Is this a ghost? Check the original picture below and decide.

An artist has asked Thanet Extra readers to help him solve a spooky mystery.

Malcolm Baker contacted us after a spotting a figure dressed in white on a photo he took of Kingsgate Castle in Broadstairs.

The figure is standing looking out to sea, close to chalets below the castle in Kingsgate Bay Road, on a day when Mr Baker insists there were very few people around.

He is convinced the figure is that of a nurse in 1950s uniform, carrying a tray, although there have been reports of a ghostly nun, also dressed in white, on the beach below.

Mr Baker said: “There might be a totally innocent explanation, but it was very strange.

“It was a really horrible cold and wet day in December 2010, and I went to take the photos as I wanted to paint a picture of the castle.

“I made a note of the fact that there was no-one around at all because of the weather.

“I took three photos in very quick succession and the figure only appears in one.

“If it had been someone standing outside the chalets, especially dressed in bright white clothing at that time of year, I am in no doubt I would have noticed, even if it was briefly.

“I didn’t see anyone at the time, it was only recently when I got the photos out to start on the painting again.

“There is a fence near the chalets but it appears that the figure is further forward.”

The Thanet Extra asked a professional photographer to verify the image, and she confirmed that the three photos were taken less than two minutes apart.

Coincidentally, musician Dan Smith from Margate contacted the Thanet Extra in October last year to ask if we had heard any rumours about ghosts in the area.

He had been on the beach shortly after sunrise, writing a song.
When he looked up, he saw a nun dressed in white approximately 200 yards away.

Before he had chance to tell the friend he was with, the nun disappeared. A BBC drama, Whistle And I’ll Come To You, which featured John Hurt being haunted by a figure in white, was filmed at the beach in October 2010 and screened over Christmas that year, but neither of these sightings coincide with the filming dates.

Have you seen or heard of any spooky goings on in the Kingsgate Castle area – or can you explain what the figure really is? See Malcolm Baker's original picture below.