orbs by andy mercer are they paranormal ?

 A writing by Andy Mercer the Former Director of Former The Institute of Paranormal Research.

Orbs are, without doubt, one of the most contentious subjects within the field of paranormal investigating. But what are they? And are they paranormal?

It is only with the advent of affordable digital cameras that these ‘anomalies’ have come to light in any great way. And, with the aid of instant review of photographs, an investigator is able to check whether or not they have captured anything ‘interesting’ in their pictures. Gone are the days of waiting for your pictures to be developed before you can evaluate to contents of your photos. This unfortunately this means that the photographer is the sole arbiter of the content of the pictures. Whereas an expert in photography could instantly recognise such ‘flaws’ as lens flare, dust or moisture etc, we now have to rely on our own judgement on the content of our pictures. However, this in not to say that we are inevitably going to miss identify the content of our own photographs. But we do have to be very careful and sensible in evaluating photographs.

However, one myth concerning Orbs, which does persist, is that they are ONLY caught on digital cameras. Although far less common on 35mm they do sometimes turn up. But again, we cannot be sure of the exact nature of the anomaly captured. But 35mm does have the benefit of producing negatives, which can be analysed. But, it is worth bearing in mind the all 35mm pictures are examined by the developer before they are handed over to you. This could explain their rarity. The developer may well have spotted something ‘odd’ in your pictures and removed the shot, as it would be considered to be ‘sub-standard’.

One tip, which I’d suggest, is to ask that ALL pictures be fully developed regardless of their apparent content. The last thing you’d want is for your fantastic photo of a ghost to have been thrown away because it was believed to be a ‘double exposure!’

Returning to the question of ‘digital orbs’. personally speaking, I do believe that a very high percentage of so-called Orb photographs are misidentification of conventional ‘flaws.’ I've discussed the phenomena with two professional photographers, one of which works in digital exclusively. This particular photographer almost fell off his chair with laughter when I mentioned that some people thought that orbs were paranormal. They (orbs) are generally down to the quality of camera. If you try using a 6million+ pixel professional camera they almost never show up. It's often due to pixel fall out and the camera trying to compensate. Also, when using a flash, the camera will focus on the largest object (i.e. the wall, or you etc.) anything like dust or an insect will be very out of focus, when the light from the flash hits it creates a large 'flare' in the picture

However I certainly don’t think that this is the case for all ‘anomalies’. When reviewing photographs for IoPR investigation reports I only really take note of what I call ‘self-luminous’ spheres. These are the apparent orbs that seem to be producing light, or glowing. I also look for other ‘tell-tale’ signs such as streaking behind it, much like a comet. This suggests that the ‘object’ is moving very rapidly, far too fast to be an insect or falling dust.

But another supposed indication that an orb is genuine is the bright corona, or outer edge and colouring within. It is often suggested that this patterning looks like a face, and often seen as evidence of a ‘spirit entity’ within the orb, all of which looks impressive, but are actually signs that the ‘orb’ is merely a flaw within the picture. The ‘face’ is only a random pattern created by pixel flaws. But the nature of human consciousness is that we attempt to see faces in such a ‘random pattern’. Please have a read of ‘Pattern Recognition Syndrome’ which goes into this in more detail.

All of these points are taken into consideration when we examine any photographs during an IoPR investigation. When I’ve included a picture, which appears to show an orb, I never state that it IS an orb. I merely suggest the possibility.

However, there are reasons why I believe that there are a tiny percentage that are genuine. Firstly, there seems to be a high correlation between haunted locations, and the appearance of orbs. I’m sure that, like many, I don’t only restrict my use of my digital camera to investigations, yet when I use it on holiday, at parties, etc. The orb phenomenon is very rarely captured. Although one could argue that this is because I’m not taking pictures using the flash on and that most haunted locations are old and may be dusty. Secondly, if all orb anomalies are simply explainable as flaws then there are an awful lot of camera’s out there that have inherit faults. Admittedly no camera manufacturer has come out and said that these odd balls of light are paranormal. But then they are hardly likely to. But, by the same token, are they going to admit that virtually every single camera out there is taking photos which contain faults, flaws, dust enlarged, blurred ‘blobs’ caused by moisture, etc. Most of the major manufacturers have carried out their own analysis of these anomalies, and most have admitted that not every single example, which they have examined, can be explained. Nevertheless many have now added ‘explanation' page to their official website, such is the volume of enquiries that they have received.

Below is an extract from Fujifilm’s official website

“There is always a certain amount of dust floating around in the air. You may have noticed this at the movies when you look up at the light coming from the movie projector and notice the bright sparks floating around in the beam. In the same way, there are always dust particles floating around nearby when you take pictures with your camera. When you use the flash, the light from the flash reflects off the dust particles and is sometimes captured in your shot. Of course, dust particles very close to the camera are blurred since they are not in focus, but because they reflect the light more strongly than the more distant main subject of the shot, that reflected light can sometimes be captured by the camera and recorded on the resulting image as round white spots. So these dots are the blurred images of dust particles.

You can reproduce this problem relatively easily by taking a picture right after you put away goods that create a lot of dust, such as feather bedding. In actual photography, this problem frequently arises in shots taken at construction sites, etc. It may also occur when it is raining or snowing. Compact cameras in which the flash and the lens are close together are particularly susceptible to this problem.”

This explanation is preceded by a photograph showing a typical ‘grey blob’ type Orb. (You can view both the article and the photograph by clicking on http://home.fujifilm.com/products/digital/shooting/flash.html)

However one observation that should be made is that the above quote and web site only cover the ‘Gary Blob’ type of orb. But, as mentioned before, not all orbs are ‘grey blobs’. These other small bright and fast moving orb type pictures are harder to explain. One possible cause which needs to be further explored is the Plasmoid phenomena.

The exact cause of a Plasmoid is unclear, but is thought to be link to Ionisation of the atmosphere, and have thus been linked to Ball Lightening.

This phenomenon is quite different to the traditional orb, and may be created by the sudden ionisation of the local atmosphere. Of course the question arises, “what causes the ionisation in the first place?” The answer to this may lie in another paranormal experience, often noted at a haunted location; the sudden drop in temperature. If the temp change is due to a sudden change in the localised energy field, and, as a result, causes an ionisation of the air, the conditions are thus created for a plasmoid to occur. But, I hear you cry, ‘What causes the sudden change in the localised energy field?”

So far I’ve covered the possibilities of an Orb not being a genuine paranormal phenomenon. What we’ve not discussed is: what an Orb is, if it IS paranormal.

The current standing theories are that, an Orb is the first manifestation of a ghost. Another theory is that an orb is, in itself, is a spirit moving in within or dimension, or ‘plane of existence’. Another explanation is that an orb is in itself an actual manifestation of psychoactive energy which ‘empowers’ paranormal phenomena. (The plasmoid theory) Whilst all of these theories are possibilities, it must surely be within the remit of a research institute to attempt to determine their nature before making any real judgment on the matter. Therefore I’d have to say that, whilst the jury is still out on the existence of Orbs, it must also be out on the nature of Orbs.

So, just to round things off, the above does not represent the collective view of the IoPR, merely my own, although most of us do hold a similar view. But, as they say, “the research continues.”

  By Andy Mercer