A 15-year-old mystery surrounding a photograph which supposedly showed the ghost of a schoolgirl standing in an inferno has been resolved, after a researcher found the image is copied from a postcard.

A street scene postcard from the 1920's taken in Wem, Shropshire by M. Audin-Wood

Amateur photographer Tony O’Rahilly took the snap while photographing a blaze which destroyed Wem Town Hall in Shropshire on November 19, 1995.

After developing his film, Mr O’Rahilly claimed he had captured an image of a young girl wearing old fashioned clothes standing amid the flames staring into the camera lens.

Locals even claimed it was an apparition of 14-year-old Jane Churm who accidentally set fire to the town hall in 1677.

But eagle-eyed Brian Lear, 77, has finally put an end to the mystery after he noticed a striking similarity between the spooky shot and a girl in a postcard which appeared in his local paper.

The postcard, printed in the Shropshire Star’s Pictures from the Past section, shows a street view of Wem in 1922.

A young girl standing in a shop doorway on the left handside of the picture bares an uncanny resemblance to the Wem Ghost.

Mr Lear, a retired engineer and taxi driver, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, said: ”It is interesting to compare the two pictures.

”I was intrigued to find that she bore a striking likeness to the little girl featured as the Wem ghost.

”Her dress and headgear appear to be identical.”

The ‘Wem Ghost’ led to a plaque being placed on the newly built town hall and Wem was briefly renamed ‘Ghost Town’ attracting hundreds of tourists every year.

The Telegraph : 18 May 2010