Many years ago capturing a ‘ghost light’ or ‘spirit orb’ on film was quite the talk of the paranormal community. Now, however, with the increase and the sophistication of the equipment, the capture of orbs on film has become passé, even for the beginning ghost hunter. However, a recent collection of pictures has surfaced featuring orbs and some ectoplasm that, upon magnification, appear to have clearly discernible facial features. Is this phenomenon merely a quirk of the human mind, making patterns of shadow and light, is it dust particles or airborne debris, or could it be something else?

“It is the height of arrogance to assume anything in this field of endeavor,” says Dr. Hans Holzer. “In fact, opinions are useless. Fact. That is what matters. And one must ask oneself, ‘does it really matter if one sees a face or not’. Indeed I believe that it does not.”

The initial research into this ‘facial phenomenon’ uncovered numerous reports from around the world. Interestingly enough, many of the facial orbs were colored, but others displayed the ‘typical’ white coloring. There are a few theories regarding the color of the orbs. Some state that the orbs are merely reflecting the relative humidity or atmospheric conditions of the room or location. Others state that the color of the orb indicates the orb’s level of advancement, while still others theorize that the color of the orbs indicates an orb ‘state of mind’. Regardless of which it is, what is known for certain is that orbs have been captured in a wide variety of colors, many of them with what appear to be facial features.

Title image above was lent to Ghost Magazine from Brian Knight, who is a horror writer living in Washington State. He took this picture and a series of similar shots when he was researching a location for a novel. The ‘fog’ as he calls it, was not present or visible to the naked eye. It had not rained, there were no fires nearby and he was not smoking at the time. Though this appears to be ectoplasm, what is more astonishing is the appearance of facial features. This picture was taken with a 35mm camera in broad daylight without the use of a flash.

“When viewing amorphous clouds such as ectoplasm or disorganized apparition, it is difficult to pinpoint actual facial features. And to do so only hampers an investigation. This may not be the popular view on this matter, but the fact is, while it is interesting to think that it might be a face, in the long run, as far as the research goes what matters more is if you can prove that the anomaly exists at all.”

Dave Oester and Sharon Gill of the IGHS are not convinced of the evidence pointing to actual faces in the orbs. In fact, it is their considered opinion that most orbs are simply ‘orbs’ and not evidence of ghosts or spirits. However, they are quick to mention that this does not negate paranormal activity, just that there needs to be corroborating evidence to back up what is being captured on film.

Technically speaking, many orbs are said to be caused by misfiring by the digital camera; a pixel problem. However, when one stops to think about the creation of an orb on the camera cannot come from the machine itself. Without going into the details, suffice it to say that a great deal many pixels would have to misfire simultaneously in a circular pattern for this to create an orb effect…and what of those investigations where everyone caught the same ‘misfire’ on their digital cameras? The likelihood of it being a camera problem isn’t high. Experts state that if a pixel misfires it might affect the top or even the bottom of it, but not to the left or right, and certainly not at the same time. Therefore, orbs which are showing up on cameras, especially those with faces may be environmental, but they certainly do not appear to be camera malfunctions.

What seems to be apparent in the mix of theories concerning faces in orb shots is that no one agrees. Additionally, what seems to come to mind is that at this point we simply do not have all of the available information to state whether or not spirit is capable of manifesting facial features within an orb. Is it possible? It seems as likely as the fact that spirit could manifest in ectoplasm or as an apparition. Too little is known at this time to say yes or no to the face in the orb question right now. But, what seems to be the case is that as the pictures roll in people are continuing to claim that they see them.

Perhaps Carl Sagan was right when he said, “As soon as the infant can see, it recognizes faces, and we now know that this skill is hardwired in our brains. Those infants who a million years ago were unable to recognize a face smiled back less, were less likely to win the hearts of their parents, and less likely to prosper. These days, nearly every infant is quick to identify a human face, and to respond with a goony grin.” It’s a safe bet, then, that the researcher must work against these tendencies until other corroborating evidence backs up the potential for spirit activity.

Philosophically and psychologically speaking one has to take a step back and wonder why some people seem to want so desperately to ‘see’ something. This is not to say that they aren’t, but having witnessed several situations where the investigator was ‘caught up in the moment’ it seems more credible that those who are zealous ‘believers’ are as detrimental to solid research as those who are die-hard skeptics. Both sides of the spectrum seem to go beyond common sense to fit the facts to their personal belief systems and therein lies the true danger, not from spirit or things that go bump in the night, but from those whose desire for personal notoriety supersedes the ability to adhere to strict scientific guidelines.

And, yet, the photographic evidence continues to roll in. This picture [on the left] was captured at night using no flash. The anomaly that the investigators, Liza Catron and Taryn Smith of LT Paranormal Investigations, initially saw appeared to be nothing but a very small speck of ecto-mist in the photo. However, when she placed it on her computer and magnified/enhanced it, this face appeared in the cloud of ectoplasmic material. This photo is remarkable not because of the facial feature, but at the incredible amount of detail which is evident in this picture, down to the whiskers on his chin.

As each discovery is made in this newer field of science it only seems to serve to add more questions to the already growing list. For the time being what most ghost investigators and parapsychologists have concluded is that for right now the phenomenon of seeing faces in orb patterns is at best an interesting occurrence and little more. Until a better understanding of orbs can be gained a gentleman’s agreement of ‘to each his own’ would seem to apply.