My Hiroshima Ghost Pic

posted on 29 Jan 2009 in Fun Pics

Do you see a ghost in this photo? 

(Click on photo to see arrow pointing to ghost)

This is my “Hiroshima Ghost Photo”. Japanese are really into seeing ghosts in photographs (there is even a word for it: 心霊写真) - which many believe are real manifestations caught on film. 

I went on my own once to Hiroshima way back when and like many people I went to the memorial and took photos of this famous “Genbaku Dome” - the only large structure left standing after the atomic bomb hit. 

I was a poor student teaching English on the side at the time, and upon my return to Tokyo I showed photos to my Jr. High School students and they immediately saw a GHOST in this particular picture and started freaking out. Since that time I would show this photo to various Japanese to see if they would freak out too. Quite a few people do. 

You be the judge. Right in the middle of the photo under the dome structure you can see an outline of what looks like a face with long black hair around it - presumably a girl. Freak you out at all? 

Goes without saying that I did not photoshop this picture. 

UPDATE:  A friend of mine in Hiroshima told me: “Believe it or not, the Genbaku Dome is actually under restoration now. There’s a whole latticework of platforms around it. It’s strange to think of restoration of something that was meant to NOT be restored.”

UPDATE 2:  Some people have mentioned that they cannot see it so I made another photo with an arrow - just click on the above photo to see it.

(33 comments

  1. 11:08 am Lola says:

    I’m a believer in the paranormal, but my personal opinion is that its not a ghost. I Imagine people are seeing what they want to see, same as people claim they saw the devils face in the smoke of the twin towers.

    Regardless, its a lovely photo of a special place. I’ve never been to Japan, have always dreamed of visiting. :)

  2. 11:14 am sheryls says:

    yes there is latticework around it! at least there was in 2003. here is my photo of it then: http://www.sheryls.net/japan/1/peacepark2.jpg

    i thought it was strange, too.

    i don’t see a ghost, but could be that i’m not seeing where you’re talking about. could you put it on flickr with a note?

  3. 4:35 pm Jeshi says:

    Try as I might I can’t find any ghost in it, maybe you should circle the place it’s supposed to be?

  4. 6:07 pm Quantity Surveyor Man says:

    Yup I picked it out easily before reading where it was located. It did give me the heebie-jeebies!

  5. 7:39 pm engrishwebmaster says:

    Click on the photo and you’ll see an arrow pointing to what some people think is a ghost.

  6. 12:16 am Ruperta says:

    It seems like Jesus to me.

  7. 5:57 am Ralph says:

    That’s about as vague and ridiculous as it gets. At least the Jesus on the grilled cheese (also ridiculous) sort of resembled something real. This is just a blob. People are idiots.

  8. 11:48 am engrishwebmaster says:

    Ridiculous maybe, but it seems to freak a lot of people out so I thought it would be fun to share. I personally don’t think it’s a ghost, but what do I know?

  9. 4:29 am LH says:

    If the white blob is face and black blob around it hair it would rather be man with beard, but I see only two blobs

  10. 8:44 am LH says:

    After second (actually fifth) look it might just look like woman bowing with long hair running down on shoulders. Maybe that’s why japanese person might see it more easily.

  11. 8:04 pm ric says:

    ‘UPDATE: A friend of mine in Hiroshima told me: “Believe it or not, the Genbaku Dome is actually under restoration now. There’s a whole latticework of platforms around it. It’s strange to think of restoration of something that was meant to NOT be restored.”’

    Probably they are making an episode of Grand Designs for a new TV series.

  12. 12:48 am Ellen says:

    I do believe some ghost photos are real, but they’re few and far between. That looks like a speck of dust. Of course, we’re biologically programmed to look for resemblences to the human face. But it’s still fun to look for it.

  13. 10:53 am Rax says:

    Nope, not a ghost or dust on the lense… I found another shot from the same angle on google, and it’s just part of the building. Interesting illusion I guess.

  14. 7:02 am Ken says:

    Well, when I first looked at the pic, I thought I saw a Japanese (or possibly Korean) girl more or less dead centre, in the archway in the mid-ground.

    When I looked more closely I saw a shadow, and a pendant light fitting with a globe shade on it.

  15. 4:22 pm andy pye says:

    this is a sad waste of time. no ghost ….nothing…. common people… lets get real. concentrate on what’s happening now!

    andy, pye

  16. 4:24 am Scott says:

    Even with the arrow, I don’t see a face, but that’s beside the point. I strongly recommend reading up on pareidolia.

  17. 6:50 am Paul says:

    I too saw the young girl at first. Then as I looked more carefully I saw nothing more than the shape of the masonry. Its the thing about the mind and its need for a quick reference system when processing new data.

  18. 3:00 am Vonzen says:

    lol dats no ghost, jus a blown up bit of the building, ghosts mostly appear like a shadow on windows n stuff

  19. 3:07 am Vonzen says:

    omfg look under the palm tree bottom right corner! sh*t!

  20. 11:55 pm ali-kins says:

    looks like part of the internal structure of the building to me

  21. 6:43 am Aki says:

    The only thing that is freaking me out, is that I noticed the girl right away when I saw the photo.

  22. 10:57 pm Minako says:

    I think it looks more like Trapinch, tbh. But in all honesty, I think it looks sort of graffiti-esque somehow. I mean, I guess it wasn’t there when you took the picture, so that could be freaky, but I don’t know. It doesn’t look ghost-like at all.

  23. 7:36 pm Trish says:

    I think it’s just a case of “Matrixing”..the brain is hard wired to make a “face ” out of certain plays of light and shadow..however, i do believe in ghosts and have seen many

  24. 7:39 pm Trish Tesh says:

    i think its just a case of matrixing..where the brain “SEES” a face because the brain is hard wired to make a face out of the play of certain lights and shadows..but ghosts do exist..i’ve seen many

  25. 6:54 am Snoozerpoo says:

    Maybe if ghosts were more aggressive in showing themselves, we would stop creating them in mass numbers. I imagine many people in Japan are related to someone who died in Hiroshima, and it stems from a great desire to believe they will see their loved ones again someday.

  26. 12:26 am Rin says:

    Even with the arrow I thought it looked like a graffiti. I think people see what they want to see. Just like a log floating in Loch Ness look like Nessie but a log in some other lakes look like, well a log.

  27. 8:53 pm sofie says:

    i have seen 2 gohsts in my 26 years however i cant see one in this photo graph but this is a fantastic photo of a famous land mark

  28. 9:46 am kyleigh says:

    I watch Ghost Hunters,and Paranormal State but I didn’t see any Ghost but i’ve always dreamed of goinh there but that picture is pretty!!!

  29. 4:21 pm Xila says:

    I see the place you are talking about and the image you are talking about, but if that is a ghost it is HUGE. It is just as big as the windows. I doubt it is a ghost. I also watch Ghost Hunters and I do believe in ghosts, but I also believe that people are programed to be able to see faces in things. This is obviously the case here. If only you had another picture of the same building at the same angle to compare it to.

  30. 6:33 am nikki in america says:

    japanese ghost are always so clear and the pics are accompanied by a feeling of truth

  31. 7:09 am Suzanne says:

    There is allso a small kneeling fellow in the tree. At the bottom of the branch that sticks out in the left.

  32. 6:10 am jringo says:

    Look on second row, third arch from the left, bottom right.

  33. 9:23 am Vivien says:

    Thousands of innocent people were perished around there in a few seconds and it’s possible to see the traces of people who died

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