Orbs | Carol Chapman

Are Orbs Just a Camera Phenomenon?

Here’s an excerpt from a blog with many lovely photographs containing orbs. The author of the blog describes how she created orbs that turned up in her photographs. She used a compact camera with a flash plus atmospheric pollutants such as dust, rain, or pollen. The inference is that orbs photos result from atmospheric pollutants.

To get orbs it helps to use a compact camera with its flash on.
Then go into a dusty atmosphere, or rain, or underwater, or a swarm of midges, or pollen – if you can’t find them you can make your own:

Caro’s Lines: How to Photograph Orbs

Comments on her blog refer to orbs pictures taken in places such as cemeteries where there are supposed to be ghosts. The author of the comment does not refute orbs as indications of the dearly departed. However, she does disagree with orbs photographs being used as evidence of ghosts since orbs can be created in photographs by atmospheric means.

I mention this blog because I have a deeply inquiring mind and am curious. I like to get to the bottom of things. I find it interesting that orbs photos can be purposefully created.

Does this mean that all orbs in photographs are created by compact digital cameras with flashes and atmospheric pollutants?

I think not. Orbs in photographs would be mere atmospheric phenomena if they only turned up in photographs and only with compact digital cameras with flash.

On the contrary, many people wrote to me who can see orbs with their naked eyes . . . just sitting in their living rooms or hanging out with family and friends. Others have told me that orbs turned up in in photographs taken with large format professional film cameras.Therefore, many orbs photos have to be more than a mere atmospheric phenomenon.

What do you think?

Carol Chapman

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Fantastic Orbs Photos Include Orange and Golden Orbs!

These intriguing orbs photos are from Zihna Jones in Wisconsin. Because the photos were very dark, I used Photoshop to lighten them. I am impressed that the orbs look so similar in close up. They are translucent and they have a sort of ring around their perimeter.

A Nighttime

Outdoor Photo

of an Orange Orb

A Close Up of

the Orange Orb

Orbs Inside

the Barn

Close Up of

the Orbs to

the Right of

the Man

A Golden Orb

Floats in

the Barn

Close Up of

the Golden Orb

and its

Companion

Carol Chapman —

Readers Write about Orbs

A short newsletter today because I’m very tired. I’ll post photos tomorrow.

One reader wrote to say that years ago she began to see “these white things in the air.” She did not know what they were but told a friend about them. The friend suggested that she ask the orbs what they were. The orb answered her question with, “I am spirit.” She also said that she believes the orbs are ancestors or “spirits who are in the earthly plain.” She says that she has one visiting her all the time. Amazing!

Carol Chapman —

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Amazing Orbs Pictures

Wow! Today, I received many amazing emails about encounters with orbs, including people who can see them with the naked eye (no camera needed) – more on that later – and also many orbs pictures. Thank you so much!!!

It will take a number of days to send them all to you.

Here’s the first. An absolutely amazing orbs picture full of orbs. This is a photograph of “the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation performing a traditional dance in the “Big House”, at Alert Bay, BC, on Cormorant Island, just off the NE coast of Vancouver Island (near Port McNeill).” Amazing and beautiful!

Orbs join the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation performing a traditional dance in the “Big House”, at Alert Bay, BC, on Cormorant Island

An enlargement of the large orb above and slightly to the right of the dancing figure.

Carol Chapman —

Feedback on Yesterday’s Orbs Pictures

I received a number of emails in regard to yesterday’s post on Orb Pictures: Ghosts, Energies, or Dust? and I want to share them with you.

One reader wrote to say that he has taken many photographs that happen to have orbs in them. He also referred to “Adam” the author of a series of books such as DreamHealer: A True Story of Miracle Healings. Evidently Adam “can see them [orbs] moving around during a healing session entering the bodies (energy) of a person during their healing.” That’s pretty neat! This reader also said that he had learned from another source that orbs are “the ancestors.” Very interesting when you consider that so many cultures honor their ancestors.

