Bright Orb With a Touch of Green

 Photo date: August 31, 2024. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

We see below a mysterious orb I photographed indoors.

10-Month Study With Very Fancy Equipment Finds Mysterious Orbs, Calling Them "Spheroids"

Today I became aware of a scientific paper describing a 10-month investigation into UAP, which the paper defines as "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena." The paper is by John Joseph Tedesco Gerald and Thomas Tedesco and is entitled "Eye on the Sky: A UAP Research and Field Study off New York’s Long Island Coast." You can read the paper here. Strangely in the abstract of the paper, the authors make no mention of finding anything interesting; but in the text of the paper they tell us about finding an abundance of mysterious orbs, which they call "spheroids." We read this in the abstract:

"A ten-month field research study was meticulously conducted at Robert Moses State Park (RMSP) on the south shore of Long Island, NY. The objective was to determine if aerial phenomena of an unknown nature exist over a coastal location and to characterize their properties and behaviors." 

The two-men turned a recreational vehicle (RV) into a kind of very fancy mobile scientific investigation vehicle, equipping it with all kinds of fancy hi-tech equipment, and calling the vehicle the Nightcrawler.  The two investigators are associated with the "Galileo Project" organized by Harvard scientist Avi Loeb, and we may presume they got some of the money Loeb has raised for that project. 

We read this about observation of mysterious orbs:

"Since July of 2022, we observed a light phenomenon that most often presented itself as a spheroid under a luminous state, while under decreased luminosity, it seemed to display a polyhedral appearance morphologically. Fewer sightings appeared as ovaloid and cylindroid. The spheroids have been consistent and present from July 7, 2022, to March 30, 2023. These observations displayed unusual flight characteristics, extreme velocities, and long periods of inactivity, appearing stationary. These objects also displayed unusual physical characteristics: fluctuating states of albedo, glinting, rotation, variations in spectral range, and change of state from luminous to illuminous (Teachoo, 2023) [7]. This light phenomenon, at times, demonstrated swarm-like behavior that did not fit a pattern of regular air traffic and could not be verified by Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data (FCC, 2023) [8]."

We read this:

"We modified our camera system to extend the IR spectral range by removing the Infrared (IR) cut filter on our fixed array while incorporating additional portable hyperspectral devices. This allowed us to capture an exotic phenomenon of light in the form of spheroids, which displayed an ambiguous, elusive, and transitory nature. Multiple unidentified objects detected throughout the study are detailed. Object spectral range beyond that of visible light is characteristic of the observed phenomena; that is, observance of the phenomena predominantly lies outside the spectral range of human EM perception." 

We read lots of boring details about the methods used and the equipment used, which includes a discussion of how an aircraft was identified in some photo of an aircraft.  We read this:

"The unknown objects appear to be elusive, and they frequently remain just outside of the spectral range of human sensory perception. They are primarily seen within the infrared bandwidth and may occasionally be observed in the visible spectrum when their albedo/luminosity is sufficiently intense to be seen. We have observed a barely perceivable low Lux to high Lux light output from such objects. On rare occasions when these objects and luminosities were perceptible in the visible spectrum, they assumed variations in color frequency, such as white, blue (occasionally iridescent), orange, and red. The unknown objects have displayed quantifiable features so that we could assign some tentative taxonomic and morphometric details for referencing the differing forms, as discussed in the body of the paper (such as four to five general variations in shape geometries, and consistencies in the relative size of 1.5 meters to 3.0 meters in diameter). Their behaviors were transitory, random, indifferent, and purposeless at times, and there were moments when these objects demonstrated an awareness of us and some level of organization, intelligence, and even interaction. There were instances where we observed more bizarre features, such as luminous objects suddenly appearing and rising from or out of the ground, where none had been seen previously. Occasionally, we would see them sitting on the ocean surface or passing beneath it without disturbing that medium and any sounds."

The paper includes no photographs or images documenting the claim that mysterious spheroids were observed. This is a severe deficiency of the paper. You won't have much luck in getting people to pay attention to claims of seeing mysterious orbs unless you have photographs to back up your claims. 

