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WHAT ARE ORBS?
by Ann Fillmore
for MUFON Journal
Brilliant white or blue or gold orbs appear in your photographs. You dismiss them as light blips or dust caught in the flash or rain specks on the lens. But then you photograph your child in a quite clean room where no chance of a raindrop could occur and all around her head is a circle of luminescent pearls.. When you examine other recent photos of your little girl, there they are again.
You photograph your friend’s wedding and lo! A ball of semi-transparent white light filled with a strange complicated blue structure of some sort half obscures her face. That is no dust mote caught in the camera flash. More bizarre, the ball of light with the exact same internal blue design can be seen hovering around your friend in almost every photo you take at the wedding. You are tempted to call this her orb. Or maybe some sort of spirit haunting her and you feel weird thinking this.
You examine the outdoor photos of your friend taken in bright sunlight. Faintly, seemingly hanging from a nearby tree is the same ball of light with the internal blue design. What is this thing?
The Emergence of Orbs
Most photographers began noticing orbs occasionally pop up in digital pictures around 2002. By 2004, orbs had become common. Now, in 2008, they’re hard to keep out of photos. Are they an artifact of digital cameras? Is the digital camera converting simple dust motes, mist drops, bugs or pollution bits into fancy shiny balls? If so, why are orbs all exhibiting the bizarre properties and behavior, especially the latter, that they do?
If the behavior of these orbs is examined, the next question must be: are they special energy anomalies which before were difficult to catch on film and tape but have become more distinct with digital still and video camera technology?
Because I am merely a good amateur photographer and not an expert in all things photographic and because my background is in Behavioral Science, I approached the investigation of orbs from the behavior aspect. Truly, this became a perfect example for my web site: Curious_Country. Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice said. I seemed to have slipped into a photographic fairy land. Upon delving into the phenomena, it was startling to find that first of all, there was no scientific research. Secondly, the several people who claimed to have investigated orbs were highly suspect in their interpretation of otherwise excellent data. So I will be careful in this article to specify the source of the information.
From examining lots of old photos taken with the various methods of catching light and finding that both orbs and their morph form did crop up occasionally, my guess is that they have probably always been around. Back when photography began and glass plates were used, the misty-morph forms often appeared upon developing. Were these the fairies and ectoplasm investigated by such luminaries in the Theosophy groups as Conan Doyle? Also caught on the early glass plates were what could only be called ghosts (early photo of the porch of an inn at Gettysburg).. Later, sometimes, especially in bright sunlight, the translucent balls were caught on film or tape and dismissed as lens flare or sun glare, a malfunctioning camera lens or bad film..
When the orbs and bright lights and streaks began appearing on digital photos, the explanations for them were the same given for what had been caught on film. Most professional photographers usually continue to claim sun glare or film malfunction and will toss the photos. Except as I said, now it’s difficult to take a photo WITHOUT an orb in it.
One explanation for why orbs appear so much more frequently in digital - computer enhanced photos and videos has to do with the way the image is caught and interpreted. The digital camera picks up many layers of light and energy then matrices - interprets the pixels to display what could be called a 3-D scene. This is why a totally black photo can be stripped of light layers to expose amazing images invisible to human vision. Whatever or whomever is emitting energy will be caught somewhere in the matrix and needs only to be discovered by careful examination.
Whereas the explosion in numbers of orbs most probably is due to environmental changes. I tend to attribute their skyrocketing population to their energy-seeking nature. Our environment is awash in man-made electromagnetic and microwave energy. Whereas in the past, orbs and other electro-magnetic forms would have been dependent on natural or emotionally charged energy places (haunted buildings, cemeteries, battle fields, theatres and so on), now there exists dramatically high EM from weather manipulation (HAARP), from cell phone towers, from TV stations and the ever-present electric light pollution for them to draw from.
Explanations as to WHAT orbs are range from the aforementioned camera malfunction to spirit entities and angels and everything in between. An entire belief system has come into being which claims orbs are souls who’ve passed over. Another group of folks claim orbs are emerging from another universe, that they are alive and sentient. Admittedly after observing the behavior of orbs, it is very difficult to discount apparent intentional actions on their part. Not surprisingly, the bright orbs are labeled with ‘good’ intentions and the dark ORBs ‘bad’. Figure 11-36 in Klaus Heinemann’s section of The Orb Project shows his classification method. At least he doesn’t attempt to attribute sentience to the different types, except on the next page are photos of what he terms dark spirits.
GOOGLING will bring up pages of interpretations of supposed orb messages to humanity, their composition, even that they might be threatening our children..Or you can attend camps where these little round critters are supposedly helping in magical healing. Proof at this stage of investigation would be impossible. After all, most scientists won’t even admit orbs are anything but bizarre photo artifacts.
But some few predictions of behavior can be listed.