Another reader wrote to say that for her, orbs are definitely “Spirit Energies.” She also mentioned the orb photographs of the crowd celebrating Obama’s presidential nomination.

Have you seen these photos of the Obama rally? They circulated on the internet for a while. I received numerous emails about them. The orbs were so plentiful that they looked like popcorn floating in the air.

Finally, one reader wrote: “Nice pictures.” I agree. The pictures are gorgeous!

Thank you Cynthia Hastings for emailing the orb photographs to me.

Here are a couple more orb photographs sent by Cynthia:

Orb Pictures

by Cynthia Joy Hastings

Enlargement of the above

Photograph Showing Two

Overlapping Orbs Upper Left

This photograph appears to have been taken during a snow flurry. You can see the wisps of snow blowing. The orbs look entirely different than the snow.

Carol Chapman —

Orb Pictures: Ghosts, Energies, or Dust?

Here is a lovely photograph of orbs emailed to me by Cynthia Joy Hastings who is a friend and also a reader of my newsletters.

She took this photograph, which is one of a number of orb pictures, on a clear evening in southeastern Virginia after it snowed.

In a previous post I had mentioned that I had had lunch with a group of friends and we had discussed those mysteries glowing orbs that turn up in photographs. A couple of the people at the luncheon said they had taken photographs of orbs. This is one of them.

I’ve enlarged a segment in the upper right corner of the photograph, which shows more detail of the orb.

I am impressed that the orbs have such definite outlines which I wouldn’t expect if they were dust as some people say they are.

In one article I read, the writer said that some people believe the orbs are caused by a phenomenon in digital cameras. However, the writer pointed out that if it was a digital phenomenon, the anomaly would be square shaped like a pixel and opaque. These, as you can see in the enlarged section are translucent.

What do you think these glowing orbs are? Some people think they are angels, a reader wrote to say she thought they were spirit energies, another wrote to say they turn up in her photographs during celebrations, some believe they are ghosts.

What do you think?

Orbs Picture

by Cynthia Joy Hastings

Enlargement of an Orb in the Upper Right Corner

of the Photograph Above

Carol Chapman —

Orbs and Film Not Digital Cameras

Here’s an excerpt from a blog written by a person in the United Kingdom. The internet information I’ve seen on orbs refers to them as being a phenomenon of small-format compact digital cameras. I’ve already written to say that orbs have appeared on photographs taken by my regular format digital camera and a reader who is a professional photographer has also said they have appeared in her photographs taken by her professional format cameras. They appear most often for her when people are celebrating and having a good time such as at a party. The following excerpt says that orbs have appeared on photographs taken with film in 1989.

I did not possess a digital camera in those days, and once home, after having had the film developed, I saw strange balls messing up the photos I took of my kids.

Orbs | SunnyBank Centre/Geomancy Blog

Prairie Specters: What are Orbs? by Dave Juliano

This is a great article on Orbs. It not only offers an unusual theory explaining orbs, but it also describes experiments that dispel the contention that orbs are caused by the type of camera used plus it includes a photograph containing orbs. I found it very interesting and comprehensive.

