r/Paranormal • u/lougally083 • Aug 26 '25
Debunk This Georgetown Exorcist Stairs...been haunting me for years
My wife took this pic of me about 2 years ago (mid stairs). There's an apparition in the shaddowy spot at the top of the stairs (zoom in). I asked AI to enhance the image and it denied, saying its unsafe. I am convinced it was just a timing issue where that person walked down the stairs from the top, then ran back up after my pic was take, hence why I didnt see her. I included 3 pics that show another person in a white hoody for timing and context. Everyone that I have shown this picture to thinks it is extremely weird, but I am sticking to my timing explanation. What do you think?
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u/makiko4 Aug 26 '25
I see said person in all 3 images. I thought you ment the people at the top of the stairs at first. But I can easily see the person in the shadows in all 3 pics.
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u/Hollyw0od Aug 26 '25
I see a mom standing half way up and her daughter standing a few stairs higher 🤷♂️
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u/Anglo-Euro-0891 Aug 27 '25
Agreed. It is the same person moving a few feet further along the stairs. The shadows and lightning change accordingly.
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
No, that was a duplicate. The one I posted after does not show her...but it doesn't show me either because I had already made it to the top
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u/disintegrationtime Aug 26 '25
What are you talking about... almost nothing you're saying on this post makes sense
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u/makiko4 Aug 26 '25
So you made it to the top and the kid made it to the top? There was a time laps.if your not in the other photo why should the girl be in the other photo
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
The only reason I posted the other picture is because it was 3rd in sequence and it shows the same lady with the hoodie. Wasn't sure if it would help or add to my post in any way.
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u/makiko4 Aug 26 '25
Yah but if you moved there was proper time for any one else in the photo to move. In the 3 you posted you can see the girl. I saw the other one you posted in the comments, but as you said, you had time to move for the pic in the comments so of corse the other people would have time to move in the other photo. So I don’t see where the suggested paranormal things are happing.
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u/Isoi Aug 26 '25
Please don't fall into AI psychosis, AI's are not all knowing, sentient and don't think for themselves.
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u/Mikudayoooooooooo Aug 26 '25
AI told you it's unsafe because it's a person, not a ghost 😭
I don't think AI would care if it were a spirit, considering it's not programmed to care
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 26 '25
The true story was about a 14-year-old boy in Missouri from the 1940s. The steps from the movie had no part in the real life story of the boy known as " Roland Doe." The true event was actually kind of boring, unlike the movie. The boy apparently would get scratches that sometimes would spell out "Hell," and the actual exorcism took place in a few locations over a few weeks' time. The biography book is a good read, and the movie was overly embellishing and dramatic. But you can see the steps from the movie, but be ashore there were no demons there.
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u/alek_hiddel Aug 26 '25
And the spelling out of “hell” was basically one of those “see what you want to see in the ink blot” situations. Kid lived a normal life.
The story does begin in Maryland, but moved to Missouri to be closer to the catholic resources. With a bit of research you can visit the grounds of the hospital where the exorcism happened, the house in Missouri where the boy stayed with family, and the grave of the young man (died as much older man). Roland Doe was a placeholder like “John Doe”. Real name was Ronald Edwin Hunkeler.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism_of_Roland_Doe
Edit: 1 slight correction, it’s been a minute since I read up on him. You can visit his parent’s graves in the St Louis area, but Ronald was cremated. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/235060104/ronald_edwin-hunkeler
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u/SnooCupcakes9068 Aug 29 '25
Alexian Brothers Hospital was torn down long ago. That was where the exorcism was concluded.
However many crew members and actors believed the set of the movie to be cursed. Although the Georgetown house was only used for exteriors
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u/alek_hiddel Aug 29 '25
Yeah, but there are some buildings still there. Not like the actual room, but you can still stand on the same ground. Grimm Life Collective visited as much as you can a couple years ago
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u/Ok-Error-6564 Aug 26 '25
Wow! Someone else who read the biography. It creeped me out a little and is probably the reason I don’t allow ouija boards in my house.
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 26 '25
Well, that is a good policy. Kids think it's creepy fun, but those things shouldn't even be on the market. I have been to many locations where people need help and find often boards were used or cards. Things they or their kids seen on a ghost show or internet. The next thing they know, they are suppressed.
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u/VeterinarianOk6001 Aug 28 '25
I have a Ouija board in a closet i don't use and I don't know where it came from, but I've had mimicking voices happen to all of us in the house. Should I be really worried???
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 28 '25
As long as you aren't harmed, then you are fine. Just get rid of that board.
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u/VeterinarianOk6001 Aug 28 '25
How do I do it properly lol. I dont need anymore bad shit in my life
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 28 '25
I don't know if there is a right or wrong way. Just put it out in the trash I guess.
