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BigmanPigman

(51,674 posts)
Mon Apr 1, 2024, 11:44 PM Apr 1

Have you ever seen ghosts or orbs when a person dies?

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I am an atheist but I have experienced several "visits". Tonight I saw a video of a bunch of lights/orbs around a dying woman in a hospital and it was strange yet amazing. It isn't dust either since dust doesn't move this way.
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Have you ever seen ghosts or orbs when a person dies? (Original Post) BigmanPigman Apr 1 OP
No. elleng Apr 1 #1
As an "atheist" what do you think these "orbs" are? ForgoTheConsequence Apr 1 #2
Energy BigmanPigman Apr 1 #6
What type of energy? N/T Big Blue Marble Apr 2 #13
This sums up where I stand... BigmanPigman Apr 2 #21
I appreciate your open mindedness Big Blue Marble Apr 2 #30
Automobile headlights from the street below. Mister Ed Apr 2 #37
I have to correct myself now that I've viewed the video on a larger screen. Mister Ed Apr 2 #38
My sister and I were with our mother leftieNanner Apr 1 #3
My late husband used to pop in from time to time. Phoenix61 Apr 1 #4
Amazing! Jamesm9164 Apr 1 #5
No. Aussie105 Apr 1 #7
Well with UFOs the size and speed and distance to the observer are easy RockRaven Apr 2 #8
Nope....and I've been upfront and personal with more than a few deaths in my life. OAITW r.2.0 Apr 2 #9
From the comments on You Tube BigmanPigman Apr 2 #10
Maybe I just wasn't tuned in to see the spiritual exit of family and friends when I shared their moment. OAITW r.2.0 Apr 2 #12
There is a term for this phenomena: "Shared Death Experiences." Big Blue Marble Apr 2 #14
Yes, I have read a lot of his stuff BigmanPigman Apr 2 #20
Exactly, he would never say with any certainty that life continued after death Big Blue Marble Apr 2 #33
Pretty sure those are still dust Diraven Apr 2 #11
The question is were these orbs seen by the people in the room Big Blue Marble Apr 2 #15
She was the only one in the room besides her mother. BigmanPigman Apr 2 #19
It looks like there is a window to outside or to an adjacent room Bernardo de La Paz Apr 2 #26
I would guess dust, too. Being that someone is in the room, their breath could be pushing the dust around. C Moon Apr 2 #23
I saw a ghost woman in my hotel room a few years ago. Elessar Zappa Apr 2 #16
I was 100% awake too. BigmanPigman Apr 2 #18
Looks like a flashlight to me Bayard Apr 2 #17
I've been doing a ghost podcast for close to a couple decades, and learned that orbs are usually dust, bugs or moisture. C Moon Apr 2 #22
I worked at a cemetery, and even though that's not a place a ghost would want to be... C Moon Apr 2 #24
When I was teaching 4th grade the students BigmanPigman Apr 2 #29
Great story! I've been there a few times myself. Well, mostly out front and walking through that awesome cemetery. C Moon Apr 2 #32
I took my niece there when she was about 7. BigmanPigman Apr 2 #35
Wow! C Moon Apr 2 #36
Never have seen an orb. bamagal62 Apr 2 #25
An old boyfriend said he saw ghosts BigmanPigman Apr 2 #31
It's not supernatural. It's not dust. It's reflection of some kind Bernardo de La Paz Apr 2 #27
I'm skeptical of orbs...however forgotmylogin Apr 2 #28
That sounds similar to BigmanPigman Apr 2 #34
''How to make ghost orbs ... Very easy special effect'' n/t Donkees Apr 2 #39
Ambiguous shadows in a random YouTube video? JoseBalow Apr 2 #40

BigmanPigman

(51,674 posts)
21. This sums up where I stand...
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 02:19 AM
Apr 2

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,/Than are dreamt of in your philosophy” from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The only thing I can think of would be some sort of energy that we don't understand and probably never will unless we actually die.

I even told my friend who was dying to come back and visit me if she could after she dies since I told her about my experiences. She never did OR maybe she did come but I was clueless and didn't get her signal?

