True Orb Story from Western VA
by Bobbie Atristain
In the summer of 2002 CPRI investigated a haunting at a private residence in Huddleston, VA located in Bedford County. The land the home was situated on was once inhabited by Native Americans – and this was found to be true by the large amounts of pottery and arrowheads found in abundance on the property.* The details of the case are as follows:
Date: 8/30/2003
Time: 6:00-11:30 pm
Location: Huddleston,VA – Bedford County
Investigators: Tommy Amos (lead), Rick Atristain and Bobbie
Atristain
Report Submitted by: Bobbie Atristain –
Email Address: bobbie@virginiaghosts.com
On Saturday August 30th Rick and I met Tommy Amos at a private residence in Huddleston. The property itself is at least 300 years old and was occupied by American Indians for at least 150 years. The property consisted of a main house, a small house, a trailer and at least 2 barns. The main house was occupied by Mrs. Jenkins* who was raised on the property and used to live in the trailer when her mother lived in the main house. Now Ms. Smith* lives in the trailer with her boyfriend Rob. No one occupies the smaller house – it is used for storage. 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 within the past year and in the past there have been apparitions of women in period clothing.
Tragedy @ the location
In 1994 the oldest son of Mrs. Jenkins lived in the small house. He was in his late twenties when he died of a gunshot wound to the head. The official cause of death was rules as accidental. Since his death there has been a dark apparition of a man that fits his description that has been witnessed by numerous people in the trailer walking up the hallway. We attempted to capture that phenomena on tape. We are still reviewing the tape at this time.
In January of 2003 there was a conversation that took place between Ms. Smith and a voice that sounded identical to the departed eldest son. Here’s is what transpired between them:
The Voice – “Hello”
Ms. Smith – “Go Away”
The Voice – “I can’t”
The shadow man is witnessed several times a week. It is our hope that if we didn’t capture it this time (we are still reviewing the tapes) that we will go back and be able to capture this phenomena again at a later date.
The Investigation
We began the investigation with interviews of everyone who lives on the property – this included Mrs. Jenkins, Ms Smith and her boyfriend Rob. We also took trifield readings of the locations – nothing significant was found. There were also temperature checks but they were normal too. We set up a digital video camera in the hallway to monitor the hallway for the shadow figure. The was set up for about 8 hours. We also set up a microphone and tape recorder in the barn next to the house where the apparition of the little boy was last seen to see if we could capture any EVPs. Tommy monitored the barn the entire time to make sure the microphone was undisturbed. We also took photographs of the path of the “balls of light” witnessed by Mrs. Jenkins in the early 80s that left marks on the screen that was analyzed. Although nothing was witnessed on this investigation it is our hope to go back to this spot again to do further investigations to try to capture the shadow phenomena on film.
The Orb Story
taken from Tommy Amos’ report
The home owner witnessed 3 orbs floating across the living room (after dark). The home owner was standing at the opposite end of the hallway from the living room and only had limited visibility of the living room. 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, they noticed 3 round discolored areas on the screen. Years later when the windows of the home were replaced, the owner kept the screen. I believe the owner indicated that the screen is over 20 years old. When the owner handed me the screen, the owner was still talking about the 3 discolored areas of the screen. I noted 4 discolored areas on the screen when I received it.
Tommy then asked Gabe, a nuclear chemist, if he could analyze the screen – concentrating on the discolored spots to see if they showed any unusual characterics. Below are Gabe’s notes on the screen analysis.
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 which 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. Which 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. All of which leads me to believe that either the entire story of the orbs floating through the room is a hoax, with the screen being exposed to a shielded neutron source for a period of time. Or 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.
Dangerous Orbs
Almost 2 years later, CPRI Director Bobbie Atristain is still in constant contact with the lady from the Huddleston house. She revealed to Bobbie that when she went for her hip replacement she was asked if she had cancer in the past and specifically if she had been treated with Radiation Therapy. Ms. Smith* said “no – she hadn’t and no one in her family had ever had cancer.” The doctor said she had lots of “tiny holes” in her bones and even in the prosthetic hip joint that was to be replaced again. He said that the only time he sees that is when someone has been treated with radiation because it causes those tiny holes in the bones to form. Something interesting to note is that CObalt 60 was the radiation of choice for cancer treatment in the past.
Ms. Smith has asked her son, who is 32 now, who stayed in the room where the “orbs” were seen to go to the doctor to be checked out but he refuses. We are also trying to find out if Ms. Smith experienced any radiation sickness immediately after witnessing the “orbs” – such symptoms would be nausea and vomiting and could easily have been mistaken for a stomach bug.
Conclusion:
We certainly do not want to scare anyone – the family mentioned in this article are all very healthy – albeit Ms. Smith will be undergoing another hip replacement soon – but they are in good health. However this does pose an interesting question a “real orb” that is witnessed with the naked eye (and not a camera malfunction) can pose a real danger and perhaps one should hope to NEVER run into a “real” orb. We are still researching this and would love to hear your “Real Orb” stories – ie. you’ve actually witnessed a bright orb with your naked eye – email us at info@virginiaghosts.com.
I know you are thinking…
What happened to the screen? Well unfortunately it was tagged irradiated and will take a near Act of God to get out or a lot of money because of all of the laws that govern transportation of irradiated material. It is locked away in a very secure lab in Virginia.
*After Stephen King’s book Pet Sematary it seems everyone thought they lived on
an indian burial ground.
**Names have been changed to protect privacy.