The Dark Figure Of Ward Essex

Some you of may recall that in 2008 I submitted two stories entitled 'The Mist of Ward Essex' and 'the Ghost of Ward Essex'. If you have not read either of these I recommend you do so before reading this one.

Since then I had not seen the apparition or experienced anything I would deem 'unusual' - nothing that is until as of last month. It is for that reason that I have come to re-frequent the forum and grace it once again with my harsh (and ironic) skepticism.

In my previous stories I mentioned I lived quite close (within walking distance) to the site. In fact I live considerably closer than that. The site is visible from my front porch - a fact I didn't mention early for privacy reasons.

The site is located on the corner of Essex road and Ward street in Indooroopilly, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Since my last encounter with the apparition I have been careful to keep an eye out for it should it appear again (not quite as dedicated as last time but observant non-the-less). It was in the late afternoon (5-6pm) on the 27th of April that I was sitting out on the front porch chillaxing with a drink (as I often do) when something across the road in the park caught my attention.

It was getting dark (being winter) so I got up to go inside when I saw what appeared to be a dark figure (possibly wearing a large cloak or raincoat) sitting at the base of a tree at the corner of the park closest to me. I would have paid it little heed were it not for the fact that something was just not right about it.

I regret that I did not have my glasses on me at the time and my long-distance eyesight is next to useless but the figure seemed to be fading in and out. It would be solid one moment and see-through the next.

Scarcely believing what I was seeing I at least had the sense of mind to run inside and grab my camera (which was fortunately close-by) and managed to take three photos of the figure. Being dark I set the camera to night-mode (which is why the photos have a green tinge). I have cropped the original photos and circled the figure in the first two as it is quite hard to see with the dark background.

The first photo shows the figure sitting under the tree. In this photo it appears quite solid, though still with little definition.

Shortly after taking the photo, it seemed to fade away completely only to re-emerge a few metres to the left (its right) now in a standing position, facing me. It was tall and thin and I swear it was looking right at me.

Needless to say, I was scared. Yet I remained on my porch and took another photo. In this photo the figure appears less solid and even less defined.

A few short seconds later, it simply vanished in a small cloud of dully glowing mist (or other less natural substance) which lazily floated away in a long trail to the left (its right). I took one last photo before it dissipated altogether further down the street.

The entire scene played out in less than a minute.

Could this apparition be related to the first given the stark differences between the two or is it something else entirely?

Notable differences include the opposing colours of the first and second (the first being white and the second, black) as well as the behaviour of the mist (the first moving erratically while the second, lazily).