On December 27, 1984, John Boulware was a passenger in a car with three friends, heading to a Prince concert. The driver lost control, and the car crashed head-on into a tree by the southeast corner of Highland Park Golf Course, in St. Paul, Minnesota. John was killed instantly, while the other three teenagers sustained only minor injuries.
As standard procedure, police officer Brian Coyle took photographs of the scene using a 35mm film camera. When the film was developed, one specific photo revealed a blurred, distorted face with its mouth wide open in a silent scream, hovering above the open driver's side door.
The face in the photo bore an uncanny resemblance to John. The image, quickly dubbed “The Screaming Spirit” or “The Screaming Soul,” baffled experts. No technical faults were found with the camera or the negative, and no physical object at the scene could explain the anomaly.
In episode one of Casefiles Unknown (Conrad 2015), Officer Coyle described these strange anomalies: “There were some images on the pictures that definitely weren’t there when I was taking the pictures. There were streaks of light, both red and white, that ran through the pictures. Some of them coming from the images, some of them just passing through the pictures.”
Lines like these, which often appear in alleged paranormal photos, are often attributed to ghostly “energy” because reasons. Actually, it comes down to a lack of understanding of basic photography, specifically the way light interacts with film and sensors which leads to such unfounded conclusions.
Officer Coyle continued to describe the photo, the one that would eventually become known as the “Screaming Spirit” image: “On the side picture of the vehicle, facing the driver’s door, above the vehicle, about even with where the front seat passenger would be sitting, there was a clear image of a face. It appeared to be in agony ... a scream. It had distinctive hair and a distinct profile.”
The photo has sparked decades of debate. Paranormal believers claim the image shows John's soul caught in the shock and confusion of sudden death, attempting to transition to the afterlife. Skeptics argue it is likely a photographic anomaly, such as a double exposure, a trick of light and reflection, or pareidolia (the human tendency to see faces in random patterns).
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