Episode 025 - Ghost Photogrphy Part 2

Do these photographs actually show ghosts?

I refer to the Newby ghost as a monk on several occasions, which is, of course, a complete assumption on my part. Nevertheless, it’s a fun image and not taken very seriously by many investigators, though when scrutinized by photographic experts, it seems to maintain a certain amount of impenetrability. If fake, it is not as obvious as it seems.

Despite the video’s less-than-stellar resolution, more curious viewers may notice the faces in the uncropped photo of the S.S. Watertown’s aft deck seem to be less detailed and more ‘blob-like’ than that of the familiar cropped image. Normally, this would be an indication that the cropped image is fabricated in some manner, as detail seems to have improved (an impossibility for a photographic blow-up). However, I believe this is because the uncropped image is not first-generation and is essentially a copy of a copy (of perhaps a copy). The original resolution was therefore probably much better than that shown.

Several contemporary newspaper clippings indicate the Watertown was en route to Boston, not New Orleans. Although several separate sources indicate the final destination as New York while others indicate Boston, all seem to agree that New Orleans was a preliminary port-of-call, which seems logical. Cities Services had large offices in all three locations.
Claims that Hereward Carrington was part of the crew of the Watertown occasionally pop up. I can find no evidence to support this claim (on the contrary, his activities during that time seem to be at odds with the possibility).

In error, I stated there is no known photo of the Watertown save the picture in question. In fact, a 1943 aerial shot taken from a naval blimp does exist (as seen in the video) – something I stumbled onto the photo by chance after the video was mostly done. The Baldhill photo is still useful as it is the only profile photo I could find.

On a related note, several videos and articles on the subject show a different photograph of another vessel named ‘S.S. Watertown’, depicting the launching of the ship into Massachusetts’s Charles River in 1890. This is NOT the same ship, as it is A) clearly not a tanker, and B) known to have sank in 1892 due to an enormous engine fire. The sinking, in fact, directly prompted the state legislature to spend several thousand dollars to deepen the channel to aid in future navigation.

The Chinnery Photo is truly baffling, as all prosaic explanations are at best broadly imperfect. Several models of Brownie cameras existed at the time, and though many had a double-exposure prevention mechanism, most were not voluntarily operated (i.e. they were automatic, as most consumers would never be interested in creating a trick photograph). Besides, I simply don’t think the image appears to be a double-exposure. It is possible Mrs. Chinnery was mistaken about the time she took the photo. Perhaps she took it before her mother’s passing. Still, this would require a great deal of deception and/or gross mis-remembrances by several parties.

Finally, I neglected to note the Hillman Minx III and IV had a cargo shelf directly behind the rear seat and it is entirely possible the Chinnery’s had something on the seat or the shelf that could account for the strange ‘bump’. Although the anomalous nature of the bump should not be ignored, it does not, by itself, point to any particular conclusion. That said, the case for the photo being a double-exposure is not as air-tight as many believe, although it is the best prosaic explanation there is.

As in part one, Blake Smith has written a good article on the S.S. Watertown photo:
https://doctoratlantis.medium.com/the-watertown-ghosts-photo-fully-revealed-after-nearly-a-century-cc93fe32b783

And an excellent collection of scientifically-oriented essays on the subject:
https://www.amazon.com/Hauntings-Poltergeists-Multidisciplinary-James-Houran/dp/0786432497/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3VSILU3IE1GJK&keywords=hauntings+and+poltergeists&qid=1661380027&sprefix=Hauntings+and+Po%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1

I hope you all enjoy and bid you all good health and happiness.

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