Alcatraz Ghost Woman

source

Sheila Sillery-Walsh captured the unknown woman on a visit with her partner Paul Rice. Sited on an island off San Francisco, Alcatraz is said to be one of the country’s most haunted places.

The 48-year-old teaching assistant said: ‘When I glanced at the photo on my mobile, I saw this dark female figure in the picture. I looked at the window again and there was no one in the room.’ She contacted prison staff but none of them recognised the woman in the picture taken with an iPhone.

A real ghost? Stunningly awesome example of pareidolia? Some sort of iphone ghost app? Maybe the photo was shopped? Believers will believe, skeptics will not.

I have no idea if it's real. Looks cool though, so I thought I'd share

I think its 'too good' to be a legit pic. What would a woman's ghost be doing in a cell?
I'm of the mind it is a smartphone app or photoshopped.

a reply to: DeadSeraph


I don't think it's pareidolia so that leaves a Ghost or trickery.
As there were no women at Alcatraz I suspect trickery.

Were there any women prisoners at Alcatraz?
No. Alcatraz was a penitentiary for incorrigible male federal prisoners.

Other prisons were built for women convicts, though none was commissioned using the
Alcatraz model for incorrigible women prisoners.
Not only were there no women inmates, there were no women at all in the cellhouse. No female guards or
administrators were hired at Alcatraz
www.alcatraz101.com...

There were plenty of women that did live on the island over time though and also long before it was a jail. If it is a true ghost, as far as she's concerned she may not be in a jail at all on her side of the veil. Can't just dismiss it because of just assuming she is in a jail cell from our point of view.

a reply to: DeadSeraph

If it's photos hoped, it's pretty good. She looks to have a uni-brow and large forehead. Also, what is that on the side of her face?

a reply to: DeadSeraph

Basic Photoshop with poor use of light levels.

Well, the DailyFail article states it was the 'Inmates' visitation waiting room'.

DailyFail

So every reason for a woman to be in the pic.

Also in the Mirror. Mirror Newspaper

Does anyone on this site ever do the slightest bit of web investigation before commenting??

Here is the twitter account of Shelia Sillery-Walsh, the woman who took the picture: twitter.com...

She did put a link to the story in her twitter feed, but nothing in her account looks like someone who is into (or even interested in ) the paranormal, or seeking 15 minutes of fame. Very mundane/typical stuff.

So she doesn't seem like the hoaxing type on the surface... but I do think she looks a lot like the woman in the picture, so I have to wonder if it is her own reflection?

originally posted by: Joki42
a reply to: DeadSeraph

If it's photos hoped, it's pretty good. She looks to have a uni-brow and large forehead. Also, what is that on the side of her face?

I thought it looked like the woman was holding her hand up to her ear, or perhaps holding some other object up to her ear. This could support the idea of it being a reflection. They were doing the audio tour of Alcatraz at the time the photo was taken, and this could show someone holding one of those audio tour earpieces (often a wand-like device with a small speaker) up to her ear.

ETA:
I looked it up on the offical Alcatraz website, and this is the photo they have of people getting audio tours:


My mistake, it isn't a wand-like device that I've used at other national parks. Do you think these headphones look similar to what you are seeing in the picture? I think it is possible, but not so sure... It still looks like a hand held up to the ear and check to me.
source of photo: www.nps.gov...

a reply to: VegHead
I think if it were to be a reflection of the woman taking the picture, it would be more straight forward. In other words, I dont think the woman taking the picture would be standing at that much of a angle to take a picture through that small of a frame. I know for myself I always directly face what I am taking a picture of. The "Ghost Woman" seems to be standing at more of a angle too me anyway.

a reply to: onehuman

That's a good point! The "ghost" definitely appears to be at an angle to me too. Not a typical stance for taking a picture.

Although, I will say that I tend to get pretty sloppy with my iPhone photos - often taking them quickly, one-hand, to the side, and at weird angles. I don't often take the time to set up a semi-nice shot, unless taking posed pictures with people. I 200+ blurry, craptacular pictures on the iPhone as we speak to show for it. It doesn't mean that Ms. Sillery-Walsh is as haphazard of an iPhone photographer as I am, of course...

a reply to: onehuman

You're right. Here's an excerpt from wiki

On January 10, 1935, a severe storm caused a landslide on Alcatraz, causing the Model Industries Building to slide.[10] This marked the start of a series of changes to the structures on the island. A riprap was built around it and it was strengthened and a guard tower added to the roof in June 1936, and the same month the barracks building was remodeled into 11 new apartments and nine single rooms for bachelors; by this time there were 52 families living on Alcatraz Island, including 126 women and children.