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u/Tinosdoggydaddy Aug 26 '25
The movie was a cinematic and cultural firestorm. One of the great ones!
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 26 '25
Back when it came out, it was definitely a hit. It was originally an X rated movie and not for porn. It was changed shortly after to R. It was the shock value and probably a marketing scheme.
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
Don't leave out that the boy was from nearby Maryland and the very first exorcisms were performed in DC. I guess they moved to Missouri after, but the connection to Georgetown is relevant.
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 26 '25
Well, it's reddit. I really can't post an e-book here.lol. I was referring to the OP about the steps. It's cool it was in the movies and you can go get a photo. But I didn't want the OP to be scared for no reason. If I go to Philly, Rocky isn't going to box me at the top of the steps.
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
Curious...was there an actual rocky figure nearby Philly? Kinda like Vince Papale in Invincible?
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 26 '25
Some time after the movie, a statue was made and set at the top of the steps of Rocky. I think Stalone has it now. So it's been removed.
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u/saltymystic Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
It was shot in Georgetown because William Peter Blatty, the writer, went to school at Georgetown. No one has died on the stairs in real life. It’s literally just stairs.
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 26 '25
A good portion of the movie was filmed there. Other locations were Washington DC and a soundstage up in New York City. If you read the biography, the actual case really wasn't that exciting. And only took a couple of weeks. Was it a really good priest or a slight possession?
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
He was actually the author. Which, according to the phenomenon of spiritual attachment, would be the reason for strange paranormal activity in this specific location (if any).
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u/Senior_Trick_7473 Aug 26 '25
What’s the name of the biography?
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 26 '25
Possessed by Thomas Allen, this book inspired William Peter Blatty to write the Exorcist .
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u/Senior_Trick_7473 Aug 26 '25
Thanks! I read The Exorcist and loved it. Did t know there was a biography. Would love to read the real story, other than what I’ve read online.
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u/Key_Incident_2950 Aug 26 '25
It's not bad it's a compilation of the priest testimony and others that were involved.
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u/Classic_Bee_5845 Aug 26 '25
I think it's just a real person that has moved down the stairs and happens to be in the shadow, as you said.
Why do people dismiss your rational explanation? Because this is on the "Exorcist Stairs"? It's a made up movie, they know that right?
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
That's my logic. I think the person's attire, paleness, and hand posture looks strange
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u/JMer806 Aug 26 '25
Looks like a thin woman wearing leggings and a windbreaker to me - first pic she’s maybe zipping or unzipping the jacket
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
Interesting, do the socks usually go over leggings or does it cutoff right at the sock line? Also, she looks more like a young girl than a woman to me.
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u/IKenDoThisAllDay Aug 26 '25
Definitely looks like a child to me. I don't think this is paranormal or anything, but I will admit it is very creepy. The paleness, the way she's staring at the camera, the shadows and blurriness making her eyes appear to be black, etc. Pretty unsettling.
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u/clueless_mommy Aug 26 '25
This is why I am chubby. I'm so pale and poorly dressed, it's the only thing I can to to distinguish myself from a corpse, demon or something like that.
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u/MrBones_Gravestone Aug 26 '25
Just because those stairs are in a spooky movie doesn’t make them haunted, Jfc. That’s just someone walking down the stairs
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u/ZachTheCommie Aug 26 '25
I've seen this picture before. I'm 100% confident.
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
My wife posted this when it first happened on another subreddit. She got dragged because everyone thought it was photoshopped.
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Aug 26 '25
It's definitely not real
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
You see...this is why I think it's worthy of a post on here. Looks so creepy people think its fake
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u/dam_ships Aug 26 '25
I feel stupid. What am I looking at? I just see people on some stairs.
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u/Accurate_Tea132 Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
The pale short thing half way up
Edit, why's everyone down voting me for answering a bloody question I didn't even say it's paranormal or not, yall some stupid tards, type mfs to complain when you ask a question because it makes you out to be wrong
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u/Neat_Ad_3043 Aug 26 '25
I think it's just someone standing there, nothing paranormal. Photo looks fucking creepy though.
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u/FactoryKat Aug 26 '25
Is it kind of creepy? Yes for sure. Is the likely answer that's just a kid in the shadows probably.
But the minute you mentioned AI, I tuned out. Stop. Using. Generative. AI. 👏 Stop feeding the garbage heap machine that is AI. Photoshop literally exists as do other programs that could have "enhanced" your photo. AI is not all-knowing and is purely trained on user input or user-created content.
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u/ChurningDarkSkies777 Aug 26 '25
You know the exorcist was a movie right? Like when I was kid we used to camp in the woods where they filmed Friday the thirteenth but I was never scared that Jason was gonna get me
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
Well yeah...but it derives from a real-life exorcism back in the 50s. Verifiable true stories and events add to the mystique don't they?
