A woman named Lynda had a 100-year-old photo that was taken of her grandmother and several other women who worked in a linen factory. Because it was of historic interest, Lynda sent the photo to the website Belfast Live. But it soon began to cause some consternation when viewers noticed something uncanny in it. What was it about this picture that people found so spooky?
Lynda said her grandmother’s name was Ellen McKillop Donnelly, and she’s on the far right in the second row in the photo. There you can see a hand resting on grandmother’s shoulder. But no one is touching her, as all the nearby women have their arms folded. The few that have hands exposed are Ellen herself and women farther from her. And no one’s hand could have accidentally been double exposed, because no hand in the picture matches the disembodied one resting on Ellen.
It was common 100 years ago for photographers to create ghostly pictures by double exposure and prey on bereaved and gullible relatives. Is this the case with Lynda’s picture, or is it really a spirit hand? Lynda says, “I don’t really believe in ghosts.” But she adds that there have been “odd goings-on” around the photo. There’s something odd going on within the photo as well.