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Why orbs shouldn't be used as evidence
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In the field of paranormal research one of the biggest controversies is the orb phenomenon. The belief is that these balls of light are indeed some sort of ghostly phenomena whether it be spirit energy or the manifestation of a ghost itself. Where did this belief come from? When did ghost photos go from the famous Brown Lady of Raynham Hall to a bright small circle of light?
Before orb photos were considered “spirits” the were actually a product of the UFO community. They were believed to be inter dimensional vehicles or even a way for ET’s to spy on us. Actually the correlation between orbs and the human spirit world is rather a new yet poorly designed theory. It started in the mid 1990’s when someone came up with an idea that ghosts are everywhere. Also around this time low mega pixel digital cameras were readily available for customer satisfaction.
Well people started to see these anomalies in the digital photographs that they were taking and started to make the connection and concluded that these must indeed be ghosts. This is seriously how the craze started. Before the digital camera era orb photos were actually very rare, so it seems to be more of a digital camera phenomena which would be why most orb photographers use digital rather then film. Now just because orbs have been caught on film doesn’t make it paranormal. Light sources or the size of the camera lens or the camera itself plays a huge factor in results.
Something important that should be added, that one of the first laws of paranormal investigating is that if it can be recreated it must be thrown out. Now there are many natural ways orbs can be captured in photographs. So why do some investigators/ghost hunters still think these photos are paranormal? I once had the privilege to speak to skeptic James Randi, and though we have very different beliefs when dealing with the paranormal, he did say something I believe whole heartedly. Mr. Randi said “people have a need to believe in the paranormal.” This may be a huge reason why certain groups or people hold these orb pictures up on such a high pedestal, even though they have been proven fake time and time again.
One of the most common photos are the hundreds of orbs floating around in a cemetery. First off here is a personal opinion, cemeteries are not haunted. Think about it, if we are dealing with some form of intelligent consciousness or a “ghost” it would go around something it could familiarize itself with. Now many people may say well there body is there, isn’t that something familiar? But to make sense of this comment a statement Parapsychologist Loyd Auerbach made makes perfect sense if you think about it, and that was “If ghosts haunt cemeteries because there body is there, what about organ donors?”
So back on track, we have someone walking through a cemetery snapping photos and they see they are getting hundreds of orbs, well again lets think rationally here, are these orbs really hundreds of ghosts? Or is it more believable that it may just be pollen released while walking through grass, or maybe even precipitation from the ground as well. To test this theory author Troy Taylor did do a similar experiment where he was walking through a cemetery taking pictures and just as he figured he got some orbs. Later on, on a totally different day he went to a high school football field to snap pictures and he produced the same result. Now was the football field haunted? Absolutely not, the culprit was indeed pollen.
A good friend and fellow examiner wrote an article about there having to be some middle ground when it comes to orbs. It is the belief of his that orbs may indeed be the spirit in a partial manifestation caught in the IR spectrum of the digital camera. Although it has the start of a great working hypothesis and the possibility is certainly there, but as of right now there are a couple of problems with this A. We can’t assume ghosts are seen in the IR spectrum, for one simple reason. That is because humans claim to see ghosts, yet humans can not see in the IR spectrum of light. So this in itself makes this hypothesis hard to swallow. B. If the digital camera is indeed picking up spirit orbs in the IR spectrum how come they are not seen on the small LED screen before the pictures are snapped? C. Why are there not more full bodied spirit manifestations caught on digital cameras? These are the types of questions that need to be asked.
Suppose this hypothesis is right, how do we distinguish the difference between spirit orbs and orbs caused by natural occurrences? For example 4 orbs are caught on camera, one is dust, one is pollen, one is a reflection of light and one is a partial spirit manifestation, but they all look exactly the same. How can one make the call which one is which? How can one present this picture to a client, not being able to tell the difference between the 4? The answer is you can’t.
Another fact many people do not know is that the orb may be a result of one’s own flash, this can happen when the flash is to powerful or bright. Other natural occurrences that can create orbs are water, snow flakes, rain and even insects. So what it all comes down to in my opinion is first and foremost since orbs can be recreated they shouldn’t even be considered as evidence in the first place. Maybe the question is, what is one in this field for? To just snap a photo and deem pollen or dust a “ghost” isn’t research, its actually damning to the field.
