NORTHLAND FARMHOUSE - UNUSUAL PHOTOS

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The photographs below were taken at the Northland Farmhouse on 12-2-2005, and show photo anomalies commonly refered to as "orbs." Click on any of the photos to see a larger version of the photo. First, let's look at two photos taken in the living room. They were both taken with a 27-exposure, 400-speed, Polaroid disposable camera. The negatives were developed at Wal-Mart, and rather than prints...I opted to have all the photos put onto a disk. The orbs shown in these pictures are circular areas that are of a lighter color than the surrounding picture. Take a good look at these two, and continue reading below. There are two completely reasonable and natural explanations for these "orbs." The first photo appears to fit in to the first of these two natural explanations. Dust particles (or moisture, or pollen, etc.) floating in the air very close to the camera are lit up by the camera's flash. The light of the flash hits the dust particles, which are completely out-of-focus due to their close proximity to the camera. This results in a translucent whitish spot on the image of the camera. It appears to be "in the picture" when in fact the dust, moisture, or pollen causing the "orb" is within inches of the camera's lens. Click Here to see an excellent illustration of this natural cause of "orbs." Another equally natural explanation for the lighter colored dots, is refracted light. The second photo above appears to fit into this category of natural orbs. When the flash goes out and hits a reflective surface, it reflects back to the lens and causes a refraction of light within the lens. If you take a close look at the lightbulb in the second picture, you'll see a tiny dot of reflected light on the lightbulb, and an "orb" on the photo above it and to the left. This next photo was taken in the NW bedroom of the house using the same Polaroid disposable camera..... This orb appears to be caused by dust. Video tape shot in this room also showed "glowing" dust orbs flying around, lit by the IR beam of the camera while filming on the Night Shot setting. The farmhouse had been scheduled for demolition, and the interior was filthy and covered in trash. You could not take a single step without kicking up some dust. These next two photos were taken in the SW bedroom using the same Polaroid disposable camera..... Take a close look at the reflection of the flash on Mike Cross' sunglasses... ...there are two reflections of light on the two lens of his sunglasses. Then two "orbs" appear in the picture, in almost a straight line from his glasses. These orbs appear to be caused by refractions of light on the lens. This second photo from the SW bedroom appears to be caused by dust. Our final photo showing an orb, was taken on the stairs to the basement with a Fuji Film A340 digital camera (4.0 megapixels).... For me, this is the best of the all the orb photos we captured. There is a "cloudy" nature to the orb that makes it a little more interesting than the rest of them. But in the end, you have this bright flash reflection off the basement ceiling and wall...and on top of that, the photo is taken in a dusty environment. Either of our two natural explanations can explain away this "orb" photo. The really amazing thing about orb photos, is what seems to be a general belief among a fair number of paranormal investigators that these orbs represent either paranormal energy, spirit energy, or ghosts. If you do a web-search for "orbs" or "orb photography," you'll find hundreds of paranormal websites with pictures exactly like those shown here, except those websites will present them as spirits or ghosts caught on film. If only it were that easy to take a picture of a ghost! -Mark Stinson

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