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Menage au Talk
Jeff Belanger, Part Two
Melanie: What's your take on orbs?
Jeff: Orbs are simply too inconclusive to be
considered a real supernatural phenomenon. Orbs are rampant among
amateur photographers because most are using point-and-shoot cameras -
especially digital point-and-shoot cameras.
Tamara: Honestly, I think that people, if money is not part of
the equation, will often tend to use what will give them the results
they desire on the subconscious level, don't you?
 Jeff:
As camera technology improves, and the physical size and weight of the
camera decreases for convenience, camera manufacturers are forced to
move the flash element closer to the lens element on the camera. This is
a problem because with the flash firing so close to the lens, any dust
or moisture in the immediate vicinity of the lens is going to be lit up
like a... well, like an orb. But that only accounts for a portion of
orbs.
Melanie: In other words, the orbs have been there the whole time
and we are just now starting to really notice them. I wonder what will
be appearing in our viewfinders 10, 15, 20 years from now if
photographic technology continues to progress at this rate? I also
wonder if the same explanation accounts for ghostly mists/ectoplasm
caught on film?
Tamara: My primary digital camera is good-sized and capable of
taking shots in near-darkness without a flash. I almost never get orbs
under those circumstances. With a flash, I occasionally get one, but
it's rare unless I'm in dust or rain or similar conditions. My
light-weight, less powerful digital can pick up an orb anytime,
anywhere. My film camera rarely picks up orbs, though that may be
because I rarely remember to get the film developed. Out of maybe 600
photos containing orbs, I have about half a dozen I think might be
something special.
I've picked up maybe 20 mists in photos, but only one of them is truly
anomalous -- as far as I can tell. The rest are too close to the lens to
be anything but vapor, as Jeff points out.
As camera technology improves, we'll probably see fewer explainable
anomalies, which some people will find annoying and others appreciate,
since it cuts down on false positives. One other thought -- do you ever
notice all the orbs in films or TV shows? They're lousy with them.
Jeff: The vast majority of orbs are caused by lens flare. You
have to remember that the flash travels at the speed of light - or
186,000 miles per second. Considering your average point-and-shoot
camera has a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second - the light from the
flash has the opportunity to travel 1,488 miles during the time your
shutter is open.
Next, we need to understand that cameras have 4 to 9 optical elements or
lenses in them to correct image quality.
Stay with me here... If you're in a 20-foot by 20-foot room and the
light from your flash has traveled roughly 1,488 miles within that room
and bounced off of every reflective, shiny, or moist surface, then the
light gets bounced, reflected, and refracted over 4 to 9 separate lenses
- the likelihood of lens flare in any part of the image seems obvious.
Lens flare accounts for the vast majority of orbs. However, the reason I
don't discount them 100% is because I know of witnesses who have seen
orbs of light energy moving with their naked eye. And I've seen some
video footage that shows unexplained balls of light moving around in a
seemingly deliberate pattern. Corpse light - or a glowing flash of light
over a gravesite - is another phenomenon that goes back centuries and
could also support cemetery orbs.
Tamara: Aren't corpse-lights likely to be methane-related?
(Anyone who thought they'd get out of here without one fart joke is
sadly mistaken. . .)
Jeff: So if the human eye and a video camera can see these types
of things, I imagine a still camera could also capture them.
Melanie: I have seen orbs with the naked eye myself once or
twice, not long enough to run and grab the camera but just long enough
for me to think to myself, "Wow, there goes an orb!" To me, they
appeared in exactly the same form as the ones caught on videotape with
the same type of movement. Corpse lights and mysterious lights like the
Brown Mountain lights in North Carolina have been reported for hundreds
of years, as you said, and there is obviously something to those
reports, be it ghostly spirits or the old favorite "swamp gas."
Tamara: I've seen them too, recently, at Calico Ghost Town. I
really tried to convince myself they were the same thing as you see when
your eyes are adjusting to tricks of lighting. And I did see a few of
those, after glancing at lantern light. But the three “real” orbs I saw
were nowhere near any outside light source and they were completely
different. As Melanie said, they looked like they do in photographs. One
inside a building traveled forward quickly toward the window, then
winked out. Then another (or the same one, more likely) winked in and
out several times at odd intervals in the same window of this small
locked and empty building. (We could see the entire interior of the
building – no living thing was in there.) The third orb was large, maybe
bigger than a basketball and outdoors. It floated down from a height of
about 15 feet (that's where I first saw it) to the ground. Then did even
more interesting things. (A story for another day.)
