History Main / SpookyPhotographs

* In the ghost-hunting videogame The Lost Crown, finding haunted locations and taking photographs can often reveal a clue when the photo is later developed.

** And in 2009, there'll be ''Say Cheese - And Die Screaming!''

* One "CreepyPasta" involves a second-hand copy of SuperMario64 that does this. [[spoiler: A photo of the player's family appears in the game, and decays more and more every time he loses a life. Seeing as this is also a DarkerAndEdgier NintendoHard version of SuperMario64, however...]]

* The 2008 Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida featured their own take on Bloody Mary, in this case a phobia therapist who attempted to cure her patients of their fears by exposing them to the extremes of their fears (usually accidentally driving them insane). The website featured a long backstory and buildup to the event, showing her various cases Her first patient to ''die'' was a photographer who saw frightening images in his photographs; she locked him in a glass coffin with a limited oxygen supply and flashbulbs going off all around him, giving him the choice of leaving the coffin to face his fear or suffocating. He chose the latter.

* Parodied in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTjj8fPFi9U Were Phoenix]] skit of the fourth ''{{Touhou}} [[BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine M-1 Grand Prix]]'' fanvid, where Keine teaches Mokou how to act in a funeral parlor. Mokou suddenly decides to take a picture of the recently deceased, but when he looks at the photo he took, he sees a picture of [[spoiler:the original CuteGhostGirl of the ''Touhou'' series, [[BrotherChuck Mima]]!]]

* In one chapter of ''KeroroGunsou'', Fuyuki finds himself appraising some "ghost photographs" taken by the Keronians. Keroro's is the result of an optical illusion, Tamama's is the result of a failed [[BreathWeapon Tamama Impact]], and Giroro's is the result of a childhood prank. Then the CuteGhostGirl who lives in Keroro's room shows a photograph she took of herself with a mysterious figure standing behind her, and Fuyuki manages to explain the the "mystery figure" as another optical illusion, [[RuleOfFunny completely ignorning the fact]] he has [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight a photograph of]] ''[[UnusuallyUninterestingSight a real ghost]]'' on his hands.

** In fact, in MarbleHornets, one of the more popular theories is that it's ''impossible'' to see him without a camera of some sort, at least until some event change the way your mind works allowing you to see him.

* In the ghost-hunting videogame ''{{The Lost Crown}}'', finding haunted locations and taking photographs can often reveal a clue when the photo is later developed.

* One episode of the Canadian HorrorAnthology radio drama ''{{Nightfall}}'' featured a cursed camera. In this case, anyone who had their picture taken would die under mysterious circumstances within twenty-four hours. And when the photos were developed...the victims looked like they were already dead.

* ''FatalFrame'' is all about a camera that's the only way to detect and banish ghosts.

* ''{{[[Film/TheOthers}} The Others]]'', when Grace finds the death portraits of [[spoiler: the servants]].

* ''{{[[Film/TheOthers The Others]]'', when Grace finds the death portraits of [[spoiler: the servants]].

* ''TheOthers'', when Grace finds the death portraits of [[spoiler: the servants]].

* [[http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/posters/c73d/ You can now buy a spooky, shifting photograph]]from ThinkGeek.

* People from societies where knowledge of photography was not widespread often believed that photographs of themselves could be used by enemies to curse them.

'''Examples:'''

[[AC:Spectral Snaps]]
* This is where the eerie premonitions come from in ''FinalDestination 3''.
* One of the ''{{Tomie}}'' stories has a member of the photography club take photos of Tomie, but all of them come out showing her as a hideously deformed monster.
* In the film ''{{Shutter}}'', a professional photographer's photos show him and his friends being stalked by otherwise invisible ghosts.

* ''FatalFrame'' is all about a camera that's the only way to detect and banish ghosts.
* In ''TheSixthSense'', every picture of Cole has an orb of light in it.
* In ''MetalGearSolid'', ghosts will appear in your photographs if you take pictures in certain areas. ''MetalGearSolid 2'' has a hidden ghost image as well.
** ''MetalGearSolid 3'' has several ghost cutscenes.

* In one episode of ''{{Supernatural}}'', the ghosts in a film studio can only be seen through a camera phone.
* In ''{{Achewood}}'', the [[http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07312006 Mexican magical realism camera]] takes pictures of people's souls rather than their bodies, showing how they feel.
** Apparently [[TheDailyShow the New York Post]] [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=104542&title=Cryin%27-Shame has one of those]].
* In the {{Discworld}} book ''Discworld/TheTruth'', Otto Chriek's "dark light" iconograph combines Spectral Snaps with a bit of Foreboding Photos. A picture of William de Worde shows him with [[WellDoneSonGuy a spectral version of his father looking over his shoulder]], while a photo of career killer Mr. Pin shows him with a large cloud of sinister, shadowy figures behind him. The latter picture also predicts a fire that breaks out near the end of the book.

