Orbs are one of the most common “paranormal” phenomena reported. Most of these orbs are found in photographs that people have taken. However most of these “orbs” are flaws within digital cameras and manual cameras and have no relation to paranormal phenomena. The orbs I will be discussing in this article are orbs or bright spheres of light that are visible to the naked eye. I have heard of them ranging from the size of a basketball to a simple pinpoint of light that maneuvers intelligently. Many people believe these spheres of light are the souls of the dead and others think they may be from another planet or galaxy.
In the spring of 2003 the VA Ghosts and Haunting Research Society received an email from a lady living in Bedford County, VA. She stated she was experiencing paranormal phenomena and wanted the group to check it out. Tommy Amos, the Western VA Regional Director for the VGHRS was assigned the case. Tommy conducted a telephone interview and an initial investigation to determine if a full-scale investigation was warranted. The info he found out was pretty typical of a haunting case.
The history of the property dated back at least 300 years when American Indians inhabited the land. The current homeowner, Ms. Stella Jenkins[1] reported that her family had owned and farmed the land for many years. The property consisted of a big farmhouse, a singlewide trailer, a small house and many outbuildings such as barns. Ms. Jenkins grew up in the big farmhouse and when she was older she had the trailer placed behind the farmhouse to raise her family – her mother lived in the farmhouse until her death. The paranormal incidents that have occurred at the trailer have been going on for at least 30+ years. There have been apparitions of a small boy sighted during 2003 and in the past there have been apparitions of women in period clothing. All of these apparitions were spotted by Ms. Jenkins.
Ms Jenkins also told a story of 3 bright orbs – they were blue, orange and yellow – that she saw back in the early 1980s. Ms Jenkins recounted, “When I turned around after cutting my bedroom lights off and was getting ready to get into bed, they appeared out of nowhere, one (The Blue One) was directly in front of me, the (Orange One) was to the right of me, they stayed there for just a few moments, when the Yellow one (smaller one) came through, they turned and went through my bedroom door, turned left into the foyer, turned right into the den, and then turned left to exit the den window. When they traveled they didn’t travel like a jagged movement, it was almost like flowing water, very smooth. I have seen pictures of people filming UFO’S, and some move in a zigzag motion – not these. They moved very gently and smooth. I didn’t see where the yellow one came from, but it came from the left of me, so I am thinking my bedroom window, I was to busy staring at the other two. I didn’t see the fourth one; it must have slipped past me. This is something that is burnt in my mind.” The orbs passed out of the owner’s visual field and were not witnessed passing through the screen. The owner went to the living room to investigate and did not see anything. The next morning when the owner went into the living room, she noticed 3 round discolored areas on the screen. Years later when the windows of the home were replaced, the owner kept the screen.
Tommy Amos asked if he could take the screen to have it analyzed by our radio-chemist and science advisor, Gabriel Stempenski. Ms. Jenkins agreed and gave Tommy the screen to take back. At the VGHRS 3rd anniversary banquet Tommy brought the screen with him and showed it to the members of the VGHRS – there were 3 distinct round places that looked “burned” on the screen. He then gave the screen to Gabe to take to a lab to have it analyzed.
It took a few weeks but Gabe reported something very interesting about the screen – something that defied all logic and science. He said that the “burned” portions of the screen where the “orbs” had passed through had been changed to Cobalt 60.
The following is the report from Gabe Stempenski on the lab analysis of the screen:
“I received a large piece of window screening from Tommy a few months ago. On this screen were four discolored spots. Tommy told me the story from the investigation where he obtained the screen. Evidently one evening four “balls of light” traveled across a room and exited out of the room through the window. They left “burn” marks where they passed through the screen. The marks consisted of three large circular spots and one smaller irregularly shaped spot. I took eight 1 inch by 1 inch samples of the screen. The first four samples were of the spots in question. The samples all included a part of the border of the affected and unaffected area. The other four samples were randomly spaced cuttings across the rest of the screen. I tested all eight screen samples for carbon residue using a gentile “swipe” technique. No carbon residue was present. I then tested for any loose particulate using a very mild solvent rinse. Aside from a bit of normal particulate (dust) that would be expected on any type of window screen there was no loose particulate on the screen.
