Ghost in the Burning Building Fake

Definition: The Ghost in the Burning Building photo was believed to be a real ghostly apparition, until the truth of its creation was revealed years later. Here is how the photographer faked the famous Ghost in the Burning Building.

The Ghost in the Burning Building photo was believed to be a real ghostly apparition, until the truth of its creation was revealed years later. Here is how the photographer faked the famous Ghost in the Burning Building.

The Ghost in the Burning Building photograph was taken in the village of Wem in Shropshire, England in 1995. And it was regarded for several years as one of the more impressive examples of ghost photography available. Skeptics have subsequently proven, however, that this photograph is quite a clever fake.

On the night that the building burned down, as the fire brigade was extinguishing the fire, a local photographer, called Tony O'Rahilly took several photographs of the fire. And claimed, when they were developed, that one of them showed what appears to be a fairly young girl, backlit by flames, staring out at the camera as the building burned down behind her. It's a very impressive and dramatic image, sends a shiver down the spine of most people when they see it for the first time.

So, for several years, this was regarded as impressive, until a newspaper article was published and a reader sent in a note that the girl in the photograph looked exactly like the image of a girl in period costume from a 1922 postcard. When you compare the two images, they are identical. The image of the girl in the postcard fits exactly over the top of the image of the girl in the burning building photograph. Now unfortunately, Mr. O'Rahilly had died at the time that this was proven, so we are not able to ask him why. He always denied fraud, denied that this was a fake.