Interesting anomaly in Chacchoben Mayan ruin photo

[Shea]

Hello everyone,

First of all I just registered for the forums but I've been listening to to the show since it began. I was about 17 then I would say. Anyway, to the point of this post, I just had the privilege to go to Mexico (on a cruise) for the first time this summer along with my family and the family of my girlfriend. Just yesterday her aunt, who takes unimaginably large numbers of photographs on family trips from what I've been told, apparently came across a photograph that had a strange figure that she hadn't noticed until now. I've been scrutinizing the picture since I got it and all I can conclude is that either it's real or has been manipulated. My girlfriend assures me that her aunt doesn't even have photoshop skills so I'm leaning towards something legitimate.

Okay, so some background information and then the photograph:
-I am 98 percent positive that there was not an individual wearing a full red robe on this tour or even in the entire city of Chacchoben. It was very very hot outside.
-This is one of the pyramids of the Mayan ruins of Chacchoben in Costa Maya, Mexico.

Here is the picture:

I hope that everyone can give me their opinions.

 

[methshin]

looks like a Spanish/Portugese religious figure. Like a Cardinal or something.

If in fact this picture is legit, I'd say it's rather interesting.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[Shea]

looks like a Spanish/Portugese religious figure. Like a Cardinal or something.

If in fact this picture is legit, I'd say it's rather interesting.

Welcome to the forums!

Thanks for the welcome,

it's interesting you say that because assuming the picture is real, I searched for first Mayan clothing then 1500 Spanish clothing and found pictures of Spanish religious clothing looking exactly like that.

 

[methshin]

Thanks for the welcome,

it's interesting you say that because assuming the picture is real, I searched for first Mayan clothing then 1500 Spanish clothing and found pictures of Spanish religious clothing looking exactly like that.

I'm a history buff, so that's why I came to that conclusion. Traditionally, Cardinals wear red robes.

 

[Siani]

It's interesting, but although the shape suggests a human figure, I can't see any real, hard evidence that it is a person. I took the liberty of enlarging and cropping out the area where the 'figure' appears. I'm no imaging expert, but I'm fairly certain I can see evidence of tampering - there appears to be a strip pasted into the image, where the figure seems to be. Also, some of the red of the robe appears a couple of steps down, albeit in a very dilute form - a possible airbrushing artefact? Perhaps someone with better skills than mine can shed some light?

 

[pixelsmith]

siani i found the same artifacts. this image was most likely altered.

 

[thefoundryman]

Red scarf hanging from tree in foreground.

 

[Schuyler]

Red scarf hanging from tree in foreground.

I think so, too. The figure doesn't have feet. It looks like a rag in the near distance, not a figure further away.

 

[Shea]

Hey guys thanks for all the opinions,

I myself have to lean on the side that it is a legitimate non-tampered with photograph because my girlfriend is adamant that her aunt doesn't possess the skills to and wouldn't tamper with a photograph because she is very interested in things like this just as all of us. I'm pretty certain that this isn't a scarf in a tree though. I have another picture of the same angle at the same generally time that the original picture was taken. Also I fooled around with the first image trying to change contrast and whatnot looking for different things and mabe it did something to the image or saved on accident so I'll attach the new separate picture (this one is taken by my mother) and the original picture from where it was emailed to me.

This is the fist picture as I received it:

Here's my mother's photograph of the same area just a little bit later:

Hope these help.

 

[Gareth]

I think so, too. The figure doesn't have feet. It looks like a rag in the near distance, not a figure further away.

Yep. Me too.

 

[EQ42]

The quality of the image is pretty bad when you blow it up in photoshop. I can't do much with it which is a pity because I find it interesting. I'm guessing they lowered the size of the file to email it to you? I don't think it was hoaxed via post processing- if it was you'd think they try to make it a bit more impressive. Of course it could still be a hoax, just put a guy in a red robe and have him stand there. I think it's likely there was something red that the woman just didn't notice. It's like you have a lot of red, then a black area, and then a little more red. I fooled around with contrast and other things as well and just couldn't get much- the file is too small and I'm guessing the image is degraded. I mean, I could imagine it being a cardinal wearing a robe and a cardinal's hat- I can see where you get that. But it could be any number of things. I thought it might be something on the branch but the picture taken shortly after doesn't have anything like that so who knows. David is a imaging expert. Maybe he could come up with something. Weird picture and thanks for posting it. I just wish you had a link to a larger file where it could really be examined.

 

[David Biedny]

I'm going to pass on this one. Could be anything.

dB

 

[Rudolf Steiner]

It can be anything, like an Undead Cardinal

 

[Shea]

I'm going to pass on this one. Could be anything.

dB

Thanks for checking it out David. It's a pity that the quality is so low. I don't understand why it came off the camera that way. I asked the woman who took it and she said it was straight from the camera. It's a 4 by 6 photo so all I can think is that her camera has a setting for that size image or she used some type of program to upload the photograph that automatically resized it :-/. I assure that it isn't a hoax but all I have is my word which doesn't mean much on a forum like this. I was there on the tour at the same time and there are definitely not people wearing that kind of clothing in this part of Mexico especially and it was a cruise tour so I know nobody in the group of people on the tour wore anything like that. It's simply anomalous and I just don't know what to make of it. I just really wish I could've taken the picture so then I'd know more about the camera settings and image size. I was really hoping you could help out with this one David because I knew that if anyone would be able to analyze the image it would be you.

