Could these ghosts caught on camera be real? In centuries gone by, ghosts were mysterious and ephemeral; those unlucky enough to come into contact with spirits only caught fleeting glances of them before they disappeared without a trace. However, as soon as cameras made their way into the mainstream, people began using them to capture spirits on film. From ghost photography to YouTube, ghosts caught on camera have been popular for centuries. Let’s take a look at a few terrifying ghosts caught on camera.
5. Ghost Yanks Remote Control
In a truly creepy home video clip uploaded to Facebook by Becci Sims, this alleged ghost caught on camera evidently didn’t care for the TV show the toddler was watching, as we see it attempt to do everything in its power to change the channel.
The clip begins with Sims’ adorable 2-year-old son relaxing on the couch watching TV. He’s casually holding the TV remote, when suddenly, he begins doing something strange. His arms begin jerking to the side as if an invisible person is attempting to pull the remote from his hands. He’s so engrossed by the TV program that he isn’t all that bothered by what’s happening. In fact, if it wasn’t for the ferocity of the motion, an intensity a toddler would be incapable of alone, we could almost think he was just playing with the remote. The jerking motion happens a few times before subsiding for a number of seconds.
The toddler begins to hold the remote in his lap, completely relaxed again. This position gives us a clear view when the possible ghost starts up its shenanigans again. After a few seconds of inactivity, the ghostly force once again attempts to wrest the remote from the child’s hands. This time, the new angle allows us to see that the remote actually leaves the child’s hands for a few seconds, dispelling any attempts to explain away the video as a bizarre hoax or a child’s unusual play habits.
Sims offers no explanation for why the ghost in the video seemed so focused on her child. Perhaps the young boy is unusually attuned to the spiritual world. Or perhaps the ghost just didn’t care for cartoons.
4. Ghosts Caught on Camera – Items Move on Desk
Most ghosts caught on camera can be described simply as figures moving through the shadows or voices echoing in the wind. Even in the legends of days gone by, spirits that are actually able to interact with the physical world are quite rare. These ghosts are known as poltergeists, and are said to be some of the most powerful spirits out there. Even being able to nudge a light switch or open a door requires a vast amount of energy for a ghost, some experts believe. In the footage shared by Yanira Contreras, it’s very likely that there is poltergeist activity at work.
At the start of the video, we see mostly darkness. The person holding the camera tells us that they saw things moving around in the darkness and heard strange noises, so they took out their camera to hopefully capture evidence of the ghostly activity.
As the camera rolls, we eventually see a small object on the desk begin to slowly slide across the desk’s surface. It isn’t much, but still most likely the work of a poltergeist. A moment later, another object twitches and then slowly begins to move as well. The person filming is clearly terrified, insisting that they are not doing anything to move the objects on the desk, begging viewers to believe them. This bit of ghostly activity is enough for our ghost hunter, who is ready to flee the scene after witnessing these paranormal events.
3. Ghosts Caught on Camera – Ghost in Liquor Store
The following possible ghosts caught on camera by Chantal Burgess seem to have a taste for alcohol. This particular footage comes from the CCTV security cameras set up to keep watch over a liquor store.
From a variety of cameras showing various different angles and locations around the store, we see what appears to be a dark, black shadow moving around the store. The shadow is vaguely human-shaped in some of the shots, but at other times appears to be more amorphous. Because it appears through various cameras in numerous different places on the screen, this rules out the possibility of some sort of technology malfunction or bug on the lens causing the bizarre black spots on the footage.
The shadow seems to move around the store without a purpose, appearing in a variety of different places around the store over the course of several minutes. It is always in view of one of the cameras, never going completely out of sight. Another interesting aspect of the footage is that at a few points, the CCTV footage seems to change, turning from brightly colored into dull black and white. It is almost as if the ghostly presence on the film is affecting the functioning of the cameras.
The security guards who spotted this bizarre anomaly on the film have no explanation for what they saw, but they’re likely to think twice about wandering the aisles of the store alone after dark. If ordinary ghosts caught on camera are scary, ones with access to alcohol must be downright terrifying.
2. CCTV Catches Potential Poltergeist
What better place to find ghosts caught on camera than Reddit? Reddit user Better Than Bedder uploaded this terrifying footage caught by a home security camera late one night that appears to show a poltergeist that doesn’t approve of late-night snacking.
At the start of the video, we see an ordinary kitchen with a few baby items strewn about, including a Winnie the Pooh bear on the table and a baby walker on the floor. After a few seconds, a man enters the room and goes to the fridge. He opens the door and stands there for a bit, searching for a midnight snack. As he searches, the bear on the table behind him expresses its disapproval. Little does the man know, the bear is making slight movements, rocking back and forth, as he examines the contents of the refrigerator. After a few seconds, the man decides that the fridge doesn’t have anything appealing, so he closes the doors and turns away. As he heads back the bedroom, the baby walker on the floor suddenly moves.
He’s clearly spooked. He leaves the kitchen and comes back a few seconds later with a woman. She doesn’t appear to believe him at first. However, as they talk, the bear on the table suddenly falls over. They react with surprise. As they approach the table to examine the bear, all of the table’s chairs suddenly pull out from the table. This last bit of poltergeist hijinks is clearly enough for the couple, sending them running across the room and away from the bear that seems to be the source of all the trouble.
1. Alleged Screams of Sylvia Likens
In this video, YouTuber CarlosCoy135 believes that he has recorded the screams of the ghost of the infamous Sylvia Likens, a girl whose short life was filled with many such screams and cries.
Sylvia’s parents were carnival workers, so her life was unstable at best. When her mother was jailed for shoplifting, her father arranged for her and her sister Jenny to stay with Gertrude Baniszewski. The girls had recently become acquainted with Baniszewski’s daughters at school, and their father agreed to pay $20 per week so they could board with the family. Baniszewski agreed to care for the two girls as if they were her own children and at first, she lived up to her words.
When the girls’ father began making his weekly payments late, their caregiver became frustrated, and took her frustration out on the girls in the form of physical abuse. Later, she focused her abuse primarily on Sylvia. She often implied that she was jealous of Sylvia’s beauty, and was using abuse as a way to vent that jealousy.
Over the course of her time in the house, Sylvia was constantly subject to physical, emotional and psychological abuse from the entire family. Even Sylvia’s sister Jenny was forced to beat and humiliate her, receiving her own harsh punishments if she refused to comply. In addition to the family, it is alleged that other neighborhood children often witnessed and participated in the torture, and that the neighbors frequently heard Sylvia’s screams and cries for help. Yet, no one ever called the police or offered her any kind of assistance. After a few months, she died from the abuse.
In the video shared by CarlosCoy135, he visits the house where Sylvia Liken was imprisoned and tortured during the final days of her life. The camera pans over the house, showing its broken, dilapidated state. Clearly, no one wanted to live in the house after Gertrude Baniszewski was sentenced to life behind bars. On one side of the house, there is a broken in window leading to the basement where Sylvia was largely kept during the final weeks of her imprisonment. The camera closely examines this dark window, giving viewers a glimpse of the dismal place where Sylvia lived her final hours.
However, evidence on the video suggest that her spirit may not have left. If you listen closely, you can hear the echoes of the cries and screams that the neighbors would have heard during the weeks and months when Sylvia was imprisoned in that very basement.
If you slow the footage down and isolate the audio, at around the 1:50 mark you can make out a cry or shriek. Some say it sounds like ‘Hello?’ followed by ‘Help!’
Some paranormal experts believe that often spirits who experience violent ends remain tied to the places where they suffered and died. It’s hard to imagine an end much more violent than Sylvia’s.
