THE TROUBLE WITH GHOST ORBS: Are Spirit Orbs Real, Or is Your House Just Dusty?
Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories
Darren Marlar
4.6 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 July 2025
⏱️ 84 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Join the DARKNESS SYNDICATE: https://weirddarkness.com/syndicate
IN THIS EPISODE: America’s foremost exorcist, Theophilus Riesinger, faced off with Lucifer himself in the grueling 1928 case of a demonic possession in a rural Iowa convent. (The Exorcism of Emma Schmidt) *** One of the greatest magicians of all time was Chung Ling Soo. So adept at illusion, slight of hand, and fooling others that he was able to lead a double life… before being shot and killed performing his own magic trick. (The Magician Who Lived a Double Life) *** John Dee claimed he was visited by angels presented him with a secret language just angels, and the ability to perform a new magic they called Enochian. We’ll look at his claims. (John Dee And The Language of Angels) *** A little boy goes fishing on a Spring day. He disappears. Another boy goes fishing nearby on the exact same day. He also disappears. A third child goes missing many years later in the same general area. What happened? (The Missing Fishing Boys) *** Venice's Poveglia Island was a quarantine center and mass grave for victims of bubonic plague – so it should come as no surprise it is considered one of the most haunted places in all of Europe. (Poveglia: The Island of Ghosts) *** It is one of history’s greatest unsolved mysteries… what happened to the lost colony of Roanoke? We’ll look at a few theories. (Lost Roanoke) *** You snap a selfie of the squad at brunch, but it’s covered with shapes and light that definitely weren’t present IRL. The whole thing is giving you major paranormal feels. Is it a loved one from the other side, making a cameo in your latest feed pic? Or a simple technological mishap? (The Trouble With Ghost Orbs)
ABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all thing strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold case murders, conspiracy theories, and more. On Thursdays, this scary stories podcast features horror fiction along with the occasional creepypasta. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “Best 20 Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy.
DISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.
CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…
00:00:00.000 = Lead-In
00:02:08.974 = Show Open
00:04:50.757 = The Trouble With Ghost Orbs
00:29:31.470 = The Magician Who Lived a Double Life
00:36:31.821 = Lost Roanoke
00:43:34.993 = Poveglia: The Island of Ghosts
00:52:00.913 = The Missing Fishing Boys
01:05:43.078 = John Dee And The Language Of The Angels
01:12:39.451 = The Exorcism of Emma Schmidt
01:20:12.795 = Show Close
SOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE…
BOOK: “Ghosts on Film” by Troy Taylor: https://amzn.to/3ORYS14
BOOK: “The Prestige” by Christopher Priest: https://amzn.to/47ulw6O
FILM: “The Prestige” directed by Christopher Nolan: https://amzn.to/3DP1OVU
BOOK: “Finding Marjorie West” by Harold Thomas Beck: https://amzn.to/451zviR
BOOK: “Begone Satan!” by Fr. Carl Vogl: https://amzn.to/3rYIjHK
“The Trouble With Ghost Orbs” by Troy Taylor for American Hauntings Ink: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/443n228f; Vicki Carroll for Exemplore: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/pknn5n3r; Ann Massey for Spooky Isles: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p9xp8t7; and Bonnie Page from the Sentinal & Enterprise:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/y5w8h2m6
“Poveglia: The Island of Ghosts” by Genevieve Carlton for All That’s Interesting: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3byfnvhv
“The Magician Who Lived a Double Life” by Kaushik Patowary for Amusing Planet: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yckvppfw
“John Dee And The Language of Angels” by Riley Winters for Ancient Origins: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yckupdm8
“Lost Roanoke” by Grace Felder for The Archive: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mtay6ns6
“The Missing Fishing Boys” by Crystal Dawn for LostNFoundBlogs: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/39xur8tf
“The Exorcism of Emma Schmidt” by Charlie Hintz for Cult of Weird: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3zdmbdfz
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"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46
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WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.
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Originally aired: August 10, 2023
NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is NOT an AI voice.
EPISODE PAGE at WeirdDarkness.com (includes list of sources): https://weirddarkness.com/GhostOrbs
#GhostOrbs #SpiritOrbs #ParanormalOrbs #GhostPhotography #ParanormalInvestigation #GhostHunting #SpiritPhotography #OrbsDebunked #CemeteryOrbs #HauntedPhotography #GhostOrbsExplained #ParanormalEvidence #OrbSightings #GhostCaughtOnCamera #ParanormalDebate #GhostHuntingTips #SpiritManifestation #ParanormalPhotography #OrbBackscatter #GhostOrbsTruth #ParanormalResearch #GhostPhotographyDebunked #SpiritOrbsRealOrFake #ParanormalSkeptics #GhostHuntingMyths #OrbsExplained #ParanormalPhotoAnalysis #SpiritPhotographyHistory #GhostOrbsOrDust #ParanormalCommunity
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you've ever wanted to learn more about stories I share in the podcast, you'll want to sign up for the free Weird Darkness newsletter. |
| 0:06.8 | Several times per week, you'll get an email that not only includes the audio player with a recent episode, but a deep dive article of that same subject, going more in depth than what you heard in the podcast. |
| 0:17.5 | I also post numerous articles that never make it into the podcast, and I share |
| 0:21.4 | those in the newsletter, too. Along with transcripts of my horrible humor podcast, Mind of Marler, |
| 0:27.0 | you'll get videos of murder noir as I post them, the most popular video of the week from my YouTube |
| 0:32.1 | channel. Plus, I include bonus audio in the newsletter every week that I don't post to the podcast. |
| 0:38.0 | And if I still have room at the bottom, I'll stick a funny meme in there for you. |
| 0:42.1 | Sign up for the free Weird Darkness newsletter at Weirddarkness.com slash newsletter. |
| 0:47.3 | That's Weirddarkness.com slash newsletter. |
| 0:50.2 | As a member of this weirdo family, I value your input. |
| 0:53.2 | And while I try to keep up with the emails, online messages, and comments I receive, one thing I've not really done is ask your opinions about certain things I offer in the podcast. Do you like the murder noir episodes? What about the old-time radio stuff? Does the more comedic Mind of Marler uploads even belong in the podcast? |
| 1:12.8 | If you could change one thing about Weird Darkness, what would it be? |
| 1:16.1 | Take the survey at Weirddarkness.com slash survey, and let me know what you think about what |
| 1:21.1 | I do and how I do it. |
| 1:23.0 | It'll only take about two minutes, but it'll be invaluable to me as a creator to find |
| 1:27.3 | out what you |
| 1:27.8 | like and don't like, what you'd like to see more of, or less of, visit weirddarkness.com |
| 1:32.9 | slash survey. That's weirddarkness.com slash survey. |
| 1:37.2 | ...are they spirits in the form of light or just flexive dust on a camera lens? |
| 1:51.1 | The debate about orbs has lingered since the advent of photography in the 1900s. |
| 1:57.3 | Professional photographers give a technological rationale called backscatter for the random |
| 2:02.1 | appearance of orbs in digital photography, while spiritists claim they are ghosts, even |
... |
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