY helped! thanks!!

  11. Mark Win Says:

    Entirely unconvincing…after looking at your photo’s I followed a hunch and spent time flicking through some tabloid magazines with workmates managing to find at least 20 ‘apparitions’ with the aid of a positive frame of mind and some light imagination. We all found it amusing and not a little startling as we realised our own predisposition to wanting to find something. Kind of sad in a wider philosophical sense for us all. Still, enjoyed your site and appreciated the stimulated and lengthy conversation it provoked…don’t stop doing what you do…you never know what may come and we continue to experience our ‘wanting’.

  12. Says:

    perhatikan baiok2 dan detail,, so scarryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

  13. budz Says:

    cool i want to see more

  14. Says:

    These pictures were cool. they all reminded me of the movie Th Grudge wich scared me really badly!! MOMMMY!!!!!!!!!!jk, but yeah, they were cool =)

  15. yeiten Says:

    not at all interesting……but i am sorry for that one leg missing girl.

  16. josie Says:

    i think your photos were great.im going to a ghost hunting weekend this friday 19th oct,hope i see something ican post you. best wishes josie

  17. Hope Says:

    Those were pretty cool pictures. It reminded me of the Japanese movie called Shutter (in English) not sure what it is called in Japan. Awsome movie very scary and some of the pictures used in the movie were donated by real people.

  18. Hailey Says:

    awesome.so creepy,i love it

  19. Thozzz Says:

    Real or fake they’re really cool.
    What gets me is the people that respond like they “know” for a fact that the photo’s are fake. Takes a big ego and a small intellect to come to that conclusion, seeing how any rational person would have no explination for them.

  20. eatsouls Says:

    That’s all??? Upload more pics, I wanna see more!… Do you have demon’s pics??

  21. Mona rayos Says:

    ONE WOMAN MAGNIFICATION ABOVE? HIS WOMAN MAGNIFICATION THAT?

  22. tom Says:

    think how many photos in the world are taken everyday, the chances of similarities of certain shadows etc to things we can recognise is pretty good, think how the mind can make something out of the smallest similarity when prompted, like watching clouds, like the face on mars etc

  23. Manny Says:

    wow that was creppy does anyone out know of better sites with scarier ghost pics email me

  24. Mike Hunt Says:

    ghost scare me soooooo much indeed i will have very scary nightmares ahhhhhhhhhh i can see them now!!!! they say ”boo” scary

  25. janne Says:

    I think I solved te case of te missing leg:
    If you look closely you realise that the ‘present leg’ is a leg shown from the side and I presume the girl stands facing to the side, but turning her face & torso to the photographer.
    I think we percive one leg as missing since all the other girls are facing the photographer and you can see both of their legs.

    Many traditional japanese ghosts come with a face like the one of an old person, so that one is pretty scary

  26. Raven Says:

    WOAH!! freaky!! japan seems to be plagued with ghosts!

  27. Mareanne Says:

    Wow that was cool and freaky i hope you have more cool pics. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  28. Ursa Says:

    Dunno are they true or fake, but they give me cold chills!

  29. Man of faith Says:

    Totally fake…. all of them! Ghosts don’t exist!!

  30. Sho Says:

    I would have thought a “man of faith” would have no problem believing in things that don’t exist. A bit inconsistent, aren’t we?

    Anyway, I make no claim as to their reliability – I was interested to see them, so reproduced them here thinking others might as well. Caveat emptor.

  31. Byron Says:

    dude.thatc tree ghost looks funny cause she is wearing make up and stuff

  32. wien_dhi17 Says:

    i need more pictures..ghost in japan look similar to ghost in indonesia..

  33. joe Says:

    cool.. , do you have more Jap Ghost pic?

  34. nikki in america Says:

    I believe they are real. Real pictures come with a feeling. Japanese ghost are always so much more vivid and identifiable then American ghost and I feel that is because of the strong connection of spiritual belief when they where alive.

  35. Paru Says:

    oh ma god it was scary bt can’t stop from looking all of it..
    now i m going to have nightmare for this
    who will protect me,,,, ahhhhh

  36. trust.myheartandsoul Says:

    Wow… 35 comments! That’s quite impressive!

    Two topics that’ll definitely garner the most comments and viewership are:

    1.Supernatural pictures

    2.Opinionated issues

    Good luck!


    I didn’t know ghosts have nationalities!

  37. peter Says:

    i cant beleive those things but very interesting stories

  38. Says:

    u guys r wimps these arnt scary at all

Leave a Reply