Orbs are believed or thought to be balls of small
floating bubbles of light energy. Many believe
they are deceased ghostly life forms, and are
believed to be the actual photographic proof of
the human soul or life force. Many Ghost Hunters/
Chasers or paranormal investigators encounter
them during haunted investigations frequently.
Ghostly orbs can
appear to be be completely transparent, or display
themselves in a bright solid hard light forms. It
is not hard to capture them on film in their circular
form. It is theorized in many forums that ghosts
prefer the form of an Orb (ball or bubble of light)
because it takes less physical or mental energy,
thus being the mode of choice among the dead.
Others say they believe actual ghost feels or
thinks they are in solid human form or shape,
and it is that on this dimension (ours) that we
receive them as an orb. The general open consensus
is that small orbs take up the least amount of
energy and apparitions and other fuller shapes
take up the most.
Some paranormal investigators follow the idea
that in the Northern climates or colder parts
of the year, that ghosts tend to find it easier
to take on shapes other than orbs. That's when
there is the most static electrical charge is
in the atmosphere. Those months being September
through March.
Ghost orbs might simply be Nature spirits or
airborne protoplasm as you would find under a
microscope, except far more advanced. Other types
of ghostly phenomenon are the vortex (funnel shaped
appearance) and Ectoplasm (it has a mist or smoky,
foggy like appearance) also called Ecto Mist,
or Ecto Orb Mist.
No one has the true answer to this Orb question
as of yet. One of the leading theories concerning
what orbs are and the one that many believe the
most is that they are not the spirit at all. The
orb is the energy being transferred from a source
(i.e. electricity, heat rising from an object,
decaying energy, etc) to the spirit or ghost so
they can manifest. Others maintain it is a natural
occurrence of the Earth, (Earth Lights).
This may not even be a conscious act the ghost
is doing, just a natural way ghost get their energy
or feed. This would explain why the orbs are round
balls. According to the laws of Physics energy
being transferring like that would assume is natural
shape of a sphere. This theory can also be tied
into the EMF readings that occur during actual
haunted paranormal activity or manifestations.
"Earth lights" may be related to ball
lightning and earthquake lights but do not require
electrical storm or earthquake conditions in order
to appear. They usually haunt localized regions
and are terrain-related. In some places many have
been seen for generations. These places have so
far been found to contain recurring geological
characteristics such as significant faulting,
seismic history, mineral deposits or bodies of
water. This apparent geological connection is
further highlighted by old mining texts which
tell of the use of light balls emerging from the
ground in prospecting for mineral seams, especially
copper veins. This method of prospecting was used
in England until early this century.
Prime amongst current
theories accounting for the lights is the Tectonic
Stress Theory which posits that a strain field is
produced during tectonic flexing of the Earth's
crust in suitable zones, not necessarily leading
to earthquake or tremor, and that this generalized
field can move through an area, causing electrical
and geomagnetic changes and focusing in certain
topographical and geological configurations, producing
light phenomena.
Ethnology reveals that earth lights have been seen
and absorbed into their magical world view by many
ancient cultures and are/were usually interpreted
as various kinds of spirits or shamans flying at
night. Light phenomena have been associated with
many "holy" mountains and hills world-wide,
and temples have even been built dedicated to the
lights in India, China and the Alps. It may be that
prehistoric standing stones in western Europe were
likewise raised in honor of places haunted by light
phenomena.
There have been many interpretations of the lights
in Western society over the centuries. The longest-lived
was that they were the fiery breath of dragons:
the matter was the subject of scholarly debate during
the Middle Ages. In Denmark and Germany, particularly
strange lights were known as "treasure lights",
hovering over buried treasure. In recent times they
have been seen as enemy airships, and in World War
Two, "foo fighters". Now they have been
caught up in the UFO interpretation, though in some
areas they are sometimes seen as ghosts or "spook
lights".
Typically the lights
appear as "basketball-sized" globes,
but smaller and larger ones have also been reliably
reported. Also, the lights can take on many shapes
and can hover, fly rapidly, perform acrobatic
maneuvers, merge together, etc. The lights have
been photographed, by individual witnesses and
by research teams. The nature of the light energy
is not known, but it seems to have electromagnetic
aspects.
There are, however, more exotic
reported characteristics of these phenomena: their
ability to assume coherent shapes, as well as
to shape-shift, is not understood (as is indeed
the case with ball lightning): the lights can
sometimes be seen from one direction, but not
from another; they can sometimes exhibit rapidly
alternating signs of having mass and being weightless;
they can sometimes burn vegetation and witnesses
yet at other times have no effect. They may represent
some kind of "macro-quantum" effect
occurring in nature.
Ball lighting is still baffling, scientists admit
in a new report. They think the wisdom of more
than 10 fields of science will be needed to explain
the bizarre effect.
Glowing spheres of ball lightning float above
the ground for up to a minute, usually when thunderstorms
are nearby. Eyewitness reports have often been
dismissed as fantasy, but with around 10,000 sightings
over the past few decades, scientists are now
convinced that it really exists.
A new report from the UK's Royal Society gathers
many previously unpublished sightings of ball
lightning. One describes how a luminous ball left
a hole the size of a basketball in a screen door
as it entered a house in Oregon, then navigated
down to the basement and wrecked an old mangle.
In another, an 80-centimetre glowing blob bounced
on a Russian teacher's head more than 20 times
before vanishing.
But explaining the reports
is extremely tricky. Ball lightning can shine
as brightly as a 100-watt light bulb, but has
no obvious power supply. It does not radiate
heat, yet it can melt
glass when it floats into windows.
A leading theory suggests that ball lightning
forms when a lightning strike vaporizes silica
in soil. The silicon vapor condenses into a fine
dust that is bound together by electrical charges
into a floating ball, which would oxidize and
glow (New Scientist magazine, 8 April 2000).
"I am confident at this stage that the answer
lies in the general direction of chemical reactions
with very finely distributed particles,"
says John Abrahamson, a chemical engineer at the
University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New
Zealand.
Another possibility
is that air ionized by lightning could bind with
water to create a hot ball of plasma with a cool
water-and-ion coat.
But the new report
says that none of the current theories tells the
whole story. Ball lightning is probably the product
of a family of different processes. Lab simulations
of these processes can make mini ball lightning,
but it is far smaller than natural versions and
does not live nearly as long
Orbs can be produced,
and can appear quite readily on film by the elements
and normal atmospheric conditions. Most orb photographs
are merely the result of dust or even weather conditions
such as rain and humidity. Moisture, dust and airborne
particles up close to the lens at the time of the
flash can and will effect the results of your pictures.
Always make a note of the conditions around you
when doing your investigation of ghost photography.
But we all should be open to suggestions since dust
and water don't explain all our haunted orb photos
and paranormal observations. Or do they?
