There's something disturbing about this photo of an abandoned building – because the human shadow in the foreground doesn't belong to anybody who was there.

The picture was taken in the abandoned village of Spain Hormicedo, Castile and León, Spain, by a 36-year-old photographer who was visiting with her boyfriend.

Neither of them were in a position to cast the shadow, they claim, and with the village being abandoned since 1959, nobody knows who it was.

The picture shows a mysterious human shadow in the foreground of the ruin in the abandoned village of Hormicedo, Castile and León. No one can seem to explain what it is

The photographer felt a 'really weird change in temperature when she got there' and heard 'someone running really fast between the bushes or close by'

The photographer, who asked not to be named, shared the picture with her niece, Mika.

'She said she actually felt a really weird change in temperature when she got there, which is true because it was getting really cold really fast,' said Mika.

'But it didn't really occur to anyone that it was something paranormal.

'Also, she said she heard some things. Like someone running really fast between the bushes or close by.'

When the photo was taken, Mika's aunt was operating the camera, while her aunt's boyfriend was to the side holding a flashlight.

They're therefore convinced that they couldn't have cast the shadow themselves, yet there it is in the photo: the ghostly outline of a person.

'We have no idea what the shadow is – my aunt thinks that it may not even be a shadow at all,' said Mika.

'The reason to believe it's not a normal human shadow is because it doesn't really seem to be the way shadows form.

The drawing shows where each person was standing. As the photographer was operating the camera while her boyfriend stood to the side holding a flashlight, the group is convinced that they couldn't have cast the shadow themselves

During a second visit, a man experienced a 'freezing sensation' and returned home with explainable cuts on his chest and back

'For example, on the building the shadow should be larger than on the bushes, which are closer. Also if there was something standing in the light it should've been in the photo too.'

Mika, 20, has since visited the site with her aunt and though they were unable to recreate the photo, the old church left them spooked again.

During the second visit, the aunt's boyfriend experienced a freezing sensation before returning home with cuts on his chest and back he couldn't explain.

'My aunt found the photo unsettling but she wasn't scared because she didn't really believe in this sort of stuff,' said Mika.

'But I know that she was really shocked and scared when she saw the cuts on his chest and back.'

Sceptics have suggested to Mika that perhaps the visiting couple didn't remember where they were standing and so it was one of their shadows after all.

But Mika has yet to be won over. 'I'm open to logical explanations about the photo but I didn't really find one yet,' she said.

Hormicedo was the site of a human settlement as far back as the iron age, but its last two residents moved away in January 1959 and afterwards the ruins were looted.