Waverly Hills Sanatorium -  http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/kentucky/creepy-houses-ky/

I would like to talk about orbs and what my views are on this subject. Over the years during most of my investigations I have had orbs appear in my photos and video. Does this mean that every place that I have investigated was haunted? No, not for the most part. Does an orb in a photo constitute a ghost or spirit? No, a true orb is just a form of energy that is captured on a media (like film or digital) and may or may not be part of the haunting. The first orb that I captured was on a 35mm camera when I was first starting out doing investigations. We did not have digital cameras or digital camcorders all the media we used was tape Most of the orb pictures were caused by the flash and a reflective surface, some were not.

When I was first starting out learning the ins and outs of investigations and how to use the equipment, I found that it was easy to get orb pictures. That is to say that I thought that I was getting good evidence with my pictures when I was not. You see, dust, pollen and insects sometimes appear as orbs in pictures. This is because they are reflecting the flash and that is all you are seeing on the picture, the reflection of the flash not what it was reflected off of.

Even when I had orbs in my pictures that seemed to be real orbs I did not automatically jump to any conclusions that a place was haunted, even when I was first starting out. This is because I wanted more evidence to prove to myself and if needed to others that a haunting was occurring. This is some of my police background coming out, evidence is the key but your use and interpretation of it is the door. The more evidence you have the better chance you have to opening the right door to the truth. Now with digital cameras that you can load your pictures on to your computer and really take a very close look at them, you can see that some orbs are not paranormal or supernatural at all.

When you look at picture “I” the tree pollen, you can see orb’s everywhere. This is clearly dust and pollen in the air that was captured on film. Also in this picture some of the orbs are the stars in the sky.

Picture II is a digital picture of Maple pollen. This picture is from one of the universities digital library on pollen that I look at for matches. In this picture the pollen is illuminated from the rear so that you can see the detail and characteristics of the pollen.

As you can see in “Picture III” (taken by Donna Overall a very gifted graphic design artist) there are several orbs that appear in the picture.

The orb that is close to the fence is the moon and was the reason for taking the picture. The most prominent orb is in front of the pine tree and has the look of pollen or maybe dust. I believe it has the look of dust or pollen because of the similar patterns that are occurring in the orb. You can see a similar pattern in the picture of Maple pollen (Picture II).  I know that it is not a perfect match, but the similarity is there none the less.

Let’s look at the same picture after it has been solarized. See the picture below and that the moon is totally black with just a ring of light and the orb in the picture is spotted or textured. The moon is not reflecting the light of the flash so it is solid black. The orb is not a star or a light in the tree because it would be solid like the moon. You can see the pattern on the orb a little clearer now and you can tell that it is definitely between the camera and the tree. You can see that it is a reflective object that is not interacting with the tree or a part of the tree. So what are all the things that I am looking at in this picture to make my analysis if it is supernatural or natural? The way the light reacts with the object and the look of the object also. Part of the way you look at orb pictures is what could it be naturally or is at a reflection, so you have to look at many picture to get the hang of discern what is what.

Pictures like the next one that can help you to see how dust looks. See the orb in top left, the pattern is the similar as in picture III.  Because of the quality of the picture and the amount of orbs solarizing this picture doesn’t help to determine if it is natural or supernatural. Looking at the consistency and the fact that the person that took the picture said that it was dust helps to know that it is natural not supernatural. I like to say that anything caught in a picture is an anomaly or an orb. An orb is round and an anomaly is anything else, both an orb and an anomaly is a working term until I discern if it is supernatural or natural. I may not always be right but with my experience and not jumping on the everything is supernatural bandwagon I have been able to have a discerning eye.

Below is a picture of an orb that I captured on my digital camera while practicing with the camera. Right next to it is the same picture that has been solarized; you can see that the reflective part of the orb is near the edge

If it was the other way around it could be a small insect. So is this supernatural or natural? I feel that it is supernatural but it is not related to a haunting. Just because an orb appeared in this picture I did not have any other evidence of a haunting. This orb could be a nature spirit like a fairy or a sprite or any of the other supernatural beings that inhabit the world around us. Some would say that all of the supernatural orbs that appear on a picture are ghosts. But there are other energy beings that could be captured on many types of media. Some orb’s can be seen without a flash, they produce their own light. With flashes and night vision cameras it is hard to see if it was illuminated by the flash or by itself. I have heard stories about people that have seen orbs in person without a camera. The orbs that have been seen included ball lightning and static electric discharges on the natural side and ghost, will-o’-the-wisp, fairies and evil entities. In most of the stories the people know or have an idea of what they are seeing or after the event have figured out what they saw. They do this by many different means that include research on the event and the area that the event occurred. Some have an interaction with the orb that gives them insight into what it is, like the feelings they have when they see the orb. Some of the orbs that are seen with the naked eye are called ghost lights or have even been deemed alien. So as a paranormal investigator an orb is an orb and it can be supernatural, natural or alien. It is not just a picture or a video of an orb that makes good evidence of a paranormal event or if there is a haunting. You need to get as much evidence that you can including historic and eyewitnesses, EVPs, video, pictures and EMF readings and any other anomalistic readings you get. Orbs can be a good part of the evidence that you have from an investigation if you do not jump to conclusions of what the orb is. The only thing that you should look to do is to see if it is natural or supernatural. So orbs, orbs are everywhere and they are not all paranormal.