Cameras have always seemed to have a knack for capturing images that don't always register on the human eye. A good digital camera is one of the most common and important tools for the modern ghost hunter, but many of the most famous ghost pictures date from the ages before digital cameras.

Freddy Jackson (click to see photo)
One of the best known ghostly pictures is the Freddy Jackson photo. Jackson was an RAF aircraft mechanic who was killed by an accident with an airplane propeller two days before his unit was scheduled to have a group picture taken. When the official photograph of the RAF unit was developed, it clearly showed a rather filmy man standing in the back row. The image was easily identified by members of the unit as Freddy Jackson, whose funeral had been held that morning. The photo was published in 1975 by Sir Victor Goddard, a member of the RAF unit. In the photo, Jackson is standing directly behind him. The photo, taken in 1919, was photographed and developed long before the days of Photoshop and photo manipulation.

Lady Dorothy Walpole (click to see photo)
In 1936, photographers Captain Provand and Indre Shira were shooting a fashion spread for Country Life Magazine at a British country estate. When the photos were developed later, they showed the faint but distinct form of a woman descending the staircase in the central hallway. The woman is believed to be Lady Dorothy Walpole, who had died of smallpox in the home. She is known as The Brown Lady because some have reported seeing her ghost wearing a brown corduroy dress. Rumor has it that her actual cause of death was a push down the stairs.

The Lady at the Mill (click to see photo)
In 1929, Robert D. Walsh was taking photographs at the Fanham Wood Mill in preparation for renovations planned their by the owner of the mill. Especially important to the builder were photos of a staircase that he was planning to replace. Walsh reported that his dog appeared "different" that day, but he didn't understand why until the photographs he had taken were developed. In the best photo of the staircase, where he had seen nothing at all, a filmy woman was descending the stair. The photo was published in a local newspaper in 1929, but there is no further information on who the woman might have been or why she was haunting the mill.