Colored Orbs
Sometimes, it only takes one investigation to stir up a hundred questions. This particular night featured the search for the spirit of a small child. This ghostling had manifested for the homeowner when she was young and now, with the return of some of her childhood belongings from up north, had begun to show up to her small children (See 83rd for details).
In this investigation a single pink orb appeared. After snapping hundreds to thousands of images of white orbs, many of which could be explained away as natural phenomena, a colored anomaly manifested on film. The picture was taken during the wrap up session as the SPIRITS spoke with the homeowners about their findings. Most of the night had been quiet, though there were some EMF spikes. One investigator took pictures of the group as they spoke and the pink spot appeared on her camera.
The orb, itself, appears to be approximately three feet off of the ground. It is asymmetrical, with two tendrils emerging from the top. It is next to one of the homeowners (hence the image has been cropped to protect the homeowner identity). The camera used to take the picture has been in active use since May of 2007 and is of a brand and type that the investigator has used for about two years. The camera has been used in other investigations, has been tested for capturing IR sources, and it was not on any unusual settings.
One video camera was also used to record the interview, and it did capture the taking of the odd image. The photographer’s right hand did cover the corner of the flash, which produced a small shadow effect over the top right corner of the image (cropped from this image). One person wondered if rings worn by the picture taker could have produced the orb. The odd angle may allude to the appearance of depth and height of the pinkness. This created quite a debate for the team as to whether it was natural or supernatural in appearance.
Since the investigation, the camera has been tested to see if it would pick up the IR beam from a video camera (no luck so far), for shadows (which can be replicated by covering just the very top corner of the flash), for the reflective nature of rings (only two images of forty-five produced any form of orbs when the ring was aligned in front of the flash and the lens lined up with a light source, and none of the orbs were pink), and for the reflective nature of sneakers (photographer’s camera would not create orbs when taking direct picture of the sneakers; another digital camera did produce a light anomaly that was arc-shaped and rainbow-colored). The pink image remains unduplicated.
Testing metal/light for orbs. Large light orb to left, putting finger in front of lens in light, right.
Cluster orbs created when ring was put in flash and lens was lined up with a sunbeam (from blinds).
Research was conducted to get a sense of other perspectives on colored orbs. The investigation brought the team to a book currently being passed through the members entitled “The Orb Project” by Miceal Ledwith and Klaus Heinemann. According to the authors, orbs may appear in brown, red, white, blue and pink colors depending upon their spiritual vibration.
The Internet provides many “colorful” resources as listed below. Plugging in the terms “pink orbs + ghosts” into the Google search engine, the following links came up.
Orb color charts:
From the Will County Ghost hunters:
A whole spectrum of colors for orbs is described (see link above). From this website:
Pink Orb: Associated with being feminine. Rare colored orbs that are usually captured where a female 
entity may haunt. Some pink orbs are associated with a deceased child or baby.
entity may haunt. Some pink orbs are associated with a deceased child or baby. Images:
This shows a cluster of pink orbs close to the lens. However, in the SPIRITS’ testing phase with the digital camera, one image appears with a cluster of tan orbs when the photographer placed her ring in the flash light and lined the lens up with a light source.
Note the plastic sheeting behind the man. A paranormalist from S. Florida said that could happen with construction, the blending of plastic and wood (the brown distorts).
A pink orb is listed under the entry for Oct. 19 as a possible "prostitute" related ghost. Huh.
This image has similar attributes to the SPIRITS image, though it is inverted.
This image is from a crystal class.
Reported viewings of pink orbs:
From the site:
The homeowners have lived in the house for 12 years and have witnessed ghostly spiders in the closet. One spider was as large as 6 inches in width. Also, pink orbs have been seen floating in the bedroom. A ghostly hand was seen at the bedside one night.
From this site:
Before you leave California make a stop in Sacramento! This beautiful community is home to the Sacramento Theater Company, which is said to be the most haunted location in Sacramento. Five ghosts will entertain you with footsteps, pink orbs and flickering lights!
From the site:
The Restaurant (Formerly Stables) (Scotland)
The restaurant is allegedly a very active area. One woman, who used to work in the kitchens, regularly reported seeing a man in the restaurant. Assuming that he was a member of staff, she said hello to him, only to be ignored. One day, by chance, she was working in another part of the building, when she saw an old photograph of the coach driver from the early 1900’s, and was shocked to recognize [sic] the man she had been seeing.
We began by taking temperature readings and EMF readings. We did get one or two cold spots in the restaurant area, but no unusual EMF readings were picked up. There were many digital still photographs taken in this area, many showing bright orbs. However, there were some even more bizarre things caught on camera….
From this site:
There can also be color to Orbs, although rare....I have captured green, gold, electric pink, tan, teal, blue and red.
Skeptical/Cautionary tales:
This argues for and against orbs ("IR flair ups").
This site argues both for and against orbs, calling for critical analysis of such. From the site:
Orbs being brighter, different colors, or oddly shaped doesn't prove that they aren't dust, so don't try to pass the pink dust orb you captured as the "spirit of a girl". When taking pictures in hopes of capturing an anomaly, it is essential to take two photos in a row from the same angle. If one photo 1 shows something anomalous, it can be compared to photo 2 to see if it was anomalous, or just an optical effect.
The questions remain: are colored orbs “official” to ghost investigation? Or can they be naturally explained? To date, the pink anomaly has not been explained, but there may be natural reasons that can cover the reason for this “manifestation”. Are there other options? The search continues.
