When I first saw the YouTube video (shown below) of an orb floating around a Kansas City gym, I thought it was an insect flying in front of the camera.

The movement isn’t consistent with a bit of dust in a closed room, even with fans or a ventilation system.  (I’ve seen many videos of dust particles.)

However, the second clip in the video doesn’t move like a flying insect.  Also, at one point, the orb seems to cast light on the floor of the gym. That apparent illumination baffles me.

If it’s a bug, the orb should change size as the intensity of the image changes.  That is, as the bug is closer to the camera, the orb should look larger as well as more solid.

It doesn’t.

In addition, that particular motion-activated camera is designed to ignore bugs, and the security company has said that the image isn’t caused by a light in the gym.

Some claim that an insect is on the lens of the camera. If that’s the case, it’d have to be a very tiny insect, or it’d block more of the view.

To dismiss that explanation, we’d need to experiment with the camera.  Or, we’d need to see the orb on videos from other cameras in the room, filming at the same time.

But, as someone who’s seen hundreds (perhaps thousands) of orbs caused by bugs, I’m a little confused by this video.  Usually, we see some structure in the image (usually wings, but sometimes the thorax or legs) to suggest an insect.

In this video, I don’t even see the darker or more opaque center that’s typical of bug orbs.

Others insist that the odd, orb-like images are caused by headlights of passing cars.

There are two big problems with that explanation:

1. Cars pass that gym every night.  Why aren’t these lights on film, every night?

2. If the light came from outside the gym windows, we’d probably see it reflected as bright white light in the polished metal of the gym equipment, or as a line of light across the gym floor, not just a single orb.

So, while I can’t confirm anything without more information about the camera and its setup in the gym, I don’t have an obvious explanation for the orb in the video.

In the poll at the news station’s website, I voted with the majority of viewers and said that it’s a ghost.  I’d have preferred some other options, such as “I don’t know,” but…

I don’t think it’s dust.  I don’t think that it’s passing lights from cars.  It might be an insect on the camera lens or hardware, but I’d need to experiment with the camera (or one like it) to be sure.

Whatever it is, it’s definitely odd.

I love stories such as this, especially around Halloween.

Additional link:

KMBC-TV article about their story and video: Mysterious Light Caught on Fitness Club’s Cam

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