Matt Jones

before you play two notes learn how to play one note - and don't play one note unless you've got a reason to play it - Mark Hollis

How to Make a Hampton Court Ghost

Got a Historic Royal Palace? Would like to increase ticket sales over the Christmas period? Simple, here’s what you need:

For instant world-wide publicity, simply:

And there you have it; spurred by the festive time of year when news should be fun and light-hearted, it shall be covered on all major news networks across the globe. Your ticket sales will surely sky-rocket over Christmas and into the New Year as visitors flock to see the ‘ghost’ for themselves.

30 Responses to “How to Make a Hampton Court Ghost”

  1. 2:05 pm on 20 December 2003 :::

    Heck Says:

    What? You mean I should cancel the trip I planned after hearing that on the radio the other day…?

    Nice hat, by the way. ;-)

  2. 3:06 pm on 20 December 2003 :::

    Stu Says:

    You sceptic, you. Next you’ll be telling us Santa’s not real.

  3. 3:25 pm on 20 December 2003 :::

    Matt Says:

    Funny you should say that because on close inspection, the ghost looks a bit like Santa.

  4. 11:43 pm on 20 December 2003 :::

    Stu Says:

    Maybe he’s moonlighting.

  5. 12:10 pm on 23 December 2003 :::

    Haley Joel Osment Says:

    This all seems more like a case for health and safety to me! I mean, did anybody actually bother to check for a fire, after having a fire door opened?

  6. 1:43 pm on 23 December 2003 :::

    Sid Says:

    Well, I don’t think the people of Hampton Court will do such things. Hampton Court on its own is well knowned for its supernatural envirement. Not only ghost has appeared but also screaming of Anne Boleyn etc.

  7. 4:11 pm on 23 December 2003 :::

    O.J. Malm Says:

    Looks like a person dressed as Santa to me!

  8. 8:24 pm on 23 December 2003 :::

    AJ Says:

    If I knew that there was a ghost (Skeletor) at Hampton Court I don’t think I would be in a hurry to visit the Court. I am told from reportage that no guides visit this area where Skeletor was seen. Lets wait and see if there are further sightings.

  9. 8:36 pm on 27 December 2003 :::

    JohnB Says:

    “There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio,
    Than are dreamt of in your philosophy”
    - Hamlet, Will Shakespeare

    Weblog of this event @:
    http://esolutionswork.com/research/b2trackback.php/1

  10. 11:32 am on 30 December 2003 :::

    Neil Says:

    What impresses me isn’t the sighting, it’s the fact that this centuries old ghost can shut the fire doors so well. I mean I’m a child of the 20th century and I can figure the damn things out.

    Is it right first and the left? or is it… oh no wait you have to push it then pull it.

  11. 11:32 am on 30 December 2003 :::

    Neil Says:

    What impresses me isn’t the sighting, it’s the fact that this centuries old ghost can shut the fire doors so well. I mean I’m a child of the 20th century and I can’t figure the damn things out.

    Is it right first and the left? or is it… oh no wait you have to push it then pull it.

  12. 5:25 am on 2 January 2004 :::

    Changra Says:

    If they needed money at Hampton Court so bad I don’t think they would fake a ghost that didn’t look the part more convincingly.

  13. 11:42 am on 7 January 2004 :::

    Macarena Says:

    I like the idea that the ghost is real, since I find quite romantic ther fact that the ghost of Henry VIII´s fifth wife still haunts the place. I´m from Spain and I would like to visit Hampton Court, I wish I could see the ghost myself!

  14. 11:42 am on 7 January 2004 :::

    Macarena Says:

    I like the idea that the ghost is real, since I find quite romantic the fact that the ghost of Henry VIII´s fifth wife still haunts the place. I´m from Spain and I would like to visit Hampton Court, I wish I could see the ghost myself!