ORBS ARE NOT:
1. Flying saucers or any of the recognized UFOs or USOs. Because of orbs' propensity to travel at amazingly high speeds, mistaking them for a UFO or USO would be easy to do when caught on a digital video camera. Orbs though are most often tiny, extremely and constantly brilliant and they tend to pass through tree branches, behind and in between structures which gives a good estimate of their tiny size, and are common indoors as well as outdoors.
2. Alien Ets. Although because of their ability to morph into misty shapes, no surprise they're sometimes mistaken for ET aliens or ghosts other strange critters at night. There has been no correlative research to find out if they congregate at UFO ‘hot spots'.
3. Orbs are not rods (Jose Escamilla).
4. Actual orbs are not dust particles reflecting in a camera flash (See figure 11-28 in The Orb Project for an excellent photo demonstrating what dust orbs look like at night) or rain drops or tiny bugs or lens flares or breath on a cold night or any of a dozen other physical possibilities including fog and sun.
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| No one could mistake the white bits with wings as anything other than mosquitos. The one large ORB certainly is not a bug. |
It is easy to differentiate between rain drops and real orbs. |
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| Lens flare |
After a day photographing with no results, I insisted that an ORB appear. Sure enough, in the very last photo, there was a brilliant sun ORB. Notice how different it is from the lens flare. |
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| Taken at 3:30 in the morning, cold and clear, with a flash. There are many different kinds of ORBs in the photo |
Taken shortly after the previous night photo. These are the same orbs moments later |
ACTUAL ORBS HAVE IDENTIFIABLE FEATURES:
1. They glow. They have internal luminescence of their own which increases, sometimes to the human vision spectrum, with more and more camera flash or sun exposure. Without a doubt, cats and other animals can see them, perhaps even sense their presence.
2. They will flock together preferring high electromagnetic and other energy sources although NOT ‘fear cages' (small areas surrounded by EM emitting sources), high power lines and the like. Orbs love music, are always found in theatres, among party-goers, celebrations and in truly haunted places like cemeteries and battle fields. If you examine your orb photos carefully, it is not unusual when there is heavy orb activity to distinguish ghostly figures, let's say - ghosts as distinct shapes and not morphed orbs.
3. When a gauss meter shows spikes in EMF activity, digital photographs will pick up orbs directly above or surrounding the immediate area. The same goes for copper dowsing rods. When they cross or feel as if they're up against a solid force, a photograph will inevitably show orb activity.
4. Orbs like moisture in the atmosphere and are most easily captured on film at night. But just because there is moisture in the air does not mean the orbs are there. Once they do begin to appear, they will be caught in multiple and subsequent photos. Or not. They can vanish quickly. If they persist in a series of photos, within fifteen minutes or so, they often transpose into misty shapes and might twirl into grey ‘holes' or spaces which one can be tempted to call vortices.
5. Orbs come in all shapes and sizes although their most common manifestation is in a tiny ball of brilliant light. When examined carefully with a photo processing program on the computer screen, instantly there is no doubt they contain definite internal structures and often what seems to be a miniscule porthole. Orbs range in color from blazing white, blue and gold to dull red and purple. Sometimes they are seen as only transparent faded circles. Sizes are extremely difficult to precisely determine but can appear as small as pinpricks to as large as half a room.
6. Amazingly - and I mean that, orbs are able to copy shapes. Notice the camera imitation in figure 1-52 in Michael Ledwith's section of The Orb Project. More than one photographer has also caught what is being called the ‘observational' orb. Figure 1-45 from Ledwith shows a blurry one. For a startling close-up, look at the one Clifford Latta caught. (Www.greywolfdrums.com) Note the odd lego-like structure of straight lines and right angles with patchwork square colors, usually red, blue and white. What is the digital camera interpreting here? And why both men term these ‘observational', I have no clue.
7. Real orbs are able to become misty haze and ‘morph' into any shape. Could this be what early photographers were claiming as ectoplasm? Is it possible to will the energy into a specific shape? More and more photographers are finding images they were thinking about appearing in the morphed mist - an alien ET shape, phantoms or Mayan calenders or crop circle complexities.
8. Some orbs are dark grey or even black.
9. Latta's superb photos are so clear that he was able to enlarge several orbs to where internal structures stand out clearly, including in a couple photos that contain a creature within the porthole, looking or crawling out. Whatever this bizarre feature is, it's downright spooky.
10. Whether in imitation or a real energy manifestation, some of the more startling images of orbs contain human faces. Referring back to the strange ability of orbs to imitate, perhaps the faces are only that. Lots of the strikingly 3-D portraits are photographed at human gatherings. (See figures 1-49 and 1-50 in The Orb Project). Places which have had human activity in the past, especially traumatic energy will exhibit orbs with faces - ruins, battle fields, deserted roads. Faces of animals are also seen at times.
