Most Haunted orb frenzy

[Shaun from Scotland]

My better half decided that as I hang out on an "occult board" a great birthday present would be the DVD of the popular ghost hunting show "Most Haunted". The show basically takes a camera crew into some haunted location and films what they see.

On the face of it, they have come up with some rather impressive footage. However, most of it seems to revolve around "orbs", little blobs of light that they see floating about. The appearance of one prompts large whoops and gasps of astonishment.

Now, my better half is tremendously impressed by this. Unfortunately skepdic.com seems to be down so my usual slapdown source is not available. Google seems to return 500 billion woo-woo sites.

What are these things? Lens flare? Dust? Insects? The show gives the impression that they see them first, then film then so I was wondering how lens flare could explain that? What else could be going on?


Most of the footage is shot on digital cameras with some kind of night vision enhancement. The orbs never seem to appear on standard film equipment

I do suspect trickery, given that some really (on the face of it) impressive footage always seems to be rather "unlucky". For example, in one particularly haunted room, they placed a cross on a piece of paper, outlined its edges in pencil and left a camera running. Lo and behold it moved a few inches. Unfortunately, the camera "wasn't set to a wide enough angle" so you cant see the edge of the paper to see WHAT is moving it.

Very convenient........

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

I think they are mostly small objects close to the lens, and thus not in focus. A flash is required.

~~ Paul

 

[Goshawk]

Like this?

Sure looks like dirt (baby powder?) on the lens to me. With some of the specks reflecting light more brightly than others.

As for their "reactions", all they have to do is go "ooh!" and "aah!" at intervals for the benefit of the sound crew. They don't have to actually see any "orbs"--they know the "orbs" will be there, so they just obligingly act amazed.

There is also this:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/digital.html

In another section of the website (The Trouble with "Orbs"), I mentioned the problem that the early digital cameras had when operating under low-light conditions. I have always referred to this as the “orb factor” and it was an ongoing problem with digital photography for years. There were a great number of ghost hunters who were out on “investigations” and discovering copious amounts of “orbs” in their photos. Unfortunately, they were nothing more than sections of the images where the pixels did not fill in completely.

Many "ghost hunting" websites agree that digital cameras are inferior to regular cameras precisely because you get this "orb" effect, which to their way of thinking, ruins your ghost hunt. " "

Viz.

http://dawghouse.topcities.com/tips.html

All About Ghosts needs your help! We want to know what tips work for you! We've all heard the standard "don't smoke" and "tie back your hair" while taking photos, but what we want to know is what works best for you!

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Photo Tips: Submitted by Matt Burnham.

Avoid using a flash across from reflective objects.

Be aware of your surroundings. If it is raining or dusty where your picture is taken, it will appear to have "orbs" all over the photo. Bright light can also cause "orbs".

 

[Ceinwyn]

"What are these things? Lens flare? Dust? Insects?

Yes.

I'm a big fan of "Most Haunted", mostly because I love to watch them freak out over the stupidest things.

A door slamming.

A dust mite.

People talking.

I watch every Saturday night, just to see Derek Acorah pretend to know stuff and watch Yvette lose her composure. It's very entertaining.