Disturbances seem to bring out the more than just looky lous. On December 23rd a water pipe that burst just before Christmas Eve at St. Anne’s Church may have caused more issues than just damage to the church.

Ms. Taylor, who grew up in Annapolis, but now resides in Delray Beach, Fla., said that on the night of Dec. 26 she captured ghostly images while the ghost pub-crawl tour group stood among the tombstones that surround St. Anne’s Church, the historic landmark on Church Circle.

“I believe that I have caught unexplainable things – many, many unexplained things – on camera,” Lisa wrote in an e-mail.

That was just three days after a water pipe burst in the church steeple Dec. 23, flooding the basement.

The church traces its history back to 1696, and the congregation still uses the communion silver made in that year that was sent over by King William III of England. A number of prominent Annapolitans are buried there, including Col. Nicholas Greenberry (1627-1697), who was acting governor of Maryland in 1694; the first mayor of Annapolis Amos Garrett (1671-1727), and several members of the prominent Carroll family from the 18th century.

Images: Lisa Taylor says her camera captured ghostly images among the tombstones in the churchyard of historic St. Anne’s Church

Beverly Litsinger, president of the Maryland Ghost and Spirit Association, viewed Lisa’s photos and said she believes they provide a glimpse into the world beyond.

“Spirits appear in a number of shapes,” Beverly wrote in an e-mail. In her view, what Lisa captured are examples of “orbs” and “ectoplasm.”

Spirits form circle-shaped orbs when they’re moving, according to Beverly. Several of Lisa’s photos show white or translucent disks in the background. She said some of Lisa’s photos also showed bright streaks of light called “vortexes,” which indicate an orb traveling at high speed.

Beverly said ectoplasm is a kind of mist that is produced prior to a spirit forming a more human body-like shape.

Lisa notes that the night was overcast, but there was no fog in the air, and the unexplained images weren’t the only oddities of the night. Their cameras acted up and the batteries died for her and another tour-goer. “After the tour we went to Chick and Ruth’s Deli to grab a bite to eat and both our cameras suddenly worked,” she wrote.

None of this was a surprise to Mike Carter, owner of Annapolis Ghost Tours, the group which led the tour Lisa attended.

“I get so many of these photos,” Mike said. “I put the best ones on the Web site.” Those photographs can be found at www.ghostsofannapolis.com.

While he said he doesn’t take photos of orbs too seriously, “so many things can cause those,” he said, he’s intrigued by the ones that seem to show shadowy human figures.

The Rev. Gid Montjoy IV, priest in charge at St. Anne’s, said he’s well aware that the church is one of the stops on the local ghost tour. “We’re glad we’re on the tour. We’re part of the Annapolis lore,” he said. However, “No one’s ever said anything to me about photographs of ghosts. I believe there are a lot of mysteries that we can’t explain,” he said.

Julia Dray, who led the tour Dec. 26, said she’s come to expect the unexpected in her job.

“St. Anne’s Cemetery renders a lot of very bizarre photographs. I’ve had tour participants who got pictures of mist, others who got strange flashes and prisms that appeared in their photos,” she said. “At times on the tour, participants will freak out because their camera aiming mechanism (which outlines a head for a head shot) is wandering off to the side of the frame. At other times, the cameras have just stopped working all together. Ditto for cell phone cameras and other electronic devices.”

However, the post-Christmas tour was a standout, she said.

“I remember this particular tour vividly, as one of the pictures they got was of my face surrounded by swirling tentacles of white mist – and since I was there at the time (and there were no tentacles of any kind), I thought the pictures were pretty cool. And certainly inexplicable in the normal sense of the word.”

To see all of Lisa’s photos from that night, log onto:www.flickr.com/photos/rawksteadybetty/sets/72157611834796640/.

The Rev. Montjoy said he didn’t notice anything unusual the night the pipe burst.

He said it’s OK if people come to the church yard to check out things for themselves. “Maybe more of them will come inside after our doors reopen,” he said.

The church is currently closed to the public while the fire suppression system is repaired. The Rev. Montjoy said they hope to reopen the church by the end of next week. The church is generally open to the public until 6 p.m. every day except for Saturday afternoon, when they prepare for Sunday worship.

The church is open for Sunday morning services, despite the ongoing repairs.

For more information on the church, visit www.stannes-annapolis.org.

Another local ghost hot spot is the Brice house, at 42 East St., Mike said. 

 

Full source: Our Strange World

I’m not that too impressed with the photos and Lisa seems to have her own skeptics on Flickr.

Has anyone else heard anything on this ??