Posts Tagged ‘orbs’

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INCLUDED IN THIS ISSUE:

Investigator Spotlight
–Jackie Barrett Investigates Unsolved Murders … With a Twist

Special Reports
–Celebrities With Tales to Tell
–Orbs: Paranormal? Or Something Else?

Haunted Sites
–The Glowing Gravestone

Haunted History
–She Walks the Dark Hills

Cryptids & Mythological Creatures
–… Of Giants, Shorties, and Horny Dudes

Are We Alone?
–Do We Know the Truth About UFOs?

Personal Experiences
–Diary From a Haunted Hotel
–Dorm Hauntings

Fiction: Featured Author
–“Haunted New Year” by Michelle M. Pillow

Paranormal Fantasy Author Spotlight
–Yasmine Galenorn

Equipment Update
–High-Quality Audio on a Budget

Also
–TV Watch: Celebrity Ghost Stories
–Reviews of the Month: Washington’s Haunted Hotspots and Orphan
–Member Profile: Heidi (HeidiAnn67)
–Paranormal News
–Calendar of Events
–Ghost Hunter comic

by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground Magazine

“I don’t like orbs, but I think I’ve really got something here.” I’ve heard the words. I’ve uttered the words. Even the big guys fall into the orb trap – seeing some piece of evidence that seems significant and then having it dismissed because there are orbs present.

I get it. Dust in a flash shows up as an orb. Bugs do. Reflections do. Good lord – I bet on one of my PMS fat days, I’d show up as an orb in a photograph.

Because there are a ton of logical explanations for orbs, does that mean that there is no such thing as an orb that is evidence of the paranormal? I dunno. Sometimes I wonder.

Cheryl and I were interviewing Zak Bagans, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin from Ghost Adventures yesterday (watch for their interview and podcast in October!). At one point, orbs came up in the conversation – in particular balls of light that were filmed going into both Bagans’ and Groff’s heads prior to what each of them experienced as a “partial possession.”

In the interview, Bagans was quick to point out, “They weren’t bugs. They weren’t dust. We know what those things are, and that is not what those were.”

Another person I interviewed, artist Jody Bergsma, showed me picture after picture of her, surrounded by orbs. The picture taken immediately before with no Bergsma in the shot? No orbs. Put her in the picture and BAM – thousands of orbs all around her. It is an interesting (and repeatable) anomaly, to say the least.

My first orb photo EVER was taken at a haunted location. While I am relatively certain that it was the reflection of the flash off of a reflective surface in a darkened room, it was an interesting coincidence.

My very first orb photo ever - captured at Puyallup Washington's Meeker Mansion. Most likely a reflection of the flash.

My friend, Bill Robards, captured an orb on camera up at Wellington – taken in the daylight with no flash. It looks like a little 3-D pearl, with a tinier 3-D pearl hovering above it. Interestingly, the same big orb/little orb pairing was captured in a few other flashless photos.

Captured at Wellington - no flash used. Bug? Dust? Something else? Notice that if you look really closely, there is a smaller, almost identical orb above and to the left of the obvious one.

This photo - also taken without a flash shows the same interesting big orb/little orb pairing as the previous image.

It’s true. Orbs have become the red-headed step-child of the paranormal world. There’s a reason for this. There are just too many logical explanations for what could cause the orb. But what if….what if in some cases what they are is exactly what people believe them to be? Evidence of the paranormal. That what if makes it difficult to dismiss the appearance of orbs out of hand.

If you spend enough time chasing the paranormal, at some point you are going to come face-to-face with an orb. Most often, you will be able to dismiss it. But occasionally, you won’t, and you’ll find yourself joining in with the leagues of those before you who have said, “I don’t like orbs, but….”

What of that? What of Bergsma’s magnetic (orbnetic??) personality? What of the Ghost Adventures Crew’s experiences with these little balls of something? What of your own experiences?

I’m not saying that orbs are paranormal. I’m asking what if? I’ll tell you this. I don’t like orbs, but sometimes I wonder.

Since my first orb capture, I’ve gotten a few more. In closing I will leave you with the best orb photograph I personally have ever taken.

The best orb photograph I've ever taken.

Spooky, huh?

by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground

After reviewing a ton (but not all) of the audio evidence from Wellington, which can be found in the EVP gallery, I’ve realized something. A lot of things can sound like a whisper.

Whispers are the most common EVP evidence captured, just like orbs are extremely common in photographs. They are frustrating – because when you hear a whisper, it is pretty difficult to make it out. And so many things can sound like a whisper. The wind. An exhalation. Someone unconsciously whispering under their breath. A sniff. Accidentally running your finger along the microphone component of your digital voice recorder.

Go back and listen to all of the anomalies I posted. How many are whispers? And how easily could those be explained away as any of the above – or about a thousand other things? Even when the whisper is a recognizable “word” or phrase; even when the recognizable word or phrase fits neatly into the situation and conversation, you really have to wonder about whispers, don’t you?

I posted all of my whispers because I want people to listen and evaluate. I posted a lot of non-whispers, too. In my Wellington audio evidence, there are all sorts of sounds. Some of them are recognizable. Some of them are just sort of strange. A lot of them are whispery. Does that mean that I believe each of these to be true EVP? No. Not really.

It’s why EVPs are difficult to present as evidence of the paranormal. There’s always some kind of an explanation that one could come up with to explain it. Even more so with whispers, I think.

Still, just because there are all sorts of logical explanations, does it mean that whispers aren’t genuine electronic voice phenomenon? Not necessarily. But in evaluating audio evidence, one must keep in mind that whispers are difficult evidence to present. I don’t think that, if all you have are barely audible whispers, it could ever, under the best of circumstances, be considered conclusive evidence of haunting. Just like orbs can’t ever be considered conclusive evidence of hauntings.

What do you think? Is the whisper/orb analogy a good one?

There will always be critics and skeptics. I am certainly a highly skeptical person. I approach every piece of evidence that I come across with a skeptical mind. It’s why I can see all of the explanations for those whispers. Still, I think if I came across something on audio that I truly couldn’t explain, it would certainly lead me to wonder. I actually did, in my Wellington audio, come across one of the clips that I presented that has left me scratching my head and a few others that have raised my eyebrows. I won’t tell you which. I’ll let you listen and evaluate and come up with your own logical explanations. I hope that you’ll share your thoughts with me and let me know if any have left you really wondering just what it was that I captured on my recorder.