Table of Contents

The Ghost Photo

For the record: As an adult with functional critical thinking skills, I actually hate myself a little for bringing this up and adding to the ghost stories surrounding Lemp which have always seemed, to me, rather childish and degrading. But this is the most "convincing" ghost photo that I've ever seen, beside the fact that this appeared on my own camera.. it was taken inside the Lemp Brewery. So I felt obligated to share this. There is, after all, a ghost tour of Lemp and I've never seen them scare up anything this compelling.

Much of the silly made up fairytales surrounding the topic of Lemp is devoted to ghost stories and how haunted the Lemp mansion supposedly is. Here's the thing: Maybe ghosts are real. I don't know. I did have experiences as a child which convinced me ghosts were real. And then I grew up and never could find another ghost, leading me to conclude that kids are stupid and ghosts are probably not real. Still, I've tried to encounter ghosts while exploring because actually encountering a real ghost would be awesome. Any time I *think* something spooky is happening, I intentionally go towards and seek out the source and without fail, every single time I am left disappointed by the logical explanation and its utter lack of ghosts. I purposely hang out in scary places, often alone. I stayed the night at the Lemp Mansion where I was up all night roaming the halls, various rooms and the basement by myself until around 3am. I adjusted my mental antenae in an attempt to receive their spooky signals. But still, sadly, I've still never encoutered any ghosts. Except maybe this one time.

In all of my years of exploring scary places and the thousands of photographs I've taken, I've only ever had ONE "ghost" show up. This apparition happened to appear in an unexpected location: the Bottling Department at the Lemp Brewery. I didn't "sense" anything at the time, I only saw it when going through my photos. And I wouldn't have even thought much of it, except that if I suspend my skepticism.. it sure looks a hell of a lot like one of the most well-known photographs of Lillian Handlan, otherwhise known as the Lavender Lady who is rumored to haunt the nearby mansion. Take a look for yourself. My photo is completely unedited and nothing about it was staged or intentional. Please also appreciate the fact that I'm including the original straight out of camera file for anyone to inspect.

Is this a real photo of a real ghost? YES*. YES, IT IS*.

Notice that the camera is not focused on the background, but on the apparition. Notice also that this is not somebody wearing a sheet, or some other easily identifiable trickery. The apparition appears as a sort of mist hanging in the air. I don't know how you could possibly fake something like this. I encourage anyone to attempt to explain it. Observe the outline of a large hat (which, in addition to lavender, Lillian Handlan was famous for wearing). Observe the rough outline of a face, poofy hair, shoulders and a flowing dress. Notice also that the "pose" of this apparition is incredibly similar to the photo of Lillian. I'm not insisting this is the ghost of Lillian Handlan, though [Feel free to insert anyone from the bygone era of big hats and flowy dresses in her place]. I just immediately thought of the photo of Lillian when I saw this photo.

Here you go, kids. The most convincing, real, unedited, photographic evidence of a ghost ever captured by anyone, ever*.

*I am not a certified ghost scientist.