* At the end of the fourth case of ''PhoenixWright: AceAttorney'', Lotta does a group photo of everybody. She later says that she caught a ghost in the photograph, which makes her want to go back to paranormal photography. When we later see the photo, it shows [[TheObiWan Mia Fey]] standing beside the rest of the group.

* In ''LesDiaboliques'', the school headmaster's face appears in a window in a class photo taken after his wife and mistress have supposedly drowned him in a bathtub. Of course, [[spoiler:this is all just part of a plot by the headmaster and mistress to literally scare the wife to death.]]
* In {{MoonPhase}}, this is the result of every photo Kouhei takes.
* In StephenKing's ''{{IT}}'', several photographs physically move when they're looked at, and one of them actually cuts a character's hand.
* ''PokemonSnap'' actually has this as a ''game mechanic''. In at least one level, taking photos of a strange blur will have them develop as a Ghost Pokemon. And then in a later level there's a strange set of shiny things...[[spoiler:It's one of the Pokemon Signs -- a constellation of '''Mewtwo'''!]]
* In the ghost-hunting videogame ''{{The Lost Crown}}'', finding haunted locations and taking photographs can often reveal a clue when the photo is later developed.

* ''{{MST3K}}''-featured film ''{{Tormented}}'' does this. Except only one guy can see the ghost in the photo, and he's the only guy who can see the ghost outside of the photo, so it's quite pointless.
* Parodied in [[http://buttersafe.com/2009/08/13/vacation-photos/ this]] ''{{Buttersafe}}'' strip.

* There are a lot of these in TheSlenderManMythos. There's some perfectly normal picture... and then [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent somewhere in the background]], [[HumanoidAbomination this tall, thin, black figure is watching]]. The best ones are really easy to miss unless you're paying close attention.
** In fact, in MarbleHornets, one of the more popular theories is that it's ''impossible'' to see him without a camera of some sort, at least until some event change the way your mind works allowing you to see him.

[[AC:Foreboding Photos]]

** In yet another episode (XFiles writers seemed to like this trope), photographs of the future victims of a serial lobotomist would show them being dragged away by screaming demons. As it's the maniac's subconscious that was in fact distorting the photographs, some little clues about his identity were left in every single one of them.
* In ''JuOn: The Grudge'', Izumi and her friends appear in photographs which have their eyes covered by mysterious black smears.

* In ''TheOmen'', every single photo Jennings takes has some clue on how the pictured person is going to die... by {{Satan}}'s influence.

[[AC:Negative Negatives]]

* In ''[[TheAmityvilleHorror Amityville 3-D]]'' one of the main characters takes some pictures seemingly predicting the death of the evil house's real estate agent. Later, after finding a demonic face in one of the photos, she rushes to tell her friend about it, only to crash her car. Right after the crash the pictures randomly burst into flames, burning the girl down to a skeleton before causing her car to blow up.
* People from societies where knowledge of photography was not widespread often believed that photographs of themselves could be used by enemies to curse them.
* ''{{Ghostbusters}} 2'' had the negatives of Vigo's SpookyPainting catch on fire by themselves in an attempt to burn down the Firehouse.

* Played with in ''LuckyStar'': when Soujirou reminisces with his daughter Konata about his dead wife Kanata, Kanata's ghost drops by to see how her family is doing. After a heartwarming (and heartwarmingly funny) sequence, Soujirou insists on testing his new digital camera by taking a picture with his daughter, and Kanata joins in. The resultant photograph has a "spooky shadow", and Soujirou and Konata panic over whether to delete the photograph, or print it out and burn it.

* One "CreepyPasta" involves a second-hand copy of SuperMario64 that does this. [[Spoiler: A photo of the player's family appears in the game, and decays more and more every time he loses a life. Seeing as this is also a DarkerAndEdgier NintendoHard version of SuperMario64, however...]]

* Parodied in [[http://buttersafe.com/2009/08/13/vacation-photos/ this]] Buttersafe strip.

* In ''TheOmen'', every single photo Jennings takes has some clue on how the pictured person is going to die... by {{Satan}}'s influence.

** TheHero manages to destroy the camera, but the gremlin just transfers itself to a ''videocamera''. When ''that'' gets destroyed, the ending shows that [[spoiler: the gremlin jumped into ''a computer'']].

* KamenRiderW has something between Spectral Snaps and Foreboding Photos - a photo of the Sonozaki family reveals all of them in their Dopant forms, including two that haven't debuted at the time.