Just My Thoughts
By Christina M. Meide

I have written magazine pieces, produced three books with the help of really incredible people, worked for years on a horror novel which still sits complete in a hidden box, and recently worked for a local newspaper telling about what's going on in the area news.

I must admit that my favorite way to write is by opinion. Maybe this is taking the easy way out because it is difficult to fight with someone about their opinion, but it's nice to have the opportunity to share my thoughts and feelings instead of being so downright factual about everything.

This magazine issue has to do with orbs, so it's about orbs that I will write here. Be warned that I may get a bit sarcastic at times, maybe even angry on this subject, but remember too, it is just my opinion. No one needs to agree or disagree, but you are definitely free to do so.

There are many different opinions on orbs that I have run across in my thirty or so years of study concerning the paranormal. Over the last several years, orbs have become much more of an issue than they've ever been and many believe this is due to digital photography capabilities that weren't available before.

Nothing makes me angrier than someone trying to come off as a complete expert about something that is still a mystery.

Don't get me wrong. As I've stated above, everyone is entitled to their opinion as long as it is meant to be an opinion and nothing more. However, I have run across many paranormal investigators who have been in the business for twenty years that aren't giving their opinion. They are giving facts with very little to back things up, yet they have followers who believe every word that comes out of their mouth or is written on their web pages.

I am not going to name names in this opinion piece, but I'm sure if your curiosity really gets the best of you, you'll do some surfing and find the ones that I'm speaking of with very little trouble.

In just a short time of canvassing the net for this opinion piece, I've come across an "expert" who has actually given rules to determining if what you have taken a picture of is a true orb. If the orb is very pale white, blue in color or transparent, it is not a "true orb", says he. According to this expert, if the orb is not dense on the inside, you have only captured a particle of dust, or a light refraction or some other natural explanation to the strange round light in your photo.

This expert also says that if you are using a digital camera that is less than 5 megapixels then, chances are, any photo you take that you think there is an orb in, will not actually be an orb, but instead it will be a missing piece in our world that the camera had to fill in. It just happens to be in the shape of an orb that the camera does this.

Of course, if your digital camera is 5 megapixels or more, then you still haven't captured an orb if it is not solid looking.

What I'm wondering is how this "expert" knows this. Considering that really no one has determined exactly what an orb is, why it can be captured on camera and rarely seen with the naked eye, why it shows up in haunted as well as not haunted locations and why digital cameras seem to be able to capture them so much easier than any other kind of camera, how does he know?

How is it possible that he can say with such certainty that "real orbs" are solid and "fake orbs" are off colors and transparent?

Now this is not to say that all orbs that are photographed are actual orbs. It is possible to capture refractions of light, snowflakes, rain, dust particles, etc., but most people who are spending time photographing also have done some testing of the odd things that can show up on film such as those mentioned above.

This expert proceeds to say that cemeteries are a waste of time to take photographs in because orbs can be found just as readily everywhere else and without some kind of back up investigation, going to a cemetery with only a camera gives a bad name to investigators everywhere.

Back up investigating requires all the high tech equipment that the expert offers on his site, and according to him, no serious investigator can be serious about what they do without this equipment.

Let me ask this. When this expert first started out and was learning the field, did he have all of the equipment that he now sells? Let's face it. We can't all afford to put our life savings into investigating, but it doesn't mean that the equipment that we do have can't be used responsibly. I'm sure we'd all love to have equipment that gives shame to what we saw in the "Poltergeist" movie, but if we don't, does it mean that we can't possibly be serious?

My way of thinking is that if you have an interest in investigating, but you don't have the extra money to buy all of that fancy equipment, it's okay to start out with just a camera and a tape recorder. Make sure that you record on paper the date, temperature, wind, moon phase, etc. so that you have some kind of documentation of things.

Also, if you aren't famous enough to enter any haunted building that you hear about, what's wrong with a cemetery? After all, if orbs are actually some type of spirit as some think, then what better place to attempt to capture them on film or get voices on the tape recorder? Besides, it gives practice for viewing different orbs to make your own determination on whether they are real or fake.

I can find no possible way for the expert to be able to deny a voice captured on tape from a cemetery when the documentation is all there as to who was investigating and if you are careful to note on the recorder who in your party spoke if anyone does . There can be no mistakes this way.

Just because you don't have a meter that tells you if the temperature dropped a dramatic 10 or 20 degrees doesn't mean that the voice you picked up on your tape recorder wasn't really from beyond. Of course, the more you have for recording and investigating, the more proof you can offer, but just because we don't have all of that fancy equipment doesn't mean we are not serious about finding the truth.

The Night Watchman and I have a Gauss meter, the IR thermometer, three video cameras, a digital camera, an analog tape recorder and a digital tape recorder.

We've used the Gauss meter and IR thermometer with absolutely no results coming from them when we've gotten some of our best material on the recorders, the digital camera and on video.