They Came to Visit Christmas Day.-By Debbi Decker

Christmas morning found me wandering a fog filled cemetery, taking pictures, pausing now and again to read the inscriptions and to marvel at the beauty of the worn, moss capped stones and statues. I was alone that morning. Not another person around. But perhaps not completely alone. If you look closely at the first picture in this article, you will see several circular spots. Those spots are considered by some to be orbs. Orbs are thought to be a gathering of energy by the earthbound dead that can be easily manifested. If that is true, I had quite a bit of company at that moment.

Some people see every orb as a visiting ghost. I am not a person who believes that every unusual spot that shows up in a picture is an orb. Having studied orbs over the years, I find myself unconvinced either way. They can be water drops or bits of dust that are reflecting light and the camera catches them at just the right moment. With the advent of digital cameras, orbs are appearing more frequently in our photography.

Sometimes, though, you catch something that is different and defies the usual explanation of light, water, and dust. Those are the times when you sit back and wonder if you just had a visitation, from a friend, family member, or just someone passing through. I like to isolate the orbs I capture in my pictures and blow them up to see if I see anything inside them. Most of the time I don’t. But recently, I captured an orb on a ghost hunting expedition. I leave it up to you to decide if its simply dust or perhaps something more.

The logical side of me believes that the orbs in my photograph from Christmas day are likely reflections from water droplets in the trees and air. It was foggy after all. The romantic side of me, however, wants to believe that they were the inhabitants of the cemetery, and that they were gathering to wish me a Merry Christmas.

Debbie Decker is proprietor of twistedpixelstudio Art & Assemblage Emporium. Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for the telling of hauntings and ghostly tales by Debbie Decker.