Giving Ghost App Ghosts a Face and Name

 May 14th 2014 a woman by the name of Laura Harrison posted a photo, she claimed her daughter's boyfriend took, the night her daughter was going to have their baby. Suddenly, as of June of 2015 the photo has gone viral as a "great catch". For me, it was immediately obvious that this was a ghost app, but for many others that fact was not as apparent. Of the 8k+ comments and growing, the majority were those believing that this was a real ghost. 

For me personally, this prompted some thought. I run a page called Ghost App Ghosts, which is a debunking database for ghost app images. I knew this photo of the nurse well, and I knew she was a real woman, I just didn't know anything about her. I took to my own Facebook page. I asked my own FB pals their thoughts of photos of the now deceased being used as a game to prank other people, or to gain attention and sympathy. They all agreed that it seemed disrespectful. I decided that I would like to research some of these faces we've grown used to seeing as "ghosts". Little did I know that my search would lead me to such a goldmine of information about this nurse.

I began digging for information. At first I was only able to see that she was in fact a nurse, because of a photo I had found of her. My Facebook pal Rob Depew sent me a screen shot with a name of Georgina Pope, and the rest was easy.

Georgina Pope was real Canadian nurse during World War One. She led the first group of 4 Canadian, first contingent nurses over seas to South Africa. All of them ranked as lieutenants.

I can get into a lengthy rant about this woman's history, or about how amazing and brave she was, but I would only be regurgitating information that you can find by going here:

Learn more about Georgina Pope

Despite this service, her legacy today by most, has been deduced to that of a zombie-looking ghost app.

Many people would ask, why do I waste so much time trying to convince people like this that their photos are an app? I'll tell you why. For about every 100 people commenting or sharing this kind of crap, there's about 10 who actually are trying to learn the truth. I gave up long ago trying to convince people like this woman sharing this app, that this isn't pparanorma. On the other hand, I can do a service to the people commenting and sharing who really want to know answers.

That's why I speak truth, not to convince this lady she's wrong, but to teach people who want to really know the truth. Some do want to learn.

This photo is not paranormal.

Back away from the para-reality shows and pick up a history book. You'll see your "reality" begin to shift.

Monument dedicated to Pope in Ottawa

The Real Faces of Ghost Apps

Unfortunately Georgina Pope isn't the only person who's been converted to a ghost by app developers. Another popular app that became known as the "Deer Cam Ghost Girl", is also a real little girl who lived around the turn of the century. Aside from first showing up on this deer cam, she was also used as a ghost app on the application "Ghost Capture" among others. She has probably become the most recognized "face" of ghost apps.

I've looked extensively to find out who this little girl is, with little success. She first showed up around September - November 2010 when she was posted on a White Tail (Deer) Chasers forum. The claim was she was captured on a deer cam, near feeders in Sterling City, Northern Texas. She was then identified as a "native American little girl". But, as we can see by the photo she is clearly Caucasian in descent.

Unfortunately, we haven't found her name, but we can give her a face. The fact remains that she was someones child. Possibly someones mother or grandmother, and she deserves respect.

Another ghost that became popular was this Civil War Soldier from the app "Ghost Capture". Unlike most of the soldiers we see turned into ghost apps, this one was not a real combat solider (in the Civil War), but rather a reenactor.

According to the Living History Productions of Ashland Ohio website: "Civil War soldier Jack Skelly was the beau of Jenny Wade of Gettysburg, PA. Corporal Skelly was fatally wounded at the Battle of Winchester in June of 1863 when the Confederates advanced North. Jenny Wade was killed on the third day of fighting at Gettysburg. Neither one knew of the others death."

Even with this being a more modern photo, (and I really don't know if the man here is alive or dead), it still goes to show that these apps are made using the images of real people.

Actor portrayal of  Jack Skelly

In another app by GhostCam by Nightinart, this 19th century woman also became a well recognized ghost app. The odd thing about this one, is that this ghost app, is eerily similar to this woman's original photo. Spirit photography was very popular in the 19th century, just as it seems to be today. This ghost app was pulled from a photo online of a "Double Exposure" tintype, owned by Andrew Daneman of Denmark. This image is titled "Spirit Fakery" in the Luminous-Lint collections.

As much as we would like to think we've outgrown such trickery, Spirit Photography is alive and well, over one hundred years later.

Conclusion

Beside the fact that these apps are sometimes used to hoax others, I am aware that most app users do not mean to to do so with malicious intent. As I've explained before in another blog I've written, I have seen apps used to manipulate others to gain attention, sympathy, or to instill fear.

Aside from that, these apps are used by paranormal teams to beef up their paranormal investigating resumes. When a "news outlet" posts these apps as ghost sightings, you will see a slough of paranormal teams sharing them thousands of times over. This in my opinion spreads ignorance and misinformation to the general public, who assume that if a paranormal team posts it, it must be true. Unfortunately, those who are outside the paranormal community don't know better, but we should.

Now stating that, I think it's important that people associate these "ghosts" as real people with a history and who deserve respect, not to be passed around as a joke. What about the ethics of using other's photos, namely the deceased, to deceit others? Is it not disrespectful to treat the dead in this manner, using them for hi-jinx or tomfoolery? It would be nice if people could see that these people had lives and a family, even if most that loved them are probably gone.

While many may not see my point of view, imagine your family members who died as children, served in the armed forces, or dedicated their lives to tending to the wounded- all being turned into false history?

My mother passed away after a traumatic incident and died in the oldest wing of our local hospital. Ghost stories were passed back and forth at our hospital, and many took the stories as fact. I would not want that for her legacy.

I feel my friend and fellow para-blogger Carolyn Doughtery, of Carolyn's Creepy Corner, said it best, "Sadly, a lot of people in the paranormal community use other's suffering and grief for their own entertainment and/or profit. I've heard the, "Who cares, they're dead" rationalizing before. It's called respect for the dead and respect for their relatives. My late dad served on a well-known ship that's now a "haunted" attraction. It would break my mother's (and my) heart if some asshole used a pic of him from the ship to make up a ghost story."

Whether or not we think about it, there may very well be living loved ones who don't want to see their loved ones images being used for pranking others. Kids will prank kids, I get that. Adults on the other hand should know better. Members of the paranormal community should especially know better. We should be working hard to advocate for the dead. That means the physical embodiment of the deceased, as well as their spirit. We need to get back to ethics and pull away from the side show the paranormal community has become.


This blog is the prelude to a new quest of mine, hoping to put the faces and history of these people to the forefront. 

Looking for help with a project....

Some of you guys who follow my blog, may know that I run Ghost App Ghosts, besides blogging about various issues I see in the para community.

If anyone runs across any real photos of the people they use for ghost apps (or fantastical entities like The Maiden of Bachelors Grove thats used frequently). Im trying to put together as best I can, the real faces of ghost apps. I'd like to find information about them and show that these are real people.

Any of you who can help with what I'm trying to do, it would be greatly appreciated. Full credit will be given to anyone who can help me on this!

Looking for a way to debunk those Ghost App Ghosts? Here are some resources I use;Ghost App Ghosts ran by myself and Andy Henson

Paranormal Dustbusters and Truth Seekers

"There's A (ghost) App For That"  ran by Tkay Anderson and Angela Sangster

Bust That Ghost

I am Kenny Biddle