The Staircase Ghost. Reverend Ralph Hardy, a retired priest from White Rock, BC took this photo in 1966. The original intent was to take a picture of the gorgeous Tulip Staircase in the Queen’s House section of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, but he caught more than that. After developing the photo and having it verified by experts, he found that he captured the image of a shrouded figure, climbing the stairs. Apparently the stairs are rumoured to be haunted, with strange happenings and unexplained footsteps to it’s credit.

The Solway Firth Spaceman. This is probably one of the most popular mysterious photos in the world. In 1964, near Solway Firth in Cumbria, England, Jim Templeton was taking a photo of his daughter in a meadow. She was the only one in view of the camera, but when they developed the film, they found a spaceman behind her. Modern analysis suggests it could be someone with their back turned, but Templeton claims that it was just he and his daughter out there.

Hampton Court Ghost. Hampton Court is a royal palace in London, and this photo comes from a security camera on the premises. The camera caught someone closing the doors, violently, except no one was there when the guards were notified. The palace has had a long and violent history, so it makes sense that there’s vengeful ghosts on the premises, that are being disruptive.

The Phoenix Lights. Phoenix in 1997 was a happening place, with mysterious lights that floated over the state. In one event there was a triangular formation of lights that passed over the entirety of the state, while in a separate incident, stationary lights just floated in the sky. Experts have tried to explain it as weather phenomena or a trick of light refracting onto the clouds, but none of those ‘explanations’ hold any real weight. It’s still a mystery.

Candy Man’s 29th Victim. Between 1970 and 1973, Dean Corll was a serial killer who abducted, raped, tortured and killed 28 young boys. He became known as the Candy Man, as his family owned a candy factory. In 2012, 40 years after he was murdered by an accomplice, a mysterious photo of a terrified and handcuffed boy was found in the possession of another accomplice. What makes the photo more unsettling is that this is a photo of a boy that wasn’t of the original 28. So who is this kid, and why did no one miss him?

Waiting for Eternity. In 1991, members of the Ghost Research Society sought to investigate paranormal sightings within Bachelor’s Grove cemetery outside of Chicago. This is considered one of the most haunted places in the US, with hundreds of reports of various phenomena. During their physical investigation, they didn’t find anything, and one of the members took a photo of a tombstone. Later when it was developed, they found a ghostly figure sitting on the stone, waiting.

The Battle for Los Angeles. Called the Great Los Angeles Air Raid, this battle was a rumoured enemy attack which resulted in an anti-aircraft artillery barrage that took place in February of 1942. When photos were published in the newspapers the following days, UFOlogists insisted that the photos showed proof of an alien attack.

Aliens Have a Pyramid on the Moon. Taken by Apollo 17 in December 1972, this image shows the area known as Geophone Rock. While developing it, NASA classified this image as a blank photo, but when you enhance it and retouch it, you can see a pyramid. Sure it could be a natural formation, but it looks suspiciously symmetrical, and NASA refuses to comment, nor has that part of the moon been surveyed lately.

The Time Travelling Hipster. When the South Fork Bridge in Gold Bridge, BC was re-opened in 1941, this photograph was taken. You can see a man in the crowd, dressed in a modern style, wearing contemporary sunglasses and holding a camera far too modern for the time. Whether he’s an actual time traveller or just a dude with a fashion sense that matches how we dress 75 later, who really knows?

Fairy Circles. This is a natural mystery that defies explanation. In the dry and arid grasslands of South Africa, circular patches called fairy circles appear. They range between 2 and 15 metres (7 and 49 feet) and scientists are puzzled as to where they come from, and why just that small area is made barren. Some say sand termites, some say other factors cause the land in that small area to lose its vegetation, but to date, there’s no definite explanation.

The Extra Thumb. These guys were just taking a casual photo, throwing up gang signs and whatnot, and it was only after the picture was developed that they saw an extra thumb above the kid in the Slipknot shirt. Both the kids and the photographer say that they have no idea who’s thumb that is.

The Hook Island Sea Monster. In 1964, French photographer Robert Serrec took a picture of what looked like a giant snake-like creature off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Experts claim it’s a tarp, or a line of dark sand, or some sort of crevice, but those explanations don’t hold water. Whatever was chilling on the seafloor, will never be truthfully verified.

The Naga Fireballs. Sometimes also referred to as the Mekong Lights, these fireballs are natural phenomena that appear on the Mekong river in Thailand and Laos. These balls are reddish in colour and naturally rise from the water and float in the air. There’s no explanation for what they are and why they do this. They just appear, and rise from the water to the sky and dissipate.

