Hi there,

Just wondering what your thoughts are on the topic of "orbs" that have become very popular in the field over the past few years? (Hugely popularised here in the UK due to the Most Haunted TV programme that started about 7 years ago or so). :headscrat

(I'm just starting to get a feel of what people think of different things on this forum with me being a newbie!)

Light artifacts - Digital Noise artifacts, dust and Bokah.

Ben

Yeah i would pretty much go along with that Ben...

what about fairies...

Most orb photos that I have seen are easily explained in logical photographical terms. Being married to a photographer I have had all sorts of explanations:

Reflective orbs, these are the most common of indoor 'orb' pics - caused by light refraction when the flash bounces off something shiny in the background, this could be a metal door handle, a mirror, water/lakes, a clock, glass cabinets, windows, even metallic balloons.

Dust orbs.

Rain orbs, which on a digital camera can infact appear if they are going upward

Moisture orbs from dew or the ocean.

I have never seen a picture of a true Spirit orb, not that I'm saying they do not exist but I have not yet come across an orb photo that could not be explained. If all the above circumstances can be exluded then perhaps a paranormal situation could be considered.

*Here are some hints when taking photos hoping for genuine Spirit orbs to show up - these are all assuming the flash IS being used...*
- Do not take photos outside at night when there is moisture or rain. Even if you can't feel dew, chances are at night it is around
- Do not take photos in wet weather during the day
- Take photos indoors WITHOUT a flash.

If anyone else can add to that list feel free to do so pleez

* adding to your list....

- Do not take photos anywhere there is dust (so that pretty much rules everywere out!)

One thing that does tick me off about people who insist most "orbs" they get on photographs are "spirit orbs" is that they seemingly ignore the fact that they were conducting an investigation in a very old, damp, dusty building AT NIGHT. What better chances are there of getting orbs!?!

Just adding to this thread....

Has anyone ever seen anything orb-like with their naked eyes?

I have seen just one that I still to this day can't explain. It was about the size of a 50p piece and was extremely bright white in colour (so bright that had it been bigger I suspect I'd have been squinting to look at it). It moved quite slowly up from beneath a coffee table and sort of "wobbled" up towards the ceiling ("wobbled" being the best way to describe its path!)

Interesting stuff, I just wish I'd been able to get a photo of THAT orb!

I've seen one although I'm not entirely sure it was related to Spirit... Not sure what it was.

Mine was about the size of a tennis ball, it was yellow and glowing bright. It was outdoors, I was on the back deck. I saw it move over house roofline. It was just above the roof. It was a solid ball, and if I had stood up on the chair I was sitting on, I would have been able to touch it. To this day I've no idea what it could have been...

Interesting stuff. Yeah I must admit, although I've seen this one "orb" which just happened to be in a supposedly haunted house, I'm not convinced it was anything spirit related. I wouldn't like to guess what it could be but then again there is the interesting phenomenon of ball lightning that people still don't fully understand either, so maybe the thing I saw was just a tiny ball of lightning? Who knows. Don't suppose I ever will!

Pffft I don't buy the ball lightning thing with the orb I saw, nor the orbs others like yourself have seen indoors... It just doesn't make sense in my mind... But that's just me!

I doubt ball lightning would be responsible Sarah. The amount of energy required to produce it would mean you would be aware of the environment around you either 'changing' or being very, very different from what it should be. Ball lightning has been produced artificially but it required a disused nuclear reactor from a de-commisioned submarine to do it lol - I don't for one second doubt the phenomena, or that you saw what you saw - I just doubt that ball lightning would be responsible....

Ben

Good point raised about the environment around me changing. It was just in your average bog-standard living room in a perfectly normal house so I'm sure I'd have noticed any drastic environmental changes happening around me (not to mention the equipment I was using at the time detecting something (which nothing untoward was detected at all)).

I'm completely baffled by what I saw, I still kick myself to this day for not having a camera ready at the time though!

Funnily enough, I saw this "orb" very early on in my life as a "paranormal investigator" and it was one of the very first investigations my old group actually ever conducted. Since that one sighting of that "orb", I never saw anything like it again!

It's one of those things Sarah....I guess we'll just never know....annoying aint it lol???

Ben

I agree with Ben and Liselle.
Most Haunted is awesome.

Has anyone got the book "Beyond Photography." Encounters with orbs angels and mysterious light-forms.
It is by Katie Hall and John Pickering and is fascinating.
If your interested in that subject, that is the book to get.

I said what i thought of them in your other thread but i'll say it again .
Most orbs that people think are paranormal are actually just natural phenomena that can happen in a house wether there is "spiritual" activity or not because it can be just a collection of energy in the air.

It is said MGK that Spirit draw on 'energy' from a room, as you put it, to show themselves, to manifest. So do you agree that is a possibility too?

I always thought that when a spirit draws energy from the room it creates cold spots, not orbs. Orbs i always thought would make people think there is activity in that area but not draw energy. If it drew energy then wouldn't that be the opposite of what an orb is? A collection of energy?

In my understanding, an orb is a way that Spirit can show themselves, much like mists, or full apparitions, or by them moving objects.

In order for the above things to happen, Spirit must draw on the available energy of the room/place they are in.

An orb could be a ball of energy, energy produced by a spirit by drawing on the energy from the area at the time.. Which is why the cold air happens, and batteries die with no explanation, psychics who are there also suddenly feel drained also. I guess from what I have learned, ghosts who manifest themselves can be energy 'vampires' as such.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong please, happy to hear other's experiences who have paranormal investigation knowledge too. I find this stuff fascinating.

Some people also believe there are the faces of the spirits on the orbs. I've seen a few pictures of so called orbs but i never see how they make faces out of it..