In a paper such as this there is a kind of "historical amnesia" that is striking. Photos and reports of mysterious orbs in the sky have abundantly occurred for many years, often with the same colors of blue and orange mentioned above. Photos of such orbs have appeared abundantly on sites like this one, and in published articles and books. For example, using the link here you can see 14 photos I took of mysterious blue orbs in the sky on clear nights without precipitation. And here is a 2013 article on mysterious orbs by a physics PhD. But our authors make no mention of such observations, and none of their 30+references at the end of such a paper refer to such observations.

 It's the same kind of "historical amnesia" shown in the paper "The Scientific Investigation of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Using Multimodal Ground-Based Observatories," co-authored by Avi Loeb, the two Tedesco authors of the "Eye on the Sky" paper,  and many other authors. That paper makes the incorrect statement that there have been "few instrument-based studies" of UAP.  What we must always remember is that mainstream scientists tend to be very poor scholars of previous investigations of the paranormal, and  generalizations they make about such investigations are often inaccurate.  One of the authors of that paper has been notably assertive in denigrating and minimizing all previous studies of unidentified aerial phenomena, rather as if he were thinking very egotistically "work on this topic starts with me," a ridiculous attitude for a "Johnny-come-lately" like him to be taking.  

Below is one of the countless photos of mysterious blue sky orbs I have taken, a photo I took in 2019. 

A great deal of work has already been done in the investigation of mysterious orbs, and you can find some of that work at this site and by using the links here, here and here. 100+ posts referring to naked-eye observations of mysterious orbs can be read here. A look at UFO databases having many decades of observations will show that a large fraction of reported UFOs are reported to have shapes described as orbs, circles or spheres. People writing a scientific paper referring to mysterious orbs should refer to such work and data, and should not speak as if they were the first people to observe a type of anomaly that has already been abundantly observed.  Also, anyone writing such a paper should realize that their paper will be unlikely to attract wide attention unless it includes photographs of anomalies reported. 

On the page here, we have a podcast video with John Joseph Tedesco Gerald and Thomas Tedesco, and in that video they report results like those reported in their paper discussed above.  The main difference is that they keep using the word "orbs" more than using the word "spheroids" to describe what they observed.  Around the 32:00 mark in the video, they mention orb patterns, a topic I am familiar with. 

A Striking Pair of Dreams

 I continue to have innumerable dreams suggesting a theme of life after death, as I have had for years. You can read a description of 400+ such dreams by reading my post here, which I have updating for years. 

Last night I had a striking pair of dreams involving the same person, the 99-year-old former US president Jimmy Carter. First, there was a kind of "life review" statement in which a narrator said Carter was a good man. Then there was a visual of Carter traveling in a convertible, in the front seat, with has late wife Rosalyn driving. Oddly, there was a position change while they were driving, so that now Carter was driving, with Rosalyn in the other front seat.  Carter had gone over to the other side of the vehicle, a visual that may be symbolic of "going to the Other Side," or an afterlife. 

I woke up and recorded this dream in the notebook I use to record dreams at night. I then fell back to sleep. Upon awaking I remembered I had now had a second dream about Carter. In this dream he started out in a vehicle, and then it was like his body had floated out of the vehicle, and was now kind of floating in front of me. Again we have what seems like an afterlife reference, one that may symbolize a spirt leaving the "vehicle" of  the body (the body is often called the vehicle of the soul).  I can never recall having two dreams in one night about someone not a member of my family. 

The 99-year-old Carter has been in hospice for 18 months (an unusually long length of time to be in hospice).   I shook his hand during his successful presidential candidacy in 1976. 

Postscript: About a week later I had another dream about Carter, one also seeming to have afterlife symbolism. In the dream he was crossing the English Channel in an airplane, and then pumping his fists in triumph after landing. We have the motifs of an ascent, and a crossing over to an Other Side, with a triumphant result. 