Freddie Jackson Didn’t Miss Photo Day. In 1919, Freddy Jackson was repairing an airplane propeller, when he was accidentally killed. Two days later, his squadron took a group photo and when it was developed, they saw that Freddy’d made it for the photo. If you look at the enlarged face, to the right of the actual airman, is Freddy. The photo was taken on the same day as Freddy’s funeral, and it’s as if his spirit didn’t know he was dead. His squadron confirmed that the face behind the living gentleman, was in fact Freddy.

The Incident at Falcon Lake. Turns out aliens like Canada too. Back in 1967, Stefan Michalak encountered an unidentified flying object near Falcon Lake, Manitoba. He got close enough to touch the object and then it knocked him down. He was close enough that the exhaust system burned him, but doctors couldn’t determine the nature of the burn or clearly answer why he started suffering the symptoms of radiation poisoning.

Mysterious Satellites. Back in 1954, several newspapers published stories and photos about satellites that were orbiting earth. The newspapers featured comments from a retired Naval Aviation Major and UFO researcher, who verified that these were indeed satellites. Except back in ’54, no one had the technology to launch a satellite, leaving the nature of the objects orbiting earth to be a mystery.

The Ghosts of the S.S. Watertown. Working on an oil tanker in the ’20s wasn’t an easy job. In 1924, James Courtney and Michael Meehan were crew members of the S.S. Watertown and while cleaning a cargo tank, were overcome by fumes and killed. They were buried at sea by the crew, but to their astonishment, the ghostly faces of the two men appeared in the waves the next day. After several crew members saw the faces, the captain ordered a photograph taken and the negative was checked for tampering, only to find that the images were genuine. The ghosts of the men were looking at them from beyond.

The Babushka Lady. The Babushka Lady is an unidentified witness to the assassination of JFK. She was present during the motorcade in 1963 and was clearly either filming or photographing the events, and the angle that she was standing at, could dispel any doubts about the Grassy Knoll, and second shooters. Even as the shooting took place and all the other witnesses took cover, she calmly remained standing and recording the events. Neither she or the film have been identified.

Charlie Chaplin’s Time Traveller. In a film shoot for a Charline Chaplin film in 1928, there’s a woman who walks by in the background, holding what looks like a cellphone. Some say it’s a hearing device, other’s aren’t sure, but the way she gestures and moves, is eerily similar to what you see on the streets everyday, from those holding mobile phones and walking.

Evelyn McHale. In May of 1947, with no prior indication, Evelyn McHale leapt from the observation deck of the Empire State Building, and landed on a limousine parked at the curb. Labelled the ‘most beautiful suicide,’ this photo defies explanation. Taken by a shocked photography student, he wanted to capture the fact that as someone who had fallen from such a great height, her body was unnaturally intact; as if she was merely sleeping on the roof of the car.

The Hessdalen Lights. In the Hessdalen Valley in Norway, there’s been a mysterious light phenomena that’s been going on since the ’40s. The light show has been comprised of a form of white or yellow light, with unknown origin, floating above ground level. Between the years of 1981 and 1984, the lights were seen over 20 times per week, then suddenly dropped down to 10-20 times per year. No one can figure out why they appear, why so frequent between those years, and why they still appear.

The Coopers’ Family Photos. In the 1950’s the Cooper family from Texas, moved into a new home and wanted to commemorate the move with a photo. When the image was developed, there was this body/ghost falling from the ceiling, captured in the photo. Analysis of the negative yielded nothing. It literally looks like a ghost took that particular moment to fall from the ceiling and add themselves to the family shot.

The Church Ghost of Worstead. Churches are always a place for prayer, and anytime you visit a house of worship like this, there’s always someone deep in prayer. What you don’t always find, is someone from the beyond praying with them. In 1975, Diane and Peter Berthelot were visiting the Worstead Church in Norfolk, UK. Peter took a photo of his wife, and when the film was developed, they found this. When they spoke to the vicar of the church, he told them that she was the White Lady, the ghost of a healer that haunts the church. She’s also responsible for miracles that can’t be explained.

The Creepy Case of Elsa Lam. I think we’ve all heard of this one. In Los Angeles, back in 2013, 21-year old student Elsa Lam was found dead in the water tank at the Hotel Cecil where she was staying. No one knows how she got onto a roof that was barricaded from the inside, but there’s footage from the elevator that’s incredibly bizarre. It shows Lam exiting and entering the elevator several times, holding conversations with an unseen person in the hallway outside, and then trying to hide within the elevator, which was also mysteriously malfunctioning at the time.