Who is in my photo?

This  morning, I took the girls and the dogs for a walk. I know, very boring and unremarkable. 

And despite having a baby, a toddler, a dog and a puppy in tow, we had a suitably unremarkable walk. 

Since Bubbles turned up, we’ve been putting a lot of effort into training her to do the basics like sit, stay and walking to heel.

This has led to Libby frequently taking responsibility for Pluto and I’m really proud of how well they’re getting along.

So as we were walking, I turned around to take a photo of them together.

I was focussing on them, but I do always check whether anyone is behind us before I take a photograph because I don’t want to hold anybody up whilst we mess about. 

And when I looked around, there was nobody behind us. So I took this photo. 

When I saw the shadowy figure behind us in the alleyway, I found it a little bit odd. But the more I zoomed in, the stranger I found it. 

So I shared it to my Facebook page to canvas opinion.

I was hoping that everyone would tell me I was being silly, but they also seemed to find it odd. 

I must apologise in particular to Amy who blogs at Mr and Mrs T Plus Three, who commented to say that she had rather a spooky experience herself after looking at the photo. 

The things I find odd about the figure are:

• It looks disproportionately tall in comparison to the fence (which is slightly higher than my 6″1′ husband).
• I can’t see any colour or features on the figure, despite the fact that the rest of the photo, even behind it, is in colour and quite well defined. 
• I can’t see that the figure has a shadow, despite the very obvious shadows on Libby and Pluto.
• The person doesn’t look dressed for the weather, and I think they look like they’re wearing a hard hat or uniform helmet of some description.
• I am pretty sure that I would have noticed an exceptionally tall man or a  man in uniform walking along behind us, particularly when I was looking for someone. Wouldn’t I? 

Everyone who has commented on Facebook has their own take on it. I’m wondering whether it might be a police officer on patrol, hence the helmet. 

My dad thinks it looks like a German soldier, and a few other people have commented that he looks like he is in 1940’s dress too. 

I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on the photo. I would particularly like to hear from you on the off chance it might be you who is in my photo. 

I’m really not one for the supernatural and I’m sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation. I’m just not sure what it is at the moment.