25-Year-Old Model and Socialite Who Saw Mysterious Hand in Photo Turns Up Dead

Peaches Geldof -- a 25-year-old journalist, model and socialite who gained attention last year after a mysterious picture she said she took showed an eerie hand -- died Monday, leaving behind two young sons.

Geldof started her media career when she was just 15, writing a column for Elle magazine, the BBC reported. She went on to write for newspapers, to model and to work as a TV host.

In December, Geldof, the daughter of musician Bob Geldof and the late TV presenter Paula Yates, made international headlines after she noticed something potentially terrifying in a selfie she snapped with her son: a mystery object that looked like an adult human hand touching her shoulder.

The original photo with the mystery “hand” (Image source: Peaches Geldof via Instagram)

After Geldof realized that something didn’t look quite right in the photo, she took to her Instagram account to share the picture and a description of what unfolded.

Geldof reportedly believed the spirit was a woman who died 100 years ago in the home. It’s quite possible, of course, that the picture was edited or that the mystery “hand” was something else entirely. Regardless, it garnered international attention.

Married to musician Thomas Cohen, lead singer of the band S.C.U.M., Geldof was the mother of two sons -- Astala, who is almost 2 years old and Phaedra, who will turn 1 later this month.

In this Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014 file photo, Peaches Geldof arrives to attend the ETAM's ready to wear fall/winter 2014-2015 fashion collection presented in Paris. Entertainer Bob Geldof's agent says his 25-year-old daughter Peaches has died. (AP Photo/C. d'Ettorre, File)

"Peaches has died. We are beyond pain. She was the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us," her father wrote in a statement to media. "Writing 'was' destroys me afresh. What a beautiful child."

Police are investigating Geldof's death as "unexplained and sudden," as it is not yet clear what happened. Paramedics were called to a home in England and Geldof was later pronounced dead.

Cohen put out a statement as well, pledging to raise his children to remember and honor their mother.

"My beloved wife Peaches was adored by myself and her two sons Astala and Phaedra and I shall bring them up with their mother in their hearts everyday," he wrote. "We shall love her forever."

Police and forensics officers are seen at the house of Peaches Geldof near the village of Wrotham in Kent, southern England, on April 7, 2014 where the tenty five-year-old was found dead earlier in the day. (IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)

Geldof's final tweet last night was a link to an Instagram picture of her and her mother, who died of an accidental drug overdose when Geldof was 11 years old. The text accompanying it read, "Me and my mum."

(H/T: BBC)