@ brittany.
Why they are afraid? Because they do not know what it is, and what they can do.
Also because there are a lot of stories in which people got hurt, or got taunted by ghosts. Which does happen, because in our former house, we had a so called Poltergeist. You believe me, if things start to fall out of your closet whilst they were standing completely stabile, you will get scared. When you feel like you're being suffocated by something you can not see, hear or touch, you are scared.

I am actually wondering; how old is this picture? By the looks of it, it should be old, but with the advances on the camera's nowadays you can never be sure.
Anyhow; it actually looks like two figures, not one. Since even ghosts can't stretch their arms further than we can(for they are the energy of the people(some refer to the energy as their soul) who have passed away, with the same capabilities. Well, without the real thouching of things and speaking and such) it would be impossible for the other hand to be the hand of, well, let's call him White Guy. It seems as though there is another figure standing in front of White Guy, as mentioned earlier by someone else.