What are "Orbs"?

An orb is a roughly spherical light that appears photographs taken with the use of a flash (although some claim to be able to see them with the naked eye).

Unlike many paranormal phenomenon they have a very short history, arising in the 1990s. Mythology surround orbs emerged with the widespread availability of cameras.

By 2000 these orbs were associated not only with places obviously associated with spirits and ghost like old homes and graveyards, but also many other unusual locations including crop circles (Nickell, 2013).

Also known as: plasmas, energy balls, spheres.

• Orb calling (2007)
• Spiritual healer meeting (2007) [Daily Mail]
• New Zealand (2011)

Orbs appearing in pictures of reputed haunted locations are explained more generally as balls of energy, or more specifically as ghosts, a portal they use to enter the physical world or energy being gathered to allow this to happen.

Various more specific interpretations have sprung up. For example it has been claimed that the position of the orb shows the relationship between the person and the "spirit". Or that they will move about according to requests.

Orbs only seem to occur with flash photography (Peterson, 2013). As such they can be explained as the light of the flash reflecting off particles in the air such as dust or rain, also known as "back scatter".

The clear existence of back scatter artifacts means that even those who believe in mystical orbs will concede that up to 90% of photographs are not paranormal in nature.

It seems strange to me that supernatural events are generally seen as something you experience directly--resistant to empirical measurement. But on the other had there is a strong stand of belief that technology like photography is a conduit for revelations.*

* Spirits, Apparitions, and Traditions of Supernatural Photography

Sometimes those who support paranormal explanations explain away implausible skeptical explanations. The problem is that no one actually suggested orbs are caused by issues such as dirt on the lens.

While some people say they can, through special talent of training, see orbs with the naked eyes (Donder, 2012)--which would suggest they are more than a lens artifact--it has never been confirmed that what they claim to see lines up with what can be captured by camera.

In this case I find the technical explanation of back-scatter to be completely convincing. Paranormal experiences are often subjective and as such inaccessible. But orbs are not seen by the person at the scene. They appear only in the camera and unlike the human mind we known exactly how an image forms int the camera.

This paranormal explanations of this phenomenon are very unconvincing. I don't doubt that people sincerely feel they are seeing a paranormal phenomena but there is not evidence for this explanation and a completely sound mundane explanation available,

If you think you have any orb pictures taken in conditions where backscatter could not occur (e.g. where a flash was not used) I would love to see them.

• Belief Net
• Paranormal Encyclopedia
• Wikipedia

• Peterson, Dawn M. "Mysterious Beings or Mere Accidents?." Skeptical Inquirer (2013).
• Nickell, Joe. "Circular Reasoning: The ‘Mystery’of Crop Circles and Their ‘Orbs’ of Light." Skeptical Inquirer (2013).
• Peterson, Dawn M. "Mysterious Beings or Mere Accidents?." Skeptical Inquirer (2013).
• Wood, D. (2007). A LIFE LESS ORBINARY? Accounts of Experimentation into the Natural Causes of "Orbs‟. Journal of Research Into the Paranormal, 40, 17-37 [pdf]