LONDON, England December 19, 2003-- A ghostly image has been caught on camera at Hampton Court Palace near London, a home of King Henry VIII, long reported to be haunted.
The 16th Century palace is well known for alleged supernatural activity, but nothing suspicious has been caught on film before.
However, in October this year, a curious image was discovered on the palace's closed-circuit television footage.
On several occasions security guards were alerted to an open fire door in an exhibition area of the palace.
After securing the door each time, they returned to their office to view the CCTV footage to see who had opened them.
On the first occasion the footage showed the doors flying wide open, but no evidence of why they had.
On the second, the guards were stunned when a ghostly figure in period dress suddenly appeared on the screen and closed the doors.
The same thing happened on a third day, but again no figure appeared.
Stranger still was that a visitor had noted in the palace's visitor book that she thought she had seen a ghost in that area.
One of the palace's "custody warders" (security guards) told the UK Press Association: "I was shocked when the CCTV footage showed an eerie figure in period dress in the doorway. It was incredibly spooky because the face just didn't look human.
"My first reaction was that someone was having a laugh, so I asked my colleagues to take a look. We spoke to our costumed guides but they don't own a costume like that worn by the figure. It is actually quite unnerving!"
The palace, with its 500 years of history, has seen many dramatic royal events from the death of Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour, to the condemnation and house arrest of his fifth, Catherine Howard, for adultery.
Over the centuries staff, visitors, workmen and residents have experienced strange phenomena for which there is often no practical explanation.
One area of the palace has been named the Haunted Gallery. It is here that people claim to have seen the ghost of Catherine Howard, and heard her uttering terrible cries.
CNN
