Told Someone Was Dying, She Soon Saw a Spooky Orb Above Her Head

 On page 124 of Volume 10 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (1894), which you can  read here, we read this account by a Miss Williams:

(191. 2.) From Miss Williams. 11, Cleveland-terrace, Coatham, Redcar, September 23rd, 1889.

 "I was living at home with my parents at Eston-in-Cleveland. There was a working man called Long living in the village, not far from our house, whose wife was taken ill. Dr. Fulton, who at that time was staying with us, came in one night between 9 and 10 o'clock and said Mrs. Long was dying. After that we sat talking over the fire a good while, and then my sister Isabella and I went off to bed. We slept in a back bedroom, and after we got to this bedroom I said, ' Oh, I've forgotten something in the large bedroom !' To this latter I proceeded by myself, and, as I approached the door, something seemed to say to me, ' You'll see something of Mrs. Long, living or dead ! ' But I thought no more of this, and entered the bedroom, which I had to cross to the opposite end for what I wanted. When I had got the things in my hand, I noticed a lovely light hanging over my head. It was a round light —perfectly round. I had taken no light with me, but went for the things I wanted in the dark. I looked to see if there was any light coming in from the windows, but there was none : in that direction there was total darkness. I grasped one hand with the other and stood looking at the strange light to be sure that I was not deceived and was not imagining it. I walked across the room to the door, and all the way the light was hanging between my head and the ceiling. It was akin to the electric light : something of a cloud, though every part of it was beaming and running over with light. It left me at the bedroom door. On first seeing it a strange impression seized me, and after it left me I was so impressed that I could not speak of it to anyone for a day or two. I wondered at the time whether it had anything to do with Mrs. Long, and on inquiry I found that she died just about the time when I saw the light. If there was any difference, I judged it would be a little before, but there would not be much in it. This would be about 11 p.m , and about four years ago. It left an impression on my mind which I have never forgotten, and never shall forget. Mrs. Long was not ill many days—about two or three ; she died rather suddenly. I was rather interested in her. I did not see her during her illness, but had often seen her and talked to her before.  I was perfectly well at the time. and was in no trouble or anxiety. My age at the time was 23. I have had no experience of the kind before or since. I saw no figure, only a lovely light. Before telling my sister I made her promise she would not ridicule me nor call me superstitious. To the best of my recollection this is a correct statement. "

-- Mary Helena Williams.

"' P.S. —-The light which I saw was a palish blue. It emitted no rays, so that all the rest of the room was in darkness. It was wider in circumference than my head, so that as I walked I could see it above me without raising my head. As I left the room it remained, and when I looked again was gone. It was in a corner, where the darkness of the room was deepest and the least chance of illumination from the windows on the right and left, that I first saw it above my head. I had no fear, but a kind of sacred awe. The light was unlike any other that I ever saw, and I should say brighter than any other, or, at least, purer. Looking at it did not affect the eyes. It was midway between my head and the ceiling."

On the next page Mary's sister corroborates the account. 

Stars, Stripes and Spooky: A Retrospective

 Let's look at some photos I previously took of mysterious orbs near an American flag. Most of the photos were taken in Grand Central Terminal in New York City. 

The photo I took below in 2019 showed a "flag's extra stripe" effect:

I took the photo below in 2019:

The photo below shows a bright orb:

Below is a photo from 2018:

I can't tell whether this 2016 orb was playing "flag tag" or "wreath tag":

This 2016 photo may make you ask: are blue orbs attracted to the blue part of a flag?

This shot from 2018 shows two mysterious orbs:

This orb from 2017 was bright and yellow

This one from 2016 seemed to squeeze into a slot:

This one from 2015 had a great color:

This one was from 2014:

This one was also from 2014, with the orb being large, making up 15% of the original photo height:

The Mysterious Orbs and the Presidential Assassination

 On page 13 of the January 1897 edition of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, which you can read here, we read this:

"On the evening of May 21st, 1881, I was seated by a window at A. B. Rolfs in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Saw two large balls of light pass the window followed by a long crimson scarf that [it] seemed would never pass, its length was so great. I rose from my seat and went to the dining-room where some of the family were at tea ; told them what I saw, and stated my convictions that it was some national calamity. The balls meant death and the long scarf blood that would enwrap the whole nation. I then saw a stout, dark young man who handed me a paper. I then said, 'We will hear of this by such a young man as I describe.'  Time passed and the vision had gone from memory, when one day in July, same year, we all sat sewing and a man passed the window. I recognised the young man I had seen in my May vision ; sprang to meet him and he handed me a bulletin announcing Garfield's assassination, or rather the shooting that cost his life—the first intimation we had had of such a thing."

President Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881, and never fully recovered. He died on September 19,1881. The shooting was about six weeks after the strange sight of moving balls of light. 

The Mysterious Orbs and the Spooky Death Notification

 On page 375 of the June 22, 1934 edition of the periodical Light, which you can read here, we read the following account of observing mysterious orbs in a seance:

"MME. NIJINSKY, who recently returned to London, tells us of a strange experience of Rudi Schneider and his wife. Rudi said he had never sat with a Medium. Mme. Nijinsky took him and his wife to Miss Frances Campbell. During the sitting—which Rudi, we are told, hugely enjoyed—balls of light sprang up and skipped from Rudi to Mme. Nijinsky’s lap. Miss Campbell gave accurate descriptions of the family affairs of her sitters ; then she turned to Mrs. Schneider and said : 'I feel I must prepare you for a blow. Your brother has been shot to-day in Linz.'  Mrs. Schneider protested that it could not be true. Next day, however, a telegram arrived stating that in the riot which cost so many lives in Austria, Mrs. Schneider’s brother had been killed."

A Mysterious Blue Orb, Levitation and a Spirt-Hand Playing a Violin

 On page 187 of the March 21, 1935 edition of the periodical Light, which can be read here, we get two astonishing accounts. First, we hear of the sighting of an apparition:

"In the Revue Spirite Beige for February (Liège), Dr. Lucien Graux tells the following story. One night, M. Albert Lambert, of the Comédie Française, was silently going over his part in ' Ruy Bias'  in his private room, when there entered a man in a long cloak, who was the very image of the Ruy Bias of the title part of the play. The apparition commenced to recite Victor Hugo’s verses. Albert Lambert listened with every sense alert; it was as though revelation and enlightenment were coming to him from the other world. When he was afterwards questioned about this vision, the famous actor replied: ' You wish to know whether it was an illusion, whether I really saw, or only thought I saw? My emphatic reply is this : I both saw and I heard.' ”

Then we have an account of a mysterious blue orb appearing at a seance:

"An eye-witness has sent to the Neues Wiener Journal (Vienna, January 7th), an interesting account of a sitting with the young French Medium, Mile. Remy. The sitters were the guests of Professor Lyonel, and included two well-known University Professors, two medical men, and an engineer, who was in charge of an intricate set of control apparatus, including a camera for infra-red film photography, as well as one that registered even the faintest manifestation of light. The delicate-looking young girl sat down in an armchair and was then put into slight hypnotic sleep. After an interval of only five minutes, Professor Lyonel was touched by a hand and the correspondent by another; then the table on which the sitters’ hands were resting was raised by powerful pressure from below and levitated into the air. The wish was expressed that the hitherto sceptical investigators might be enabled to see what was taking place, and a second later an iridescent ball of blue light appeared close under the ceiling; and the ticking of the light-registering apparatus gave independent evidence of this fact. By the light of this ball of blue, the sitters saw that the table was raised six to seven feet above the floor. The light then sank down over the Medium’s chair, revealing the sleeping figure of the young girl; and so profound was this sleep that it was not broken when, next moment, with a loud report, the ball of light burst and disappeared.

The account ends: 'There followed ten minutes of expectant waiting, when suddenly the room was filled with the most marvellous but infinitely sad music of a violin. We had seen before the room was darkened that, amongst the instruments on its walls, there was a violin, with its bow beside it. But whose was the masterhand that was now playing it? Certainly not the Medium’s, for, under the controlling eyes of the apparatus, she could not leave her seat even for one second without being detected; and the strip of film which I was allowed to examine later on proved that throughout the seance Mile. Remy had never left her chair. But the photograph also showed a film-like hand hovering in the air, with the delicate tapering fingers of a woman—ethereally delicate, as if from another world than ours.' ”

Paranormal Elongation, a Piano Levitation, and Mysterious Orbs

 A very distinguished Earl (called under British customs the Master of Lindsay or Lord Lindsay) had many meetings with the famous medium Daniel Dunglas Home. Lord Lindsay kept careful records of paranormal events occurring at such meetings. Lord Lindsay was interviewed by the investigators of the famous Dialectical Society of London, when they did their long formal investigation finding resoundingly in favor of paranormal phenomena, which resulted in a long report that can be read in full using the link here or here. Lord Lindsay described viewing various dramatic types of paranormal phenomena, and his testimony is summarized in my post here. 

