The inexplicable picture of the ghost and the flight of stairs turned 50 years old. But nobody can explain the captured image which otherwise would have been a simple picture of a flight of stairs.
Reverend Ralph Hardy, a retired clergyman from White Rock, British Columbia, had shot the photograph in 1966. He intended merely to photograph the elegant spiral staircase (known as the “Tulip Staircase”) in the Queen’s House section of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. When the photo was developed, it revealed a figure climbing the stairs, holding the railing with both hands.
Experts, including some from Kodak, who examined the original negative concluded that it had not been tampered with. It is believed that inexplicable figures and noises or footsteps were seen and heard on occasions in the vicinity of the staircase.
Although it is claimed that there was no one on the staircase when it was photographed, the print shows the image of one figure (or possibly two) climbing up the stairs—a hooded figure, crouching and clutching the banister rail.
The clearest part of the picture is that of the wedding ring on the left hand (third finger) that clutched the rail. Analysts speculate that the figure could be Queen Henrietta Maria herself, and to prove the theory they continue to look for a portrait of the queen with the ring on her hand.
Brian Tremain, National Maritime Museum’s photographer, attempted to duplicate the picture. Through his ‘reproduction’ he proved that a long exposure shot would include several ghostly images of anybody who had climbed up the stairs at that instant.
Although Hardy is certain that nobody was on the staircase at the time the photo was taken, a figure could have passed while the Reverend was distracted. However, the matter is yet to be proved and the photograph remains one of the most sought out pictures of a ghost.
