Orbs

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   kathyinmnposted 12 years ago

   I know orbs can be dust or water vaper, could they also be a spirit?
   
   I was in a haunted location one time and we were talking about orbs. I said that I wondered if they could also be a spirit, and a ghost answered me on my recorder yes.
   
   What do you believe?

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      twosheds1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      They could also be tiny fairies flying around, but there is no evidence to suggest they are anything other than dust or perhaps insects.

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         Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Maybe the reenactor didn't have his insect repellent on and was attacked by the orb flies- great explanation for the mysterious anomalies! In my opinion that is.

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   pennyofheavenposted 12 years ago

   Like most things with that kind of energetic vibration orbs can be anything. Your recorder said yes?

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      kathyinmnposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I meant to say they spirit answered yes when asked about orb.

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         pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Oh ok hehe. So be it. I know people who have concluded the same thing via spirit. I have seen many pictures of orbs but the pictures I have viewed are unlike the ones I have seen from time to time. I am not even sure you an call them orbs because they are tiny in comparison to the ones in the pictures. A sparkling of metalic blue or yellow or pink. I never really questioned whether or not they were spirit. I just thought...how pretty and that was that.

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   kathyinmnposted 12 years ago

   the spirit had answered my question when I stated "I wonder if some orbs can be a spirit"

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   cryptidposted 12 years ago

   Sure they could be a spirits, but there are also a whole bunch of other things they could be, such as dust or water vapor as you said.  Orbs could even be energy in the air completely unrelated to supernatural activity.  I think there are too many possibilities to consider them proof of anything, except in really, really obvious cases.

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   Alastar Packerposted 12 years ago

   Once some Civil War reenactors were camping in a CW fort. One fellow started taking pics of all the guys doing different activities. Wasn't long before he called several of them over to have a look at something. Turns out there were dozens of orbs floating around one reenactor in particular. They're all intrigued of course. He then tells them to go back to what there were doing as he takes more photos of them all moving around. Lo and behold the orbs still showed up around that one reenactor and nobody else. Just so happened the fellows' campsite was right beside an old CW soldiers cemetary. Any naysayers want to explain that go ahead--and please don't say it was a hoax because it wasn't.

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      twosheds1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You again! That sounds pretty weird and I don't have an explanation for it (unless that re-enactor's uniform needed to go to the cleaners), but what makes it supernatural?

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         Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You don't have an explanation for it. Who said it was supernatural? Not me. You have supernaturalitis on the brain-- in my opinion that is.

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            twosheds1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Pretty much everyone posting here besides you and I seem to think they are supernatural in origin.

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   Nouveau Skepticposted 12 years ago

   I think that round orbs caught only on photographs and not seen in person are only backscatter artifacts.  And if the orbs are only around one person i would need to see the photos to explain it.  Where they standing in the same place for all the pictures?

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      Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Nice try Skeptic but that doesn't explain the orbs around one individual moving around different places on two different photo occasions. Not saying they're spirits but the orbs were definitely not backscatter in this particular case.

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         Nouveau Skepticposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         It wasn't a "try" it was just an example of how this can happen--I would have to see the evidence to really try to explain it.  Being located around a person does not make something 'definitely not backscatter'.  back scatter is about light, atmosphere and reflection.  It could correlate with a person in multiple locations. And in the absence of the pictures this correlations is not even clearly demonstrated.

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            Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            "Nice try", in this case connated "in a fun way." Didn't mean you were really trying. My bad. Backscatter and other mundane explanations are the answer in some of these cases- but not this one. You need the actual pics and I need you to tell me in some detail how it could correlate here.

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               Nouveau Skepticposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               If you have them I would love to see them.  Orbs are one of the subjects I hub about. Currently they are way done the skeptical end of my scale, above ectoplasm and spirit photography but below auras and poltergeists.

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                  Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  If they were in my possession would be happy to download them for you. Interesting hierarchy of skepticism you have there Skeptic. What opinions, if any, do you have on the arch naysayers Joe Nichols and the Amazing Randi?

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         wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         As far as I know, cameras are designed and built to react to only light, and light in the same spectrum of wavelengths our own eyes do (excluding specialty IR and UV cameras as well as a few others). 
         
         Is there some wavelength of electromagnetic radiation or other energy that a silver emulsion AND the receptors in a digital camera can "see" but the receptors in our eyes can't?