There something fishy about the resolution of the camera and the woman in general. Looking around the window port, the view and resolution is fairly good, yet the woman's face is somewhat hazy and blurred. And it almost seems like if the woman in the picture knew her picture was getting taken and she decided to face in that direction just to get her picture taken. Look closely at the direction the woman is facing, she would have clearly saw someone snapping a picture of her from that angle. The ghost woman herself is facing the window port. I'm not saying that picture is fake, but something is not adding up.

So convenience that that quality of camera has a blurry picture, you can make out the fact that she is a woman but you can't make out her facial features in more detail? why is she the only one out of focus of the picture when i could literally make out cracked paint on the walls. Look closely, there is a light almost directly above her in the visiting room. you can see it shining through the crack on top, the light bouncing off her as she walks by looks fishy as well. It's almost as if the light isn't bouncing off her correctly.

What I would like is have some of our more knowledgeable photographers ATS readers give us some their opinion if this photograph is real or not. When you look at fake/doctored pictures there always tell signs if they been Photoshopped or faked. Any idiot can super impose a ghost onto a picture, but alot of idiots don't understand about lighting angles, shadow casting, etc on pictures. Those usually idiots don't know how to fake. So I'm going to put this on the undecided list, good find though.


ONE OF THE BEST GHOST PHOTO EVER:
www.angelsghosts.com...

The famous airmen ghost photo. Look at the detail of the apparition, it's dead on. Details and everything I could make out. And yes, crewmen in that picture have all verified the person standing in that photo is of the dead crewmen that died before the photo was taken. This picture was also taken sometime around 1900s, so you know for damn sure it ain't photoshopped.

I don't think it looks like a woman at all, but more a young lady/child. It also appears to me that this apparition is mimicking the photographer, almost jokingly with a smirk on her face, doing the same pose a person would be doing with a camera phone.

Her hand appears to be close to the side of her head with her finger poised on what would be the top of the camera, on the button, mimicking the look of someone taking a photo without a camera in their hand.

Interesting pick. My bet is on a young woman/child though....

Here is my two cents. First of all, what appears to be a reflection in the window is visible, and it looks nothing like the woman in question. The reflection portion in front of the figure in question appears as a reflection, and I do not think such a clear reflection would have emerged for the woman and not the person taking the picture, or whoever it is in the reflection. Whatever is having its picture taken is behind the glass, not on the same side as the person taking the picture. If someone wishes to say there was someone behind the glass, fine. But that seems odd in itself, not to mention the clothing, hairstyle, and uni-brow as someone astutely pointed out.

a reply to: DeadSeraph

I still can't figure out what she is holding in her hand. I can tell that she is holding up her hand, it looks like she is wearing a black glove. Also, there is a light source behind her probably coming from a window blocked from our view by the door. The light is shining on the top of her hair and on the window sill on the door. The light is casting a shadow of her on the sill of the window. She is definitely in the room. I have never heard of a ghost casting a shadow. Perhaps she is another one of those time travelers we keep seeing holding their hand up to their ear. She popped in for the pic and popped out.

a reply to: Joki42

I think the light you are seeing on her hair is actually a reflection on the glass from the person taking the picture.

a reply to: DeadSeraph

S&F, THIS is what led me to this site in the first place! Thanks for the post

According to several of the comments on the Daily Mail article, there is a poster on the wall in that particular area of a woman, with most of those comments saying that the image is the poster that they've seen when they've been on tours of Alcatraz.

So, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be a ghost at all, just a picture of a woman on the wall of the visitors room.

ETA Just found a link that shows the pictures of women on the wall in the visitor area, so whilst it's not totally conclusive, it would seem that this is not a genuine ghost photo
Alcatraz Ghost Woman

a reply to: destination now

Sorry but I find that to be a weak explanation. That does not look like a picture on a wall to me. The woman in the photo appears to be right outside the cell door, not on a picture on the opposite wall. I suppose it's possible they just hung a picture outside the window and hoaxed the photo, but I don't think it's a picture on the wall.