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.

  • http://lolavalentinos.blogspot.com Lola

    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. :)

  • sheryls

    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?

  • Jeshi

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

  • http://Gorgeous! Quantity Surveyor Man

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

  • engrishwebmaster

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

  • Ruperta

    It seems like Jesus to me.

  • Ralph

    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.

  • engrishwebmaster

    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?

  • LH

    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

  • LH

    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.

  • ric

    ‘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.

  • Ellen

    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.

  • Rax

    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.

  • Ken

    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.

  • http://www.msn.com andy pye

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

    andy, pye

  • Scott

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

  • Paul

    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.

  • Vonzen

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

  • Vonzen

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

  • ali-kins

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

  • Aki

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

  • Minako

    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.

  • Trish

    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

  • Trish Tesh

    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

  • Snoozerpoo

    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.

  • http://seekingloveandhappiness.blogspot.com/ Rin

    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.

  • http://sofie sofie

    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

  • http://comcast kyleigh

    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!!!

  • Xila

    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.

  • nikki in america

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

  • Suzanne

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

  • http://www.puzo.org jringo

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

  • http://chihiromark@aol.com Vivien

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

  • http://www.facebook.com/coffeebotcafe coffeebot

    Now I want a t-shirt with the HiroshimaGeist.

  • alecia

    Sure enough. I see the ghost, plain as day. She is standing the dome, pointing. The more I look at it, the more obvious it is. No wonder the students started freaking out!

  • araya bishir

    the ghost is just a hole

  • Mindy

    I too am a true believer in the paranormal, but this is photoshopped using the picture from the vietnam era….the little girl and her family running naked after the napalm attack.

  • http://wayangmalaysia.wordpress.com Marri

    eheeeem~~~~~ okey ~~ i koment ~~~ [ wats that ? ] er ~~~ dont see it ~~~

  • ミコリン

    珍しい写真ですね、若くして命を絶った者は、いまだにさ迷える魂です。この霊を救うのは、広島の原爆の日だと感じます。あるいは、誰かの誕生日にです。もっと早ければ、
    ひな祭りにできました。平和の祈りは皆でするものです。

  • Fandango

    From the 1:34 am post:
    珍しい写真ですね、若くして命を絶った者は、いまだにさ迷える魂です。この霊を救うのは、広島の原爆の日だと感じます。あるいは、誰かの誕生日にです。もっと早ければ、
    ひな祭りにできました。平和の祈りは皆でするものです。

    Translation:
    The shank, making young with the unusual photograph, as for the person who cuts off life, it is the soul which still you can wander about. As for rescuing this spirit, you feel that it is day of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Or, it is someone’s birthday. If it was quicker, it could make the poult celebration. Praying peace is something which is done with everyone.

  • jules Rivard

    There are many faces, of humans from the past. They are all around us, and make up, the photos we take, we are as one. There is no difference, between, life, and death, it just seems that way…….Iroquois., and proud, of my gifts, from my ancestors.

  • shidow

    the thing in the 2nd row, 3rd arch from the left is a spike on the fence, dumbass

  • arun dutta

    i think is a organic design not a ghost.

  • mattstuff

    even with the arrow, i still don’t see a ghost. just looks like dusty bricks.

  • TheGreatZot

    Nope…me no see.

    All I see is what appears to be rebar or whatever it is below the concrete.

  • Rafael

    I could see it before clicking on the link of the photo with the arrow, but no, it doesn’t at all look like a ghost and has only remotely resembles a human — more like a nun or a girl with a hijab, who would be an unlikely victim of the Hiroshima bombing.

  • corliss

    I belive in ghosts but in that pic i cant see a thing

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