A mother claims her daughter caught the moment a child ghost hitchhiked a ride in their car - and paranormal experts believe it was an accident victim warning her to wear a seatbelt.

Melissa Kurtz, 48, was driving her daughter Harper to a beauty pageant when the 13-year-old became bored on the 45-minute journey began taking selfies.

However later the mother-of-two, from Florida, U.S, spotted the ghostly face a young boy lurking on the back seat appearing to reach towards Harper - despite no one else being in the car with them.

Researching the stretch of road they were travelling on, Ms Kurtz discovered that the apparition’s appearance coincided with the anniversary of a death in a road accident that she believes was possibly the same child.

Mother Melissa Kurtz, 48, from Florida, has been sharing this picture with paranormal experts after her daughter started taking selfies and the ghost of a boy (circled) was captured in the shot

Multiple paranormal investigators analysed the image and couldn’t explain it, with one claiming that it appeared the ghost’s hand was reaching for Harper to warn her to wear a seatbelt.

However Ms Kurtz says she was not scared by the suspected haunting as she claims Harper has always had paranormal things occur around her.

She said: 'Where the picture was taken there was an automobile accident one year ago exactly. When I looked into it, someone had been medevacked away in a helicopter.

'However they would not tell me any specific details when I enquired, which leads me to believe that it was a child, as that might be why they couldn’t provide the information.

Ms Kurtz (right) says her daughter Harper (left) has often had paranormal things happen around her and when she researched she discovered it was the anniversary of a boy's death on the road they were on

'I didn’t notice it until about a month later when I was going through my camera when taking pictures for something else.

'It was a real "Oh my god" moment. I was really shocked by it, incredibly shocked. I ran into the other room and said to friends who were staying with me "you have to see this". Everyone was awestruck.

'I think it’s very important to the world to see that picture because I know it’s genuine and real and we were the only two in the car.

'So many people have hope for the afterlife and this proves it - to me anyway. People [who have seen it] have taken comfort in that.

'Harper didn’t have her seatbelt on and one of the investigators who analysed the photo called Greg Pocha thought [the ghost] could be trying to warn her.

Ms Kurtz believes this picture shows a time Harper attracted a paranormal presence (pictured in pink) on a previous outing

'[Her seatbelt] is something I yell at her about all the time. I’ve had 13 traffic tickets in two years due to her not wearing one. She is very stubborn - though I’m always trying to catch her when she hasn’t got it on.

'I’m not sure about that as it really looks to me like he has two fingers up, like he is putting rabbit ears up behind her. I think it is just a little boy playing, trying to be funny. I think it’s a positive thing though.

'[However] I very much appreciate that if the child has died because of not having a seatbelt on then that’s what he could be doing.'

The image was taken in July this year on a highway in the Maitland area of Florida, near Orlando, when Ms Kurtz, a photographer and writer, was driving Harper to a junior beauty pageant, where she eventually placed fourth.

The mother was so shocked by the image she submitted it to Greg Pocha, who is director of parapsychology, afterlife and paranormal studies at Eidolon Project Canada.

He claims that using an image analysis program also used by the FBI and CIA it shows the boy has now colour or "temperature" in the picture, which he says adds "to the possibility that the photo may be authentic as a ghost photo".

Mr Pocha said: 'Ghosts such as the boy are prone to remain earthbound when the soul is literally ripped or thrown from the body in an accident.

'Chances are that he does not know that he has died. And chances are good that he will haunt this part of the highway forever.'

He added: '[It] occurred to me that the ghost may not be flashing a piece sign, as earlier thought, but rather pointing to your daughter’s seat belt harness.

Harper was not phased by the picture which has excited ghost experts who used a FBI styled programme to analyse the picture. Pictured Harper with an evil book in folklore called The Necronomicon

'The warning may be that she should be wearing one when in a car. That is the Spectral Profiling part of my expertise speaking, to attempt to come up with the reasoning and psychology of the ghost in question.

'To warn may be the purpose, the unfinished business, of this ghost. To warn others how not to meet the same fate as others who have died because seat belt issues. It probably saddens him when he see that.'

Ms Kurtz added: 'I wasn’t scared by it as ever since Harper was little she has had paranormal things revolve around her. She often has orbs appear in pictures next to her.

'Once when she was younger I found her drawing on the window and when I researched them it turned out they were glyphs about the archangel Raphael and how he banished the demon Asmodeus to hell.

Ms Kurtz believe it may be Harper's positive energy that attracts spirits. Pictured as Junior Florida State Beauty Queen Ambassador

'Harper seems to pick up the energy. She has amazing positive energy so maybe spirits are attracted to her.

'She has a lot of contact with the deceased world through work we do at a cemetery and she is very open to stuff like that. She is not scared of the supernatural or the occult.

'Harper doesn’t see the picture as a big deal at all. She just says "oh, the one with the ghost, what’s the big deal?". I tell her how no one can debunk it but it doesn’t really phase her.

'I have shown it to lots of groups of paranormal investigators and none of them can debunk it. Some that I have shown it to now tour with it as one of the best examples.

'When I saw the date of the accident I cried as we picked up that boy that died one year ago on this road, on his way to hospital. When I saw there was an accident in that place I choked up.

'There are accidents there frequently. It’s a dangerous stretch of road.'