[6:18 PM] So today I had a nostalgic moment and started looking through childhood pictures. And I’m starting to find weird things? Like, the hand on my shoulder on the left picture doesn’t make any sense, right? And it looks like there’s a face in the water there on the right… (1/?)
[6:20 PM] Oh yeah, I inverted the values and added some contrast and that definitely looks like a face now. Might be looking too hard into it though
[6:27 PM] I’m usually a sucker for weird haunted photos, but I understand most of these things are just accidental double exposures, shutter errors or pareidolia. But still, this is… strange? exciting? a little bit creepy? Gonna see if I can find more, I’ll keep you posted
[6:50 PM] I think I found another one! I assumed that shadow on the right was someone out of frame, but now I’m realizing this was taken with a flash so whatever cast that shadow should be *in front* of the camera, right? Maybe there’s a second light source.
[6:59 PM] OK, so I’ve been sending these to my mom and she said she remembers a few old pictures she had that really resembled these. She said they always creeped her out… Gonna see if we can find them
[7:53 PM] We found one! It’s from her childhood. That’s her on the ground and my grandpa next to her with the pipe. And it DOES look creepy as hell. Do you guys see that silhouette that looks like it’s sitting on the chair?
[7:59 PM] Family history sidenote! My mom was born in France but as a kid, like in the picture above, the family spent the summers in northern Spain. She eventually stayed there and married my dad, and that’s where I come from!
Anyway, trying to find the other picture she remembered…
[8:16 PM] Hmm, ok. So that’s my mom on the left. This one’s admittedly spooky but it looks more like a double exposure than the others, I think. That’s when a part of the film is exposed twice, which can lead to some bleed-through of another picture.
Also, is “he” wearing a uniform?
[8:22 PM] OK, that’s all we have for now, I think! Will definitely cherish these images AND look behind my shoulder every time I take a picture from now on…
[8:33 PM] Something’s still bugging me though…
[8:37 PM] Ah, damn it. I feel dumb entertaining this idea but if this “ghost” or whatever it is followed us from my mother, maybe it comes from further back in the family?
…. I guess I’m going back to the old family albums y’all. There goes my evening
[9:09 PM] I FOUND SOMETHING!
This is my grandpa as a kid, the photo seems from a studio. This hand definitely looks weird, right? Could it be a camera error, or the photographer that painted something out? I feel like I need more concrete evidence…
[9:29 PM] Ok something is definitely going on now. That reflection kinda looks like the face in the water in the very beginning? Or a mirror image of it. That’s my grandpa in the middle, just slightly older.
Has this…. let’s call it spirit, been following my family for generations?
[9:34 PM] Agh, I can’t stop here right? I think my grandma kept some old pictures of my great-grandparents (from my grandpa’s side). I’ll give her a call and keep you posted.
[9:46 PM] While we wait, some more family history. My great-grandpa, Léon, fought for France in WW1. I’m not too sure about the details since he died when my grandpa was only 7. All we have is secondhand stories about it. My grandpa actually spent much of his childhood in an orphanage.
[9:46 PM] From what I know, he got wounded and captured by the Germans for much of the war. I think his unit suffered a lot of casualties. But he still kept some friends after (which are the pictures I’m trying to find, give my grandma some time with the scanner please!)
[10:19 PM] OH FUCK. Just hold on, I think this one might answer all our questions…
[10:21 PM] So huh, that’s my great-grandpa on the left with the pipe. And those must be his colleagues after the war.
Something is definitely up with the guy in the middle left. I asked my grandma if those are scratches on his face or if they’re part of the picture, but she’s not sure.
[10:23 PM] But the hat, the eye, the uniform, the moustache…. this is our guy right? Could it be an old friend of his who died during the war? But…. why would he choose to follow us?
[10:35 PM] Grandma has been sending me more pictures (bless her). Here’s an interesting one.
This seems older, maybe during WW1? Top left is my great-grandfather. Guy on the bottom right, might just be me but he looks like… you know, our spirit? Before the hole in his head, that is.
[10:41 PM] So, from what I gather. This old war friend of my great-grandfather died. And he then decided to stick to him, somehow? Did he have any unfinished business? Was it out of love, out of betrayal?
[10:43 PM] I just noticed, but it seems like he got weaker over the generations (at least in his ability to appear in pictures). With every generation he seems to lose some physical “presence” if that makes sense.
[10:53 PM] Wait
[10:53 PM] So it stuck from my great-grandpa to my grandpa, then to my mom, then… it can only be me, my brother, or my sister… For now I’ve only seen him with the 3 of us.
[11:29 PM] Oh, fuck…
© Eduardo Valdés-Hevia
Valdevia 