Lord Lindsay had printed up a small number of copies of a privately printed document discussing his observations of the paranormal around 1870. For many years the document was available only to a small, select group of people who had one of the rare copies. Finally in the 1920's the Society for Psychical Research published the document, which appeared in Volume 35 of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (1925), which you can read here.  We have a book-length document describing some of the most amazing marvels humans have ever seen. 

On page 60 and the following pages we have a description of a Seance #6 at the house of Mr. Jencken, the husband of the medium Kate Fox, by then Kate Fox Jencken. (Kate was herself someone associated with many reports of the paranormal, as discussed here.) First we read that a servant at the house had been "seeing phosphorescent balls of light in her room at night."

We then read this:

"Home stood up and said, 'He is very strong and tall.'  and standing there beside me. Home grew, I should say, at least, six inches. Mr. Jencken, who is a taller man than Home, stood beside him, so there could be no mistake about it. Home's natural height is, I believe, 5 feet 10 inches. I should say he grew to 6 feet 4 inches or 6 feet 6 inches. I placed my hands on his feet, and felt that they were fairly level on the ground. .... He appeared to grow also in breadth and size all over, but there was no way of testing that. He diminished down to his natural size, and said, 'Daniel will grow tall again ' ; he did so, and said, 'Daniel's feet are on the ground,' he walked about, and stamped his feet. He returned to his natural size, and sitting down, he said, 'Daniel is coming back now, sit down, and do not tell Daniel at once what he has said.' In a few seconds he awoke."

This was only one of many times in which a paranormal elongation of the body of Daniel Dunglas Home was reported. We then read that the seance ended in this way

"We all went into the drawing room ; it was quite dark. Home sat at the piano, and played a few notes. Mrs. Hennings sat near him ; Mrs. Jencken a little way off ; Mr. Jencken and I stood near the piano. Soon we observed the light that we had been told we should see. A small luminous ball flitting about, sometimes very brilliant ; the chords of the piano were swept, but the keys were not touched. The piano was lifted off the ground about 2 inches. I had my hand underneath, and it was again lifted about 2 inches, and then without any effort, I should say 8 inches higher. It was not tilted, but lifted bodily. We now heard loud raps, the alphabet was called, and ' Good night ' spelled out. Nothing more occurred.."

Effects such as these in the presence of Daniel Dunglas Home were reported by many witnesses. As discussed in my post here, Home was investigated by the leading physicist Sir William Crookes, who reported dramatic paranormal effects occurring in Home's presence, including the levitation of Home himself (as you can read about in Crookes' publications here and here). 

Like a Volcano

 Photo date: October 15, 2024. Photographer: Mark Mahin. 

We see below a mysterious orb I photographed indoors. Oddly inside the orb I see a shape that reminds me of a volcano shape.  I hope this is not some kind of ominous omen.  A volcano eruption can be like nuclear fallout, and just as deadly. I hope there is no connection between this image and a dream I had on October 4 about people gradually dying from nuclear fallout. 

The Sky Orb Was as Bright as the Moon

Below is an account from a paper dated September 10, 1959:

Brothers, Neighbor Report UFO Here Bright As Moon (From The Peoria Journal Star) 

"A Peoria drug salesman reported seeing an unidentified flying object 'just about as bright as the moon but not as high' at 10:30 p m. Saturday as be went out to move his car. J. H. Baker, 2725 Renwood Ave., Hamilton Park, said he at first thought the object was an airplane, but it then appeared as 'a round large ball of white light.' The phenomenon, said Baker, could be seen moving rapidly from southwest to northeast at a height of 10,000 to 12,000 feet. Baker said the object also was seen by his brother, R. J. Baker, visiting here from Chicago, and by a neighbor, Jack Rhodes, 2724 Renwood. The brother trained a powerful pair of binoculars on it. The strange object stayed in sight from 4 to 6 minutes. 'It was moving much faster than a jet plane,' Baker reported." 

The length of time the sight was observed seems to rule out a meteor (something that appears visible in the sky for less than 15 seconds).  A check of a moon phase calendar suggests that on the Saturday in question (September 6, 1959) the moon looked like a mere thin crescent. 

The Telekinesis and the Mysterious Orb

Telekinesis refers to some paranormal ability to move matter only by mind or the power of spirit. You could use the term for any inexplicable movement seen at a seance, such as the table levitations that were so widely reported. On page 294 of the document here, we have a letter by Arthur Conan Doyle, dated July 19, 1922. He records observations at a seance of the Austrian medium Frau Silbert:

"Yesterday, July 18th, I was one of six who sat with Frau Silbert, the Austrian medium, at the British College of Psychic Science....I was seated on the left of the medium. Behind her was the 'cabinet,' a curtained enclosure, partially open in front. This I examined and found empty. The red light was kept fairly high—so high that we could easily see every movement of the medium or of each other. We laid our watches upon the ground under the table, as it was said that the medium’s control was able sometimes to scratch his name, Ivel, upon them. I may say at once that this phenomenon did not take place....