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He Says the Mysterious Orbs Danced for Hours

 At the site of the National UFO Reporting Center (https://nuforc.org/) we have a post listing UFO/UAP sightings. They include these:

In February of 2024 someone reported seeing this:

"I observed 1 large pulsating orb red/orange about a mile away to the east. The orb would change colours gradually between more orange than red, then vice versa. I observed this from a vantage point of a canal bridge. The orb was still before slowly getting lower to the ground. I estimate the height in the sky to be about as high a a ten storey tower block as I could use the terrain and surrounding buildings for context. As it was getting lower, it split into 3 orbs, all the same size, and moved lower and south in perfect formation. They then rotated around each other two or three times before flying off at instant high speeds at an angle to the North. About a second later, they were out of sight. It certainly wasn't weather phenomenon. It was deliberately, controlled and clear with a blue sky backdrop making it easy to identify the details."

Another person claims that on September 14, 2023 he had a very detailed encounter with sky orbs, an encounter lasting hours. Below are some excerpts from a much longer account that uses the word "orb" very many times. 

 "All of these orbs would dance around, travel, then eventually disappear. Some would reappear as they had before, do nearly the same dance, travel the same direction, all to disappear again. This went on for hours! There was no rhythm, no order, no definite pattern to their behavior but just random antics, again and again and again....Another curious thing the orb would do is multiply. As you watched it, it would seem to clone itself and birth other orbs the same size and shine as the original. These orbs would trail off and disappear, leaving the main one to dance with its self. A time or two that night, other orbs would show up and the two or three or more would dance back and forth like they were interacting somehow. They would eventually disappear, leaving the original one to itself again."

Another person claims to have seen orbs coming from what looked like a spacecraft:

"Me and my father were driving home after leaving a family members house. We came to a stop sign, I looked up and said 'what in the hell is that!?' At that time my father saw it as well, he had no response. We were froze with awe. It was an egg shaped craft, about the size of bus, maybe bigger. It had a beam of light that came out from no source that I could tell, it simply emitted from the ship. The beam of light scanned the geography, we could see the light moving over the trees in the ground scanning everything. Then that beam of light disappeared, and two orbs came out of The Craft, almost like watching a lava lamp blob separate from another blob it just kind of stretched out from it and formed an orb and then another. One was red one was yellow. The two orbs then began circling the larger craft, they did this for about 1 minute maybe 30 seconds not sure, then they went back into the ship."

At another site we read this account:

"In Rothesay, New Brunswick, in August 2022 around 4 pm, two witnesses observed 8 glowing red orbs, approximately 750-1000 meters away, moving in a sine wave manner. After approximately 30 seconds, the orbs converged and vanished."

On another page of the same site we read this:

"In 1993, a couple in Lake County, Florida, experienced a UAP sighting on their cattle ranch. They were awakened by bright lights from three orbs, approximately 30 meters off the ground. One orb appeared suddenly at their window, causing a buzzing sensation on their bodies. The orbs quickly departed towards a neighboring ranch. Following this event, the couple reported strange experiences and paranormal activities in their lives."

Shadow Stripe Orbs: A Retrospective (Part 2)

 In part 1 of this retrospective series, I showed some mysterious orbs I photographed with shadow stripes. Let's look at some more. 

In the two photos below the one on the right has a more clear example of a shadow stripe. The repetition of the pattern during a short time span is striking. 

A shadow stripe is one looking like the one above. There may be either one or two of the "shadow lines."

In the photo below, we rather seem to see a number 7 in an orb. 

We see another orb with a shadow-stripe near a bookcase:

Below we have three examples of shadow-stripe orbs:

In the photo below we see a letter "L" in an orb with a shadow stripe:

We see a very clear shadow stripe in the bright orb below:

We see below a shadow stripe in the orb above the TV. It is interesting that the actress shown (Jane Powell) has a slight roundabout connection to a relative of mine she never met, one I won't explain. 

The mysterious green orb below has a clear shadow stripe:

Finally we have this mysterious orb with two shadow stripes:

An Orange Orb

Photo date: August 20, 2024. Photographer: Mark Mahin. 

