Hiker captures ‘ghostly figure’ walking alongside him in misty mountains

Chris Randall managed to grab his camera and record proof of what he had seen which was a rare phenomenon that can appear on a misty day when the sun is behind a person

A hiker captured a ‘ghostly figure walking alongside him in the mountains.

Chris Randall saw the spooky outline while taking a walk up the hills in the Lake District.

He managed to grab his camera to record proof of what he had seen.

The ghostly apparition, however he has since learned is a ‘brocken spectre’ a rare phenomenon which can appear on a misty day when the sun is behind a person

DerbyshireLive reports it makes their shadow project forwards through the mist as it hits water particles in the air which can look like a ghost.

Chris from Buxton, Derbyshire, recalling the moment, he said: “I do a lot of hill walking, it is quite common in the mountains.

“For years I have been trying to catch one, the weather conditions have to be right for one to appear.

“The Brocken spectre gives the appearance you have a shadowy presence walking alongside you, that comes and goes with the mist and the light.”

Chris was camping alone and hiking along Red Pike near Wasdale Head, Lake District, Cumbria, when he saw the optical illusion.

The 45-year-old food producer added: “It’s very surreal and was a little unnerving.

“I camped the night before so I knew there was cloud up and about the area and I was hopeful I would see one that day.

“As soon as I caught it in the corner of my eye, I knew exactly what it was.”

According to the Met Office, a Brocken spectre is a large shadow of an observer cast onto cloud or mist. It is named after the German mountain on which is was first noted.

The term ‘Brocken spectre’ was coined in 1780 by Johann Silberschlag, a German pastor and natural scientist who frequented the Harz mountains.

It has been been popularly used throughout literature and mentioned in works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Dickens and Lewis Carroll.

A Met Office spokesperson said: “When an observer stands on a hill which is partially enveloped in mist and in such a position that their shadow is thrown on to the mist, they may get the illusion that the shadow is a person seen dimly through the mist.

“The illusion is that this person or ‘spectre’ is gigantic and at a considerable distance away from them.

“The sun shining behind the observer projects their shadow through the mist, while the magnification of the shadow is an optical illusion which makes the shadow on nearby clouds seem at the same distance at faraway landmarks seen through the cloud.”

The Mirror reported in 2021 how another man thought he had seen a ghost when he was climbing a mountain and saw a figure looming out of the clouds,

Thomas Swallow, 39, was hiking with his friends but he had got a bit ahead so was completely alone when he turned and came face-to-face with a ghostly apparition.

He said he was completely taken aback, but then realised his eyes were playing tricks on him – and what he was seeing was his own reflection mirrored back to himself.

What Thomas had seen, while climbing Great End in the Lake District, was a rare optical illusion known as a brocken spectre – where a large shadow of an observer is cast onto cloud or mist.