Bear Mound Spirits

© Atala Dorothy Toy

Bear Mound Spirits

This is an interesting photo as it combines camera-generated light flares with genuine orbs and a spirit image. This tree has grown on a bear effigy mound – a devotional construction of some long-forgotten people – at Devil’s Lake State Park, Baraboo, Wi. The head of the bear is that bulge behind the tree.

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Experts are still seeking to understand the society of the mound builders and many theories have been put forth. Below right is a map of the park and the effigy mounds – the bear mound in this photo can be seen to the bottom right of the map, near the railroad track. (Map courtesy of Devil’s Lake State Park, Baraboo, WI)

The photo shown is of an energetic situation that camera has recorded.

Devil’s Lake Mounds

The light was shining very bright on this late summer day and I was intentionally seeking to intensify the light flare that my Nikon D7100 could produce at certain angles. The flares would end in a green burst which I found attractive. So that long line of colors comes from light hitting the computer sensors of the camera. It is not spirit. You may well experience similar situations with your camera. If you do, keep experimenting and learn to discern a light flare from a spirit manifestation.

Another phenomena in this photo are the beautiful dust rainbows. These are the white round dots upper left. These are not orbs.

But…this situation, of all these lights striking the camera sensor, has altered the range the camera picks up. So among the phenomena recorded is a happy face orb (center of the tree)…and a ghostly specter of an 1880s gentleman in mustache (lower middle right). These are authentic. I didn’t see these until I processed the photograph on the computer. A good computer program like Photoshop and a photo raw file are beneficial for this type of work. It was also fortunate that I was photographing against the dark side of the tree, which served as an excellent backdrop.

So…the park was established in the late 1800s when large hair and mustaches were popular with men (the specter here looks a lot like Mark Twain to me). The question is – who or what is this image of? Is it of some person of that era who, after they died, chose to stay around the mounds? Or is this a tree or dormant mound spirit who assumed the appearance of one of the modern people who recognized and respected the mound?

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