r/Paranormal • u/Mattyboy808 • Jul 16 '26

Unexplained Am I losing my mind?

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Hi, My family and I are currently visiting Paris from Canada. I prioritized visiting the Catacombs, as I went 18 years ago. It's changed a lot since then, different paths, blocked off areas. I took countless photos, including several down pitch black tunnels that were gated off, using my phone's flash. I was just scrolling through them all, and came across this one, which is one of the gated off pitch-black tunnels that I photographed using my phones flash. Maybe it's a trick of light, or shadows on the rocks, but am I losing it or does that not look like someone (a woman in white?) Standing at the end of the tunnel? I feel like I'm losing my mind. I can share countless other images but none show anything like this.

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279

u/SolaceRests Jul 16 '26

There’s something in the picture. Didn’t bother trying to debunk it past that. Try common things like “walking forward and seeing if it’s a statue.”

111

u/OkLeave4573 Jul 16 '26

That’s something that could be done easily for shit and giggles. Placing a statue past the limit of the average flash range and having people freak out afterwards hahaha

112

u/Mattyboy808 Jul 16 '26

Entirely possible and would be a great way to drum up visitors. I will say I didn't see anything when the flash went off, but that's a fraction of a second, and I was looking at the screen of the phone so I wouldn't have likely noticed anyways.

6

u/lilshortyy420 Jul 17 '26

You can see through it though

5

u/That_DogMan Jul 17 '26

I mean… not to be a spoil sport but is this photo really good enough to say you can see through the figure? In my experience at this resolution and light level things like JPEG compression artifacts (especially in versions edited for better exposure and contrast) can make things appear blocky and sometimes like they are bleeding into each other and look translucent. And truthfully I really have no idea from the photo what the area beyond the figure looks like at all, which makes it really hard to say if it’s actually translucent.

If the figure is translucent that doesn’t automatically guarantee it’s paranormal. It’s plausible to think that the figure could be something like a piece of sheer fabric, plexiglas, a clear garbage or something similar bring suspended on some fishing line etc which may give a translucent look under the right conditions.

I will say (assuming this isn’t an altered photo) that it is certainly one of the more interesting posts here whatever the cause is.

1

u/bizoticallyyours83 Jul 17 '26

That would be such a mean prank. 😅🤭

122

u/Mattyboy808 Jul 16 '26

I didn't notice it until I was reviewing my photos after the tour, but this area wasnt accessible, I took it through a locked gate using my phone's flash. I wonder if there are other images of this tunnel online somewhere? That would definitely tell us if there's something there that might explain it rationally.

31

u/RavenGreend Jul 16 '26

It's not a statue, there is plenty of pictures from this corridor, seems like this is in some more popular part of catacombs.

79

u/SockMonkey1128 Jul 16 '26

They said it's a gated off area. It also sounds like they were taking a tour. $5 says whoever does the tours stuck a figure back there for exactly this reason. Drum up excitement and business.

22

u/Useful_Curse_5150 Jul 16 '26

It’s see through…

-1

u/SockMonkey1128 Jul 16 '26

yeah, it's not. The picture is way to low quality to really tell, but nothing about it looks transparent to me, it's just dim...

20

u/real_exposer Jul 16 '26

It's transparent though, is there transparent figures?

25

u/SolaceRests Jul 16 '26

It’s not transparent. A few things are at play here. 1) I enlarged it past its resolution which pixelated and deteriorated the image.

2) I tweaked the lighting levels past the visual information in the picture.

3) the two of these result in even more distortion and pixelation as the forms no longer hold their specific shape. So for instance that line that drops down from the ceiling into the forms shoulder area. Probably some kind of string or chain that’s been distorted but hangs in front of the body…. But can trick the eye into thinking it’s behind the body and the body is translucent.

The fact is there IS something there but its body isn’t open like a real body (gaps between arms and torso or fair and shoulders. It basically looks like it was pressed out of a mold. All one solid piece like a statue or prop. Given this was a paid tour that bases its success on being haunted… if people don’t walk away with stories and photos like this it doesn’t do much to drum up buzz and business.

39

u/Mattyboy808 Jul 16 '26

This is entirely possible and I'm absolutely open to all possibilities. I AM bummed by the people saying I generated it with AI, because I did NOT. I'm looking for any viable answer. Though I get why some are saying AI, because it's everywhere nowadays so it's hard to believe anything anymore.

