Close-up of the infamous Wem ghost photo.

Yesterday it came to light that one of my favourite "ghost" photos is actually a hoax. The photo was taken in 1995 when the Wem Town Hall had burned down. The photographer Tony O’Rahilly who was photographing the horrific scene claimed that the image of the girl appeared when he developed the roll of film.

There was much speculation as to the authenticity of the photo, and for those who believed....the identity of the young girl herself. A myth grew around the photo that it may have been the apparition of Jane Churm, a 14 year old who had accidentally started the great fire of Wem in 1677, and had been reportedly haunting the town hall.

Tony O’Rahilly died in 2005 and to his last days maintained that the circumstances surrounding the taking of the photo, and the image of the ghostly girl were true.

Postcard depicting the "ghost girl"

The photo has now been revealed as a hoax, by a keen eyed fellow who recognised the young girl in a postcard that he came across that was stamped in 1922. She (whoever she was) is the image of the girl in the famed "ghost" photo. You can read more about it here.

The revealing of the hoax is kind of timely for us as Matthew just a couple of days ago published a blog entry on how the bending of the truth, exaggerations, and outright hoaxes particularly those perpetrated in the name of paranormal "reality" tv shows is a great disservice, and detriment to the study we love.

As stated above the "Wem ghost" pic was one of my favourite photos. And while I am normally happy when answers are found to some of these mysteries, even if they turn out to be natural explanations, this for some reason just makes me sad.

I guess I was taken or I wanted to be taken by it because it looks like what I would expect a photo of an apparition to look like.

Oh well............HOAXES SUCK!!!