We see below a mysterious orange orb I photographed indoors. 

A Thought of Someone Just Before Hearing of His Death

 This morning I very strangely was thinking of Phil Donahue while lying in bed, someone I have not thought about for many years. I remember having these thoughts (I am unsure about the order in which they occurred):

(1) I remembered the late Danny Thomas, remembering him on a talk show maybe five decades ago, saying, "If you're going to have a nose, don't fool around."

(2) I remembered his daughter Marlo, whose acting I enjoyed for years on the TV show That Girl. I remembered the work she has done tor the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which Danny founded in 1962. 

(3) I remembered Marlo had married Phil Donahue, and I remembered Phil's  courage in questioning the Iraq War, defying the misguided war fever around early 2003.  I couldn't remember whether they were still married, or even whether Phil was still alive. 

Soon after I woke up this morning I read on the news that Phil Donahue had died last night, being married for the past 44 years to Marlo Thomas. He was a great talk show host. I did not know he was ill. 

If you're looking for a good registered charity to donate money to, consider the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or the Save the Children charity I have been contributing to monthly since about 2002. 

A Precognitive Dream?

Yesterday I dreamed that Nancy Pelosi was at the Democratic National Convention, telling jokes about politicians in the Republican party. The convention will be held in Chicago this week. I did an internet search to see whether I could find any information to corroborate this dream. I saw a news article saying that Pelosi will be in Chicago, and will be featured on Stephen Colbert's Late Show as part of its coverage of the  convention. Now, Colbert is a comedian, and his Late Show is basically witty banter,  so we can assume that Pelosi will tell a joke or two about the Republicans, just like in my dream. 

If the dream was precognitive, it was not my first such dream. About a year before the World Trade Center collapsed, I had a dream of it collapsing. It is the only building that has collapsed in one of my dreams. 

Postscript: Pelosi did speak at the Democratic National Convention on August 21, 2024, but her speech had no jokes. There was widespread discussion on the Internet that day about whether at the convention on the previous night Barack Obama had made a certain type of joke by indicating with his hands a certain length while referring to Donald Trump's focus on crowd sizes. And The Guardian stated that in her speech at the convention Michele Obama  "lampooned" Trump on that night. So I can merely describe my dream as being roughly accurate, but not precisely accurate. 

Like a Curve Ball

 Photo date: August 17, 2024  Photographer: Mark Mahin. 

We see below a mysterious orb I photographed indoors, one that seems to be on a fast curving path, like a baseball pitcher's curve ball. 

NY Times Quotes Witness Saying Green Orbs Flew Around in His Home

In a new article entitled "A Memoir Offers an Insider’s Perspective Into the Pentagon’s U.F.O. Hunt," the New York Times reports that Luis Elizondo, who " ran highly classified programs for both the White House and the National Security Council," says that he saw mysterious green orbs flying around in his house. We read this: 

"Elizondo also wrote in the memoir of personal encounters with U.A.P., describing green-glowing orbs about the size of a basketball that invaded his home on and off for over seven years. The objects were able to pass through walls, and behaved as if they were under intelligent control, he wrote.

The orbs were also witnessed by his wife, two daughters and their neighbors, he wrote."

For most of the past 70 years the New York Times has done a very poor job of reporting on the paranormal, as I discuss in my post here. But in recent years the New York Times seems to have had some good reporting on UFO sightings. It seems rather as if the policy of the paper is that its writers are allowed to talk about something that might be paranormal, as long as the observations can be explained in some way compatible with materialism.  So we have the quote above, which got through the "nothing spooky allowed" filter bubble of the New York Times, because the story is connected to UFO reporting and claims of metal spaceships from other planets. 

But I'm rather sure the New York Times will not be following up on the "mysterious green orbs in the house" claim quoted above. I won't get an email from the paper asking me about the 264 photos I've taken of mysterious green orbs (mostly taken  indoors), or the 800 photos I've taken of mysterious striped orbs, or the 114 posts I've published on this site documenting cases of people who saw mysterious orbs with the naked eye. When investigating the paranormal or UFOs or UAP, the New York Times seems to follow a "round up the usual talking heads" approach in which we hear the same old people being quoted over and over again. 

