Mysterious photo of girl sparks paranormal questions in New York town

CAMBRIDGE, New York (WABC) -- A photo of a little girl in the woods in a New York town has people all over the internet saying it's proof ghosts exist, but the police chief from where the photo was taken says that's definitely not the case.

The blurry photo deep in the woods near center Cambridge has the whole town talking, and police Chief George Bell has been fielding phone calls from national media outlets while his email is flooded with messages from psychics and mediums.

"'To me, it is a spirit,'" he read from one of the emails. "'And I believe she is playing just like the day she died.'"

But Bell said the image taken from a field camera in a property in Washington County is no ghost.

"It's gone too far," he said. "This is not a ghost. This is an actual girl who was walking thru the woods with her grandfather."

But how does he know for sure? He said the case cracker came in the form of a phone call from the little girl's grandfather.

"I don't want to give a name until we verify it, but it's a local businessman in southern Washington County who says around the timeframe that this picture was taken that he and his granddaughter were waking a four-wheeler path."

But word gets around in a small town, and that grandfather is Chic Wilson, the owner of Willard Mountain Ski Resort in Greenwich.

Some people were really hoping this was a ghost story, and they got really excited about it. But Wilson admits he feels bad breaking the news that there's nothing supernatural about the picture.

"I actually do," he said. "It would be wonderful to have proof of life after death. But unfortunately, we are not going to get any proof from this particular photograph."

Wilson said he had no idea the photo was causing such a sensation until Tuesday. when someone taped a copy of the photo to his door.