Ghostly image causes online stir
A photo showing a ghostly figure, apparently wielding an axe, has spread viral goosebumps across the internet and baffled police called to investigate.
The photo was taken on board an old military frigate being broken down for scrap and posted to photo sharing site imgur, where other users helped to enhance the noisy image.
"[The frigate] had arrived about two weeks prior to us," imgur user stevgoldhound said.
"Once all the sensitive stuff had been removed, the dock workers were free to go on. The dock foreman, 'John' went on board first with a camera to take pictures of work areas. He took a couple of hundred all in all. This was one of them.
"He later sent all of the pics to his boss, who upon seeing this one, called John straight away asking "Who is the guy with the axe at the edge of the camera flash?"
John had no idea, and said he never saw anyone on board the ship, according to his colleague.
"The area where this picture was taken was in a cross alley way, deep inside the ship. He was going around with a torch and a camera. When he'd go to take a picture, he would turn off the torch (leaving him in total darkness) snap the shot, turn the torch back on and be on his way."
Rattled by the experience the maritime worker reported that the man in the photo "looks nothing any of the other workers we met at the dock.
"Due to the fact that it was a military vessel the police were called. A search was carried out but no one was found. There was one way on and off the ship, and that was by a gangway covered by CCTV. (You couldn't jump over the side as it was a 25 meter drop on to concrete).
"No one was seen to leave the ship after John had taken this."
Of course, not all who saw the picture were convinced there was anything supernatural going on.
"It just looks like an old hobo who was startled that someone was in his home taking pictures so he grabbed an axe and peeked around a corner to see what was up," said one Reddit user.
This suggestion brought little comfort to the maritime worker.
"I am a sceptic. Maybe its a trick of the flash reflecting off something...[But] this gave me serious goosebumps. Needless to say, I did not go on board for a look."
