John Oliver Place

By Phaedra Spencer

The picture on the left of the Orbs was taken at the John Oliver Park in Cades Cove in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. It was taken about 10 a.m. and there was a crowd of school children outside listening to a Park Ranger give a speech about the history of the cove.

I decided to go inside the house while everyone was outside. Once inside, I noticed a door that was open which led to the loft upstairs. I proceeded to go up the stairs. It was very dark in the loft and the top of the stairs were blocked off. I decided to try to take a picture to see if there was anyone there with me, so I asked permission saying, "Can I take your picture?" At that moment, I felt that I needed to ask properly, so I rephrased a bit and said, "Can I take your picture, please?" After snapping the picture, I said thank you and went back down the stairs, shutting the door behind me.

I took advantage of taking a few more pictures before proceeding out to the car. Once in the car, I checked the camera and found the picture of the Orbs, then upon reaching the hotel, I downloaded the pictures to my computer. Or, at least I tried to. I was able to download the picture of the Orbs, but for some reason, I could not download any other pictures that were taken after the one you see above. I tried using two different computers, but had no luck. I saved the Orb picture and deleted all the other pictures and have had no problem with this since.

I guess my new friends thought that they should take "center stage" on film.