  15. 1:52 pm on 8 April 2004 :::

    David Spencer Says:

    I\’m quite interested in all the posted comments, first and foremost as one of the guys contacted in to fit the CCTV I know more than most people on this subject and can say that the clip is 100% genuine. The reason we were called out was for some unknown reason the firedoors constantly opened by themselves without anyone being present and by placing CCTV security at the Palace to monitor the situation, sure enough after a while the doors opened in this area without public access (and no staff were around either)showing quite clearly the culprit, it\’s up to the viewer what the decide but I\’m fed up with people saying its someone dressed up for a publicity stunt – believe me it isn\’t.
    Dave S

  16. 2:27 pm on 8 April 2004 :::

    Matt Says:

    Sorry to be such a skeptic David, but one thing I thought was strangely absent from the online reports of the sighting was any moving images from the CCTV footage. I\’m not sure what was shown on the TV reports, but all that was shown on the many news sites (CNN, BBC etc) was a single still image.

    Do you still have access to the video footage you made of the ghost? If so, maybe you could digitise and email or something. I\’d need to see that before I take back what I said about it being a publicity stunt :)

  17. 9:37 pm on 8 April 2004 :::

    natis Says:

    I wish I could see the video of it. Ghosts completely fascinate me. I went to a lecture by a MA state trooper who also does investigations and he showed us some footage of things and it was quite freaky. He was also very timid about talking about it, rather than coming off as this was something he was doing to make a buck off of.

    That picture is creppy to say the least.

  18. 10:00 pm on 9 April 2004 :::

    Stu Says:

    If ghosts were real, wouldn\’t we have hours of credible footage of them by now, given the extent of CCTV we have these days? I think the Hampton Court image is just a little too good to be true. David, the number for the Ghostbusters is 555-2368.

  19. 7:13 am on 10 April 2004 :::

    natis Says:

    True, the Hampton Court image looks a little too good to be true, but it still looks creepy.

    In regards to having tons and tons of hours of possible footage; yes, one would think that should be the case, but what if we really don\’t know what to look for? Take orbs for a moment. A lot of people that \’ghost hunt\’ take these floating orbs of light that appear in some pictures as ghosts and some people take them as just light reflections usually occurring with the use of a flash. Being that I seldomly ever use a flash when taking a photo and enjoy toying with the shutter more, I never had an orb appear, so I fell into the orbs being just light reflected group, possibly by moisture in the air. Now my best friend, was getting a ton of orbs when he was in Paris, mainly at burial places (as a note, he believes in nothing but pure science). So we took both of our cameras and tried some experiments (both are digital cameras) taking photos of the same things either at the same time or one after another, using flash or not using the flash and our results were 180, he had orbs from time to time, I didn\’t. So we thought it was just the camera (some of our \”ghost antics\”:http://www.natis.net/_qt/goboghost.mpg .
    But, one night, my girlfriend and I were in bed talking about how her brother borrowed her camera and took like a ton of pics of this hash he bought, so we\’re looking at the pics and shaking our heads. He also took the camera to a concert and took some pics and there were orbs in each of these concert pics, so I zoomed in on one and there was a face within the orb. I left my observation in my head until my girlfriend looked over and was like \”my god, is that a face in that thing?\” So we started to look at all the various orbs and in each one, there was a face. In a picture she took at a wedding, there was an orb over the bride and groom as they made their vows and the face in that orb had this huge smile on its face. It was way too freaky.

    My own life has been seen some pretty strange things happen, which I don\’t think could be explained other than supernatural happenings. If anyone is on the east coast of the US in the near future, my friends and I will be taking a hike through what is supposed to be the most haunted place in the US and anyone is welcomed.

  20. 7:14 am on 10 April 2004 :::

    natis Says:

    Sorry that was so long. Ghosts are just a topic that draws me in.

  21. 12:09 pm on 14 April 2004 :::

    Matt Says:

    \”Here\’s a photo of some \’orbs\’\”:http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/orbs.htm

    … \”and here\’s a photo Phil took of some falling snow\”:http://www.xlab.co.uk/photos/read/7

    OK, so this may be an effect created by flash light reflected off snow or rain passing very close to the lens, but even if you don\’t use flash, small objects passing infront of the lens (a mote of dust, a fruit fly) can reflect light into the film/ccd and appear large because they\’re extremely out of focus.

