Brocken Spectre: What is it and what causes it?

Just in time for Halloween, here's a spooky story that (almost) scared us out of our wits!

Meet the Brocken Spectre, an unusual giant ghostly figure living on a mountain... kind of...

What is it?

The spectre appears when the sun is low in the sky and behind a climber who is looking down into the mist from a ridge or cliff edge.

And it looks like a giant eerie ghost with a multicoloured rainbow halo surrounding it.

This spooky snap was taken at Castell Dinas Bran, Llangollen, Denbighshire by Alastair Llangollen

BUT... (and we're sorry to ruin the illusion guys)... the spectre is simply a weather effect caused on a misty day when when the sun is behind a climber - their shadow is then projected forwards through the mist.

The rainbow effect is created by the sun hitting water particles in the air.

Brocken Spectres might well exist, but it is no more than a walker's shadow!

It's going to take us a lot more than this to believe in ghosts!