Orbs photographed within Clearwell Caves. Photo by Andy Dingley.

In This Article:

• How do paranormal experiences influence our perception of the world?
• What role do history and memories play in hauntings?
• The impact of paranormal tourism and ghost hunting on haunted locations
• Exploring the mystery and controversy around orbs in paranormal investigations
• Insights from parapsychology: investigating apparitions and ghostly encounters

How Paranormal Experiences Shape Our World

by Loyd Auerbach. from the foreword of the book Haunted World by Theresa Cheung.

Here’s a true statement: our world is haunted! It’s haunted by our history, memories, folklore and legends, all of which contribute to the idea of places, objects and people being haunted in the more psychic or paranormal sense.

Interest and belief in ghostly things has been with us for thousands of years and clearly is still with us today. That interest led to the start of the field of psychical research in the 1880s (later called parapsychology), along with the development of more mainstream empirical sciences around the same time.

As a parapsychologist who has specialized in investigating and researching cases and experiences of apparitions, hauntings and poltergeists for over forty years, it’s been clear that our fascination with people, places and things called ‘paranormal’ or ‘psychic’ has not waned in the technological age but has actually increased in visibility and popularity thanks to popular culture and social media.

Ghost-Hunting-Focused Reality Television

Ghost-hunting-focused reality television shows continue to multiply, and due to the number of these shows, so does the number of hobbyist and amateur ghost-hunting/paranormal investigating groups. One issue that crops up for both the viewers and the producers of these shows has to do with location.

As the shows take on-screen talent to haunted places, the producers are constantly on the lookout for ‘new’ haunted places to keep up the interest of their viewers. In addition, the shows often present slightly (sometimes greatly) altered backstories for those locations, as well as being edited to make the investigations more dramatic and viewer friendly. This has led to new folklore about so many places, whether they are actually ‘active’ (meaning there have been recent reports of hauntings) or not.

In fact, when one digs into the actual history and reported paranormal occurrences of many of the haunted locations featured on television, a very different story often emerges. Fascinatingly, though, the truth is sometimes even stranger and more interesting than what producers choose to showcase.

The Development of “Paranormal Tourism”

This increasing interest in all things ghostly has led to the development of a kind of ‘paranormal tourism’, with many haunted locations offering ghost tours and special events, whether directed at serious ghost-hunting groups or simply the paranormally curious.

On the plus side, many historical locations have been able to access increased financial support, even fixing the places up, due to so many paranormal tourists.

On the downside, some locations featured on TV have found themselves at the centre of too much attention (and even demands) from ghost-hunting groups, finding that their historical sites have become synonymous with eerie ghost sightings.

The book Haunted World, by Theresa Cheung, takes a good look at many known and legendary haunted locations. The real-life histories of these locations are often more captivating – and oftentimes more horrifying – than the witness reports of disembodied knockings and ethereal voices, but it is also these latter stories that make it or break it for those who want to visit the sites and be entertained (which we all want to experience when hearing or reading a ghost story).

The Story Is The Thing

Parapsychologists use slightly different terms and conceptualizations of the phenomena and stay away from using terms commonly used in popular culture, like ‘demon’ and even ‘supernatural’. We even have good explanations for things like orbs in photos and videos, following over 140 years of investigations and research in this field.

But when it comes to visiting a haunted house or other location, the story is the thing. We want to be enthralled, thrilled and perhaps even a little creeped out. The locations and the entries accompanying them in the fascinating book by Theresa Cheung lead you to great spots and most definitely leave a chill up your spine!

The following is a short selection on orbs from Theresa’s book, Haunted World:

Images of unexplained white or spherical glowing balls of light, or orbs, have often been associated with ghosts and hauntings, especially in recent years. A simple online search will reveal thousands of orb photographs, so you can take a look for yourself. For example, in 2020, an orb was caught on camera by a police chaplain in his Daytona Beach, Florida, home, leaving him with a whole new world of questions. In 2022, ghost hunters at the Ancient Ram Inn in England captured and published images and videos of unexplained orbs.

Although orbs have been reported for centuries and peaked in popularity during the era of Victorian spiritualism, the craze for capturing orbs on film probably began in August 1974, when parapsychologists Kerry Gaynor and Dr Barry Taff were studying the entity case of a woman called Doris Bither, who was allegedly being attacked and raped by unseen forces at 11547 Braddock Drive in Culver City, California. Her story inspired the popular 1982 horror movie The Entity.

The case was compelling because Bither, a single mother of four, was not alone in experiencing and witnessing the attacks – her children and others had too. It was also interesting because, during their lengthy investigation, Gaynor and Taff photographed on numerous occasions pops of strange three-dimensional light that were greenish-yellow and white in appearance. The orbs did not appear to be projected light, and Gaynor and Taff were at a loss to explain them. Taff did tentatively suggest it might have been possible for Bither’s subconscious mind to generate enough energy to produce luminous anomalies and apparitions.

In contrast to this case, orbs are not typically seen with your eyes at the time the photograph is taken. Unexplained blurry images of orbs giving the appearance of rapid motion are one of the most popular but also controversial subjects within the field of paranormal investigation.

More often than not orbs are noticed after the film is developed or the photographs are viewed. Paranormal experts suggest that the reason orbs can be viewed on film but not with the naked eye is due to the wider spectrum of ultraviolet light that film is sensitive to when compared to the human eye.

Sceptics argue that the explanation is dust on the lens or a trick of the light, flaws in the camera, pixel fallout, infrared light waves reflecting particles in front of the lens, lens flare, reflections, plasma electricity, smoke, gas, human breath, tiny insects, water spots or deliberate fraud.

Although the great majority of orb sightings can be explained as non-paranormal, there is no denying that whenever a location is said to be haunted, images of orbs captured on film tend to cluster. Also, the sheer number of orbs you can view online suggests there are a lot of cameras out there that are flawed. Not to mention that orb images can be a source of tremendous comfort to the grieving, offering hope that a departed loved one is watching over them.

Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Adapted with permission.

Article Source:

BOOK: Haunted World

Haunted World: 101 Ghostly Places and Encounters
by Theresa Cheung  (Foreword by Loyd Auerbach)

Paranormal expert Theresa Cheung shares 101 of the most mysterious and spooky true stories of hauntings from around the world together with the latest afterlife science and research, providing fascinating insight into our never-ending love affair with ghosts. Sharing the details of some well-known and particularly mysterious hauntings together with some less-well-known tales and personal stories from her readers and listeners, Theresa explores these ghostly encounters through four categories of hauntings: residual, poltergeist, inhuman and intelligent.

With an introduction to modern parapsychology, a look at the latest science that digs deeper into our never-ending love affair with ghosts, psychic-themed self-help advice and ghost hunting tips, Haunted World is a timely and entertaining journey through the thrilling world of afterlife research.

For more info and/or to order this book, click here.  Also available as a Kindle edition, Audiobook, and Audio CD.

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