A decade ago--before the wave of paranormal shows on US TV started to "train" us all in how to investigate hauntings and analyze photographs for things like orbs--I visited friends in London. We took a trip to Kent and toured Hever Castle and the surrounding gardens. Hever Castle is the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, and is said to be haunted. A British TV program, "Most Haunted," did a segment in that Castle in 2008 (a few years after my visit).
While in the gardens, I kept trying to take photos with my digital camera, but the camera was acting up in a very peculiar manner--unlike it ever had before or since. It would shoot on its own and autofocus without my touching anything at all. It also failed to respond several times when I wanted to take specific shots. It simply wouldn't let me shoot, which is why I didn't take too many shots there.
Last week, something reminded me about Hever Castle being haunted, so I took a new look at the photos. I now see orbs and a few other anomalies in the garden shots--where it is said Anne herself likes to roam. I don't know if I'm crazy and seeing things or not, but in one shot (with the stone stairwell), I swear I see an eye near the rightmost edge of the frame. Frankly, I can almost see a face, but it is very large in comparison with the environment. I don't know if it's a fluke, a problem with degradation, purely my imagination--or, perhaps, Anne Boleyn herself at my shoulder and playing with the camera (hence the size/perspective differential).
The photo titled "Anomalies" shows the possible "eye" and a distinct shooting or elongated orb in the upper right quadrant. Here is a link to a Photobucket posting of the shot with an arrow pointing to the eye, and a circle around the shooting orb: http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q628/freyakendra/Hever%20Castle/97b0d562-b1d0-4f39-84b0-263a4921844a_zps8a37ff6d.jpg
I was so taken by the beauty of this section of the garden that I took two shots to make sure at least one came out well. Now I see that the shot I took seconds before shows a mist where the shooting or elongated orb showed up in the shot described above. Http://s1167.photobucket.com/user/freyakendra/media/Hever%20Castle/8e606e1b-4c1d-4b8b-8e41-d60d4f528266_zps17468ddf.jpg.html?state=copy
I can't help but wonder now if there was something more than just the beauty of the setting that drew my attention so fiercely I had to take two shots. I can also imagine that the attention grabbing beauty could be a draw to Anne as well; perhaps that's her favorite part of the garden (just my assumption, of course).
See the photo titled "AnneBoleynEye" for a comparison (screen-captured from my computer and cropped to eliminate other things on the screen) of the "eye" in the anomalies shot and Anne Boleyn's actual eye, as captured in a portrait of her--I believe it's the portrait that was hanging in the castle, but I'm not entirely certain. I found an image of this portrait online. Frankly, I'm a bit perplexed at how the shape of the eye in my photo precisely matches that in the painting. I had not taken any photos inside the castle, so this can't be some technical compilation of an internal photo with an external one. (I've also posted this comparison shot on Photobucket, here: http://s1167.photobucket.com/user/freyakendra/media/Hever%20Castle/AnneBoleynEye_zps2adf6987.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1)
As to the shooting orb, I've screen-capped a comparison shot showing the first photo, with the mist forming, side-by-side with the second photo, showing the fully formed shooting orb. To me, these two photos provide clear evidence of the paranormal nature of these particular photographic anomalies. See the file titled "mist-forming-then-formed" for this screen capture. I've also posted this on Photobucket, here: http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q628/freyakendra/Hever%20Castle/mist-forming-then-formed_zps233a209e.jpg
Another photo titled "Possible Orbs" also seems to show two very convincing orbs. There's one distinct orb at the right edge, and a smaller orb at the base of the tree to the left (no, it's not a puffy dandelion). Here is a link to a Photobucket posting of the shot with arrows pointing to each orb: http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q628/freyakendra/Hever%20Castle/94296042-3f81-4352-bd71-7b023d9eb77d_zps53642bf3.jpg
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As to the eye, these science-minded folks do see the eye quite clearly, too. But they insist it has to be etchings in the different type of rock on that side of the photo. Again, I'm not sure there's rock specifically where the eye is located. There are too many plants right there.
I wish I knew someone I could send to the castle to investigate whether these rocks folks are seeing are actually rocks, or if what the photos captured is less explainable than some think... 😉