Big Blue Marble

(5,159 posts)
30. I appreciate your open mindedness
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 03:21 AM
Apr 2

and curiosity. I have experienced some very interesting contacts from both people and even my animals friends. I agree we do not know anything for sure and will only know at our own death.

Mister Ed

(5,951 posts)
37. Automobile headlights from the street below.
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 06:02 AM
Apr 2

The video appears to me to show the reflections of automobile headlights as they pass below and turn a corner.

I saw the same patterns of light once on a television show about investigators of the paranormal. The investigators were puzzled by the light patterns at first, but eventually discovered that they were caused by automobile headlights from the street below.

This explanation doesn't mean that I rule out the possibility of what we call "ghosts". Indeed, I personally know of a few encounters that cause me to suspect the existence of such things. But the video in the OP is probably just a video of automobile headlight reflections cast across the wall.

Mister Ed

(5,951 posts)
38. I have to correct myself now that I've viewed the video on a larger screen.
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 06:52 AM
Apr 2

On my small phone screen, these light patterns looked to me like the automobile reflections that I once saw in that TV program. Now that I've viewed the video on my computer screen, it's clear to me that I was wrong.

The movement of the lights in the video is much more random than would be seen with automobile reflections. These appear instead to be dust particles drifting about the room and reflecting the camera light.

leftieNanner

(15,207 posts)
3. My sister and I were with our mother
Mon Apr 1, 2024, 11:54 PM
Apr 1

She was in the hospital. And there was a strange glow around her face. We both saw it. Then my father entered the room and it was gone. He wasn't ready to let her go. He died about a year later. And she followed him a month later, on Easter Sunday.

Phoenix61

(17,027 posts)
4. My late husband used to pop in from time to time.
Mon Apr 1, 2024, 11:56 PM
Apr 1

Had a very, very angry ghost in a house I was renting. He left after I told him where his wife had moved to. Very strange.

Aussie105

(5,502 posts)
7. No.
Mon Apr 1, 2024, 11:58 PM
Apr 1

But I did smell fish.

(Manned train crossing, attendant fell asleep, train ploughed through a truck carrying fish. Human bodies, fish spread out.)

RockRaven

(15,097 posts)
8. Well with UFOs the size and speed and distance to the observer are easy
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 12:05 AM
Apr 2

for the observer to misjudge.

Perhaps that's just backscatter off of particles in the air, and they are closer to the camera and light source than one assumes (they are more around the camera than around the dying woman) so their movement seems not right for dust -- in which case they are also out of focus due to how close they are explaining the blurry orb appearance, and only backscattering over a narrow angle due to the single light source which would account for why they appear to fade in and out.

Or it is something supernatural.

Everyone can decide for themselves which seems more plausible to them.

Big Blue Marble

(5,159 posts)
14. There is a term for this phenomena: "Shared Death Experiences."
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 12:42 AM
Apr 2

As you indicate many Hospice workers report similar experiences and will
actually predict pending deaths based on the increase similar experiences.

Raymond Moody has written "Glimpses of Eternity: Sharing a Loved One's Passage from This Life to the Next". about how common these experiences are.

BigmanPigman

(51,674 posts)
20. Yes, I have read a lot of his stuff
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 02:14 AM
Apr 2

and watched him speak on several videos. He always seems very grounded and not some spooky weirdo.

Big Blue Marble

(5,159 posts)
33. Exactly, he would never say with any certainty that life continued after death
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 03:29 AM
Apr 2

until he studied this phenomena of shared death experiences and that is what
convinced him that it is a fact. There simply was no alternative explanation in
his view. . Some family members even experience going part way through the transformation with dying person. Others seeing visions of dead family members or angels.

Diraven

(552 posts)
11. Pretty sure those are still dust
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 12:21 AM
Apr 2

I've looked into the orb phenomenon and I've yet to see one that conclusively rules out dust, bugs, and camera artifacts.

Big Blue Marble

(5,159 posts)
15. The question is were these orbs seen by the people in the room
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 12:43 AM
Apr 2

and not just on the camera. it is my understanding that they actually saw these
and then videoed them.

