Thousands of people from all walks of life around the globe are reporting mysterious spheres of light known as ORBS, which are appearing on their digital photographs. A few scientists are taking this phenomenon seriously and now claim to have found evidence of 'other worldly' dimensions.

            Back in 2005 teaching assistant Pippa Sayer had never heard of orbs, she was too busy being a working mum with two young children. But during August that year a family tragedy triggered mysterious events.

            'My fiancé Ian, now my husband, his teenage son Dominic and my two children Joe and Abbie were on holiday in Cornwall having a magical time' recalls Pippa.

            'Dominic began making sandcastles and then started digging this deep pit in the sand to the point that his father had to help him climb out of it.'

            Minutes later, whilst Pippa's attention was briefly distracted her three year old daughter Abbie mischievously jumped into the pit and five year old Joe fell in after her. Pippa reacted immediately 'I heard Abbie crying and jumped into the pit and literally threw Joe out, but when I tried to pick Abbie up her legs had become trapped in the wet sand that had begun to fall from the sides of the pit'.

            None of the family could comprehend the devastating scenario which quickly unfolded. Various emergency services were alerted but even though they arrived within minutes and twenty people fought for over an hour to extricate Abbie from the hole, tragically she was buried in the sand and died.

            'Within that hour our world fell apart; the children were and are our life. Abbie was such an incredibly strong willed child. Her brother Joe misses her terribly and we have told him that she's an angel now. As the weeks passed, we struggled to come to terms with what happened and tried as best we could to go about our everyday lives. I would talk to Abbie and beg her to somehow come and visit me, as I desperately wanted to know where she had gone and if she is OK'.

            Two months later Pippa, believes her prayers were answered when she noticed a strange sphere on a digital picture she had taken of her son Joe in their home in Goring on Sea with his new pet Cocker Spaniel Scooby. 'At that time we had never heard of orbs, but the sphere was so unusual with a strange pattern inside it - we hoped that it was Abbie's spirit letting us know that she was still around. Several weeks later we saw Orbs featured on the TV show Most Haunted which prompted us to begin taking more random pictures in the hope of seeing more orbs. It was weird, the more pictures we took, the more Orbs began to appear which we believed to be the spirits of my brother and father and possibly others from the spirit world. Odd though it may seem to some people, these spheres have given us comfort. We have no proof that they are our loved ones, but it's what we feel'.

            Is it really possible that other realms long spoken of by sages through the centuries are now becoming visible to all of us rather than merely a few sensitive psychic souls?

            Given that what we see with our physical eyes compromises less than 10% of the universe, you may wonder why some people still tend to dismiss stories such as Pippa's as being nonsense. Yet, any scientist will tell you that the human eye only sees a minute fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum and animals can see far more than humans. For instance, we cannot see radio waves that carry huge amounts of information - yet we know they exist.

            Stubborn sceptics may never be convinced, yet thousands of people are reporting similar phenomena on their digital pictures. And highly accredited scientists have joined the growing debate.

            When Dr. Klaus Heinemann, an experimental physicist who spent decades performing research for NASA, the American space agency, first saw a bright clearly defined circle of light on a picture he had taken at a spiritual gathering in 2004, like most people he assumed that the pictures, or his camera were faulty.

            Yet, he was sufficiently intrigued to return to the room in which the pictures had been taken in the hope of finding a rational explanation. None was forthcoming.

            Still puzzled, Heinemann, who has considerable experience in sophisticated electron microscope techniques which examine down to atomic levels of optical resolution, decided to try and discover the cause of the mysterious circles. He and his wife began taking hundreds of digital photographs at random events to see if they could recreate the mysterious effect.

            Apparently, digital technology can be used to enhance the appearance of something that would otherwise be difficult to see due to very low contrast. This is why previously such features when photographed with older type cameras, had not been noticed even if they were actually present in the photo. Hence why we are now, with new digital camera technology, able to see features that were previously invisible to us.

