The Truth About Orbs

There seems to be a bit of controversy in the paranormal world involving orbs. Some people feel that they are complete bogus while others claim that they are the presence of the supernatural. After years of  video and photographic evidence analysis, I have come to the determination that both are possibilities. Most can be debunked quite easily, but some orbs characteristics seem to fit more in the category of the paranormal.

Here are some simple ways to test your photographs or videos.  Sometimes an orb can be mistaken for lens flare. This can happen when light shines directly into the lens of the camera. It could be caused by natural or artificial light or the flare could be caused by your flash bouncing off a reflective surface in the location you are in. Moisture on a camera lens can also bounce light right back into the lens creating the same effect. Another culprit of lens flare is light reflection off  bugs, or dust particles in the air. If the possible photographic evidence is taken in a rather dusty location, the images may seem to have a plethora of orbs in them but most likely they are nothing but flares. So, if you are trying to debunk your own evidence make sure you observe your environment and make note of your surroundings.


Once in a great while there will be a piece of evidence that comes our way that isn't so easily debunked. Luckily when we conduct our investigations, we take great care in the observation of the location which helps us make our determination in whether what we found was caused by something completely natural. There have been a few cases that have past the previously mentioned tests. We have come across some "orbs" that morphed in shape and others that have emitted their own light brighter than that of a simple reflection. After careful analysis, there wasn't any explainable reason for this to happen. The images were derived from stationary equipment in a controlled environment.

As a team we will continue to collect evidence to shed light on the subject, but as of right now we are not 100% sure that there is no such thing as paranormal orbs, but we also can't say that there is either. All we can say is that some of the phenomena is still unexplained.

Stephanie Sutera 

Associate Director of Thames Society of Paranormal Investigations