'Theatre Ghost Picture Is Real' Insists Photographer Stuart Cheveralls - Are You Convinced?

'Theatre Ghost Picture Is Real' Insists Photographer - Are You Convinced?

Last week we published a photo of a suspected ghost, courtesy of the Dominion Theatre, taken in January by We Will Rock You patron Stuart Cheveralls.

The eerie image shows Stuart and his partner Natalie sitting in the theatre with what appears to be a ghostly presence peering in from behind the couple - a 'photo-bombing ghost' if you will.

Stuart Chaverells and partner Natalie, with an unexpected visitor.

Stuart's photo caused quite a stir amongst our readers. "What a load of tosh ... it's out of a horror film with a Japanese girl in it ... photoshop rules ok," cried one reader, "If you believe that is a real ghost then that just proves the brain sees what it wants to see," declared another commenter.

Our online poll revealed opinions to be fairly evenly split - at the time of writing 46% believed the photo could be a ghost and 53% thought it to be 'utter nonsense'.

HuffPost UK Culture tracked down the intrepid photographer to get the full story of 'that' picture - read our interview with Stuart as he tells Dominion Theatre's 'ghost' story:

Firstly, the question we would all like to know the answer to - is the photo genuine?

Although most people [on HuffPost UK] have said that the photo has been photoshopped, I can guarantee that the photo is genuine and has not been tampered with in any way. I would be more than happy to meet with a photo or computer expert to prove this.

When you took the photo, who, or what, was behind you?

Just before the show We Will Rock You started, I took the photo holding my iphone 4 phone at arms length, with the camera view flipped so that you can see yourself on the screen [left]. The theatre was busy and we were seated on the end of a row. Natalie assures me that the two seats directly behind us were empty when I took the photo, the seats were eventually taken by two guys who arrived late. We had a great night and really enjoyed the show.

The next morning I was flicking through the photos and noticed the pale-faced girl between us - it instantly made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. What freaked me out was that there was no colour in the girl's face, yet the wall at the side and back of the theatre had kept its colour.

Who do you think is in the photo?

On returning home I did some research into the theatre, I found that people had said they had seen the ghost of an old brewery worker and others said they had heard the sound of a child giggling. Then I stumbled across the story of the London Beer Flood and read that a 14-year-old barmaid named Eleanor Cooper was killed in the flood when a wall or building collapsed and buried her. [Right: a street scene on the site of the Dominion Theatre a year before the London Beer Flood.]

If the image is not a ghost, what other explanations do you think there are?

I always look for logical explanations, but this has certainly got me stumped! There weren't any statues or pictures on the walls around us. I forwarded the photo to my niece, who is a professional photographer. She studied it and showed other photographers - they all found the photo to be very strange and spooky, they said that a digital camera catches exactly what is there and had no explanation for there being no colour to the girl's face.

Both myself and Natalie have never had any paranormal or spooky experiences in the past and hopefully won't have any in the future!

Do you have any spooky snaps of ghosts caught on film? We'd love to publish them with a credit to you, send to: ukpicturedesk@huffingtonpost.com.

Flick through ghost pics from HuffPost readers:

HuffPost Readers' Ghost Pics

Drury Lane, London - Panto Dame Dan Leno

Haunted Theatres Of London

Vintage Pictures Of 'Ghosts'

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