The ghosts of some of America's most notorious inmates are said to
haunt former maximum security prison Alcatraz.
But quite why one seemingly showed herself to a British couple left
jail staff baffled.
Sheila Sillery-Walsh captured the unknown woman on a visit with her
partner Paul Rice. Sited on an island off San Francisco, Alcatraz is
said to be one of the country's most haunted places.
The 48-year-old teaching assistant said: 'When I glanced at the photo
on my mobile, I saw this dark female figure in the picture. I looked
at the window again and there was no one in the room.' She contacted
prison staff but none of them recognised the woman in the picture
taken with an iPhone.
'I am so curious to know who she could be – perhaps she was a female
visitor of a prisoner and kept returning,' she added.
'I would love to know why she's shown herself in my photo.
'Weirdly, when we were near that cell, a woman came on the audio tour
who used to visit a prisoner. It makes you wonder.' School site
manager Mr Rice is convinced the figure in the photo taken on April 20
is a ghost, not Ms Sillery-Walsh's reflection.
'The woman's hair and clothing is from a different era, it looks like
she's from the 1930s or 40s,' the 50-year-old from Birmingham said. 'I
have no logical explanation for the girl in the picture – I'm baffled.
She's staring right at the camera, with a knowing look.'
