(This article, in its original form, was first published on
the Eidolon Paranormal website in 2011. This is an updated article with new
information, new sources and extra clarification.)
ORBS
What is an orb?
The term orb describes unexpected, typically
circular artifacts, that occur in flash photography — sometimes with
trails indicating motion — especially common with modern compact and
ultra-compact digital cameras.
Orbs are also sometimes called backscatter, orb backscatter,
or near-camera reflection.
In the Paranormal/ Spiritual Community, orbs are often
associated with spiritual energy or ghosts (yet this remains unproven)
There is much debate and controversy as to whether
"orbs" in photos are spiritual (ghosts) or dust, moisture, insects or
other airborne particles. 99.9% of orb photos seen in the spiritual/ paranormal
community are nothing more than airborne particles.
Camera focal points, flash distance from lens point and environmental conditions
create photographic anomalies that create the “orb” in the photo. This is the
truth and has been studied by numerous paranormal groups, camera manufacturers, sceptical societies and individuals, and proven to be FACT.
But why do psychics and so many people claim that they are
spirits?
Quite simply, some (fake) psychics want
you to believe they are psychic, and many will tell you what you want to hear.
Other’s may genuinely have intuition and maybe picking up on a spirit in the
photo, or energy from you, which has nothing to do with the orb (or the photo)
at all.
Other “orb attributions” are purely psychological where people create a "subjective social reality” (cognitive bias). This can be
to “fit in”, to give closure, to feel as if a loved one is around them in some
way.
Many believers in Orbs point to evidence of the older film
cameras, that have no flash, recording orb photos. Some also point to
night-vision video cameras capturing orbs, but what they don’t realise is that
the camera itself, or a nearby IR light source is bathing the area with a light
unseen by our own eyes, and when a particle, be it dust or and inset, or
something else passes through this light, depending on its angle, distance from
the lens and other factors, an orb will be created. This effect is most clearly
seen on CCTV camera’s when a person opens a door and the draft of wind that
follows carries dust particle through the room creating multiple “orbs”.
So, you’re saying all orbs are dust, and that should be the
end of it?
No, despite my years of research and testing into the
subject, talking to entomologists about bug structure and how they might
reflect orbs, I still believe there are 0.1% chance of some photos being a
genuine anomaly that is yet explained – attributing to a ghost or spirit
though, that I am undecided upon (after all why couldn’t it be a fairy, a wisp
or some other magical being – why a ghost? And why would something of human
size (in energy) manifest as something so small in spiritual energy?)
I once took a photo of a fully formed apparition in a
cemetery, I could see the apparition quite clearly (and another paranormal
investigator had seen the same spirit in the same place many years before me –
hence why I was there – He also took a photo of it, and received only a light anomaly)
but for reason unknown, in the photo I took, the apparition appears as an orb.
Also, myself, and other team members have witnessed “orbs” with our own eyes in
cemeteries and houses, but they were very different to the ones we see so often
in photographs. They appeared to emit
their own light from a central point and pulse at the same time (almost like a heartbeat),
moving through the air much like a jelly-fish moves through the water – they did
not appear on camera, and we ruled out every possibility we could, and could
not recreate the objects no matter how much we tried.
Even though I have seen these strange light anomalies with
my own eyes, I do still believe that
the majority of "orb" photos out there are contaminants from the
local environment where the picture has been taken, with insects and dust being
the most common causes.
I suggest looking at your environment, taking notes of
wind strength, dust, insects and anything that can cause loud vibrations (such
as a band in a hall), moisture, rain etc. and if you cannot control these
conditions when getting your orb photo, then you can probably discard it as a
contaminant and not a spirit (or other mythical entity).
I also suggest testing your camera in controlled
conditions say, inside your own house, put the camera on a tripod and throw
some powder, or dust into the air while taking a flash photo just to see how
the "orbs" will look in your photo. This will also give you some idea
of how the flash to lens ratio works - We at Eidolon Paranormal have done our
own experiments with dust, and other objects to see for ourselves that most
photos out there are dust or other contaminants -
The Picture below has been produced by a team in the USA
named. "Midnite Walkers". Midnight Walkers went to extensive lengths
to take photographs of various insects in their local region and explain how
insects and incorrect camera use, or settings, can cause various shapes or
patterns that some teams or investigators will claim to be spirits, or Angels (with no solid evidence to back their claims).
We would like to thank MidNite Walkers for granting Eidolon
Paranormal the use of their pictures on our website.
Composite picture showing the typical irregular shape
and high brilliancy of insect orbs. Image sizes have been scaled to a similar
size for easier comparison of shape and brightness.
This photo was taken in St Johns cemetery by the
Eidolon Paranormal team in 2009
The ground had ash on it from a recent fire and it was
beginning to rain lightly. After walking through the ash pile, kicking up
dust we took the photo. Notice the red dust/red orb, the ash dust appears
white/grey and blue - the raindrop appears bluish-grey and has the most
density
Midnite Walkers have also granted us permission to use their
conglomeration ORB photos as a reference tool for our readers, and future
paranormal investigators
 |
Coloured Dust Orbs: Composite image of coloured dust orbs (image size have been scaled to similar sizes for easier comparison)
|
 |
Grey Dust Orbs: Composite image of grey dust orbs (image size have been scaled to similar sizes for easier comparison)
|
Eidolon Paranormal also conducted some experiments within
controlled conditions (as mentioned earlier on this page) here a few of our
"controlled orb experiment" photos
 |
| Aerosol Spray |
 |
| Chocolate Drinking Powder |
 |
| Sugar |
A few of you may be wondering why we chose these, and other
household items. It was purely because they were controllable with differing
mass, liquidity, and weight, and all would react in differing ways within the
field off the camera flash
 |
| An orb created by a moth |
 |
| Two orbs explainable as moisture and dust - both present at the same time at St Johns Cemetery, Kapunda. |
 |
| An unusually shaped orb taken with an Ir Camera, that appears to be moving in the direction of the"arrow". Recent inspection has led us to believe this is an insect |
Eidolon Paranormal would like to express our deepest
appreciation to
"Midnite Walkers Paranormal Research Society" who
are based in Minnesota, United States of America, for allowing us the use of
their photos and text.
If you would like to see the above experiments, in full, or
other experiments performed by Midnite Walkers, please follow the link below to
their website
Bibliography