Melanie: I have also seen photos with orbs that were the result
of interaction between a person and the unseen entity. In one photo, a
woman felt a cat brush against her feet underneath her computer desk
several nights in a row. The woman's cat had recently died. The next
time it happened she grabbed her camera and snapped a photo underneath
the desk. The photo shows a small orb hovering next to her feet. Another
photo shows a recliner with an orb floating directly in front of the
headrest. The person who had taken the photo had asked her deceased
father to "pose" for a photo in his favorite chair.
That sort of orb evidence accompanied with evidence of interaction with
some sort of unseen intelligence really makes a point in favor of some
orbs being true orbs.
Tamara: It truly may. At the very least, it points to the idea
that orbs may be lingering energy masses. Some years ago, when a pet cat
died, I saw something white and opaque flutter out of him -- it was more
Kleenex-shaped than orbish, but I think maybe that had to do with the
immediacy of the event. I've also heard a report from someone I trust
about seeing a huge orb lingering after hours among the museums in
Florence, Italy. It makes sense that this may be a form of orb that's
simply leftover energy from emotionally-awed, living people. Sort of a
visual form of that really nifty, spooky vibration you sense when you're
in a normally active place, like an amusement park, after it's closed.
Jeff: I've learned through experience to generally keep my mouth
shut when it comes to orbs, because there is no right answer for the
person who took the picture. Over the years, I've had many people e-mail
me and show me orb pictures and have asked me what I thought of them. I
used to say, "It looks like lens flare, dust, or moisture to me." The
reply back was something like, "You insensitive jerk! Can't you see
that's my departed Uncle Larry visiting to tell me he still loves me?!"
Melanie: That's a good response to that sort of sensitive
question. Maybe it's the paranormal equal of "Do these jeans make my
butt look fat?"
Tamara: Sometimes a metaphor is too perfect for further comment.
Jeff: On the other side (pun intended), if someone shows me an
orb photo and I say, "Yeah, maybe you have something there," that person
may attach my name to the photo saying I certified it in some way.
Tamara: This can be a real problem. Even if you do think
something may be valid, a person in the field must be very careful about
what's said or you wind up endorsing things like "Oxyplasm -- The
Product that Really Gets those Pesky Ecto Stains Out!"
Jeff: If someone wants to believe an orb is their Uncle Larry,
then I think that's fine. I wouldn't tell someone their religion is
wrong, and I won't tell a believer that it's just dust or lens flare. If
the image gives them some degree of comfort that it's their "sign" from
a loved one, then I say let them have it.
Melanie: I have noticed in the past couple of years that a lot of
paranormal investigators and websites have done a complete turn-around
on the subject of orbs. Some won't even consider orbs as evidence of
ghostly activity because true orbs can be so easily confused with dust
particles. There is one paranormal site that I frequent that has a
banner showing a photo of an orb with a red X through it along with the
words, "This is your camera. This is your camera with dust. Any
questions?" so the attitude towards orbs has really shifted.
Tamara: Ah, my favorite subject (well second only to abuse of the
word "skeptic"). Fanatics. Jeff, you're so right. Individual
interpretation is always valid -- for the individual, if not for
everyone. But people who have to have an all-or-nothing-at-all credo
like the “No Orbs!” one make me nervous. The black and white thinking is
fanatical and I don't care for it -- it doesn't matter if it's something
I basically agree with or not. Fanaticism is a dogma all by itself.
There's a fear factor in it, too, a need for the person to have everyone
think as they do. Evangelism, anyone? Certainly, there are a few
absolute certainties in our world -- a very few. Everything else,
especially for someone who investigates the paranormal, should probably
be shades of gray. Even science can only rarely make an absolute
statement, but it's rare and frequently, it ends up being questioned
down the road. This is why the Amazing Randi can safely make that
million dollar award claim year after year.
Part One of Menage au Talk,
with Jeff Belanger
Part Three of Menage
au Talk, with Jeff Belanger
Part Four of Menage au Talk, with
Jeff Belanger
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