Freelance Content Creator Claims to Have Captured Footage of 'Ghost' Haunting Pathway in Essex, England

A still image from the video; encircled is the purported ghost captured on film by Wakefield.

Freelance content creator Rob Wakefield told Essex Live that he caught a suspicious ghost on film while shooting footage of a pathway in Stansted Mountfitchet, a village in the county of Essex, England.

The video seems to show a misty figure appear briefly on the fog-shrouded path.

“The story was told to me in a local pub as all good ghost stories are,” Wakefield said. “The story is of a young man who late one night decided to cut across the tracks, rather than at the nearest bridge. He was apparently hit by a train, as the driver reported a collision, but no body could be found. The rumor is that the boy was knocked off the tracks and into the river that runs by the side of the railway. As such, on certain days, you can see the ghost haunting the pathway that runs between the river and the tracks.”

According to Wakefield, he visited the location next to the river after hearing the legend, but didn't notice anything unusual until after reviewing his footage.

“I recorded this video in the same location,” he explained. “I didn’t notice anything odd until I played the footage back and it gave me a chill when I saw the screen.”

But the Singular Fortean Society’s photography and video expert, Emily Wayland, is convinced the footage is a deliberate hoax.

"This is an animation overlaying the footage," she said. "It was likely created in a motion graphics program such as After Effects, since it moves in a very composed, fluid way—could even be a 3D animation. Its movements are repetitive, too, as though it's on a loop. The 'ghost' looks like a stock image of a blanket ghost or ghoul, not at all what witnesses actually report."

“I know how to do that. I could take any ghost image on a black background and overlay it, and make this video,” she added. “Wakefield would definitely know how to do that. He even placed it by the weird mist and had it fade so you couldn’t see the whole thing. This is a hoax.”

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