Art Effigy Burning Captures Ghostly Images on Video in El Paso

Pictures of a burning art effigy reveal ghostly images taken by several El Paso, Texas residents during an art gallery opening.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the soft grand opening of the new art gallery Casa Ortiz in Socorro. The event featured live music, eats, and resident local artists. One of those artists is Brian Holt, whose art effigy was the center of these incredible ghostly images.

Back Story:

Originally from Ohio, Brian Holt is an artist and Army Veteran who ended up in El Paso after being stationed at Fort Bliss. Soon after, Holt met his future wife and decided to stay and call El Paso home after getting out of the military.

Holt created the effigy over a two-month period by twisting and bending the wire by hand, often-times bruising his hands in the process. He also named it the “Reckoner” to serve as a metaphoric figure accounting for everyone’s troubles after the terrible year that we’ve all had.

However, unbeknownst to the attendees, "Reckoner" also carried a deeper, more significant meaning. The effigy served as a way for Holt to honor his best friend, Nathan Roston, who recently passed away after a 2-year long battle with stage four brain cancer.

In the video below, Holt stands next to "Reckoner" against a pitch-black sky as his voice chokes up midway, as he tells the story of his best friend's passing and what the effigy burning meant for him.

The lighting of the effigy happens at the 2:30 mark.

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The moment was nothing less than magical. Everyone in attendance stood in silence and honored the moment in their own way.

Throughout the performance, everyone took pictures and video, including myself.

Later that evening, as I looked over my photos, I could see a ghostly face in one of my photos.

Soon after, I began receiving photos from other people in attendance of similar ghostly images.

In another photo, you can see a greenish image that looks like a spirit floating away.

Here's another shot from a different angle of the floating greenish image.

While some will explain away the ghostly images as simple photo glares, those pictures only solidify the otherworldly yet somber moment that we experienced.

So what does Brian Holt think about these images? He says that he truly felt that his friend was by his side that Friday night, cheering on his accomplishments and artwork, just like he always did in life.