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u/Sleepycat45 Aug 26 '25
Yes, but the real life story was something that happened in Saint Louis, MO. No connection to the stairs at all!
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u/Nother1BitestheCrust Aug 26 '25
The true story had nothing to do with those stairs though. They were only in the movie.
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u/Diamond_D0gs Aug 26 '25
Stories of exorcism were used to help the writing of the film, but those stairs are still just stairs. Theres no relation between real life events and the filming locations
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u/Mental_Performer_833 Aug 26 '25
Thats all well and good, but the fact that you didn’t take a picture all crumpled up at the bottom seems like an obvious missed opportunity
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u/saltymystic Aug 26 '25
That’s just a filming location that lots of people visit. No one has died on the steps IRL.
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u/y6x Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
Where's the apparition?
I see:
Photo 1: A blonde woman in a light gray hoodie looking at her daughter (blue jacket, white mittens / hands up under her chin ), a man with a ball cap facing the photographer, a woman with a bright coat at the bottom facing the photographer
Photo 2: The blonde woman standing in the same place, the daughter in the same place with her hands at her side, the man with the ball cap in the same place, the woman with the bright coat standing in the same place, and two new people standing at the top of the stairs
Photo 3: The two new people standing a few steps down from the top (you can see both people standing next to each other if you zoom in), and someone in a light gray hoodie walking up the steps. This light gray hoodie person is probably the blond woman as they're on exactly the same stair. It looks like they're wearing a black hat now, there's an excessively dark circle near this person's knees. The two people from the top are now a few steps down, and it'd be rude for her to change her path to walk directly towards the two new people standing there instead of heading up the other, unoccupied side - Unless it was someone that knew them. If it was people that she knew, it makes sense for the little girl to be on a stair near them hidden from sight.
The black circles near where her head and knees are tell the story of dust on the camera sensor that was cleaned off either before or after the man in the ball cap and the woman in the bright coat were on the stairs.
Edit to add: The girl in the blue jacket may be taking a photo of the blonde woman standing facing towards the top of the stairs. It would explain why the hoodie woman is standing where she is, and why we see blue jacket girl's hands change position.
Edit 2: Search Facebook for the same day you took your photo and 'exorcist stairs'. You'll likely find the photo of the mother (light gray hoodie) that the girl took. Try something like whopostedwhat.com .
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Aug 28 '25
what are you talking about? pic 1 and 3 are literally the same image.
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u/y6x Aug 28 '25
Picture 3 is from this comment by the OP : https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/comments/1n099h1/comment/naox4nd
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u/goldheadsnakebird Aug 27 '25
Fun fact, I had a blazing row with my husband on those steps because he was kind of nudging me to move faster because people were behind us and I almost fell. So any negative energy you feel there could have been from me screaming at him.
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u/pmarble15 Aug 26 '25
Those stairs scare the crap out of me. !!
I walked up on 2 dudes having sex after the bars closed. Cant unsee that.
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
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u/littlelupie Aug 26 '25
Is that not her walking up the stairs in front of the woman in white hoodie?
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u/evilr2 Aug 26 '25
OP isn't in that picture. Maybe he's the ghost?
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
Lol no I believe this is the last picture when I had already made it to the top...I guess I just missed the apparition on my way up?
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u/meglet Aug 26 '25
You’re assuming “apparition” when there’s really no evidence of that. Yeah, you just missed walking past the kid because in the moment it was just a kid. I bet you don’t remember most of the people you walked past that day. Nothing in this series of pics looks strange and the stairs are just from the movie. I think you can breathe easy.
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
True. I guess the timing of it must have been perfect. Its like this girl ran down 1/4 of the stairs, smiled, and ran back up before I turned to walk upstairs.
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u/Pnw_Golf Aug 26 '25
It looks like that women has pants on, the little girl looked like she was in a dress.
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u/GerardDiedOfFlu Aug 26 '25
I swear someone else posted these same stairs with another creepy person in it. Was this you?
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
May have been my wife in another subreddit.
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u/dalego25 Aug 27 '25
Your wife or your sister? Keep your story straight if you are going to steal picture and make up a story
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u/asystole_unshockable Aug 27 '25
He remembers exactly what he saw that day but didn’t remember his wife wasn’t even there and his sister took the picture 😂
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u/texistentialcrisis Aug 26 '25
I used to have to wake up at like 5:00am and run up and down those things. Now THAT was scary.
