A Shin Min Daily reader captured a ‘ghost’ on his camera phone late on Sunday and sent the images to the paper.

According to the Chinese daily, the reader, Mr Chen Lai Fu, 40, said that he has had the ability to see spirits since he was 6 years old.

Mr Chen, who works in advertising, said that when he boarded the bus on Sunday night, he was surprised to find a small boy “playing a fool in the bus”.

The boy, whom Mr Chen said looked to be about 9 years old, was playing and talking to himself, but no one on the bus seemed to notice.

He was at the front of the bus and even turned to talk to the bus driver, but the driver showed no response, said Mr Chen.

At one point, the boy even came to the back of the bus where he was sitting to “count the number people on the bus”.

Mr Chen said the boy had asked the driver: “Was there an accident?” but the driver did not respond and did not seem to notice his presence.

He then moved to the back of the bus, where he sat beside Mr Chen, and began counting the number of passengers slowly before stopping to exclaim, “wow, so many people!”

Apparently, the boy took an interest in Mr Chen once he realised he could see him.

“He was wearing a grey jacket and yellow shorts. After he realised I was looking at him, he seemed afraid. However later on, he came back and wanted to play with me. He passed his jacket to me, but I ignored him.”

Mr Chen said he was on the bus for seven minutes. Throughout the ride, the boy did not stop playing and according to Mr Chen, “creating a scene”.

During the journey, Mr Chen noticed two male passengers, one Chinese the other, Indian, looking over in the boy’s general direction, but they did not do anything.

“Till I got down the bus, no one reacted or did anything to stop the boy. I cannot confirm if anyone saw him.”

‘Third eye’ developed after high fever

According to Mr Chen, he developed the ability to see spirits after he fell ill with a high fever when he was a child.

However, he only saw them as white shadows, until about 2006, when the figures began to take on human shapes and likeness.

“Some of these spirits walk on the tips of their toes, while others walk normally. I once saw 9 ‘slashes’ or scars on the face of one spirit, that was the closest and clearest image I ever got,” said Mr Chen.

What convinced Mr Chen that he was able to ‘see’ spirits around him, was because his friends around him were never able to see what he saw.

Capturing ghosts on film “not impossible”

According to a Chinese medium and “ghost-catcher”, Mr Zhou De Fa, 33, spirits usually cannot be captured on camera clearly. However, Mr Zhou does not rule out the possibility.

Speaking to reporters from Shin Min, he said children of about four to six years of age are more likely to see spirits. Hence, one may find kids speaking to no one in particular, or they may be scared to go to a certain place.

In addition to children, the aged, as well as those who have had a bout of high fever, may be able to see spirits, said Mr Zhou.