What are these balls of transparent light we find in photos taken in allegedly haunted places? I won’t tell you I know the answer to this question. No one has the true answer to this question yet, but that’s part of the job of researchers and investigator.
One of the leading theories concerning what orbs are and the one that I lean towards the most is that they are not the spirit at all. The orb is the energy being transferred from a source (i.e. powerlines, heat energy, batteries, people, etc) to the spirit so they can manifest. This may not even be a conscious thing the spirit is doing, just a natural way they get their energy. This would explain why the orbs are round balls. According to the laws of Physics energy being transferring like that would assume is natural shape of a sphere. This theory can also be tied into the EMF readings we get during spirit activity.
I always approach things with a bit of skepticism, so when I saw all these websites start showing off these photos as ghosts, I was just as weary as most of you. I just had to try it for myself. I took a 35mm camera that I had used regularly for 6 years in all types of lighting and weather and had never gotten an orb or other unexplainable photo before and went out with a few seasoned field investigators on a cemetery investigation. One of the investigators was psychic and she pointed out a few areas we should take photos, so I did. I also had ghost footsteps walkup behind me twice and I turned around quickly and took photos of the empty air. When I got my photos developed, I had these orbs and fog in those photos that I was told to take, as well as the footstep ones. All my other photos were normal. Coincidence?
Since we do not know what orbs truly are, just that they seem to be found mainly in areas where there is ghost activity, I will tell you what they are not. On a normal investigation there are about 10 people using 10 different cameras, 35mm and digital, and many speeds and brands of film. They all get their film developed at separate places. Let’s say only half of these investigators get some orb photos. Are these water spots or dirt on the lens? That would mean that 5 people all had similar dirt on their lens and all 5 did not clean their lens either. Are these orbs film processing errors? Well the 35mm cameras all had their film developed in different locations and used different film so that is very unlikely. The digital cameras can’t have film-processing errors.
I am aware that some people feel that the orbs on a digital camera are an error in the digital processing of the image. When that error does occur in digital photos, the objects tend to be square in nature, not round and they cannot be semi-transparent, the pixel behind would have to be corrupted also. I will not even address the precipitation theory, no legitimate researchers takes photos in any form of precipitation. What about dust and dirt being stirred up? Can that be the cause of the orbs? If that were the case, I would think that there would not be normal photos in a sequence of photos from the same camera and location. All of the shots in a sequence should have the dust or dirt in it. We find that most orb photos do not appear in consecutive photos. All photographers present should get orbs if it is dust being stirred up as well.
These are just a few things for the skeptics to think of when they are condemning an orb photo as a fake or fraud and some things for investigators to consider when checking their photos for positives.

Prairie Specters: What are Orbs? by Dave Juliano

Orbs Turn up in Photographs All Over the World

Here’s an excerpt from a Portsmouth, England, newspaper:

Extra-orb-inary!

Published Date: 22 November 2008

By Elise Brewerton

They are erie, unexplained and popping up all over the place.

Strange, white orbs and bizarre glowing lights have been appearing in photos taken by readers all over the world.

Extra-orb-inary! – Portsmouth Today

The article goes on to say that many people believe the orbs are merely specs of dust or water particles highlighted by light. However, others think they are spirits or energy fields that cannot make it to the other world.

One reader noticed orbs in photographs from Vietnam and Cambodia. She said that even though the camera company said the orbs resulted from moisture on the camera, the reader is keeping an open mind because both of the places in the photographs were historical and also, in her opinion, “quite eerie.”

Another reader’s photographs of the Temple of Edfu in Egypt contained many orbs.

These orbs have turned up in a number of my photographs and in photographs people I know had taken. However, I did not realize the orbs were a worldwide phenomenon.

Carol Chapman

Mysterious Orbs Appear on Brown Mountain near Charlotte, North Carolina

Here’s a link to a video about mysterious orbs of light that move around on a mountain near Charlotte, North Carolina. Evidently, the Cherokee Native Americans were the first to report the lighted orbs 800 years ago. The orbs appear on the mountain at a place where there is no electricity and no homes.

The video is a story from WCNC, the local news station for Charlotte, North Carolina. The news station aired the Brown Mountain Orb story, very appropriately, on Halloween Night.

Watch this story and see for yourself. Are these orbs the spirits of the dead lost in battle? Are they the lights of love that never dies? Was this such a tragic loss of life that even after death their lives somehow inexplicably remain on the mountainside?

Carolina Traveler | Mysterious Brown Mountain Lights | WCNC.com | Local News for Charlotte, North Carolina | Carolina Traveler

Have you ever seen an orb? Have you ever photographed an orb?

Here’s the link to the online article and video: http://www.wcnc.com/traveler/stories/wcnc-1031008-mw-brown_mountain.168ff0fc9.html

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Extra-orb-inary!