First off, I'd like to say thank you to
@Robert C. for coming here and solving this mystery. I know it's possibly a bit upsetting, but try and laugh it off if you can. You've busted your very own Internet ghost story hoax, I'd definitely be able to eat out at least once on that
I have a
possible source for the picture, but it's very circumstantial, well below the standards these guys like to uphold. Given the picture has been "debunked", it'll perhaps give you an idea how it could have happened, and maybe reassure you that it probably wasn't anything malicious.
Back in January I contacted Sam Cowan on Ligotti.net (Sam is the guy who posted what seems to be the earliest available image on the web) and he was kind enough to reply....
External Quote:
Hi Dean. Its weird, someone else asked me about this via Facebook recently. Sorry I can't add any more info about the pic but I snagged it somewhere online a few years ago, I think a "Post Creepy Photos" thread on Something Awful. I most definitely had no involvement in creating it, just thought it was cool. Now I'm curious.. Cheers, Sam
A trawl of Somethingawful brought up a few possibilities, though the closest I could find to the title he suggests was from the early 2000s and most of the links were long dead. No sign of the picture itself or mention of the Cooper family or "Hanging man" in site searches ("Copper family" might be worth a go now tho).
I did come across this thread -
Create Paranormal Images - which ran from June 2009 to Feb 2010 (Sam uploaded the pic to Ligotti in Jan 2010). Unfortunately a lot of the image links are broken too, it is cached on
Wayback and some of the images are on there, but no sign of this picture on either.
What I found interesting at the time was Gerogerigegege's (the creator of the thread) technique - deliberately creating low quality black and white images to mask a poor photochop and to look more "legit".
That seemed similar to what whoever created this picture did, although the blacks are crushed rather than washed out.
External Quote:
Creating paranormal images has been a hobby of mine for quite some time. Occasionally, I stumble upon odd web sites showcasing strange photos, and I always wondered if it were possible to get one of my own chops in a book, documentary, or web site just by casually leaking it out into the web -- whether they'd be supplements to bogus stories or not.
So, let's make a shitload?
Pro-tip 1: Before I export, I like to open my Levels panel, and slide my blacks and whites inward to lose true whites and true blacks. (Makes it look more legit, no?)
Pro-tip 2: Try exporting your image in a very low JPG quality at first. See if it works with the image, as well as hide minor flaws. After all, it can "add to the effect."
You don't have to post your source images, unless you want to of course.
Running JPGSnoop on the "hanging man" image and his images identified them all as being Photoshopped and with a similar signature, just different quality levels.
For sources, he uses someone's Flickr album of old family photos (
https://www.flickr.com/photos/weisert/sets/72157602424456917 - I can't see a ballerina or Robert's photo in there, nor does there look to be any family resemblance to Robert's family).
So there you go. Gerogerigegege's "MO" is similar but not the same, the similar JPG analysis doesn't really prove anything, and I can't find the picture or even a broken link with a likely name in the thread, though I guess the post could have been deleted once it "went viral".
I'll maybe have another search using "Copper family" if I get chance (and no-one else finds it first).
Obviously, someone did know the name of the people in the picture at some point (or that's a hell of a coincidence), so you might be able to solve that part of the mystery for your own satisfaction by speaking to family members about whether they've put family albums on-line.
Ray Von