When 13,000 Americans Petitioned the US Senate to Investigate Spiritual Manifestations

 In 1854 a newspaper account appeared of a petition signed by 13,000 petitioners and N. P. Talmadge, who served as a US Senator and the governor of Iowa.  The petition called for a scientific investigation into reports of spiritual manifestations, which had been begun in 1848 in the USA town of Hydesville, New York. By 1854 reports of the spiritual manifestations were arising abundantly in the United States and Europe, as documented in my posts here and here and here and here and here. The newspaper account gives this summary of the petition:

"In the Senate, on Monday, Mr. Shields presented a memorial from N. P. Talmadge and 13,000 citizens of the United States, asking the appointment of a scientific committee to investigate certain physical and mental phenomena of questionable origin and mysterious import, that have of late occurred in this country and Europe...He observed that a partial analysis of the phenomena attest:

First. An occult force, which is exhibited in sliding, raising, arresting, holding, suspending, and otherwise disturbing ponderable bodies, apparently in direct opposition to the acknowledged laws of matter, and transcending the accredited powers of the human mind.

Secondly. Lights of various forms and colors, and of different degrees of intensity, appear in dark rooms, where chemical action or phosphorescent illumination cannot he developed, and where there are no means of generating electricity or of producing combustion.

Thirdly. A variety of sounds, frequent in occurrence and diversified in character and of singular significance and import, consisting of mysterious rapping, indicating the presence of invisible intelligence. Sounds are often heard like those produced by the prosecution of mechanical operations, like the hoarse murmurs of the winds and waves, mingled with the harsh creaking noise of the mast and rigging of a ship laboring in a rough sea. Concussions also occur resembling distant thunder, producing oscillatory movements of surrounding objects, and a tremulous motion of the premises upon which these phenomena occur. Harmonious sounds as of human voices, and other sounds resembling those of a fife, drum, trumpet...have been produced without any visible agency.

Fourthly. All the functions of the human body and mind are influenced, in what appear to be certain abnormal states of the system, by causes not yet adequately under stood or accounted for. The 'occult force' or invisible power, frequently interrupts the normal operation of the faculties, suspending sensation and voluntary motion, and reducing the temperature of the body to a deathlike coldness and rigidity; and diseases heretofore considered incurable have been entirely eradicated by this mysterious agency....

The memorialists, while thus disagreeing as to the causes, concur in opinion as to the occurrence of the alleged phenomena, and, in view of their origin, nature, and bearing upon the interests of mankind, demand for them a patient, rigid, scientific investigation; and request the appointment of a scientific commission for that purpose."

The petition was presented to the US Senate by one of the two senators from Illinois, James Shields, who after presenting the petition gave a long diatribe denouncing the petitioners, and "poisoning the well" by shamefully trying to depict the witnesses as crazy or fools or evil people. He gave us an infamous example of what is now called gaslighting. His diatribe caused the petition to be ignored.  A scientific commission like the one that 13,000 Americans asked for was not formed until 1869, when the London Dialectical Society took up a long formal investigation of the phenomena that the 13,000 Americans asked to be investigated. After a long investigation, that society issued a report resoundingly finding in favor of the reality of the described phenomena. You can read about the report of that society in my post here.  The text of the investigation committee's report can be read here, where we read the following on page 7: 

"Since their appointment on the 16th of February, 1869, your Sub-committee have held forty meetings for the purpose of experiment and test.

All of these meetings were held at the private residences of members of the Committee, purposely to preclude the possibility of pre-arranged mechanism or contrivance.

The furniture of the room in which the experiments were conducted was on every occasion its accustomed furniture. The tables were in all cases heavy dining tables, requiring a strong effort to move them. The smallest of them was 5ft. 9in. long by 4ft. wide, and the largest, 9 ft. 3 in. long and 4.5 ft. wide, and of proportionate weight.