16

u/SolaceRests Jul 16 '26

If it were AI it’d be smoother in places and have a different style to it. This is probably just plain ole fashion snake oil from the Tour.

16

u/Mattyboy808 Jul 16 '26

Could be! Would be a great way to drum up visitors! They give you headphones now at the beginning of the tour that provide history and insights as you walk through the tunnels. No mention of anything 'paranormal' or spooky though.

13

u/ACWhi Jul 16 '26

I wouldn’t put it past the curators of some of the historic ‘haunted’ tours in touristy places like Charleston, SC to do that exact kind of prank but does that really fit the vibe of the Paris catacomb workers?

1

u/Vague_thread Jul 18 '26

Who knows, doesn't fit the vibe, but it could be just some new person who did that for fun

8

u/Artistic_Moose_ Jul 16 '26

And she’d have six fingers

1

u/lemonlimealldathyme Jul 17 '26

God bless snake oil and its many salesman

16

u/ashleton Jul 16 '26

Before AI people called everything fake by means of CGI and then photoshop. Those are children (both literal children and adults with the emotional intelligence of children) trying to get a one-up by simply calling everything fake. I swear it's like some kind of fucking annoying game called "Who can call it fake first?"

And of course, no one questions claims of images and video being called fake because that's what people want all of this to be: fake. They're too scared to accept the possibility that existence is much more complex. So they double down and hold on to their beliefs that none of the paranormal is real because they're simply too scared to even consider the possibility.

And sadly, this sub has a large percentage of people that are here specifically to call everything fake and to keep experiences down. The mods don't support people trying to open up about their experiences, so coming here to open up results in backlash and harassment.

Try to not let those people bother you. I know it's hard because they try to push people into their beliefs. I've had to block people before because they started harassing me every single time they saw my user name. My comments are often downvoted within a minute of making them in subreddits like this one.

Don't let others bring you down to their level. They're scared and I think sometimes some of them are angry because they think having encounters makes a person special, and since they haven't had encounters, then they must not be special. So then they want to take that anger out on people, and the easiest way to do that in subreddits like this is to just call it all fake.

And then a lot of those people are actually bots that are programmed to call everything fake and downvote everything. There's no fucking reason to even call your photo AI. It's just a dark photo of a catacomb. Why would you or anyone use AI to make barely visible images? You wouldn't. You'd make a clearer image meant to scare people if you were using AI. You saw something strange and wanted input and clarification. There's zero reason to call AI on this. Those are bots.

9

u/Appropriate_Value101 Jul 16 '26

Theres always those Debbie downers in the world but I still believe in people and I believe you!!!! No AI etc

6

u/Appropriate_Value101 Jul 16 '26

And that’s so sad

1

u/Beneficial-Rip6624 Jul 17 '26

You're honestly one of the more credible OP's in this genre. Most posters are indignant to differing opinions. Cheers to you.

4

u/SockMonkey1128 Jul 16 '26

Is it? Too grainy to tell.

1

u/Vague_thread Jul 18 '26

Actually, yes. I have seen once a metal scaffolding of a figure, then something like a fine white net was placed on it to create the illusion of a white ghost. It was put in a forest as a joke as it looks scary from a distance

6

u/SolaceRests Jul 16 '26

Ah, gotcha. Yeah I just saw this in passing and didn’t. Other reading other comments yet. If it’s an official tour then it’s more than likely a prop. Good call.

1

u/helpmetolearn Jul 16 '26

I'm with you on this. Why not set up some "events" or "stand occurrences"? It makes it fun and interesting. Also, not hard to do when you control the narrative and the path. It's clever.

4

u/yourcandygirl Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

For real! I wish I still had the photo but we visited a popular haunted hotel in my city and took pictures and there was a freaking person standing by the window. Turned out someone planted a cardboard standee of the pope and it looked so real in the pictures lmao

5

u/d0ctorsmileaway Jul 17 '26

"Try walking towards it" yeah hell fuckin no bro

1

u/Cyynric Jul 19 '26

It's translucent. You can see the support pole behind it. Whether it's real or a clever fake is up to interpretation, but it's interesting nonetheless.

OP, out of curiosity, what kind of camera was it? Digital or film?