Orbs, and why you should ignore them

As much as I hate to, I suppose I should talk about orbs. I’d say that orbs are the most common pieces of evidence that I see posted all over the internet. No matter what discussion forum, Facebook page, or Twitter account I visit, one of the first things I see is a picture of dust with captions like “I caught these in my living room. I also often feel like I am being watched. I think there is a ghost in my house and I don’t know what to do.” So, let’s start by debunking all those orb pictures.

It’s. Just. Dust.

Ok, it isn’t ALWAYS dust. Sometimes it’s a bug, or if you're lucky, even lens flare. This is a very common phenomenon in photography known as backscatter. Backscatter is caused by the light from the camera's flash reflecting off of unfocused dust particles, water droplets, and bugs, and results in circular bright spots in the image, which are often misinterpreted as being orbs.

Below are images of confirmed backscatter:

So why does everyone jump to the conclusion that what they have caught on camera is a real orb, and is DEFINITELY not dust? Some common arguments I have heard are things like;

• It moved differently.

• It is suspiciously bright.

• They can “sense” something else in the house.

• The house has “history” (Note: Just because It’s old doesn’t mean It’s haunted)

• They often feel cold spots

If you truly believe that something paranormal is happening in your home, then there are several easy ways to collect tangible evidence, such as EVPs or by recording EMF spikes. Orbs are not answer. Most people feel that these claims are more than proof that they have captured evidence of a haunting, when in fact nothing paranormal is happening at all. Never underestimate the power of backscatter and lens flare. It is very easy to allow yourself to find evidence where there isn’t any, and therefore it is very important not to jump to conclusions.

You see, here is the most important thing to understand about orbs, and this may come as a shock to some of you… they aren’t evidence of paranormal activity. Orbs are not spirits or signs of paranormal anomalies, they are just balls of random energy, and thus should be generally disregarded. Genuine orb pictures are quite rare, and though they are interesting, they are not evidence of anything paranormal. So even if you DO manage to catch an authentic orb, it doesn't mean anything. It’s really just best not use orbs as evidence.

I really don't want to spend too long talking about this, mainly because there really isn’t anything left to talk about. Remember, 90% of paranormal claims can be disproven, and the answers are usually quite simple.