The rooms, tables, and furniture generally were repeatedly subjected to careful examination before, during, and after the experiments, to ascertain that no concealed machinery, instrument, or other contrivance existed by means of which the sounds or movements hereinafter mentioned could be caused.

The experiments were conducted in the light of gas, except on the few occasions specially noted in the minutes...."

On pages 8 to 10 of the report we read this: 

"Every test that the combined intelligence of your Committee could devise has been tried with patience and perseverance. The experiments were conducted under a great variety of conditions, and ingenuity has been exerted in devising plans by which your Committee might verify their observations and preclude the possibility of imposture or of delusion.

Your Committee have confined their report to facts witnessed by them in their collective capacity, which facts were palpable to the senses and their reality capable of demonstrative proof.

Of the members of your Sub-Committee about four-fifths entered upon the investigation wholly sceptical as to the reality of the alleged phenomena, firmly believing them to be the result either of imposture or of delusion or of involuntary muscular action. It was only by irresistible evidence, under conditions that precluded the possibility of either of these solutions, and after trial and test many times repeated, that the most sceptical of your Sub-committee were slowly and reluctantly convinced that the phenomena exhibited in the course of their protracted inquiry were veritable facts.

The result of their long-continued and carefully conducted experiments, after trial by every detective test they could devise, has been to establish conclusively :

First: That under certain bodily or mental conditions of one or more of the persons present, a force is exhibited sufficient to set in motion heavy substances, without the employment of any muscular force, without contact or material connection of any kind between such substances and the body of any person present.

Second: That this force can cause sounds to proceed, distinctly audible to all present, from solid substances not in contact with, nor having any visible or material connection with, the body of any person present, and which sounds are proved to proceed from such substances by the vibrations which are distinctly felt when they are touched.

Third : That this force is frequently directed by intelligence."

On pages 10 to page 12 we read this:

"At thirty-four out of the forty meetings of your Committee some of these phenomena occurred....In less than a minute the table, untouched, moved four times ; at first about five inches to one side, then about twelve inches to the opposite side, and then, in like manner, four inches and six inches respectively....The table was then carefully examined, turned upside down and taken to pieces, but nothing was discovered to account for the phenomena. The experiment was conducted throughout in the full light of gas above the table.

Altogether, your Sub-committee have witnessed upwards of fifty similar motions without contact on eight different evenings, in the houses of members of your Sub-committee, the most careful tests being applied on each occasion. In all similar experiments the possibility of mechanical or other contrivance was further negatived by the fact that the movements were in various directions, now to one side, then to the other ; now up the room, now down the room — motions that would have required the co-operation of many hands or feet ; and these, from the great size and weight of the tables, could not have been so used without the visible exercise of muscular force. Every hand and foot was plainly to be seen and could not have been moved without instant detection.

Delusion was out of the question. The motions were in various directions, and were witnessed simultaneously by all present. They were matters of measurement, and not of opinion or of fancy.

And they occurred so often, under so many and such various conditions, with such safeguards against error or deception, and with such invariable results, as to satisfy the members of your Sub-committee by whom the experiments were tried, wholly sceptical as most of them were when they entered upon the investigation, that there is a force capable of moving heavy bodies without material contact and which force is in some unknown manner dependent upon the presence of human beings."

But how many witnesses were there in support of such phenomena? In the Dialectical Society's report we read the following summary:

"1. Thirteen witnesses state that they have seen heavy bodies — in some instances men — rise slowly in the air and remain there for sometime without visible or tangible support. 

2. — Fourteen witnesses testify to having seen hands or figures, not appertaining to any human being, but life-like in appearance and mobility, which they have sometimes touched or even grasped,

and which they are therefore convinced were not the result of imposture or illusion.

3. — Five witnesses state that they have been touched, by some invisible agency, on various parts of the body, and often where requested, when the hands of all present were visible.

4. — Thirteen witnesses declare that they have heard musical pieces well played upon instruments not manipulated by any ascertainable agency.

