A ~S~C~A~R~Y~ Halloween True Ghost Story

From the mysterious "Archives of Annie"

Hey folks... :?) Here's a little true ghost story for this haunted ~S~C~A~R~Y~ Halloween season...
Take the following as you will and form your own opinion. I have my celestial everything-is-a-mystery opinion and Rick has his practical manly man opinion. I invite you to listen to this strange little happening....

Two years ago I decided to test our new digital camera by capturing the beautiful fall colors of our huge maple tree in the back yard. While trying out many different angles, settings and flashes, I was aware of nothing near or around me, nothing floating by me or past me. All that was there as far as I was aware was myself, my camera and our trees. I didn't sense or feel anything different than an ordinary slightly smokey and sunny Michigan fall day. When I picked up my developed photos from Meijers I saw that I wasn't actually alone out there as I had thought, but had many "friends" stopping by, unbeknownst to me. Check out the pictures below and follow along with my story. Photographic chemicals, you say? Think again. That's what I thought at first too. But these photos tell a little stranger tale... (note that the first two photos have no orbs, they start appearing in the 3rd and continue until the last photo which has none. Count: pics 1 & 2 = 0 orbs; 3 = 4 orbs; pic 4 = 14 orbs; 5 = 2; 6 = 3; 7 = 0)

I put the photos away without giving much thought to them; but as time passed, my internal itch kept saying "something wrong here". So I finally got them out again and took a much closer look complete with large magnifying glass. During college I spent many long hours in critiquing class, learning how to LOOK and also how to analyze every teeny tiny little aspect of an artist's painting or drawing. I applied that training as I re-examined these photos. Why don't you follow along with the pictures below and listen to this mysterious tale. I've pointed out just a couple of the many globes with arrows below - one is pierced by a branch and the other two are obviously BEHIND leaves. The globes continue until picture 6 which contains only the Pair again, and by picture 7 they are all gone.

At first glance what looks like orbs floating through the photos in sequence may look like chemical spots, right? Maybe... NOT. Here's why... First you will note that there seems to be a "pair" of orbs that look very much alike throughout all the pictures and seem to be floating through the sequence together in each photo; and this pair stays together in each photo. The Pair seem to come up from behind me and over my shoulder to float out in front of me, bringing more of their orby buddies with them. The Pair go from quite large (as they would be if they were closer to me) down to smaller and smaller and smaller as the photos go on, all this time I want to point out that the orbs stay paired up. The arrival of the large group of orbs (14 in the main photo) dwindles down to just the pair again at the end, as if the Pair were "herding" their group; and as if they were floating along and out of my view toward the other side of the tree, they seem to float through the branches of the tree.

Another very interesting aspect of this phenomenon is the question of chemical spots. Why then do several of these orbs appear to be further back in the shadows of the tree branches (inside the tree)? Why then do several of the orbs appear to be pierced by or "wrapped" around the branches, with a branch or two poking into the side of the orb, the branch being visible dimly INSIDE the orb, and then the branch poking out the other side of the orb? Look closely and I hope this is visible from my scanned photos. Also, the orbs that are further back INSIDE the branches of the tree appear to be darker and in shadow, just as they should be. The orbs outside the branches appear lighter as in sunlight, also as they should be. If photo chemical spots, these were very SMART chemicals as they managed to simulate a main "pair" of orbs floating through EACH photo; increasing their numbers and then decreasing their numbers as they float away from me. The Pair also gets lighter as they float away from me. Spooky, no????

So that's my little Halloween tale for you to ponder. These spots just don't look splashed or dropped - the pattern just isn't right for that. What could they be? Spirits of our trees? Our dead kitties' spirits? Chemical spashes? Former owners of our house? Let's take a poll - what do YOU think they are? Leave comments below at the end of this blog entry.

From the Mysterious Scary Archives of Annie (well, ok, ok, so the Archives of A only contain ONE scary tale.) For fun, I'm going to put these photos in sequence in a long frame and add yet another interesting and fun item to my already over-crowded walls. How about you? Got any scary tales for us? Rick's final opinion after re-scrutinizing the photos... he doesn't know what they are! But he thinks they're strange! (as he whistles Twilight Zone music)

Have a Happy Haunted Halloween!

Annie

c 10-9-2004