I then analyzed the screen using a Kevex X-RAY Flourescence Spectrometer, Model 770. The screen is composed of a fiberglass material that has been evenly coated with an aluminum powder coating to resist wear. The aluminum coating contained many non-aluminum metallic impurities. The Spectroscopy showed that there was a smaller amount of Iron (impurities) in the affected samples. The Iron seemed to have been replaced with a new Isotope that wasn’t present at all in the other samples. This isotope is Cobalt 60. It is my opinion that the iron impurities were barraged with a strong neutron flux. This would also explain the increased level of brittleness that is present in the affected samples as opposed to the very flexible nature of the coating on the unaffected screen. Neutron flux causes defects in the crystalline structure of most metals that would explain why the aluminum coating had become so brittle and stiff.
However the strangest anomaly would have to be the fact that the events witnesses are still alive. Neutron radiation is particularly harmful to the human body. The levels of radiation that would need to be generated in order to activate the pieces of screen in such a short length of time would have been quite high. Much higher than what is considered a lethal dose would have to have been absorbed by the witnesses. This leads me to believe that the radiation was somehow contained within the spheres observed. There is no known or theoretical way that a free floating non solid sphere could emit much less contain such a high level of radioactivity, especially neutron radioactivity which is usually associated with transuranic elements. This leads me to believe that some force of unknown origin passed through the screen and while doing so emitted a large burst of radiation but for a short period of time as to not seriously harm or kill the witnesses. “
These findings were interesting in themselves – we could find no logical explanation of why or how the screen had parts that were transformed into Cobalt 60 and more interestingly was why Ms. Jenkins and her family did not become sick from radiation sickness and die from the exposure.
In the fall of 2004 Ms. Jenkins contacted Bobbie Atristain, the director of the VGHRS and reported a very interesting story. She was preparing to have her hip replaced again in early 2005 and she said her doctor had asked her if she had ever been treated for cancer. Specifically he wanted to know is she had ever been exposed to radiation therapy. Ms. Jenkins was surprised by this because she said no one in her family had ever had cancer much less been treated with radiation. The doctor reported she had tiny holes in her bones and in the prosthetic joint that was to be replaced. He said those holes were characteristic of someone who had undergone radiation treatment. Bobbie found this to be interesting and did some research on the type of radiation used to treat cancer and found a popular choice was Cobalt 60. It is too ironic that her screen was found to have traces of Cobalt 60 and now Ms. Jenkins was showing physical signs of being exposed to Cobalt 60.
Bobbie immediately spoke to Gabe to find out his thoughts on this new development.
Gabe stated “I’m no doctor but I do know this – Ionizing radiation does one heck of a number on growth cells or fast multiplying cells (i.e. blood cells, hair follicles and you guessed it, bone growth plates). SO if over a period of time she was exposed to the 2.4 high-energy beta particles per disintegration of Co60 then it’s plausible there may have been damage done. However, the first thing she probably would have noticed was radiation sickness (vomiting etc…) maybe it’d be worth while to check and see if per-chance she had a nasty bout of vomiting and lethargy etc… shortly afterward. She could have easily mistaken it for a bad case of the flu.”
Bobbie then contacted Ms. Jenkins and asked her if she remembers being really sick with a stomach bug near the time of seeing the orbs – Ms. Jenkins reported that she did remember being violently ill for about 2 weeks during that time – being very nauseous and vomiting a lot.
After speaking with Bobbie Ms. Jenkins asked her son if he would go to the doctor to be checked out for signs of Cobalt 60 exposure because he was sleeping in the room where the “orbs” passed through – however he refused to do so.
Incidentally this isn’t the first case where people exposed to paranormal phenomena have gotten sick from radiation. There are many well document UFO cases where people who witnessed UFOs were later suffering from radiation sickness. We are not sure how or if these cases are related but it is interesting enough to note.
CPRI/VGHRS are currently looking for more examples of these orbs that have left “marks” to test to see if they too show signs of Cobalt 60 or other irradiated material. We have received about half a dozen of these reports from VA and even in Louisiana. We hope to obtain more samples to test.
If you know of a case where a bright orb that was viewed with the naked eye left a physical imprint on a surface please contact Bobbie Atristain at bobbie@virginiaghosts.com or visit our website at http://virginiaghosts.com.
