Maybe you've seen them,maybe you haven't, and maybe we should watch out for them. What are they?...Orbs.
Just what are orbs and why should be aware of them? Orbs have been defined by some as the existence of paranormal activity and debunked by others as simply water stains or rain drops on camera lens when digital pictures are taken. I'm not sure exactly what they are, but I have had the following experiences.
After listing any home my normal practice is to immediately take at least one exterior photo. If the house is staged or clean and organized enough I will take all pictures. Saves time. On this particular day immediately after the sellers signed the agreement I started taking pictures of all the rooms. I drove back to the office and downloaded them into my photo editing program. After download, I noticed several orbs in a few of the pics. Several in the front room, the dining room and the master suite. Since this was a dry sunny day I attributed the orbs to stains on the camera lens.
After a few jokes between me and Kim about ghosts, and goblins I cleaned the camera lens, inspected it for spots and such and went back out again to re-take pics. Again the orbs were there in the same rooms except in different locations. This was not funny anymore. I've already wasted a couple hours on these orbs and was quickly approaching the point of irritation, not to mention the freaky factor...
The next time I went out I took a completely different camera and took pictures again of the same rooms...Same results. Orbs. Now I'm not one to believe ghost stories or the boggy man but this was getting strange. I did not want to keep taking pictures so I removed the orbs in the pictures with modern day technology and posted them all over the Internet. Home looked great, pictures looked good. Done. So I thought.
A couple days after this whole fiasco Kim decides she's got to see this house. I guess curiosity was getting the best of her besides, she wasn't there at the listing appointment so I can't blame her for wanting to see it. She took two friends with her. As they drove down the long dark driveway bordered by a thicket of small Birch trees and stagnant pond water, they emerged into the light and up the hill toward the home. The home was an older farm type home with two windows above a front doorway. The brown trim accented the door and windows from the bright white color. An eerie feeling began to overwhelm them as they approached the home.
Upon entering the house they noticed all the lights were on so she called me. I was in the office at the time and checked to see if anyone had been in the home since we listed it and there was no activity so we figured the sellers must have been back. After walking through the home and exiting each room on down to the basement, she turned the lights off. As she climbed back up the stairs she noticed the lights upstairs were back on. Freaked out and thinking someone had entered the home, they started calling out...hello! hello! No answer. They quickly left.
The next few days were un-eventful until I received a call from an agent who just showed the property. The first question out of her mouth was, "has anyone been murdered in that home?". I immediately asked why, and the agent said that her client thought the house was haunted. Things are starting to get a little weird now and I told her I had no knowledge of anything like that happening. Well needless to say that client didn't want anything to do with that home.
Another agent shows the home a fews day later and poses the very same question and I respond again the same way. After three months on the market and a couple price adjustments we sold the home, but we'll never forget that home, those orbs or the feeling that home elicited.
A little while later we listed another home where both sellers had passed away. That home had orbs in the kitchen and in the formal dining room. The very same eerie chain of events occurred with the pictures of that property although the sale was quick and uneventful.
States have different disclosure requirements. Here in Washington we have no duty to disclose such events since they are not perceived to be material defects. Unless of course we're asked directly and we have actual knowledge.
If you see any orbs out there be prepared for the unusual and the unexplained...
Have you experienced orbs or any other strange unexplainable event while selling homes?
Cool stuff...
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