Fleeting Form

 Photo date: November 30, 2023. Photographer: Mark Mahin. 

I took this photograph midday, without using the camera's flash.

An Orb and Spooky Mist at Her Deathbed

On the 68th page of the document here, showing page 182 on the printed page, we have an account from the March 25, 1922 edition of the publication Light.  The account is pretty good from an evidence standpoint. It is an account of what was seen two months earlier. The author (Dorothy Monk) is named, and she tells us that there were eight witnesses of one of the reported anomalies (a spooky mist at a deathbed).  We read this account by the author of seeing her mother's death. 

"The sister who first saw it about this time also saw a large blue globe-like light resting on mother's head, but none of the rest of us could see it. She explained that the  inside appeared all moving and gradually it turned to deep purple and faded out. About seven o’clock that evening mother’s lips parted and from that time we gradually saw a thick white mist collect above her head and spread across the head of the bed. It came from the top of her head, but collected more thickly to the opposite side of the bed to which she was lying. It hung like a cloud of white steam, sometimes so thick we could scarcely see the bed rails, but continually it was varying although it moved so slowly as to be scarcely perceptible. I and my five sisters were still with her all saw it distinctly, also my brother and one brother-in-law. The blue lights continued about the room, also tiny flashes of yellow, like sparks, appeared sometimes. All this time mother’s lower jaw gradually fell a little. For some hours we saw little difference except that a halo of pale yellow light rays came round her head; there were about seven in number; they varied in length from twelve to twenty inches at different times. By midnight every-thing had cleared off, but she did not die until 7.17 on the morning of January 2nd."

First an Orb, Then a Talking Ghost?

 The long and very fascinating work Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World by former US congressman Robert Dale Owen (which can be read online for free here) is a classic of literature about the paranormal. The 1872 book The Debatable Land Between This World and the Next by the same author is a worthy successor volume of equal length.  In that book on page 468 Owen reports on what we saw at a seance on October 26, 1860. To prevent any trickery, Owen was careful to make sure all the doors to the room were locked, and also made sure that throughout the session all of the four persons present joined each other's hands in the center of the table where they sat. Under such conditions, Owen reported seeing this: 

"After a few minutes, there appeared a luminous body of an irregularly circular form, about four inches in diameter, floating between us and the door which was back of Mrs. Underhill. It was somewhat brighter than when it first appeared on the previous occasion ; that is, on the twenty-first of October."

On the next page, Owen reports that at this session there appeared an illuminated mysterious figure, a kind of grayish cloud that eventually stated "God bless you." On the next page after that, Owen said he saw an outline of a head and face.

Owen recalls seeing in 1867 a luminous female apparition:

"It was a female figure, of medium height, veiled and draped, from head to foot, in white. The drapery did not resemble, in material, anything I have ever seen worn. It gave me, as on a previous occasion, the exact feeling of the Scriptural expression, 'shining raiment.' Its brilliancy was a good deal like that of new-fallen snow, in the sunshine ; recalling the text which declares the garments of Christ, during his transfiguration, to have been ' exceeding white as snow ; ' or, again, it was not unlike the finest and freshest Parian marble with a bright light on it, only more brilliant. It had not at all the glitter of spangles or any shining ornament ; the tone being as uniform as that of a newly-sculptured statue. It stood upright, in a graceful attitude, motionless."

On the next page Owen says, "Then it slowly receded, still facing us, to the center of the opposite wall... gradually diminishing in brightness ; and finally it vanished before my eyes."  Owen later says, "Certain it is, that I beheld the gradual formation of the figure ; that I witnessed its movements ; that I received from its hand an actual flower ;  that I saw the figure disappear."

On page 484 we have this account, mentioning Estelle, Mr. Livermore's late wife:

"Mr. L. sealed the windows, sealed and locked the doors, and placed heavy furniture against them ; then searched the room thoroughly and extinguished the gas. Soon came the words : ' I am here in form.' Then a globular light appeared, with crackling sounds. After a time it became a head, veiled : then, but for a single instant only, Mr. L. recognized the features of Estelle. Then a figure was seen : all this being visible by phosphorescent or electrical lights in various parts of the room. During all this time Mr. L. held both of the medium's hands. Then the mode of producing raps was shown : an orange-shaped luminous ball, with blunt point attached, bounding up and down on the table, and the sound, of each rap coinciding with the approach of the ball to the tabletop."

Mr. Livermore reported that a few months later there occurred an equally astonishing appearance of his late wife Estelle:

"The form remained in sight fully half an hour and each movement was distinctly visible. Then came the message : ' Now see me rise. '  And immediately, in full brightness, the figure rose to the ceiling, remained there a few moments suspended ; then gently descending, disappeared.  Afterward she showed herself between us and a mirror. The reflection of the figure in the glass was distinctly visible, the light being so bright as to show the veins in a marble slab beneath.  Here a heavy shower of rain fell, and there was spelled out: ' The atmosphere has changed. I cannot remain in form : ' whereupon both light and figure finally disappeared."