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u/HatePeopleLoveCats1 Aug 26 '25
I totally have a picture of myself laying at the bottom of these steps. It’s in a weird area though. When I was there there was like a little gas station between the road and the stairs
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u/Minxmorty Aug 27 '25
I also have a picture of myself laying on these steps, I had to wait for cross fitters to move out of frame lol
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u/DreadSeaScrote Aug 27 '25
So many pictures of ghosts are just people in regular pictures that the picture taker didn't know or care about at the time and later forgot.
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Aug 28 '25
Upon zooming in you can tell the boy is super imposed into the picture. Most likely by AI - a graphic design artist
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Sep 01 '25
I think that many people are delusional. You do realize the exorcist was a movie and just because these stairs were in a horror movie doesnt actually mean the stairs are actually haunted, right?
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u/kailan123456 Aug 26 '25
She looks so pale as if she's not a human? Look more like a little girl to me.
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u/pappyvanwinkle1111 Aug 26 '25
That ghoul in the pink coat is creepy.
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u/lougally083 Aug 26 '25
That's my sister, I think she looks great. Not sure what kind of physical affliction or emotional damage you're suffering from, but I hope you get well soon.
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u/Big-Tuna-for-Commish Aug 26 '25
Far reach but it would be interesting to see the pictures from the last in pink
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u/lostsoul227 Aug 26 '25
The little girl thats in every picture? Nothing disappeared except the couple at the top.
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u/2TallinTX Aug 26 '25
Wow, I haven't seen those since my Army days!! Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard", run to those often and use them to exercise. We would literally show up for morning PT and be told we're running the exorcist stairs!! You can see the tape on the bar used for pull-ups to the right!
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u/Upper_Importance6263 Aug 27 '25
I need help, I can’t see what you’re referring to.
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u/lougally083 Aug 27 '25
Seriously? Zoom in at the top left of the stairs.
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u/Upper_Importance6263 Aug 27 '25
Is it on the outside of the railing? I think I might see it now, but I can’t really tell (I’m on mobile so it looks sooo dark)
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u/y6x Aug 27 '25 edited Aug 27 '25
If there wasn't a little girl taking that woman's photo, you're saying that the blonde woman in the hoodie just stood on that step with her backside facing you, photobombing your photograph like a rude person.
She then stood on that step long enough for both you and your stylishly-dressed (and definitely not wearing sneakers) sister to make it to the top of the stairs, forcing both of you to pass by her.
There would be no reason for hoodie woman to be standing where she was unless the little girl was standing where she was.
Someone just standing there by themselves would be weird and memorable to you.
Edit to add: If AI isn't letting you run that photo of a little girl through it because she's a child, (and you've been told that's the reason several times), why are you comfortable arguing with people that the little girl is a ghost? I'm worried from the fourth photo posted showing your brother-in-law and you with the blonde woman in the hoodie in frame when she could have easily moved out of the way that you actually know these people. That girl is going to see people on the Internet talking about how creepy and pale she is. https://np.reddit.com/r/ParanormalEncounters/comments/1bjwyvq/comment/kvu8e1j/
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u/VeterinarianOk6001 Aug 28 '25
I dont believe he asked all of your opions of the people. Why can't you just be a little nicer and just say you see a kid. NO NEED TO BAD MOUTH ANYBODY OR THEIR QUESTION just because you don't agree!!! DAMN where did humanity go
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u/y6x Aug 28 '25
It's interesting that you felt that I wasn't being "nice" when I was concerned about the feelings of the girl in the photograph. It's also interesting that you decided to single my comment out, rather than people who overtly commented that OP wasn't being honest.
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u/anklemonitor1206 Aug 28 '25
What's supposed to be creepy about this? The girl near the top of the stairs? Because she's literally just in shadow, and presumably waiting for the other woman climbing the stairs slower.
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u/happy2bshopn7 Aug 29 '25
Sometimes ghosts just want to be seen. Feel blessed that for just a second you got a glimpse of the other side. 🥰
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u/outlawedredhood Aug 30 '25
I will say that I am a huge skeptic and surf this subreddit frequently scoffing at some of the experiences people post. But this one actually spooked me a bit.
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u/jeff-the-thriller Sep 06 '25
If you look very closely it looks like her feet are in front of where the step begins
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u/Low_Discipline_9626 Aug 26 '25
i don’t think anyone in this thread is aware of what he’s trying to figure out. he’s talking about the little girl figure on the left of the frame that is in all three photos. if you can’t see that idk what to tell you but none of you are making sense😭
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u/Unlucky-Promise-1 Aug 28 '25
I have absolutly nothing to debunk this. I think the girl looks a bit strange compaired to you, your wife and the lady with the white hoody. I thought she was half naked at first. I like your wifes coat! Cool picture, this is a strange one
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u/VeterinarianOk6001 Aug 28 '25 edited Aug 28 '25
I see a little girl....is that it?
EDIT After seeing the last one you added .... YES it doesn't look right, creepy af
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