5. — Five witnesses state that they have seen red-hot coals applied to the hands or heads of several - persons without producing pain or scorching ; and three witnesses state that they have had the same experiment made upon themselves with the like immunity.

6 — Eight witnesses state that they have received precise information through rappings, writings, and in other ways, the accuracy of which was unknown at the time to themselves or to any persons present, and which, on subsequent inquiry, was found to be correct.

7. — One witness declares that he has received a precise and detailed statement which, nevertheless, proved to be entirely erroneous.

8. — Three witnesses state that they have been present when drawings, both in pencil and colours, were produced in so short a time, and under such conditions, as to render human agency impossible.

9. — Six witnesses declare that they have received information of future events, and that in some cases the hour and minute of their occurrence have been accurately foretold, days and even weeks before."

The fact that US college textbooks and US professors  fail to mention the results of this investigation of the London Dialectical Society is a fact that should shake your confidence in the credibility of  academia, which to such a large degree is enclosed inside a "filter bubble" echo chamber in which observations contrary to prevailing dogmas are senselessly suppressed and censored. Why is it that no academia researcher has attempted to try water photography experiments like the ones I did for years, which produced on so many different days massively-repeating-pattern anomalies so very dramatic and mechanistically inexplicable, as you can see in the free online book here? I suspect because such researchers are afraid of finding results that might shake the dogmas they smugly hold, by revealing signs of an unfathomable agency. The experiments can be performed using the protocol described here, which requires an investment of less than $1000.

Below is one of the photos produced through such a technique, with only pure clean water being photographed:

Postscript:  The petition to the US Senate described above was presented by  N. P. Talmadge, who served as a US Senator and the governor of Iowa.  A newspaper account of the previous year (1853) has a letter by Talmadge in which he discusses the kind of observations that caused him and others to submit the petition or sign it. Talmadge describes a seance in which there were communications claiming to be from the then-deceased US senator John Calhoun. He describes movements and levitations of a heavy table, which very many respectable witnesses claimed to see during this period. Talmadge states this:

"During the above communication of Calhoun, the table moved occasionally, perhaps a

foot; first one way and then the other. After

the communication closed, we ail moved back

from the table, from two to four feet—so that

no one touched the table. Suddenly the table

moved from the position it occupied some three

or four feet, rested a few moments, and then

moved back to its original position. Then it

again moved as far the other way, and return

ed to the place it started from. One side of

the table was then raised, and stood for a few

moments at an angle of about thirty-five degrees,

 and then again rested on the floor as us

usual.

The table was a large, heavy, round table, at

which ten or a dozen persons might be seated

at dinner. During all these movements no person 

touched the table, nor was any one near it.

After seeing it raised in the manner above mentioned. 

I had the curiosity to test its weight

by raising it myself. I accordingly took my

seat by it, placed my hands under the leaf, and

exerted as much force as I was capable of in

that sitting posture, and could not raise it a

particle from the floor. I then stood up in the

best possible position to exert the greatest

force, took hold of the leaf, and still could not

raise it with all the strength I could apply. I

then requested the three ladies to take hold

around the table, and try altogether to lift it.

We lifted... and did not raise it a particle. We

then desisted, fearing we should break the table. I then said, 'Will the spirits permit me

to raise the table?' I took hold alone, and raised it without difficulty.

After this the following conversation ensued:

'Q,. Can you raise the table entirely from

the floor? A. Yes - '

'Q. Will you raise me with it? A. Yes;

get me the square table.'

The square table was of cherry, with four

legs, a large size tea table. It was brought out

and substituted for the round one, the leaves

being raised. I took my seat on the centre;

the three ladies sat at the sides and arms resting upon it. This, of course, 

added to the weight to be raised, namely, my own weight

of the table. Two legs of the table were then

raised about six inches from the floor, and then

the other two legs were raised to a level of the

first, so that the whole table was suspended in the

air about six inches above the floor. While thus

seated on it, I could feel a gentle vibratory motion as if floating 

in the atmosphere. After being thus suspended in the air for a few moments, the table ... let down again to the floor....

