Hiker spots 'ghost' walking alongside him in terrifying footage of rare weather phenomenon

There have been countless reports of ghosts over the course of human history, but it turns out at least some of them could be the result of a rare meteorological phenomenon.

Hiker Chris Randall took to Twitter to share the unbelievable footage from the Red Pike on Sunday (13 November) and we have to admit that it looks like something straight out of a horror film.

He captioned the now-viral clip: "My first Brocken spectre. Creepy to see it out the corner of my eye and think it was someone else moving."

"So, what's a Brocken spectre?" we hear you ask.

Well, Chris explained himself in another tweet, adding that it is: "Just my shadow cast onto the cloud with a rainbow around it.

"I can see why they named it a 'spectre'."

The Met Office have also explained the science behind the phenomenon, revealing that if a person stands behind a cloud's upper surface with the sun behind them, a Brocken spectre will appear.

They said: "When they view their shadow the light is reflected back in such a way that a spooky circular 'glory' appears around the point directly opposite the sun.

"This makes the rather disorienting effect of a giant shadow moving in the distance."

Unsurprisingly, the video went far from unnoticed, and since it was posted on Sunday, it has already been viewed over 2.4 million times.

One viewer couldn't believe it wasn't a ghost, writing: "You're telling me that’s not a ghost?"

A second questioned: "How have I got to 50 years, 361 days old and I’ve never seen or even heard of a Brocken spectre? Incredible phenomenon."

"It really readily explains ghost sightings sometimes being tied to terrain!" added a third, while a fourth wrote: "Wow, you can see how this effect could lead to belief in ghosts."

A fifth, meanwhile, shared a photograph of a Brocken spectre they saw themselves, writing: "That so weird - literally happened to us yesterday!!

"We called it a shadow cloud rainbow but this is a much better name!!"

One thing's for sure - you might want to make a mental note of what a Brocken spectre is on the off chance that you see one.

Otherwise you might find yourself running for the hills, so to speak.