Thanks again David

Also, I wanted to side-note off topic in regards to the other thread concerning young people and the paranormal. I've been interested in these subjects for the majority of my life and I have a lot of friends who are also interested when the subject comes up. I'm 20 years old now but I've been listening from the start and I am very pleased with the approach taken on the show and the objectivity. If anyone wants to know more (for you old folks ) about the subject of young people and the paranormal and my take on the whole field I'm pleased to answer e-mails and talk to people, and I really hope you do! Well back to my Organic Chemistry studying (sophomore in college, attempting pre-med )

 

[Shea]

I'm going to pass on this one. Could be anything.

dB

Sorry for quoting twice! but my girlfriend sent me a zoomed in image of the same photograph. Her aunt zoomed in on this by herself. (Yes I know there is obviously a better quality full picture :-/ but she just must not know much about the whole camera/computer/uploading deal aside from uploading them and printing them) But this one is waay better. Please have a look.

 

[TClaeys]

Now it really looks like something hanging from the tree. I know when I visited Chichen Itza there were many local vendors that had numerous wares for sale. All sorts of things and lots of them hanging from the trees. However you may know that Chichen Itza is very popular and draws lots of people. I don't know if there were any locals selling anything there where you were, but just a guess.

But you really can't see anything that would look like a person in that red attire, unless the person is invisible.

 

[EQ42]

Now it really looks like something hanging from the tree. I know when I visited Chichen Itza there were many local vendors that had numerous wares for sale. All sorts of things and lots of them hanging from the trees. However you may know that Chichen Itza is very popular and draws lots of people. I don't know if there were any locals selling anything there where you were, but just a guess.

But you really can't see anything that would look like a person in that red attire, unless the person is invisible.

I agree, but he posted the other picture which was presumably taken soon after and there was nothing there. It could definitely be something hanging from the tree. That's the most likely explanation. Or it could be a red cloak floating in mid air. I think it's pretty interesting. Also, I hope the original poster is not offended when people suggest hoax. I really appreciate you posting these.

 

[Shea]

Now it really looks like something hanging from the tree. I know when I visited Chichen Itza there were many local vendors that had numerous wares for sale. All sorts of things and lots of them hanging from the trees. However you may know that Chichen Itza is very popular and draws lots of people. I don't know if there were any locals selling anything there where you were, but just a guess.

But you really can't see anything that would look like a person in that red attire, unless the person is invisible.

I agree. I'm looking at it and looking at it and it looks like something hanging there but take a look at the other picture from the same time on page one. The tree trunk could be obscuring the thing hanging there but I don't think so and I definitely don't remember seeing it there. From what I could tell, Chacchoben isn't the most popular of the ruins. Costa Maya is extremely run down and mostly deserted because of a recent hurricane (few years back I think) and the only little shop was before entering the park. There were a few workers within the park where one of the ruins was but they were wearing street clothing and not selling.

 

[Kieran]

I think this photo is more interesting then the photos provided previously, by a previous poster Gregory, who posted here on the forums, i believe that was his name? Is the photo from the same day, your girlfriends aunt photo,and your mothers photo? There seems to be more people around in your girlfriends aunts photo, then your mothers photo. I think we have to worry about such photos, because of the wonders of Photoshop, i am not saying it is a hoax, it a pity she did not use her phone with rolling video, this would have it made far more interesting if it came up on video, we can not blame the women, her interest was in photos, and she did not notice the coat, when she took the photo anyway.

The problem with this photo is that something like this can be easily hoaxed. You see a red coat in the photo, which seems to have a support, what i mean is, the coat seems like it has mass, something is holding the coat up, it also near a few steps, with no visible legs from the back. Now if i was to be bold... you could get a narrow strong stick, put the top part of the stick into the hood, angle the bottom of the stick to the ground. You could from a distance take a photo, and it probably would look from behind, that the coat was holding itself up. Mexico is pretty hot and maybe has very little wind, which would force the stick to give way, while you took the photo..

Shea.. i not saying this what happened do not take it the wrong way please.

 

[Shea]

Irishseekers,

Yes those are very logical explainations and if I were an outsider to the whole situation of being placed upon the presence of this photograph I would definitely come to the same conclusions.

I need to clarify a couple of things and add a few more pieces of information:

The picture containing the anomaly was the one taken by my aunt. That is why my knowledge of hot it came to be is limited.

The picture with people but no anomaly was taken by my mother. My memory fails me on the occasion but thinking about it leads me to the assumption that my girlfriend's aunt was in the front of the group as we were walking in the path to the ruins and snapped the picture before everyone had dispersed to explore. Therefore my mother's picture must have been taken about three minutes later than the one with the enigma.

Here's some additional information:

I was in Costa Maya as a port stop of a Carnival Cruise Line. We were only there for about 7-8 hours. The bus ride took about an hour to an hour and a half to get to Chacchoben so we only had about two hours in the ruins. Our motivation for being there was an interest in the history of ancient Mayan civilization. We were too busy looking around in interest to be thinking about constructing hoaxes and we definitely wouldn't have wasted a port day to do so.

So the fact remains that either her aunt photoshopped the photo after having the original for two months or it's inexplicably legitimate. I cannot answer that directly.