John Boulware’s life was snatched from him in a grisly car crash when he was just 16-years-old in 1984.

A high school student from St Paul, Minnesota, was heading to a Prince concert with three friends just after Christmas when their vehicle slammed into a tree at approximately 40 miles per hour around 7:45 p.m.

Boulware – who was not wearing a seat belt – died from hemorrhaging caused by a broken neck. His three friends survived.

Though the loss of a teenager in a car accident is undeniably tragic, it was a puzzling photo captured moments after the incident that has brought Boulware’s death back into the spotlight four decades later, even convincing skeptics of life beyond death.

The mystery first unfolded when Officer Brian Coyle examined photographs he had taken of the crash site that rainy Thursday night.

As Boulware’s body lay lifeless across the front passenger seat, one image appeared to show a disembodied head above the wreckage, seemingly gazing down at the teenager’s remains.

The ‘Ghost That Screamed’ image from 1984 has been dubbed the world’s most haunted photograph – the disembodied head floating over the car is believed to be the soul of tragic teen John Boulware

Experts say the face bears an unmistakable resemblance to the young Boulware (left) with curly hair and sideburns and an apparent nose and mouth open in a contorted scream

The face bears an unmistakable resemblance to Boulware, with curly hair and sideburns, and its mouth open in an agonizing scream.

Streaks of light and a shadow resembling a dog also appeared in the frame, with Coyle unable to account for the anomalies.

Matt Fraser – known for When Heaven Calls: Life Lessons from America’s Top Psychic Medium and reality show Meet The Frasers – exclusively told the Daily Mail, ‘I’ve seen many images over the years that capture spiritual phenomena, but this one is truly profound’

While some claim the image is a result of mere pareidolia – the psychological response to seeing faces and other significant and everyday items in random stimuli – others, including a world renowned celebrity psychic, say it is irrefutable evidence of a soul leaving its earthly body. 

Matt Fraser – known for When Heaven Calls: Life Lessons from America’s Top Psychic Medium and reality show Meet The Frasers – exclusively told the Daily Mail, ‘I’ve seen many images over the years that capture spiritual phenomena, but this one is truly profound. 

‘What you’re looking at in “The Ghost That Screamed” is a rare and powerful moment caught between life and the afterlife.

‘This photo was taken just moments after a tragic accident, and what stands out immediately is the ghostly face, what looks like a man screaming, rising above the wreckage. When I see this, I see the soul in transition.’

Fraser says ‘the soul is pure energy,’ and claims that it leaves the body at the moment of death.

‘Now, what makes this image so haunting is the expression,’ he added. ‘It appears as if he’s screaming. In many tragic deaths, the soul doesn’t immediately realize that it has passed. 

‘There’s often confusion, shock or even a replaying of their final moments.’ 

Fraser believes this photo captured the moment Boulware’s soul was ‘lingering between two worlds,’ not fully realizing he died yet.

He called the visible excess energy ‘interesting’, ‘thick’ and ‘tangible’.

Other Reddit users have speculated the spirit of a dog can be seen in another image in front of the car door – claiming this is the ghost of a former pet helping Boulware pass over

In Barry Conrad’s 2016 Casefiles Unknown special, Officer Coyle was seen examining an original print of the ‘Ghost That Screamed’

The St Paul, Minnesota high school student was traveling to a Prince concert with three friends two days after Christmas when their car careered into a tree at an estimated 40 miles an hour around 7:45 p.m. Boulware – who had been unrestrained – was the only one killed

Reddit users have speculated the spirit of a dog can be seen in another image – claiming this is the ghost of a former pet helping Boulware transition to the afterlife – which Fraser agrees with.

The Undeniable Proof podcast host said, ‘Sometimes, souls linger briefly, trying to reconnect to the body or comprehend what just happened. It’s not until the body fully shuts down that the soul continues its journey to the other side. At that moment, others begin to appear: spirit guides, guardian angels and even loved ones and pets who have passed before them.’

He claims a guardian angel is ‘always the first to arrive’ after a sudden death, and that the often referenced tunnel of light provides peace for the dead.

‘By the time they reach the other side, many souls describe the experience as feeling like a dream,’ he claims. ‘They don’t remember the pain. They only know they’re safe. It’s then that spirit guides help explain what happened and gently prepare them for their new life in the afterlife.’

He also saw other shadows and figures surrounding the scene when examining the photo. ‘I believe these are part of his spiritual team – souls who came to help guide him home,’ he added.

‘It’s very common for a person to be greeted by loved ones and spirit guides in their final moments. They appear not only to comfort, but to help ease the transition and remind the soul that they are not alone.

‘This photo is one of the clearest visual examples of that in-between moment. And although it’s eerie, it also validates everything I’ve witnessed through my work as a medium. It shows that the soul is real. It shows that energy lives on after death. And it reminds us just how thin the veil really is between this world and the next.’ 

Renowned tarot card reader Angie Banicki doubles down on the analysis, claiming Boulware was left ‘surprised’ by his sudden death. 

‘The message I see using my cards is that he was young and passionate and his face was just one of confusion about how he was going,’ she said. ‘The dog was definitely the carrier of his spirit onward. I don’t see anger in his face. More he just is being taken so quickly. He is surprised and yelling out in search of understanding.’

Social media sleuths called the photo ‘really creepy!’ and said, ‘He must have been absolutely devastated by what happened.’

‘I mean, you can CLEARLY see the boy no doubt’, they wrote.

Officer Coyle has said he remains ‘haunted’ by the inexplicable photo decades on

Others questioned the validity of the snap and blamed the phenomenon on ‘long exposure’, writing, ‘The streaks and supposed “dog” are long exposure artifacts. The two streak lines are visible as panel lines across the vehicle side and if you track the angle to the starting point the dog is an exposure of the visible seat at the same angle.’ 

However, many said they ‘Can’t explain the face.’

But someone was left wondering if the light streaks were just a result of ‘the rain and low quality cameras at the time.

‘It’s all double exposure of film, and long exposure with shaky hands.’

In Barry Conrad’s 2016 Casefile Unknown special on The Ghost That Screamed, Officer Coyle said he remained haunted by the inexplicable photograph.

‘Saint Paul Police Department developed the photos and I didn’t think much of it until a couple of days later when one of the officers that worked in the photo lab got a hold of me and said that I should probably stop by because he has something that he wanted to show me,’ he said.

He was ‘fairly surprised’ by what he saw.

‘There were some images on the pictures that definitely weren’t there when I was taking the pictures and that I didn’t have any explanation for. I just couldn’t explain what it was.’

Voicing his belief that the apparition was replaying what had happened to Boulware in the accident, Coyle said, ‘I had found out from the witnesses that when the accident happened he had been sitting with his back against the passenger door facing where eventually my camera location was, looking down at his lap.

‘There’s no explanation in my mind and the experts haven’t been able to to give me an explanation either.’