Presently the medium sank into trance, and made curious movements with her hands as if she were drawing some substance from her mouth and nose. If anyone were choking with cobwebs and was trying to clear oneself, it is the movement they would have made. She then stood up, gave a sharp cry, and picked apparently out of the air behind her one of the watches which had been on the ground. We were all agreed that neither she nor any member of the company had stooped down from the moment that the watches had been placed there. It was a clear case of movement without contact or telekinesis.  

The trance now deepened and the woman gave little whining cries, exactly like those which are the prelude to childbirth. Eva gives the same cries when she is about to emit ectoplasm. The actual emission is, I fancy, a relief. Presently I saw on the floor, about a foot behind the medium, and between her chair and mine, a luminous ball, like a phosphorescent sponge, rather larger than my fist. It was quite clear but it vanished in a few seconds. Further luminous patches then appeared protruding from under the curtains. The ball was exactly such as has been described by Miss Scatcherd in her observations upon Eva.....Several times the curtain of the cabinet was blown out as in a high wind, and twice I was touched by some solid body when I was quite clear of the medium. The sensation was that of a dog rubbing against my leg."

The mysterious fluttering of a curtain (as if blown by a wind) was an effect frequently reported in the seances of Eusapia Palladino.  From a quality-of-evidence standpoint, a dated account like this (stating what someone saw on the same day or the previous day) is relatively good evidence, much better than someone just recalling what he saw months ago or years ago. I advise people to always immediately write down a dated signed account of any thing very unusual that they witnessed, whether it be something paranormal-seeming or something that may be a matter of investigation by a scientist or a court. 

An Orange Orb

 Photo date: October 11, 2024. Photographer: Mark Mahin.

We see below a mysterious orange orb I photographed indoors. 

An Orb Transforming Into a Drawing Hand?

 In the book you can read for free using this link, author Edward T. Bennett has some impressive-sounding  claims to make about the medium David Duguid and the medium Mrs. Everitt.  In the seances of David Duguid very impressive artwork would be produced while the medium was in a trance.  At the seances of Mrs. Everitt, there would reportedly occur writing at inexplicable speeds. We have a citation of  page 507 of the document here, where we have a witness claim that 280 words were written in only ten or twelve seconds;  and the page includes a quotation of such words, which make up reasonable text. We also have a citation of page 14 of the periodical here, where we have this claim:

"The following message was given by direct writing—that is, without physical contact—at a séance at which Mrs. Everitt was the medium. The circle was composed of Mr. and Mrs. Thos. Everitt, Mr. and Mrs. R. Pearce, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Pearce, Mr. Morell Theobald, and Mr. R. Gale. Though the message consists of more than five hundred and fifty words it was written, as nearly as could be estimated, in about five seconds."

The passage is quoted, and it sounds reasonable enough.  The Bennett book has quite a few of the mysteriously arising drawings that occurred in the Duguid seances, and some are very impressive artwork. 

In another book on page 43 the author Jas Robertson reports his first attendance at what apparently was a seance of David Duguid (the wording is a little unclear about which medium was involved):

"At my first sitting I witnessed phenomena which I have never forgotten, and I can recollect saying to myself, when I saw a globe of light travelling from the end of the room, and assuming the form of a human hand when it reached the table, 'There never can come to me in all the future years anything which will weaken or make me deny what I am now witnessing.' "

Note: www.archive.org is down today October 10,  in an event possibly related to the Hurricane Milton power outage. As soon as it comes back online, the last of my three links should work.

The Water Face Effect: A Retrospective

When I started to get face-like structures when photographing falling water drops years ago, I called that extremely startling effect "the water face effect."  Below is a retrospective of some of the most startling examples I got of this astonishing phenomenon. I took all of the photos when photographing only pure, clean water drops falling. 

On this day in 2019 I got very many photos like the one below while photographing only pure, clean water drops falling. 

Below is a similar photo from this day in 2019 which I got while photographing only pure, clean water drops falling. 

Below is another photo from the same day, which I got while photographing only pure, clean water drops falling. 

On this day in 2021 I got more than 1000 face-like orbs like the ones below, all appearing while I photographed only pure, clean drops of falling water.

