Do Orbs Count As Evidence?

There’s an ongoing debate within the paranormal community regarding orbs being valid visual evidence. So what does C.L.A.S.S.-A have to say about it?

The issue we have with orbs is the proximity in appearance and behaviour to other similar visual anomalies like dust, moisture, bugs, and tech/lens distortions. Nearly every “orb” we’ve encountered has been easily debunked as something mundane. It’s not to say that orbs don’t exist as manifestations of spirit, it’s just that we can’t speak to that since there’s very little compelling evidence.

It’s uncertain what a spirit orb would be made of, though hypothetically it could be a dense formation of photon light and bioelectric energy somehow becoming briefly visible. If that’s the case, we’d hope to corroborate the presence of the orb with some other reliable measurement (I.e. the EMF detector spiking, an EVP, or a temperature change).

Since we can’t confirm what a spirit orb is, we instead focus on what it isn’t. We know what microparticles and tiny bugs look like behind the screen and we use this expertise to practice a process of elimination. Almost always, we can confirm that it isn’t an “orb”. Here’s how we identify other factors.

Moisture

Moisture particles generally look like round bright (and sometimes colourful) speckles on night cam. Since they’re denser in mass, they reflect more light, creating a slight fairly opaque glow or sparkle on film. When there’s rain, dust, snow, or lots of humidity in the air, it’ll look like “backscatter” on film, which is an optical phenomenon that creates a flurry of ‘orbs’ on screen from the flash.

Rain looks especially spooky because of its comet-like appearance. It seems to zoom upwards (like a flying spirit) on the camera, but really its light is just leaving upwards from its lower point of mass (out of the easiest route) creating a trail of leaking light.

Flash in the dark will increase the prominence of these fuzzy sparkly dots dancing in front of the lens, but some stationary moisture specs may also be stuck to the lens itself and must be wiped.

Dust

Dust tends to have a more fibrous or grainy texture, sometimes also appearing fuzzy around the edges like moisture. It’s circular and usually in grey-scale, though some coloured fabrics can reflect colour tints. Ranging from semi-translucent to opaque, dust will float casually or zoom across the camera, depending on the air circulation.

It’ll be much more prominent as someone walks by the camera, kicking up dust from the flooring. If there’s a lot of ‘orbs’, it’s likely just stirred-up dust.

Bugs

You’d think bugs would look obvious, but because of things like shutter speed, exposure time, and aerodynamics they can often look like glowing opaque circles. They’re likely to move more quickly and erratically/intelligently than microparticles. They may have an odd shape that’s slightly asymmetrical, rather than circular (because of oval torsos and limbs or wings).

Bugs will give off some shine because of their dense mass. Their hard bodies will refract the light of the camera (like the moon) giving the illusion they’re glowing.

Sometimes we miss the wings flapping because the camera’s shutter speed matches it, giving the illusion it’s a static floating blob. We see this effect with the “suspended bird” viral conspiracy phenomenon.

Lens

Certain tech factors like lens flare, incorrect settings, or artifacts on the lens itself can create distortions on film. Having the camera facing a streetlight out of a window, for example, could cause a backscattering, starburst, or hazy effect. Having light obstructed by something in front of the camera view (like fingers or a person standing in front of said street light) can also create some weird effects from the reflection of the flash.

Things like fungus, moisture, or dirt can attach themselves to the lens creating optical illusions like spheres on film as well. Image sensors do seem to attract dust with their mild electric charge and moisture can get trapped between openings and caps. Many things can be done about this or to prevent this:

• Wipe the lens before set-up with the camera off
• Use blower on lens for dust
• Change lens in clean environment and with clean supplies
• Use dust cap when camera is not in use
• Have the lens ready quickly so the lens opening isn’t left exposed, trapping particles
• Cover unused lenses
• Don’t use flash in areas with high microparticle presence. Instead use an external slave flash unit far away from the lens, with a better quality camera like an SLR/DSLR (not cell phone or Point-and-Shoot).

Improper digital settings like long exposure, focus, or light discharge will create abnormalities on film too. The anatomy of the camera could play a part as well, since the closer the lens is to the flash, the more it refracts off the nearby particles.

Shutter speed and ISO have to be calibrated just so, because if they’re too fast or too slow they can create blurs and orbs. Canon released this statement regarding the functions of their cameras and the prevalence of orbs with them.

At the end of the day, 99.9% of found orbs can easily be explained and sorted into a variety of reasonable explanations such as these. When there’s a plausible mundane explanation, it can no longer be seriously considered as valid evidence. It’s not likely an orb is going to win the One Million Dollar Challenge of the James Randi Educational Foundation, that’s for sure. We remain open however. A few factors would make us excited in the presence of an orb:

• Following prompts and behaving intelligently
• Not fitting any of the above categories in appearance
• Emitting its own light (including shadows and reflections)
• Corroborating other evidence in a compelling way.

With that said, we haven’t struck gold yet. We’re always trying to be mindful of our environment and the functions of our equipment, so we’re using the appropriate tools in the right way, in relation to the situation. This can make all the difference.

Don’t forget, mind your fingers and clean your lenses, and happy hunting! Follow our adventures!