            By following advice from a psychic friend, Heinemann found that if he "asked" the orbs to appear on his pictures, they appeared more regularly. Becoming ever more fascinated, he set up dozens of experiments, including using two cameras on a tripod under controlled scientific conditions. His early experiments found that Orbs can move very fast, up to 500mph or more, so in order for him to obtain clear pictures the orbs needed to remain still, which at times they did. According to Heinemann this implies some level of conscious intelligence.

            Although remaining sceptical at the possibility of such a conclusion, Heinemann also found that during his numerous dual camera experiments, orbs would often appear, but only randomly in one or the other of the two images which were taken simultaneously using two separate cameras. The orbs, he says, literally choose which camera to appear on, or indeed whether to appear at all!

            After multiple experiments eventually Heinemann concluded that he was witnessing intelligences from other realties, which could have far reaching implications for the way we view our world and our part in it, saying, 'There is no doubt in my mind that the Orbs may well be one of the most significant 'outside of this reality' phenomena mankind at large has ever witnessed. Until now there has been a huge amount of anecdotal evidence that the spirit world exists, and I believe it's no longer anecdotal as, thanks to digital technology, we can now see it. We are dealing with a non-physical - albeit real - phenomenon'.

            COULD ORBS BE A HUGE PRACTICAL JOKE?

            To help answer this question, Miceal Ledwith, a former professor of Theology, who for ten years was President of Maynooth College, at the University of Ireland, reminds the sceptics that in 1861 when Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis demonstrated that when physicians went from performing autopsies to delivering babies, without washing their hands, there was a high rate of infant mortality. His mainstream colleagues ridiculed him, yet he had found the first evidence of what later became known as bacteria.

            'Most great discoveries throughout history have been initially ridiculed. To my mind, there is no doubt that the orb phenomenon is real and deserves to be taken seriously. There are not just a few pictures of orbs, which could easily be faked, but thousands from all over the world.'

            To date Ledwith, who was also a member of the International Commission at the Vatican, has a collection of more than 100,000 orb pictures - the largest private collection in the world.

            A theologian with 30 years experience, Dr. Ledwith did not join this debate lightly, saying 'I first heard about Orbs in 2002 when I attended the Ramtha spiritual school in America as part of my ongoing research into the thousands of doctrines, beliefs and religions currently practised. The orbs quickly became a fascinating scientific study.'

            Ledwith and Heinemann are taking Orbs so seriously that they have joined forces to share their research and pictures on this emerging phenomena. Their book entitled The Orb Project, Published by Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, £9-45, makes fascinating reading and also offers numerous sensible and science based explanations to most of the sceptics theories.

            For instance, some people argue that orb type anomalies are a regular occurrence in digital photography. After all, if for instance you move a camera while a picture is being taken, especially in dim light you can easily get a double image.

            'Of course you can, 'agrees Heinemann.' When you attempt to photograph orbs, it's a question of trial and error. In our research we were quickly able to eliminate the common problems associated with photography such as dust particles, water droplets, pollen, reflections and a host of other likely causes, and can now easily differentiate between photographic anomalies and real orb pictures. For the novice, discerning fake orbs takes time, practise and diligence. The more photographs you take, the more easily you will eventually be able to distinguish orb-like features from real orbs.'

            Some fellow scientists still remain unconvinced. Gary Schwartz Professor of Psychiatry along with optical scientist Katherine Creath, at the University of Arizona, conducted experiments into Orbs during 2005, and Schwartz remains sceptical saying "We feel that a large majority of so called Orb pictures are too readily attributed to some form of so called 'paranormal' phenomena when in fact stray reflections in uncontrolled environments often produce orb like images."

            Professors Heinemann and Ledwith agree this can happen, but both categorically state there is abundant evidence to conclude that a genuine orb phenomenon does exist. They also argue that a large number of orb pictures have been taken in the ocean, especially around whales and dolphins, in which stray reflections and other possibilities have been ruled out due to the conditions at the time each picture was taken. You can see some of these wonderful images on scientist Dr Joan Ocean's (yes, her real name) web site at www.joanocean.com.

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