On this day in 2020 I got many photos showing what looked like surprised faces, all appearing while I photographed only pure, clean drops of falling water.

A similar pattern appeared many times on another day in 2020 while I photographed only pure, clean drops of falling water.

The ones below I photographed in 2019 rather seem to have features resembling eyes, a nose and a mouth. Again, they appeared while I  photographed only pure, clean drops of falling water.

To help demonstrate the authenticity of this astonishing phenomenon, I took a video of my camera's viewfinder as I was photographing these mysterious "orb faces." The video is shown below. In the video, you can clearly see the face-like details appear many times in the camera's viewfinder as I was photographing nothing but ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling in front of a black featureless background.

I have quite a few other viewfinder videos like the one above, showing my camera viewfinder as I photographed massively repeating orb patterns appearing during the photography of ordinary drops of pure, clean water falling. You can view such viewfinder videos using the link here. 

To see the complete series of photos showing this effect of mysterious face-like structures appearing during the photography of pure, clean falling water drops, use the link here and keep pressing "Older Posts" at the bottom right. 

This "water face effect" is only a small fraction of the much larger phenomenon under which I got for years dramatically repeating patterns of many different types while photographing falling drops of pure clean water, with there typically being a persistence of some distinctive pattern over many different consecutive photos, with multiple instances (up to ten or more) of the pattern in individual photos. You can see the full extent of that phenomenon by viewing the 700+ photos in the series here, continuing to press Older Posts at the bottom right. 

Chased by Mysterious Orbs?

 Below is an account from page 10 of the November 1962 Psychic Observer which you can read here.

"Another frightening UFO encounter—a thirty mile chase—was reported by Mr. and Mrs. Richard DuBois, 13481 Shirley Street, Westminister, California. On the night of October 21, returning from a vacation, they were driving along Route 60 in New Mexico. Except for their car, the highway was deserted. It was about 2 a.m., when a 'brilliant ball of white light' flashed down across the car, slowed, then turned back and followed alongside. 'At first, I thought it was an airplane making an emergency landing,' said Mrs. DuBois. But the strange 'ball ’ streaked back into the sky. DuBois’ conjecture that it might be an odd moonlight reflection was quickly disproved. For the bright object again flashed down, raced ahead of the car, then flowed to let them catch up.  'We were really frightened by this time.' Mrs. DuBois reported. And their alarm increased when the strange device pacing them suddenly separated into four smaller, glowing objects. Flying alongside, the formation kept pace with the car until a service station appeared ahead. When DuBois slowed down, the four UFO's flashed upward and went out of sight. 'We were so terrified.' said Mrs. DuBois, 'That my husband drove at 100 miles an hour to the next town. We asked if there had been any reports of flying objects, but people only laughed. They thought was it was funny, bur. we were plenty scared.' "

The account includes this artist's drawing:

A Translucent Orb Formed Above Her Dying Body

 On page 121 of the document here, we read an account by J. Ricardo Lavicka, telling what he saw at about  age 14. He says that he saw forming above the head of a dying sister a translucent sphere about as big as a basketball. We read this: 

Orb Trio Spooks Motorist

 At the website "Stan Gordon's UFO Anomalies Zone," we have a headline of "Three Low Level Glowing Spheres Nearly Strike Car Near Smithfield, Pennsylvania-September 18, 2024."   We read this:

"During more recent years, reports of small, low level, balls of light and sometimes referred to as orbs, have increased and are continuing to be reported from widespread locations. Some of these cases have taken place during daylight, within feet of observers and in good weather conditions. There are other incidents that are more startling such as these “mini-UFOs” appearing inside of homes, and in some cases physiological effects have been reported. Over the years I have received daylight reports of these smaller objects pacing vehicles and even entering the vehicles at times."

We read this account from a witness. 

" She was driving northbound on 119 when suddenly the three objects appeared from the left side of the road and moved across her path of travel at about hood-height.  She said she would have likely hit them had she not slammed on her brakes.  She stated the three balls moved in a straight line with just a few feet between them across the road and into the field below on her right.  Each sphere was white, and about twelve inches in diameter.  "

Orb With a Curved Stripe

 Photo date: September 30, 2024. Photographer: Mark Mahin. 

We see below a mysterious orb I photographed indoors.  The background is a window blind.

I used to get mysterious striped orbs in the most astonishing abundance, but  these days I get mysterious striped orbs not very frequently.  You can see my photos of such striped orbs by paging through the 700+ photos I have here. Or if you prefer finger-swiping your way all the way through a large photo collection, you can use the link here.