Whenever a major apparition is captured on film, you can bet the Discord’s Ghost Blunders are there…um, or at least sleeping down the hall. My daughter captured the best image to date with her iPhone, several feet from my bedroom. Did I mention I’m her inspiration for ghost hunting? Okay, she thinks I’m an idiot but, hey, I paid for the iPhone that took the image. So there. Click to see this truly creepy picture!

Here’s the story:

One morning my daughter, Alley Zano, explains how the night before while half asleep she saw a little ghost girl sitting watching television. The ghost was facing the television while resting comfortably on my daughter’s very own Archie Bunker chair (old reference alert). So I immediately explained the unreliability of half states and how hypnopompic and hypnogogic hallucinations are often associated with the semi-conscious mind.

She then stops me, “No, dad. I took a picture of her.”

Great…I travel all over the southwest doing important para-abnormal investigations and I’m about to be bested by my own kiddo…in my own condo…with her I-something that I purchased. Alley looked at the ghost, leaned over the railing of her bunk-style bed and snapped this picture before drifting back to sleep.

So she sees something, snaps the picture, and then there’s something in the image. That takes the cake for The Ghost Blunders. I immediately fired the rest of my team: Alex Bone, Tony Ballz, and Cokie McGrath. I’m a blamer, after all. Hell, we’ve been in the market for a new Cokie anyway, ever since “The Prescott Incident” here.

When I enlarged the image, I immediately saw the little skull face at the bottom of this mongo-sized orb. Not everyone sees the face right away; it’s kind of like the movie Mall Rats—stare at the picture until you see the sailboat.

Here’s the blown-up image:

To me it looks like the skull face from the Evil Dead 2 poster. Do you see it yet? Yikes!

“Not another peep, time to go to sleep.”

“Not another peep, time to go to sleep.”

Speaking of sleep, I asked my daughter if this strange occurrence would make her afraid to go to bed at night. She said, “No, it’s cool. I see dead people.” I’m glad she’s such a trooper. Of course, I now sleep in my Impala parked on the driveway (with the dome light on).

Not only does she get one of the best ghost pictures, ever, she totally blows my own theory out of the water in the process. I believe paranormal images are created through beer, or what I have come to refer to as ecto-pilsner—ecto-pilsner is a beerular energy as yet unidentified by science. It’s my life’s work. But there’s no beer in her room! Well, she is 13, so maybe I had better check.

Of course, the ghost girl started showing up right after we upgraded to the 42-inch flat screen. We just gave Alley’s room a makeover and she must approve of the renovations. My daughter explained she usually has these encounters with ghost girl when Honey Boo-Boo or other reality television shows are on. I guess somewhere Siskel and now Ebert are giving afterlife television two thumbs down. Hey, can I claim a tax break by adding another dependent? I don’t know much about paranormal tax returns, but I feel I am owed something for these constant intrusions.

Okay, okay that last paragraph is bullshit, but the image and the rest of the story is accurate. You see, I’m a “spoof” ghost investigator. My daughter apparently hasn’t gotten that memo. The image has not been enhanced or photoshopped in any way. It’s kind of like our situation in the Weatherford Hotel. The Ghost Blunders have held regular meetings at the Zane Grey ballroom for many years.  Only recently, however, did we discover the very table where we plot and plan our ghost adventures is, in fact, haunted. Yeah, I as I said in the story here, not much gets by us…and by not much I mean everything.

I guess I have to start bringing Alley along on our investigations. Anything would be an improvement, I suppose. Here’s the video preview for our Weatherford ghost investigation. Now this part may have been doctored. Enjoy.