I thought that I would add a Part 2 to Mike's Toys R Us ghost story. This is the famous ghost picture taken at the Sunnyvale, California Toys R Us. The story goes that in 1978, psychic Sylvia Browne was conducting a seance, at this particular store, for the TV show, "That's Incredible". She said that the ghost's name was Johnson and was murdered in the orchard in which the Toys R Us was built on. Many pictures were taken during this time with a high speed camera and no one showed up in any of the photos. But, the image caught on infrared film during the investigation, showed the a man leaning on the wall. They had no explanation for why he was in this photo and not the others. This Toys R Us had many stories of things being pushed off the shelves and walls, and objects moving on their own. None of those people felt like they were in any danger, just scared by things suddenly moving. Apparently Johnson likes to play practical jokes.
If you take a closer look at this photo, it appears that he is casting a shadow on the ground and wall. Humm, this is interesting to me because I don't think ghost cast shadows.
What do you think, real or not?
Hmm, you have to have some sunstance to you to cast a shadow. He also looks as if he is masked? I suspect a fake myself. Maybe he just doesn't wanna grow up?
ReplyDeleteSo great to see this post-delighted to see you here too Aggie! This is one of those ones that I so want to be real-however ive gotta Agree with Aggie about the mask and of course what you mentioned about the shadow-I have a book out from the library now that might contain info -as far as to the 'solidity' of ghost sightings-i now i read a para already where a person was said to have shaken hands with a ghost! this is one of those cases-that person seeing other person thought they were alive and a matter of hours later learned they were killed in an accident and couldnt possibly have seen the 'actual' them much less shaken his hand-if I find other info soon will come back this eve to comment here about it-if not after my self-imposed 'offline'day on weds -maybe by the time i come back online thurs I will have found more info-great stuff as always-love the blog-when I first saw that pic you have I was thinking please let this be real!
ReplyDeleteI see this photo and I immediately am creeped out at the mere thought it could be real. If it is, thats one damn good ghost photo. But my common sense says fake, mainly BECAUSE of the shadow. It would be interesting to see the photos taken with the normal camera to compare the two.
ReplyDelete--Mike
I was excited when I first saw the picture and wanted to share since Mike wrote about his experiences working at Toys R Us. I added the notation at the bottom after taking a closer look at the picture in photoshop.
ReplyDeleteDevin, I also wonder about the solidity of ghost sightings. I did a blog on Gettysburg. In it was a couple of experiences with ghost sightings and interacting with the ghosts. One couple or family (can't remember which) had a conversation with what they thought was a re-enactor. They took pictures with him too. In all of their photos there was no one there where the man was supposed to be. Interesting, but was it true? I don't know.
Thanks, Devin and Aggie for stopping by.
I remember this story--it was all over the news like crazy for a time. I don't think that's real. I know from doing hunting that a lot of businesses benefit from being haunted. I once kidded that we should create certificates for places that show genuine phenomenon and they would be eager to display it. It works especially well for restaurants and hotels, but I'm not sure you want a toy store to be haunted. I think it's attractive to people because it's such a frightening thing--having kids and ghosts together in such an innocent place. Kind of like that evil scariness of clowns--supposed to make kids smile but usually make them scream (and adults too)!
ReplyDeleteAutumn, I love the idea of a certificate of authenticity for all ghost pictures. An expert can examine the photos with a critic's eye to come to the conclusion that the ghost in the photo is real or not. I love your thinking.
ReplyDeleteHey Mikey, Lost and GHI tonight!
Don't forget UFO Hunters and Monsterquest tonight too... I usually only watch Monsterquest if it's bigfoot though. I've never been into UFOs until I saw UFO Hunters. I wish these guys did ghost hunting--they'd give it a really legit name.
ReplyDeleteAutumn, did you happen to catch the MonsterQuest marathon over the weekend? Lots of stories on bigfoot. I caught many of the episodes. Fasinating stuff.
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ReplyDeleteAll the best :)
Judging by the silhouette,the ghost seems to be wearing jeans that were more indicative of the era when the seance took place rather than the time he would have lived.
ReplyDeleteReal.....I love Sylvia Browne. I have read most of her books.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to the Toys R Us video from "That's Incredible," which is posted on my blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://ghostsofhalloween.blogspot.com/2009/03/thats-incredible-haunted-toys-r-us.html
I grew up in Mountain View, Ca and actually remember when this was big news. It was in the paper, and the store was even closed briefly from what I remember.
ReplyDeleteI was excited and freaked out when I initially saw this in the actual show "That's Incredible". For years I believed it to be genuine, but now that I think of it it does seem fishy and now believe it to be a fake.
ReplyDeleteHaving the so-called "psychic" Sylvia Browne as the one who conducted the seance only lessens the credibility of the investigation. She has a very shady profile, one of them as being a scam artist.
Jacefont hit the nail on its para"normal" head. He's wearing corduroy boot cut jeans, a popular pant at the time of 1978, but nonexistent in the era he was said to be from.
ReplyDelete