Hello, I'm sure we're all familiar with the ideas of drifting balls of light in photos and videos being manifestations of spirits or energy of a paranormal variety. I'm sure we're also all familiar with the explanation of dust and bugs reflecting light that cleanly cover the vast majority of evidence in this realm. What I find myself wondering is this; where did these ideas come from and are there any exceptional examples of evidence for these ideas?
If I had to take a shot in the dark, I'd guess that these ideas came about from theories put forward by a group like the Society of Psychical Research around the time that photography (especially flash photography) was becoming popular. There are plenty of stories of ghost lights, will-o'-wisps, and faeries to draw from and the Spiritualist and Theosophical movements were pretty strong in the circles of paranormal/psychical research throughout the early 19th century. Many of SPR's and similar groups' theories from that time have informed modern ghost lore (e.g. limestone being associated with poltergeist activity). I wouldn't be surprised to find that the popularization of orbs in photography as spirits/energy came about in a similar way.
When it comes to orbs as evidence of the paranormal, I don't know of any cases that can be pointed to as prime examples. A similar phenomena that comes to mind are the now debunked rods). The phenomena of rods is a good example of normal technological-illiteracy fueling paranormal belief. Completely understandably, video cameras are complicated things and if you've never had them explained how could you understand what was causing the elongated and oddly shaped "sky fish"? With my lack of knowledge of any strong cases for orbs as anything more than an optical phenomenon caused by the process of capturing the image, I can't help but think that orbs are nothing more than an older and more persistent version of rods.
I would appreciate if anyone has interesting materials to share on the phenomenon of orbs. Thanks, have a good one!
submitted by /u/PewterNetizen
[link] [comments]Hello, I'm sure we're all familiar with the ideas of drifting balls of light in photos and videos being manifestations of spirits or energy of a paranormal variety. I'm sure we're also all familiar with the explanation of dust and bugs reflecting light that cleanly cover the vast majority of evidence in this realm. What I find myself wondering is this; where did these ideas come from and are there any exceptional examples of evidence for these ideas? If I had to take a shot in the dark, I'd guess that these ideas came about from theories put forward by a group like the Society of Psychical Research around the time that photography (especially flash photography) was becoming popular. There are plenty of stories of ghost lights, will-o'-wisps, and faeries to draw from and the Spiritualist and Theosophical movements were pretty strong in the circles of paranormal/psychical research throughout the early 19th century. Many of SPR's and similar groups' theories from that time have informed modern ghost lore (e.g. limestone being associated with poltergeist activity). I wouldn't be surprised to find that the popularization of orbs in photography as spirits/energy came about in a similar way. When it comes to orbs as evidence of the paranormal, I don't know of any cases that can be pointed to as prime examples. A similar phenomena that comes to mind are the now debunked rods). The phenomena of rods is a good example of normal technological-illiteracy fueling paranormal belief. Completely understandably, video cameras are complicated things and if you've never had them explained how could you understand what was causing the elongated and oddly shaped "sky fish"? With my lack of knowledge of any strong cases for orbs as anything more than an optical phenomenon caused by the process of capturing the image, I can't help but think that orbs are nothing more than an older and more persistent version of rods. I would appreciate if anyone has interesting materials to share on the phenomenon of orbs. Thanks, have a good one! submitted by /u/PewterNetizen [link] [comments]
