Unsuspecting Colin Foster, 34, aimed his new digital camera at the winter scenery during a trip earlier this year.

He didn't spot anything unusual until he returned home from his backpacking tour and began checking the photos he had taken.

Colin said: "My girlfriend and I were looking through them when she grabbed my hand and said, 'Stop'.

Colin ... took photograph

Lawrence Looi

"She insisted I zoom in on one particular picture. At first I didn't see it - but, as we zoomed in, we just turned to each other with our mouths agape."

Colin, of Wordsley, West Mids, added: "At the time I took the photo I did feel like I was being watched, but I just put that down to how remote and lonely the place was.

"All my friends and family are scratching their heads in awe."

Last night experts were also astonished by the photo - one of hundreds taken by jobless Colin during his tour of northern England.

TV medium Craig Hamilton-Parker said: "I have checked it over for cheating, but it has none of the tell-tale signs of photo manipulating.

"The exact human shape leads me to say, 'Yes, this is a real supernatural snap'. The Yorkshire Moors are renowned for their ghosts."

Nick Thurston, of the UK British Paranormal Association, said: "This image is extremely clear and is certainly that of a spirit manifestation of a full human figure."

UKBPA vice chairman Clint Symonds said: "This is one of those pictures that makes you sit up and say wow. But obviously it is also a picture that needs deep examination.