Spooked by streetview

Google's brand new Streetview, which launched earlier this week, gives people a virtual tour of streets and areas in UK cities - but what users didn't bargain for was the ghostly presence Streetview would pick up - with more and more sightings of ghosts being reported on the virtual  images each day...

Despite being only a few days old, Streetview has already attracted much controversy, with people arguing that it is an invasion of privacy and could potentially encourage thieves as they can scout out the area before committing their crime.

The tool allows web users to virtually ‘stand' outside houses, landmarks and buildings all around the world.

But, car licence plates and stag-nighters throwing up on roads are not the only things the camera has unwittingly picked up - ghosts and ghouls are also making an appearance in several of the scenes.

Apparently, apparitions are often invisible to the naked eye but can be caught on camera or film and this is what has happened in the case of Streetview.

One example is the ‘Google ghoul' filmed at a former Victorian docklands in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, which was once the busiest sea-port in the world. She was captured by the Google Street View cameras in the area, which is the scene of murders and unsolved mysteries going back 200 years.

The woman dressed in old fashioned clothing - a long skirt, bow tie and blue boater hat and appears to be shimmering above the pavement before disappearing into thin air. Local mediums have already hinted that the woman is dressed in ‘period clothing that you just don't see these days.'

This ghostly lady is not the only spooky image to have been captured by Google cameras, which took millions of photos to make up the virtual imagery.

But, before ghost hunters and/or busters get too excited, the identity of the lady has already been revealed. She is storybook nanny Mary Poppins - or a woman dressed up as Mary Poppins and planted there by Google.

And while they chose Cardiff for Mary Poppins, Paddington Bear can be spotted on London's Portobello Road, Sherlock Holmes has been caught in Oxford, and the Beefeater has been indulging in a spot of shopping at the Birmingham branch of Selfridges. Children's book character Where's Wally can also be spotted in a scene-so get searching!

Google's Laura Scott said, "We're always looking for fun stuff to include in our product."

Over in Toowoomba, Australia, the Google cameras captured an as-yet unexplained ghostly apparition standing in the window of a house at 22 Norwood Street.

The Connelleys, who own the house on Norwood Street, said that, years ago, a relative was staying in the room in which the ghost has just been spotted in and she woke up in the night to find a ghost sitting on the edge of her bed. They think it could be the same ghost that Google has captured years later.

Google Street View was launched last week and covers 23 other cities, including London, Belfast, Southampton, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester and Oxford.

Google eventually plans to have the whole of the UK covered by its 360-degree imaging.

Picture by peasap