Hikers claim they captured ghost in background of holiday snap
It all began when Reddit user SlicedUpBeef started posting photos of a trip she took to the beautiful Canadian region with some friends.
But we are getting slightly ahead of ourselves. The story actually starts with SlicedUpBeef's friend's cousin. Apparently, he'd hiked to the peak a few days beforehand and posted this picture of himself on Instagram.
Eagle-eyed friends noticed a spooky ghostlike figure hiding in the background of the hills. Writing on Reddit he said: "Way below the edge of the trail, where the slope is too steep to stand on, there appears to be a thin person standing unnaturally straight with no visible face. I know you're probably thinking that is probably just a brave hiker, but trust me, that spot is completely inaccessible."
To add to the ghost theory, people added to the Reddit thread pointing out that authorities have reported a sharp increase in the number of people who have gone missing on the peak and most of these people were never found.
Everybody's interest was immediately piqued, because nothing fires up the internet like a potential mountain ghost. Most people presumed there was some perfectly reasonable explanation for the figure. So SlicedUpBeef and her friends returned to the spot to take some pictures and see whether they could get to the bottom of the mystery. However, even though the location and angle was the same, the spooky figure seemed to have moved locations, (presumably to freak out a fresh batch of tourists).
SlicedUpBeef also called on other people to share their photos from the same spot over the years to see if they could get to the bottom of the mystery. The pics started flooding in.
But then THE PLOT THICKENED. Apparently, while SlicedUpBeef and her friends were at the site attempting to recreate the photo, the light suddenly caught a glimmer of something below them. On a branch just below the ledge they were perched on, they spotted a set of keys dangling.
One of the group leaned over and retrieved the set of keys and noticed they were for a Hyundai Elektra. They then made their way back to their car in the carpark. Parked next to their vehicle was the only other vehicle in the lot — a Hyundai Elektra. They noticed the car was dirty and looked like it had been there for a while. They did not want to wait around as it grew dark, so they left the keys that they had found on the roof of the car, on the driver's side. A week later, they saw the car being featured on the news.
The police report said a female tourist who visited the area had gone missing. Although her car had been found at the park's parking lot, the woman's whereabouts were still a mystery. According to the police report, the missing woman was described as tall and was wearing a light grey jumper and jeans when she went missing (which, if you scroll back and look at the original figured circled in red, is kind of a spooky coincidence). The story got thousands of shares, and international media outlets soon picked it up.
Sciencey types on Reddit had a bunch of alternative explanations as to what created the "figure". One Reddit user insisted the shadows on the rock face caused an illusion. Another suggested melting ice was to blame. Someone then shared the most likely explanation. The person wrote, "Sorry to burst all your bubbles, but there's a trail that leads up to that area and goes around the escarpment just under the rocks. That is, most likely, a person hiking around."