STRAWBERRY HILL MUSEUM - UNUSUAL PHOTOS

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The photographs below were taken at the Strawberry Hill Museum on 1-18-2006, and are included in this section of the investigation report due to their unusual nature. Please read our detailed analysis of each photo before assuming why the photo was included here. Check out the Apparent Mist section of this report for details and analysis on a particularly interesting photo we took at the museum. Click on any of the photographs below to see a larger version of the photo. Let's start with a photo taken in the stairway from the 2nd floor to the 1st floor. This photo was taken with a Kodak black & white disposable camera and developed directly to disk at Wal-Mart. The interesting feature of this photo is the light effect at the bottom of the stairway. Looking closely, its clear that these light effects are not paranormal in nature. They are caused by a reflection of the camera flash off of the tile on the walls of the stairway. When taking photographs on an investigation you have to be aware of reflective surfaces. In this photo we did not realize the reflective nature of the tile at the time the photo was taken. Luckily the reflective surface appears within the confines of the photo, making it very easy to determine the cause of the odd light effects at the bottom of the stairs. The more problematic photos occur when the reflective surface causing an odd light effect is not within the confines of the photo. Before we move onto the "orb" photographs, its important to discuss the three completely reasonable and natural explanations for this phenomenon. Dust particles (or moisture, or pollen, etc.) floating in the air very close to the camera can be 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." When using a video camera, the light or IR beam of the camera can cause this same effect...except the "orb" moves through the video shot. Another cause for photographic "orbs" is refracted light. 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. When the photo is taken, the film captures the dot of refracted light on the lens as if it is part of the scene being captured in the photo. Digital cameras, especially digital cameras below 5 megapixels, can "create" orbs in the photograph in low-light conditions. In low light conditions, the digital camera can cause errors when capturing the photo...and the errors appear as "orbs" in the photos. These digital orbs will often have an interesting pattern or texture to them. Dust orbs taken with a digital camera can also have an interesting pattern or texture to them. Keeping these natural causes in mind, let's move on to some photographs taken in the Recreation Room in the basement of the museum.... Around 5 years ago a group of psychics reported that there was the presence of several child spirits in the Recreation Room. This room of the museum is not open to the public and has not been changed since the orphanage closed in 1988. What does that mean? It means its a very dusty place. This picture with multiple "orbs" was taken with a 3.2 megapixel digital camera. This photograph was taken with the same digital camera. Notice the interesting patterns and shapes within these "orbs." This texture within the orbs is fairly common when using a digital camera, and should not be misinterpreted as having a paranormal cause. These three photographs bring up an interesting mystery. They are all taken in the basement Recreation Room, the first one with 800 speed color film in a Kodak disposible camera, and the other two with black & white film in a Kodak disposible camera... The photograph above shows an "orb" which is positioned above the chair next to me. We had placed an audio recorder on top of this chair near a trigger object (a toy) we had left in this room. In the photograph below, there is an orb in a similar position in relation to the chair and me... And the pattern continues in the photograph below, as an "orb" again appears in close proximity to the chair and me... This brings up an interesting concept in paranormal investigations. "Coincidence" (even a really amazing coincidence) does not constitute evidence of the paranormal. Yes, the "orbs" in these three photographs appear in the same basic position despite being taken from 3 different camera angles, at 3 different distances, with 2 different cameras. These photographic "orbs" appear at a time when we were asking any spirits present in the room to communicate with us and to appear to us. But, the fact that "orbs" almost always have a natural explanation...and the fact that these three photos were taken in one of the most dust-filled rooms of the museum...these facts bring us much closer to the truth than trusting in a coincidence for proof of the paranormal. This concept should be kept in mind at all times during paranormal investigations. If a dust orb is a dust orb, then it doesn't really matter if you are getting high EMF readings, cold spots, and unexplained knocking sounds at the time the photograph is taken. Dust is everywhere. Dust is in rooms with paranormal activity and dust is in rooms without paranormal activity. Regardless of what other factors are at work at the time the photograph is taken, a dust orb is a dust orb. Let's move on to some photographs taken in the Girl's Dormitory... This is the room where some objects were unexplainably moved during the 2005 Christmas Holidays. Both of these "orb" photographs were taken with 800 speed film in a Kodak disposible camera. This photograph is clearly a dust orb... I found the "orb" in this next photograph fairly interesting due to its oblong shape and how the apparent opacity of the orb varies from one end of it to the other. But ultimately, the only possible conclusion is that its a strangely shaped dust orb or lens refraction. Next, we move to the old kitchen of the original family residence... This is an excellent example of an "orb" photograph taken with a digital camera. The uniquely textured digital orbs sometimes almost look like microscopic lifeforms under a microscope. Specific technical aspects involved in the digital process tends to create these interesting photographic anamolies. The following three photographs were all taken with the same 3.2 megapixel digital camera as the one above. They were taken respectively in the Main Parlor on the 1st floor, the Pope's room in the Nuns' Hallway of the 2nd floor, and another display room of the Nuns' Hallway on the 2nd floor. These three photographs are all typical digital camera "orbs." 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! Having completed the examination all of our still photographs from the Strawberry Hill Museum investigation, we can now say that we did not capture any conclusive photographic evidence of paranormal activity during our first 4-hour investigation. -Mark Stinson

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