A SADDLEWORTH graveyard is to feature in a documentary film after a ghostly figure was captured in a camera lens.
Landscape photographer Alan Bishop got a shock when downloading a series of pictures he had taken at St Anne’s church graveyard in Lydgate.
Through a haze on just one picture, the outline of a woman could be seen kneeling on a grassy knoll.
Alan, 55, revisited the scene and discovered a moss-covered gravestone lying flat with the ground at the spot.
And now pair of Tameside filmmakers has approached him to feature in a fascinating documentary they are planning about the paranormal.
Nik Higgins and Osman Riaz, both aged 22, own Live Stock Productions, a film company specialising in documentaries.
The film, expected to last up to an hour, will be premiered later this year and the two men – graduates from Oxbridge – spent half a day with Alan on location at the graveyard.
Alan, who lives just a short walk from the graveyard, said: “I am completely baffled by the picture. It has not been touched in anyway.
“The woman was kneeling by a grave of an 11-year-old girl who died in 1800. I am willing to put the picture under any scrutiny by experts but in 20 years taking pictures I have never seen anything like this before.”
Mr Bishop originally visited the church grounds to specifically capture pictures of a striking red sunset.
But later when the pictures were examined, his wife Deborah and daughter Stacey spotted the figure of a lady through the mist on just one frame.
Bespectacled Nik Higgins, the film’s presenter, said: “Alan’s is a remarkable story. We do not doubt his sincerity.
“Our area is filled with intriguing tales of mystery the paranormal. We are working with UK Shadow Seekers, a non-profit making organisation, to show some of the communy’s secrets in a new and refreshing light.”
Mr Bishop can be contacted at: 07724 321609. To visit his website, click on: www.alanbishopphotography.co.uk . Live Stock can be viewed at: www.livestock.comuf.com and their Twitter (@LiveStockProduc)
MEANWHILE The Saddleworth Independent’s ghostbuster Christine Whitehead went to meet Alan Bishop to find out more…
Mystery mists in photos are quite a common phenomenon of paranormal “evidence.” Usually the mist is not seen by the photographer, its revelation becoming apparent when the photo is developed.
This is such a pity – seeing such a mist with the naked eye would provide a great opportunity for someone to form some sort of communication with the “entity,” especially so if there is any credence in the belief that such mists appear before a spirit manifestation – ie, a ghost!
Of course, one has to rule out that camera flashes might be reflecting on moisture in the air, cigarette smoke etc, but many reporters vouch they have given a great deal of thought as to why an anomaly has occurred in a photo and have eliminated all possibilities regarding this world.
Nothing seems to have created it. Indeed, such photos can be part of a series, the immediately previous and subsequent photos displaying a non-misty image.
And not all such photos are taken by ghost-busters – many are from the endearingly mundane of family life – the special get-togethers, weddings, our children, etc.
I met up with Alan Bishop and looked very carefully at his photograph taken in St Anne’s Church, Lydgate, about 4 or 5 years ago in colour, monochrome and sepia and it is certainly intriguing.
The darker colouring certainly does not appear to be part of the surroundings and does seem to resemble a small female figure praying at a graveside. The grave contains seven members of The Schofield Family, the first interred therein, a little girl of 8, Sarah, in 1811.
So, has Mr Bishop caught an elusive ghost? Have we been conditioned, like all humans from being babies, to respond and acknowledge anything that looks humanoid? Is our playful imagination at work here?
Maybe. However, readers of The Saddleworth Independent will know I never scoff. And a very down to earth Mr Bishop, an experienced photographer of some years who “knows his onions”, cannot explain away the figure. Can you?
Curiously, photos of spooky mists are frequently taken … in cemeteries and churchyards!
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