I was then directed to put the guitar on the

drawer. We were ail seated as before, with

our hands and arms resting on the table.

The guitar was touched softly and gently,

and gave forth sweet and delicious sounds like

the accompaniment to a beautiful and exquisite

piece of music. It then played a sort of symphony, in much 

louder and bolder tones. And

as it played these harmonious sounds, becoming

soft and sweet, and low, began to recede, and

grew fainter and fainter till they died away on

the ear in the distance. Then they returned

and grew louder and nearer, till they were

heard again in full and gushing volume as when

they commenced.

I am utterly incapable of giving any adequate

idea of the beauty and harmony of this music.

I have heard the guitar touched by the most

delicate and scientific hands, and heard from it

under such guidance, the most splendid performances. But never did I hear any thing that

fastened upon the very soul like these prophetic strains drawn out by an invisible hand from

the Spirit World."

The account by Talmadge has further astonishing details, such as the mysterious production of a line of text, written in handwriting matching Calhoun's.  You can read the rest of the account using the link here:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88064476/1853-06-11/ed-1/seq-1/

Accounts like the one above were very commonly given by many distinguished witnesses at this time, as you can read about by reading my posts   here, here, here, here and here.  Accounts like the one above were often the best type of testimony, and often appeared as newspaper accounts published a small number of days after the claimed observations, accounts signed by multiple witnesses, often more than four. 

Rather Like an Orange Ghost

 Photo date: August 7, 2024. Photographer: Mark Mahin. 

We see below a light anomaly I photographed indoors. We have six protrusions from a central shape, and it's not too hard to imagine the top one being a head, the middle two or three as arms, and the bottom two as legs.  You almost get the suspicion that some burst of energy was trying to make a human shape. 

300 Gathered to See a Mysterious Orb Seen by 4 Policemen

 Below is a newspaper account from 1952, describing a "spooky, glowing ball of light."

You can read the full account using the link below:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1952-07-13/ed-1/seq-18/

We have four police witnesses of a spooky orb that moves from a road into the woods, and then changes color from yellow to red before disappearing. 

Shadow Stripe Orbs: A Retrospective (Part 1)

 In this series, I will show some mysterious orbs I previously photographed, orbs that all had a very clear shadow stripe. 

The photo below from 2019 shows an orange orb with a shadow stripe:

A shadow stripe is a type of stripe looking like the one below:

The photo below from 2020 shows a shadow-stripe orb I photographed in Grand Central Terminal in New York:

The photo below from 2020 shows another orb with a shadow stripe:

The photo below from 2020 shows another orb with a shadow stripe:

The photo below from 2020 shows another orb with a shadow stripe:

The photo below from 2019 shows another orb with a shadow stripe:

In the right photo from 2019 we see a shadow stripe:

The photo below from 2019 shows another orb with a shadow stripe:

The photo below from 2019 shows another orb with a shadow stripe:

The photo below from 2019 (taken in Grand Central Terminal) shows another orb with a  shadow stripe:

When Recall Comes "Out of Nowhere"

 We all know how memory recall works in regard to things you haven't thought of in many years. Before there is some recall of something you haven't thought of in a very long time, there is almost invariably some stimulus causing the recall. For example, nobody just goes from thinking about the American presidential election to recalling the Battle of Trafalgar. But if you happen to be thinking about Vivian Leigh, you may recall her memorable performance in the movie "That Hamilton Woman." And you may then recall that movie's ending, in which her character learns the results of the Battle of Trafalgar, which you may not have thought about in ages. 

This morning I lay awake in bed, and out of nowhere there pops into my mind the catchy refrain of the song "Angel of the Morning." I had not heard the song in very many years, and also had not recalled its tune or lyrics in very many years. And I wasn't thinking about angels, or the morning, or any singer who ever sang the song,  nor did I dream about an angel or a morning. I could not even recall any singer or group who sang the song. Where did the very distant recollection of the tune and lyric come from?  Cases like this may make me wonder about whether a thought or recollection may suddenly pop into your head, caused by some supernatural agent.