Announcement: as of 1st August, 2025, The NZ Strange Occurrences Society is no longer an active group. We are no longer conducting paranormal investigations or responding to most emails about photo analysis, etc.
This website is being left as-is as an information resource. 

Like your ghost photo explained?
Email us your paranormal photographs or videos for a considered opinion.

Note: if photo files are under 200 kilobytes (kB) in size we can't analyse them properly as they don't contain enough visual information, and usually no metadata. Please send original, unaltered, full-size photos whenever possible. Photos sent via apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook are usually not suitable for analysis.

We receive lots of interesting emails from people curious about unexplained, mysterious, possibly paranormal photos they've taken. Some of them are shown here, with our comments.  While we try to offer natural explanations for the photos, we never claim 100% certainty. There remains the possibility of a paranormal cause - a genuine ghost photo - particularly when the photo was taken in response to other indicators of paranormal activity.

It has to be said that many of the photos sent in are fascinating, extraordinary and beautiful in their own right, regardless of whether we think they depict anything paranormal or not. The photos often seem to transcend the rather mundane natural explanations we have offered. Their interpretation, finally, is up to you!

As with everything we do, our paranormal photo analysis service is free of charge.

Your privacy and ownership of the submitted photographs is important to us.
We don't automatically treat your submitted photos as public property. The owners of the images shown on this section of our site gave permission for them to be used here. The photos on this website are copyright and so must not be downloaded, copied, printed and/or used elsewhere in any form.

Please note: if Strange Occurrences wishes to display your photo on this site, or in a private paranormal discussion forum, we will contact you to ask for your permission to do so. Until that permission is given, your photo will be treated as 100% confidential and will be seen only by Strange Occurrences team members. Please read our Privacy Policy page.

Notes on submitting photographs

• We like to hear the back-story about your photo. It's interesting, and can help us in trying to work out what's occurring.
• Emailing photos directly from your phone often results in us receiving photo files that are too small and unclear to analyse. It may help to copy the photo file to your computer and email it to us from the computer.
• We cannot properly analyse very low resolution photos, or files that have been reduced in pixel dimensions, overly compressed, had graphics added, or have been Photoshopped or otherwise tampered with.
• For the same reason, please don't send screenshots. Original photo files are the best.
• For film-based photos, a good quality scan of a print is fine. If you still have the negative please let us know.

Disclaimer regarding analysis of photographs

While we don't claim to be experts on any aspect of the paranormal, James Gilberd, who does most of the photo analysis, can legitimately claim some expertise in the subject of photography, as he has 5 years of tertiary-level specialist study in the field and is a full time professional photographer and teacher of photography. He has worked and studied full time in photography for over 30 years. Still, all analysis is offered as opinion only.

Spooked: NZ Strange Occurrences Society public Facebook page

Faked medium photo, in the style of Baron Von Schrenck-Notzing! (photo: J.Gilberd)

Types of paranormal photos

Orbs - paranormal or not?
Flare - easily mistaken for ghosts
Ghostly mists - ectoplasm?
Pareidolia (what?!)
Uncategorised paranormal photos
Analogue - older photos on film

Blog posts on sent-in photos

Ghost of US soldier caught in camera?  (posted July 2014)
Lens flare creating false positives
(posted July 2014)

Further reading

Photography and the Paranormal

Orb Update - flare orbs and more

Not paranormal, just accidental camera movement during a long exposure. It was in the disused restaurant at the Mokena Hotel, Te Aroha, New Zealand. Photo: James Gilberd