Later Mr. Livermore reports this:

" At last a luminous globe which had remained stationary some six feet to my left floated in front, and came within two feet of me. It was violently agitated, crackling sounds were heard, and a figure became visible by its light. Then there was revealed the full head and face of Estelle, every feature and lineament in perfection, spiritualized in shadowy beauty, such as no imagination can conceive or pen describe. In her hair, above the left temple, was a single white rose ; the hair being apparently arranged with great care. The entire head and face faded and then became visible again, at least twenty times ; the perfection of recognition, in each case, being in proportion to the brilliancy of the light."

Orbs Seen After a Death

 At the interesting thread here at www.citi-data.com, a user starts the thread with this comment

"My ex boyfriend passed away a little over four years ago. Four months after, I saw a gold/red colored orb in my bedroom. Without going into details, I just want to ask how many of you have received 'signs' after your loved one passed away?"

There are some very interesting answers in the nine pages of the thread.  For example, one user says, "My sister's broken grandfather clock started to chime when my grandmother passed away."

A user tells this interesting account:

"After my grandma died, she visited me in a dream, in her younger, healthier self, took me to this beautiful place that I remember describing as heaven (bright, pearly, just a lot of light and light feelings) and played games with me. She introduced me to her older brother who died when he was 7 (he still looked like a kid my age at the time) and we all played and she just made me feel...safe. She always had that ability. Anyways I woke up and my aunt who slept with me that night to comfort me told me that in my sleep I jumped up, raised my hands in the air and yelled, 'OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PLACE THIS IS!!!!!!!!!' And then laid back down. So I told her the dream. I told her about the little boy and my family looked shocked because they couldn't understand how I knew her older brother."

On another page of the thread a user says this:

"I smelled peonies in the dead of winter in my bedroom when my dads mom passed. It was her favorite flower and she grew them."

On another page a user reports asking his father for a sign after death, specifically mentioning playing the piano. He says that a while later his own son reported the piano in the house playing by itself. 

On another page a user says that soon after his mother died, "I did see an orange orb in my windowless dark basement." He says, "I then called my sister who explained that on her way home, she saw a ball of light in her SUV."  He also reports "a light shining up from the floor to the ceiling" in a house he had lived in for 20 years without seeing such a thing. 

When I was visiting the first of these pages, I got a spooky effect. The web page flickered like mad, very noticeably, on and on and on.

One Looked Fast

 Photo date: November 9, 2023. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

We see below some mysterious orbs I photographed today. 

Spooky Flame

Today my wife left around 10:00 AM to visit a friend, leaving me as the only one in the house, which no one else was in between 10:00 AM and 4:45 PM. Today upon arriving home about 4:45 my wife complained that the gas was burning underneath a pan. I explained to her that I had not used the gas all day long, and had last been in the kitchen around 1:00 to make lunch, without using the gas, and without seeing it on. At first I thought of some "accidentally brushing by the gas knob around 1:00" explanation, but soon I heard something that ruled out such an explanation. My wife said she found a little water in the pan above the burning gas. If the gas had been on for more than 10 minutes, the water would have boiled away.  There was no sign of a burn on the pan's bottom. 

We are left with an anomaly I cannot explain. Somehow a gas knob on our stove seems to have mysteriously turned on only a few minutes before my wife arrived, while there was no one on the floor that has the kitchen. The gas burner knobs are all a type that cannot be turned on accidentally, as they require a simultaneous turning and pushing in to turn on the gas flame.  The incident reminds me of strange events I have reported here and here and here. In all of these events it is rather like some invisible presence (nothing to be afraid of) is trying to leave some sign of its existence. If such a thing seems inconceivable to you, you may think differently if you read some of the posts in my "Spookiest Years" series  (here, here, here and here and here). I am never alarmed when things like this happen, as I've seen many things like this happen over the years, such as (in a different residence) a light turning on by itself, a locked door opening by itself, a toilet flushing by itself a few times, and a coin rolling up from behind me (on its edge) when I was alone in my residence. 

In some religions, flames are symbols, and candles are burnt in churches to symbolize spiritual themes. There could be some symbolism in the strange event described above. 

A Striped Orb

 Photo date: November 5, 2023. Photographer: Mark Mahin. 

We see below a mysterious orb I photographed indoors. This is one of hundreds of photos I have taken showing striped orbs with chord-like stripes, as you can see by using the link here and continuing to press the Older Posts link at the bottom right.