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            twosheds1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Actually, at least some normal cameras can pick up IR. My old 8mm camcorder had a remote with it, and the IR light from it was visible through the camera, though not to the naked eye. It would show up as a flash of light from the remote. Haven't tried it with my digital camcorder yet.
            
            That doesn't prove anything, of course.

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      Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No Skeptic they weren't. All were moving around and not in the same area or doing the same activities. Whatever the orbs consisted of they were attracted to this one reenactor. And this is an extremely intriguing but nevertheless minor incident compared to many I know about that have happened on CW battlefields and forts. One recently from a Gettysburg reenactment had confirmation from two different independent sources, including the film company, that the pics were not photo shopped. Probably need to save the details for another thread as this one concerns orbs, but will say it has amazed quite a number of people who've seen them.

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7. 60

   MelissaBarrettposted 12 years ago

   I don't believe in the whole "ghost" thing although I do believe places can carry bad or good... well vibes I guess is the most fitting word.
   
   That being said our apartment is so notorious for being haunted around here( a small indie film was even made about it and the stuff that went on here)that no one would move in. Thus... (no joke) we got a 3000 square foot 4 bedroom apartment in downtown for 425 dollars a month. 15 foot ceilings... hardwood floors... the works.  I love the superstitious...
   
   I have never taken a photo here that didn't have at least one orb in it.  I always thought that was funny.

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   Terri Meredithposted 12 years ago

   Many people believe many things and most of the time, it's not easy to persuade them of anything else.  I've gotten thousands of pics with orbs in them, as well as mist, and even the occasional full body apparition.  I don't try to explain them to anyone.  They just ARE.  But there is one thing I often do when someone wants to come along with me to take pics somewhere.  Regardless of whether there's one orb, many orbs, or nothing, after taking several pictures, I'll speak out and encourage "them" to at least say hello to the visitor I've brought along with me.  And guess what?  Almost every time, the picture will have so many orbs, it's almost like it's snowing.  Another picture snapped right after will usually be almost completely devoid of them.  My answer is that orbs can be some presentation of the energy from those who have moved beyond this world, though not necessarily every time.

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   kathyinmnposted 12 years ago

   There are times of the day when you will get a lot of orbs in your photo. Dusk is one of those times. Those orbs would be dew forming.
   
   I have seen orbs with my own eyes. And those are not dust, water vapor or bugs.
   
   so how do you explain those?

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      Terri Meredithposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I agree...how do we explain it?  I also have had the privilege of seeing with my own eyes.  I guess it's easier for some people to blow off the implications, otherwise they would need to change their belief systems altogether.

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         kathyinmnposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         well said Terri!

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10. 0

    mariexotoniposted 12 years ago

    this is a good article about orbs.
    
    http://ssprstn.tripod.com/id65.html
    
    btw I think this is a much cooler explanation to orbs than orbs being spirits. and i don't think there is anything supernatural about orbs.

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11. 0

    Kathryn LJposted 12 years ago

    There can be no doubt that a lot of orbs in digital photographs are just dust.  There are however, some that take a bit more explaining.  This doesn't mean that they are spirits though.  They may be some other kind of natural phenomenon.  What  I find interesting are the orbs that can be seen with the naked eye.  Not fire fly or other insect activity but iridescent pin lights which appear to follow people and interact with them.  I have no specific belief which would call them some kind of spirit but they do exist and have been documented for hundreds of years so they must be something.  Perhaps some kind of malfunction in the brain, but then why do groups of people see them together?
    
    I saw one in my own courtyard last year.  It kept moving towards me at great speed and then darting away.  At first, I thought it was an insect so put out my hand, palm upwards.  It flew straight to it and hovered about an inch above my hand and rotated slowly.  I was shocked to see that it was a blue orb with a bright, white core.  There was no insect inside the light.  It was just light.  I thought to myself, "I must be imagining it"  The light hovered there, slowly rotating, whilst I tried to figure out what it was.  Eventually' I just said out loud, "I haven't got a clue what you are, but your very beautiful," and with that, it shot up into the sky and disappeared.  I must say at this point, I hadn't been indulging substances legal or illegal which could account for this experience, and was not suffering from any kind of mental illness.  I told my husband about it and he just dismissed it as an insect but I know it wasn't that.  Months later, I was thumbing through a friends book collection and came across the illustrations of Brian Froud.  There, in the middle of this book was a colour plate of 'My orb', exact in every detail.  The book was Frouds' interpretations of fairies, which he seems to sincerely believe in.  Weird huh?