    As for the faces? Well, Phil Plait has a written a good piece debunking the idea of faces appearing in things (eg. the face on mars etc.): \”Just another face in the crowd\”:http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/lenin.html

  22. 3:54 pm on 14 April 2004 :::

    natis Says:

    True on the orbs, but at the same time, none of the snow flakes have a level of transparency that the other photo has. I am admittedly still on the fence about orbs in general, but from what I\’ve seen thus far, it\’s pretty consistent.

    I\’ll have to read Plait\’s article a bit later.

  23. 12:09 pm on 21 April 2004 :::

    Dave Spencer Says:

    In reply to Matt 8th April here is a link for the full footage, all our equipment has been checked – all staff were questioned at the time \’NO ONE OPENED AND CLOSED THE DOORS\’ I stand by this as the complete truth.
    DS
    http://www.paranormal-investigation.com/hampton.htm

  24. 12:26 pm on 21 April 2004 :::

    Matt Says:

    Thanks Dave, although it\’s not quite what I wanted to see. Surely CCTV cameras produce higher resolution, higher framerate images than this!

    Interestingly, the site you linked to goes some way towards debunking the sighting:

    \”Once the whole sequence of images is stabilized and the contrast and brightness enhanced the \’Ghost\’ isn\’t as convincing. Not only is the figure very solid, but he also shows a remarkable deftness at closing the fire door.

    Would a 16th century spirit know how to operate a Fire exit door? We are sure most modern people have difficulty closing them but the \”ghost\” seemed quite able to get it to work, closing one side then the other. The motion of the legs, arms and hands appear totally solid and are consistent with that of known human articulation.

    On even closer inspection there can also be seen what appears to be another person in two of the images. It is possible that someone did actually witness the doors being shut from inside the Palace and they may hold the key to this mystery.\” \”Source\”:http://www.paranormal-investigation.com/research/hampton/hampton.htm

  25. 6:08 am on 25 April 2004 :::

    Raven 64 Says:

    Firstly the best quality footage I have seen is on the official Hampton Court site http://www.hrp.org.uk/Images/989A08_HCPGhost.gif

    Secondly, many reports of ghost sighting I have read imply that whatever they saw appeared solid (there are many recordings of phantom hitchhikers, who disappear from moving cars after being picked up, and of road accidents where the \”person\” hit by a car mysteriously vanishes.

    Thirdly, when closing ANY double doors, unless you have VERY long arms, you need to close first one door, then the other.

    This footage will either prove to be very important in the proof of existence of ghosts, or the biggest hoax since the Cottingley Fairies.

    By the way, has it crossed your mind that, if we accept that ghosts appear solid, there could be hundreds of hours of ghosts on video footage of crowds, yet if they are in modern clothing, no one would notice them? This theory also translates to how many ghosts have you walked past whilst out shopping on a Saturday afternoon? Shopping may never be quite the same for you again!

  26. 10:27 am on 25 April 2004 :::

    Stu Says:

    Don\’t know about ghosts, but I\’ve seen a lot of zombies while shopping on a Saturday afternoon.

  27. 1:53 pm on 27 April 2004 :::

    Raven 64 Says:

    Guess you must live near me then Stu!

  28. 3:57 pm on 27 April 2004 :::

    Stu Says:

    I imagine it\’s a universal condition [or at least in capitalist countries: Zombies, Malls, and the Consumerism Debate:
    George Romero\'s Dawn of the Dead    ]

  29. 4:00 pm on 27 April 2004 :::

    Matt Says:

    Great link. Cheers Stu.

  30. 3:45 pm on 10 May 2004 :::

    RuneS Says:

    Isn\’t it rare for a ghost to where modern sneakers ? Just asking.

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