Ben Cooper was not a man who was given to fantasy or superstition. He led a simple, family-oriented life, working hard to provide for his loved ones. When he died prematurely, aged just 53, his family and friends were devastated at the unexpected loss. Determined to ensure that Ben was given a fitting funeral and memorial service, his wife and children set about organising his final farewell.

Ben’s son, Tony Cooper, was aged just 22 when his father passed away in 2007. He and his father had been particularly close. Indeed, the other family members had referred to them as “the inseparables”. Tony had even taken-up employment working alongside Ben on the railways. Tony was distraught at the loss of his beloved father, but he also knew that it now fell to him and his siblings to honour their dad’s memory appropriately.

Tony decided to assemble a selection of photographs of his father, from which he and his two sisters would chose their favourite three. These would then feature at the memorial service, along with a few other cherished items that had belonged to Ben. After hours of deliberation, Tony finally selected ten photographs for his sisters to chose from.

He first showed the photos to his younger sister, who quickly picked out her favourites with little fuss or bother. His older sister, however, was more considered in her decision making and decided to study each picture closely.”That’s funny” she remarked, as she scoured the photographs laid out in front of her, “the man in the background of this photo looks just like the man in the background of that one”. Tony picked-up the two photographs and was astonished to see that they did indeed appear to feature the same man in the background.

The person in question was a medium height, regular looking man, with a bald head and a large nose. In both photographs he was wearing a shabby raincoat and appeared to be holding a brief case in his left hand. More astonishing was the fact that in both photos, the mystery man appeared on the left-hand side of the picture and seemed to be staring intently at the camera lens.

Tony and his sister were understandably unsettled by this discovery. Although the photographs had been taken at a similar time in their father’s life, they were in totally different locations. The first picture had been taken at a family holiday in Southend, whilst the second was snapped at Tony’s 18th birthday celebration in a Liverpool restaurant. The brother and sister decided to examine all the photographs they had of their father, including the ones from his childhood. To their amazement, they soon realised that the mystery man had been appearing in the background of their father’s photos for a very long time.

The siblings identified a collection of photographs that seemed to show the “reoccurring man”. He never aged, never changed his attire, he was never without his briefcase and he always appeared in the same portion of the photograph, on the left-hand side, staring starkly at the camera. To this day, the family have been unable to identify their father’s mysterious companion. Angel or devil, the reoccurring man had been watching over Ben Cooper for most his life.

Read more about unusual ghost stories from across the British Isles