11. Orbs can travel really fast. Estimates from digital videos and calculations from multiple sequential still camera shots give speeds from 200mph to 500mph. Most often the speeding orb is an elongated white with gold or blue on the leading edge. Once in a while the back end of the orb is a fiery red-gold like a rocket exhaust.) They can also change position by - supposedly - expanding. Whatever the method, the exact same orb can approach or withdraw in sequential photos.
12. It is not unusual to catch an orb hiding behind objects, trees, even pets and people. They really like trees.
13 0ne or more specifically identifiable orbs can attach to a person, or animal. In fact, such a companion orb may be found in photos of people in the original person's vicinity in either pleasing or embarrassing spots and again, the temptation is to interpret this behavior as sending advice or a warning about that individual. Because of these companion orbs, it is wise to take status photos of your team members before going on an investigation or photo trip. This way, later, an individual's companion can be sorted from orbs resident at the location.
14. Orbs come when called. Take a series of photos while asking for an orb to appear and after several subsequent photos, lo! One will appear. Even in bright sunlight. Often right in front of the camera lens.
15. Where is the best place to photograph orbs? They almost always hover around children and animals. Also, use an automatic setting with flash to capture lots of orbs in gatherings of humans where high energy is taking place such as musicals, films or healing arts ceremonies and practices, including meditations and celebrations. In highly negative emotional situations there will be a dearth of bright orbs but often one or two prominent dark or black balls, sometimes appearing as large round grey or brown shadows. The same goes for outdoor locations where trauma has occurred.
Indoors, dim light or no light is best. Again, use an automatic setting and focus and a flash and expect the primary outcome to be a black photo. One of the thrills of orb photography is putting those black photos through the computer processing program - slowly and carefully lightening the photo by taking single layers of darkness off - and finding astounding orbs in amazing colors and shapes.
The same for outdoors. Use automatic focus and settings (NOT night vision or dim light settings). Take lots of photos. Look near water, in mist, trees, around people and - hard to explain - when there is a strong sense of being watched. A flock of orbs, or an especially energetic orb can be detected with a sensitive gauss (EM) meter, Chris Fleming's K-2 meter or with copper-metal dowsing rods. During daylight hours the most common orb will be a brilliant purple ball that resembles a lens sun-flash, except the orb will have an irrefutable 3-D ball shape. Other pale orbs can appear in daylight photos. Companion orbs are almost always visible in a photo regardless of the lighting condition.
16.. Still camera photos must be put through a computer program which allows lightening and other effects to be used on the often pitch black photos. Always save the original and intermediate stages of examination. Sometimes as many as three shifts of light must be done to catch the full orb contingent. Care must be taken not to go too light as the orbs and other spirit or shadow critters will vanish, never to be seen again.
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Taken along a road that is very uncomfortable to walk.
The face is as distinguishable as can be |
Taken in the Egyptian Theatre, Coos Bay, OR. Three different photographers took photos within moments of this one and all three show the same ORB, plus flocks of other orbs nearby.
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| If you examine your orb photos carefully, it is not unusual when there is heavy orb activity to distinguish ghostly figures, let's say - ghosts as distinct shapes and not morphed orbs |
ORBS have some level of EMF energy. Copper dowsing rods will signify their presence |
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At Left:
Heavy orb activity can indicate the presence of a ghost. Both seem to either consist of or be stimulated by EMF activity. Note that all three detectors - dowsing rod, EMF gauss meter and the digital camera person are aware of 'something' in front of them. Looking closely, you can see a shadowy lady near the railing, plus a lot of ORBs |
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This is why a totally black photo can be stripped of light layers to expose amazing images invisible to human vision.
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| Original photo. See next photo for lightening. >>>> |
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| There is no proof that black ORBS are anything other than a different, darker shade of energy. The temptation to call them evil should be resisted.
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ORBS have very definite structure. Notice the one on the right. It has the classic mosaic internal arrangement.
ORBS seem to like being around animals. My old dog has three 'companions' often seen in night time photos of her. Again, it is tempting to say these are the spirits of her buddies who passed over some years ago.
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These are magical creatures and photos of them must be handled delicately to catch them. Photographers are often startled to find that the orbs they first found in the photo can disappear several days later - or appear in a dark photo months after having been taken. Hard to explain, for sure.
Conclusion
Or I should say my conclusion. Coming from a science background, I want to label the orb phenomenon an artifact of the digital - computer enhanced camera’s ability to catch almost infinite layers of light. If the behavior being documented by many observers is actual, then it behooves the science community to step up and examine it. Whatever the origin of orbs, their explosion in population, their ability to shape-shift, their association with energies such as EM and life-force chi should motivate investigators from the more esoteric fields to examine them.
Because I’ve trod both paths - as a Behavioral Scientist and a Tai Chi instructor and practitioner of acupressure - I am convinced that both sciences will have to be used to determine WHAT ORBS ARE. Which naturally brings the subject into the purview of MUFON and the trained investigators in this organization.
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