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Ghost makes court appearance – on CCTV
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 UNITED STATES. Staff at an American county court have reported seeing a ghost and they have photographic evidence to support their claim. Fox News reports (20 December) that court official Barbara Jones was just about to leave Lincoln County Court near Charlotte, North Carolina, on 16 November when she saw a ghostly image of a woman writing in a notepad on the court’s closed circuit television system (visible behind equipment against dark wall).
Two security guards who were sent to the locked office walked right through the image, leading some sceptics to suggest it was just a reflection – but of whom? The puzzling CCTV ghost was also seen by court bailiff Lonnie Reap who is sure the court is haunted.
This is not the first time an apparent ghost has been caught on CCTV. Four years ago, an image captured by a surveillance camera at a different type of court – the 16th-century royal palace of Hampton Court, south-west of London, which was once the home of King Henry VIII.
In October 2003 security staff heard alarm bells ringing near an exhibition hall at around 1pm, indicating that fire doors had been opened. But on checking they found the doors closed. When they checked recorded CCTV footage of the area they were astonished not only to see the doors opening but also a long-coated figure appear and slam the doors shut (see below).
 It was reported that the doors mysteriously opened at the same time on the previous day and following day, but a figure was seen on only one of the days. Could it have been one of Hampton Court’s tourist guides? No, said the royal palace, because they are not allowed into that area. A variety of strange phenomena have been reported during the palace’s 500-year history, including sightings of the ghost of Catherine Howard, one of Henry VIII’s wives.
Meanwhile, the oldest continuously occupied governor’s residence in the United States – in Richmond, Virginia – is also being plagued by paranormal phenomena. Even Governor Timothy M. Kaine has experienced them, and he confirmed it in a radio interview at the beginning of December. He has not seen the ghost of the Grey lady who is supposed to haunt the 193-year-old executive mansion in Richmond, but he has been plagued by spooky phone calls.
“The telephone will ring once in [our] private quarters … at a very inconvenient time,” Kaine said on his monthly radio call-in show. “It rings once, pick it up, there’s nobody there. It’s always at the exact same moment.” A spokesman for Kaine said they occur just after midnight on the same day of each week. And he revealed that former Governor Mark Warner had also received such calls.
Another Grey Lady who is far less reticent about putting in appearances seems to roam the impressive Victorian Gothic Willard Library, Indiana’s oldest public library, having opened its doors to the people of Evansville in 1885. She may well deserve the title “the most investigated and photographed ghost” in America.
For the past 12 years, paranormal investigators have been given annual access to the library in the hope of recording the ghostly presence. It is thought it may be the spirit of Louise Carpenter, daughter of the library’s founder, Willard Carpenter. With the advent of new technology, however, a global audience can now go “ghost hunting” at Willard Library, by viewing web cams – which it calls GhostCams – which refresh automatically every few seconds.
It asks visitors to alert it to “ghost sightings” and the best of these puzzling but hardly conclusive images can be viewed at the library’s website. |
Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006
Category: Ghosts
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