BigmanPigman

(51,674 posts)
19. She was the only one in the room besides her mother.
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 02:12 AM
Apr 2

She filmed this with her phone since she could see them around her mom for 6 minutes at least.

C Moon

(12,227 posts)
23. I would guess dust, too. Being that someone is in the room, their breath could be pushing the dust around.
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 02:36 AM
Apr 2

Elessar Zappa

(14,151 posts)
16. I saw a ghost woman in my hotel room a few years ago.
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 12:52 AM
Apr 2

I woke up randomly and there was a woman with 80s style hair and clothing looking out the hotel window. I yelled and after about five seconds, she vanished. I was 100% awake (and stayed that way the rest of the night). I can’t explain this other than it was real or I was having outright hallucinations.

C Moon

(12,227 posts)
22. I've been doing a ghost podcast for close to a couple decades, and learned that orbs are usually dust, bugs or moisture.
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 02:28 AM
Apr 2

Even knowing that, I keep an open mind when folks show me orb photos.

C Moon

(12,227 posts)
24. I worked at a cemetery, and even though that's not a place a ghost would want to be...
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 02:38 AM
Apr 2

I experienced some very creepy things—during the day.

BigmanPigman

(51,674 posts)
29. When I was teaching 4th grade the students
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 03:17 AM
Apr 2

of the entire grade went on a field trip to Old Town, San Diego. The teachers were not the ones giving the tours but the teachers who worked there all the time told us visiting teachers about what they experienced.

The Whaley House is one of the oldest in San Diego and is one of the most haunted places in the US. The students didn't know about this since we went there to learn about the history of the city. We visiting teachers were told by the full time teachers that one night they slept in sleeping bags on the first floor of the Whaley House and they heard big, heavy boots walking down the steps. "Big Jim" was one of the many ghosts at that specific site. They also had a photo album that they showed the visiting teachers which held hundreds of photos that tourists took while they there visiting but later they had the film developed and that is when they saw the "ghosts". I have been there several times with my students and they have taken the photos away.

The house was built next to a cemetery and was also a very established business and courthouse. It is still there and many speculate that is one of the reasons for the many spooky visitors. Much of the cemetery has been paved over for land development but the bodies are still there and white crosses on the street mark their locations.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaley_House_(San_Diego,_California)

C Moon

(12,227 posts)
32. Great story! I've been there a few times myself. Well, mostly out front and walking through that awesome cemetery.
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 03:26 AM
Apr 2

But in 2002 or so, we took an Old Town ghost tour (I think it still runs, "Ghosts and Gravestones." It's a black bus, or it was back then). We went inside of many haunted places in the area, and it was pouring rain that night. Magnificent fun, and I had a weird experience in the Whaley house. We couldn't go upstairs because there were some investigators doing filming. They let one person go up from our group.

BigmanPigman

(51,674 posts)
35. I took my niece there when she was about 7.
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 03:49 AM
Apr 2

She wouldn't even go up the steps (this is after I got us in for free with my teacher connections).

I'm trying to remember the various "ghosts" that they told us about. One of the Whaley children slipped in mud, got her neck caught on a clothesline and died in their kitchen. People hear a child's voice. There is one area in the house that smells of a perfume, maybe from the suicide of one of the adult children. Big Jim was hanged on the gallows next to the house for stealing a rowboat. Since he was taller than the average man at the time he was too tall for the gallows and his feet could touch the ground so it took him 30 minutes to die.

C Moon

(12,227 posts)
36. Wow!
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 04:42 AM
Apr 2

Yes, I remember the hanging. There was also a ghost that leaves the smell of cigars, and there were some stories about the court house inside.

bamagal62

(3,277 posts)
25. Never have seen an orb.
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 02:49 AM
Apr 2

But, I’ve lived in houses with ghosts. They were there. I heard them and saw them. And, when we are on the hunt for a new house (we move a lot) my kids always ask, “did you feel anything Mom?”. I do feel things in old houses. Sometimes it’s okay and sometimes it’s very negative!

