Georgia Ghost Hunters

The Para and The Normal
When does “para” merge with “normal”?

The paranormal factor is a popular subject this time and day. We remember telling ghost stories while sitting around campfires, while most remember this being more of a fantasy world than a real world experience. It seems that every culture has their own folklores and tales of ghosts, those that seemingly flow down staircases and those that lead the wanderer astray through thick forests or swamps, and sometimes those that lend a helping hand to protect a loved one from harms way. Through many different religious backgrounds, spirits have been feared, worshipped, respected and has brought inspiration to many different people throughout the world.

The definition from Wikipedia of paranormal is; the word paranormal consists of two parts: para and normal. In most definitions of the word paranormal, it is described as anything that is beyond or contrary to what is deemed scientifically possible. The definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is the ‘normal’ part of the word and ‘Para’ makes up the above, beyond, contrary, or against part of the meaning. While paranormal concerns all things we cannot explain, I will kept the subject in this particular article concerning the spirit world.

According to a survey in 2005, only 32% of Americans believe that ghosts are indeed here with us. What makes up the other 68% of people? Could it be they are afraid to cast their vote? Or are they unable to except the fact of what they may have experienced was paranormal activity? I have a hard time believing that they are skeptics and I have a hard time believing this many people are suffering from some sort of a delusional episode.

Some of the first ghost sightings date back to ancient times and can be found in a few scriptures in the Bible. As I was searching around I found the best referenced scripture, Samuel 28:7-19;

7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.” “There is one in Ender,” they said.
8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”
9 But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?”
10 Saul swore to her by the LORD, “As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this.”
11 Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel,” he said.
12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” The woman said, “I see a spirit coming up out of the ground.”
14 “What does he look like?” he asked. “An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.
15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”

Through the many, many years of searching for spirits, is it a phenomena that we are not suppose to know about? Could it be there are slip ups and we catch a glimpse of them for a short period of time? Are they here because they did bad deeds while alive and they have been earthbound for that reason? I could ask a million questions and still not get the answer I want. But the thirst for the truth about life after death is something so many are looking for.

Paranormal experiences outweigh actual proof of the paranormal by all means and experiences are not the proof needed. So is this a no win situation? There are still those that will not in any way accept the existence of ghosts. They rule out ghosts by actually being an impression of a psychic energy left behind; Pareidolia - a tendency to recognize familiar objects in random perception; hypnagogic hallucinations - occurs between being awake and asleep, changes in the geomagnetic field which they say could cause your brain to think you are seeing ghosts, the list goes on and on. I seem to disagree that 1/3 of the US population are suffering from these all or most the time.

Our planet is a huge place, we have yet to explore the deepest parts of the ocean, new species of life are found constantly and with this being said if we have yet to find every life form on our own planet, how can we rule out an invisible existence that seem to come into our reality for whatever the reason may be. The merging of paranormal is a task that must be scientifically proven, yet we still do not have a way to sit down and have a face to face conversation with a ghost. Maybe our minds are not completely open or our brain is not developed enough to conquer this task. I do believe that we are getting closer to finding the answers, although it may be the answer some are not looking for.

The orb debate is in full swing these days.  Paranormal groups are drawing lines in the sand.  One side of the line thinks that any orbs you capture on video or photograph is evidence of paranormal activity while the other side of the line feels that orbs represent nothing more than natural airborn particles floating through the air.  And yet, there is the third group that believe that amongst the many, many versions of an orb there are some orbs that are created by their own manifestation of energy.  Which group is correct?  No one knows for certain but this debate is ruffling feathers throughout the research community.

I have been doing my own research to find answers.  I will try to summarize here the best that I can.  I went into my fact finding with a clear mind regarding orbs.  I came out with a greater understanding, far more than I realized, of what makes up an orb.  The easiest way to understanding is to classify the type of orb you are looking at.

While doing my research, I was able to study hundreds and hundreds of photographs that offered some type of circular object seemingly floating through the air.  What I didn’t realize at first, is that I was looking at many, many variations of orbs.  After doing some research, I found that these objects were actually naturally occurring particles found in the atmosphere of any place on Earth.  These particles could be dust, bugs, hair, lint, rain drops, mist, dew, etc. etc. etc.  All of these variations looked to have the same characteristics when captured on photographs.  They were round, light colored and transparent.  I started to feel a little irritated by all of the pictures I had been shown and had been told was paranormal activity.  What I had actually been shown was nothing more than every day life occurring.  I felt like a fool.  This started me on further research to find the perfect orb.  It was also at this point that I decided I would change my vocabulary to distinguish between the insignificant particle orbs and what would be considered a true energy orb.  I have now started calling paranormal orbs EOs, or energy orbs.  This way I can be certain of which type I am talking about when talking with others.  Since I do not consider naturally occurring particles paranormal, I do not feel they should contend with the same name as true energy orbs.

My first step was to find out how an EO is created.  This was easier said than done.  No one has ever captured an EO for research.  This makes it extremely difficult to state definitively what an EO is.  We can make educated guesses based on theories and psuedoscience experiments but those guesses are no more than guesses without the backing of applied scientific laboratory research.

The scientific research I have been able to find has been extremely beneficial to my understanding of true EOs.  I will try to explain them as simply as I can.  I, myself, had to read and reread many studies to grasp the concept of how EOs are created.

An EO is made up of electrons.  The electron is a fundamental subatomic particle that carries a negative electric charge.  Electrons floating in the atmosphere can not form a sphere, or orb, on their own without something to hold them together.  If they do not have a grounding point, they will immediately begin to travel away from each other, thus creating an electro-magnetic field.  This field is what we are measuring when using our EMF meters.  The sighting of EOs is most plausible during this disruption in the electro-magnetic field because of the concentration of negatively charged electrons moving around looking for a place to ground.  When a picture is taken during this time, the sphere becomes visible because of the illumination of the EMF by the camera’s flash.  

Now that we are beginning to understand the different types of orbs and their origins, how can we begin to research to prove an existence of paranormal orbs?  We know that paranormal activity is not created by natural particles such as the dust, lint, moisture, etc.  The gray area occurs when EOs are present in photograph.  What is causing the electrons in the atmosphere to become excited and moving freely?  Can spirits and entities control this negative energy field?  Is this how they manifest into a full apparition by gathering enough free moving electrons?  Questions, questions, questions and no answers.  Such is the life of a paranormal researcher.

Happy hunting!