Orbs: Spirit Activity Is All Around Us
By: Karen M. Spring

The capture of orbs on film is often considered to be bits of dust or some type of discrepancy by skeptics. Those who believe that orbs are something more than dust believe that these anomalies give us something else: a glimpse into another facet of life – the paranormal.

As an investigator with South Jersey Paranormal Research, a nonprofit group that examines evidence from locations that are considered “haunted” or spiritually active, as we like to say, I have had the opportunity to take and study dozens of photographs. Our investigators must carefully question every piece of our evidence until we see something that we determine cannot be discredited.

For instance, when outdoors on a chilly night, we instruct investigators to hold their breath each time they take a picture. Why? Because breath can appear as an anomaly on film. If someone snaps a picture and hasn’t held his or her breath, he or she must immediately disregard that photo.

We also discourage smoking on an investigation for the same reason. Cigarette smoke can appear as something paranormal. If we are walking down a dusty road in a cemetery or are moving around a room with a lot of dust and dirt in an old house, we try to refrain from taking pictures until the dust settles. Dust on film can be mistaken for orbs. Snow also appears on film as orbs, so we do not conduct outdoor investigations during the wintry months

Orbs are the round globes or balls of light that appear on film, either by digital, 35 mm, or video camera. The orbs can appear cloudy, white, or glowing and there may be only one or two in a picture or dozens. They can also look to be standing still or in motion.

Orbs are not automatically spirits, so if you happen to capture two orbs on film, it does not necessarily mean that you have two spirits. However, spirits do require energy to manifest, so if orbs appear on film, there could be spirit energy trying to manifest in the room or the area where you are. Spirit energy can manifest in many ways and the appearance of orbs is just one of them.

Spirit energy is all around us all of the time. It is in each of our homes, outdoors, in the work environment, in stores, and every place where humans congregate and gather. You may not feel spirit energy in your home, but it is there and can be there at any given time. Just snap a few pictures and see if you have orbs. If you do not, try again at a different time of day or when there is a lot of human activity going on in your home or when the energy level is high: family dinner, when company is over, when your children’s friends are visiting. The spirit energy gravitates towards humans.

People with no interest in paranormal activity have captured orbs on film at parties and other types of celebrations. Why? It could be that the spirits are attracted to the high level of happy, positive energy. It also can be possible that the energy is from relatives and friends who have passed away yet are drawn to their still living loved ones.  

This happened to me. When my twin sons were a few months old, my husband and I took the boys to my parents’ house on Easter. We were all dressed up for church and the boys looked adorable. Between my father, my husband and myself, we had three cameras with which we took many pictures. Several of the pictures taken with my father’s digital camera showed orbs. I didn’t discover this until I had the opportunity to sit down and really examine the pictures. I am convinced that the orbs (and there were many of them in two different pictures) are long deceased relatives coming back to visit with my sweet boys. My mother remembers being very happy that day, happier than she had been in a long time. Perhaps this joyous occasion brought the spirits out.

As paranormal investigators, SJPR members are encouraged and conditioned to use our different senses to accumulate evidence. When I am on an investigation, if I hear an odd noise, smell a distinctive scent like perfume or flowers, or see something that looks out of place, I will take a picture. Sometimes my hunch is correct, that the noise or scent or glimpse really was something. At times I will find orbs on the film corresponding with these events that I had sensed.

One evening on an investigation at an old inn and restaurant in Pennsylvania, a team of our investigators was in the basement. One of the women in the group felt that someone was poking her on the hip. She even yelled out loud and told the others in the group that the poking was so rough that it actually hurt her. Another group member immediately took her picture. Sure enough when the picture was viewed, there was Judy with a huge orb right on her hip. She was right. Something or someone was poking her.

Another night SJPR was investigating Potter’s Field. This very sad, forgotten cemetery is the final resting spot for many individuals, the mentally ill, the indigent, war veterans, and prisoners among them. While walking through the cemetery, one of our investigators noted a very bad smell. When I asked him what he thought it was, he leaned over and whispered to me that it smelled like a decaying body. I knew that Jim had been a paramedic for a number of years and I believed him, although I didn’t think we had a “real” body nearby. I felt that he smelled something bad, like an evil spirit.

Our group continued to walk through the cemetery while Jim and a few of our other investigators said that the smell was getting stronger. I did not smell anything, but I believed all of them, especially when I noticed a very big temperature drop. The air was biting cold. I pulled out my 35 mm camera and started taking pictures. One of them produced a bright white orb moving through the air. It was taken at the spot where Jim and a few other investigators said that the scent was the strongest.

Could it be that there really was a spirit there at that spot and that I captured on film what the others sensed? I am not sure, yet I am convinced that as investigators we need to use all of our senses to help us determine spirit activity. The orbs we find on our film is just one facet of the paranormal, but it is one of our strongest pieces of evidence.

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