BigmanPigman

(51,674 posts)
31. An old boyfriend said he saw ghosts
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 03:24 AM
Apr 2

Often in his home while growing up. Since he was known for his BS lies I was skeptical. But when his mother came to visit I asked her about the house and she backed up all of the stories my boyfriend told me. It wasn't spooky but just "something they lived with" like it was normal. Photos and things being moved to different areas in their attic was the considered the norm. He had other experiences and again I doubted him but when I was at a party with his old friends and roommates they verified that several people had ghostly experiences while staying there.

Bernardo de La Paz

(49,075 posts)
27. It's not supernatural. It's not dust. It's reflection of some kind
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 03:05 AM
Apr 2

Watch at half or quarter speed when a big circle ( "orb" ) passes over the dark thing on the wall above. The blob alters shape as it crosses boundaries there, as a circle of light projected would. Further, the light dims as it gets onto darker areas.

If they were "orbs" making their own light, they would not dim exactly on the line of sight to darker surfaces.

As to the cause, it's not dust. Dust would not have the circularity or the cohesiveness of the shapes. Dust effects would coalesce into amorphous changing shapes that would dissipate as they moved.

There are a lot of little LEDs with little lenses in room like that full of equipment. But they are often red and green and less often white. The phone itself or jewelry or other things can reflect spots of light. Other sources could be related to the window which might be outside or to another adjacent room. It might be reflections off traffic through small holes in blinds where the cords go through. Or somebody writing on paper jiggling a reflective surface nearby.

What I would do if I were there would be to investigate thoroughly. I'd get close to the wall and watch the light track along it. I'd block light with paper or a board or tablet by holding it in a fixed position away from the wall to block light selectively. Then if "orbs" disappear on one edge going across and then appear on the other edge going away, you can get a handle on the source.

I'd keep fiddling with positions and distances until I tracked it down. I'm used to doing things like that because as a serious photographer I'm always observing light and figuring out what is creating any observations that puzzle me.

forgotmylogin

(7,540 posts)
28. I'm skeptical of orbs...however
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 03:06 AM
Apr 2

They usually are dust motes or bugs that are not in focus reflecting light back into the camera lens, or can be random reflections through a window. That said, it's surprising how many are appearing in this video, especially in a hospital room that is likely cleaned very frequently where you wouldn't expect bugs or as much dust as in abandoned house videos.

My mom was in hospice care for a week in my home before she passed. After about three days on heavy painkillers she got to a state where she was always sleeping. I feared I was dosing her with too much morphine but the nurses encouraged me to continue to give it to her as scheduled to keep her comfortable and out of pain.

After two days of her seemingly being in a coma, not waking to say anything or eat or drink, I realized I could hear her talking from the other room. When I checked on her, she was having a gibberish conversation that ebbed and flowed more than she'd talked in seemingly weeks. I couldn't understand words, but there was inflection - she was by turns amused and interested and even sounded like she was gossiping. I asked who she was talking to but it was like she couldn't hear me at all. The hospice nurse who visited during this assured me 'she was on her journey' and I started getting chills because she was talking as she would with her two sisters who passed before her. It was strangely comforting knowing she wasn't alone just with me in her final hours.

That was my major dread...what terrified me the most was anticipation that there was going to be a last moment alone with just her and me and I would be somehow obligated to watch her die and I had no idea if I would be capable of saying any kind of words of peace or comfort to her, but she passed in the early morning before I woke up. It must have been right before - there was no oxygen or heartbeat reading from the pulse-oximeter but I couldn't believe she was gone because she was still warm. It was like she knew and timed it to spare me that dreaded moment of watching her go.

BigmanPigman

(51,674 posts)
34. That sounds similar to
Tue Apr 2, 2024, 03:40 AM
Apr 2

other experiences I have heard from those who were with their loved ones when they died. A lot of times they have conversations with people who already died and they are not suffering or upset, they are peaceful and even cheerful.

I think people fear death because they don't know for sure what happens or because they don't want the physical pain that many have before dying which is understandable.

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