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       Barbara Kayposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       The orb I saw in my backyard was the size of a tennis ball. I'm still wondering what it was. It was a couple of years ago and I've never seen it since. I saw it with my naked eyes.
       
       I watched a program and the ones seen with the naked eye are usually seen in the Midwest. Don't say we are crazier than most either.

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          kathyinmnposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I live in the midwest too and I have seen several with my own eyes,

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    Druid Dudeposted 12 years ago

    Orbs are evidence of other life forms which have always shared this world. Called by some by the names leprechauns and fairies, they have always been with us. Have a nice day!

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       pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Nice pictures your statement evokes in my mind. You could be right....

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       twosheds1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

       What evidence do you have of this?

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    JaxsonRaineposted 12 years ago

    I dunno, I've taken tens of thousands of photographs in my life and never had anything weird other than double exposures.
    
    The only weird thing I've ever seen was a small family of albino deer, a doe and two fawn. They ran across the road in front of my car one night, it was kinda creepy.

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    Barbara Kayposted 12 years ago

    I saw an orb one night when I was on my deck late. Even though I saw it and it traveled around my back yard, I still hesitate to say what it was. I just don't know and would like to understand them better myself.

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    Shawn May Scottposted 12 years ago

    Understanably there are always skeptics about topics like this and yes there are other explinations for lights and images in our pictures that we take and recordings that we make. I have heard it all from dust to bird droppings and I have been laughed at in these forums a number of times. But I stand by what I know in my life. Yes orbs exsist and yes they are spirits. I personnally have had orbs in photos of myself and of my children. In one particular wedding photo my husband and I are about to kiss and a streak of coloured orbs is touching the tops of our heads. We both believe that is is the energy of my father who had passed away a year earlier. When my eldest daughter was three we lived in a very small house with a pretty back yard with a stand of trees in the middle. My daughter was playing with some sparklers on July 1st to celebrate Canada Day. I thought it would be fun to take some pictures of her to see what the spaklers would look like. Too my suprise and my husband's our daughter was surrounded by not just orbs but a mist that was swirling up from the ground. There was at least tweleve to fifteen orbs in the photo and the mist came from all around, beside, infront and behind her. I quickly started taking as many pictures as I could and several other pictures showed orbs as well.
    
    
    Now I have a second daughter and she attracts orbs as well. She is the one that the ghost in my house plays with the most. Also in photos sometimes it appears as if she knows the ghost is beside her or near her as she seems to be looking at it.
    
    I know to the skeptics that this all sounds like hooey and you probably think I am nuts (please do not call me that or anything else)but I have been privey to the spirit world my whole life and sometimes unless you are there from your very beginings it is impossible to believe that it truly exsist.
    
    Blessed Be.

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       Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       That seems to be one constant with some orbs Shawn May-- appearing attracted to one particular individual in a group of people. That's where I would concentrate my inquires--is the attraction physical or otherwise or both?

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          Shawn May Scottposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Hello Alastar,
          
          Good question. As a heavily bias parent { } my dauthers are beautiful and both very sweet natured. They are both open minded individuals and believe in the spirit world as I do. Obviously that is where they get it from. So is it one or the other??? I do not know but what I do know is they both attarct this type of attention. So far is has all be benevolent and very innocent. But I would say that yes certain people attarct this type of attention because of their nature, and what I mean by that is the energy the individual produces. I am trying to say somewhere in the use of the sixth sense the vibrations must be right to allow contact with the spirit world.

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             Kathryn LJposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             I'm not sure what they are but your right, they are attracted to certain people and not others.  I collect static electricity, that is to say if a storm is coming, my hair starts to stand on end.  I also get zapped by static if I walk on nylon carpets and when I get out of cars and touch the metal exterior.  So does my daughter.  We've both seen orbs.  Perhaps there is some kind of connection?

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    klarawieckposted 12 years ago

    Spirits will use natural resources - vapor, water, smoke, light, shade - to make themselves known. We are not always able to interpret these messages or discern those that are provoked by Spirit, but we should always keep in mind that a natural cause doesn't delete the spiritual counterpart.

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       kathyinmnposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       that is a very interesting statement, food for thought

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    ciya roaposted 12 years ago

    yes it can happen...
    ghosts are also having their own world!

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       pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Why not. The universe is a vast infiniteness we do not yet understand.

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          kathyinmnposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          your right penny,
          To quote Shakespear,
          There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
          Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

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             pennyofheavenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Shakespeare was wise.

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