2004: Massive anomalies in living room; flash did fire. (Photo:  Robbert w/Olympus C150-D390.)

2000: Robbert (in chair) is nearly occluded; flash did not fire. (Photo:  Robbert w/3MegaCam.)

Here are a few of the more extreme "light anomaly" photos taken over the years. The two above were taken by Robbert late at night in his home, in different years and with different cameras, but both during time - periods when he felt the unusual energy or "presence" around him. These are of particular interest because, although the light conditions present were very nearly the same, the flash did fire in the first, but did not in the second.

The 2004 photograph, below, shows a similarly extreme anomaly -- but in this case I was sitting only 3-4 feet away and watching as Robbert took this one with my Pentax. On this particular night the "energy" was very intense and a long series of extremely bizarre anomalies appeared for a solid 20-30 minutes. During this whole time I didn't observe anything out of the ordinary visually, nor did Robbert.

Robbert, self-portrait w/ Pentax. Flash did fire.

In another long series of photo anomalies I was resting on the sofa only a few feet from Robbert's chair, from which vantage point I could clearly see exactly what he was doing as the images appeared. It's very simple: he usually holds the camera 1-2 feet out in front of (and sometimes slightly above) his face with his right hand, points the camera lens in the direction from which he feels the "energy" -- and pushes the button. Often he takes multiple shots in a row and then will stop and check the camera's LED screen to see if anything unusual has appeared.

Lights on chandelier which hangs from ceiling seem to indicate movement of the camera—but other objects in room are not distorted.

Chandelier lights again, but rest of photos are fuzzed and indistinct.

Entire left side of this photo seems to be superimposed from something or somewhere else.

Ambient light is yellowed & fuzzed…where did white "tube" come from?

Smokey stuff, kitchen light distortion & this time a yellow tube.

Yellowing of ambient light, fuzzing of image, duplicated and superimposed stripped comforter & another white tube.

Brilliant yellow-white distortion is in front of Robbert's body—Nancy is looking directly at Robbert and saw nothing unusual.

Often, when he feels the "energy" present, Robbert will hold the camera a few feet out in front of his face, aim the lens in his direction and take multiple shots. Almost always photos taken this way will have anomalies. In all of the images below I was sitting with him, watching, only a few feet away--and observed absolutely nothing out of the ordinary at all. Robbert held nothing whatsoever in front of the lens or the flash.

During photo sessions when multiple anomalies begin to occur — particularly if there is a whole series occurring sequentially which are extremely bright — the images sometimes become almost entirely "wiped." Again, I was standing right with Robbert when these were taken and saw nothing to explain what the camera recorded.

Feathery-looking anomaly. There was absolutely nothing anywhere in the room that looked like this.

Almost totally white photo ("auto fix" applied), taken during an "active" period.

Dr. William Roll's Visit - 2008

In October 2008, one of BLT Research Team's academic consultants, the highly respected American parapsychologist Dr. William G. Roll (http://www.parapsych.org/members/w_g_roll.html), was able to spend a few days in Hoeven. He had been informed about Robbert for many years through his contact with Nancy and, when invited to be present as an observer at the Utrecht 2 Conference not far from Hoeven, was finally able to meet Robbert and observe him first-hand.

During the late 1950s and until Dr. J.B. Rhine's retirement in 1964, Dr. Roll was on the staff of the world-famous Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University. He has served as project director of the Psychical Research Foundation and as president of the Parapsychological Association, and in 1986 was appointed Professor of Psychical Research and Psychology at West Georgia College (now the State University of West Georgia). Now semi-retired, Roll teaches occasional courses in parapsychology, lectures at various Conferences and maintains a strong interest in research.

Roll has published extensively in the scientific literature and in 1996 received the Parapsychological Association's award for a Distinguished Career in Parapsychology; in 2002 he was also awarded the Dinsdale Memorial Award by the Society for Scientific Investigation for his RSPK studies.

Dr. Roll's education and extensive research into psychokinesis (the influence of mind on physical matter) and RSPK (recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis) in particular, and his interest in nonlocality and the possible effects of electromagnetism on consciousness encouraged his interest in meeting, and observing, Robbert.

Dr. William Roll & Robbert, October 14, 2008.

Robbert and I had only two afternoons and evenings with Dr. Roll out in the fields, not enough time to carry out a professional study but enough time for Dr. Roll to evaluate Robbert's behavior generally, and to experience exactly how Robbert goes about taking photos in the field.

During this time Robbert used Dr. Roll's new Kodak "Easyshare" C-813 digital camera most of the time, always set in the "auto" mode. A wide variety of photographic anomalies did occur (others of which will be discussed in a following report), including an altogether new sort of "light anomaly" which we had never seen before. Whether this anomaly was related to Dr. Roll's camera itself, or simply to Roll's presence with us in the field--or perhaps to Robbert's pleasure at having him with us—none of us can say.

The new anomaly involved the appearance of brilliant blobs and tubes and swirls of various colors which, in many photos, covered nearly the entire frame. They began with a deep pink, which then became blue or purple or mixes of these colors, and often small BOLs were also included. This type of image occurred on both of the nights Dr. Roll was with us, but only in the night-time photos. And in all of these the flash did fire.

Two of the pink & white anomalies on Dr. Roll's Kodak C-813 camera.

In this image small BOLs can also be seen.

Here the pink seems to turn to red. Notice that in all of these photos the field is not illuminated at all, although flash did fire.

Nancy & Dr. Roll looking at photos just taken by Robbert.

Two of the blue streaks with BOLs inside. Bottom photo is the only one in which some grass in the field is illuminated at all.

Here a blue "streak" crosses Nancy's back. It is nearly invisible as it crosses the more reflective area of her right arm.

Blue & pink now appear together; small BOL adjacent to blue streak.

Two with a purple tone; blue rectangle in bottom shot is a reflective street sign & red dots in center are distant house lights.

Two of the photos with multiple colors.

Self-portrait taken by Robbert with Dr. Roll's camera.

In conversation with Dr. Roll after he'd had some time to think about his observations of Robbert I asked if he could offer any explanation. He pointed out several factors in Robbert's background and circumstances which he recognized as being very similar to those present in some of his other investigations into psychic phenomena. Roll saw no indication of hoaxing and stated that he found Robbert's case to be of great interest. Further, he emphasized his hope that other members of the scientific community would pursue this very interesting case.

Like Dr. Roll, I don't know how to explain these photographs Robbert so consistently takes. And like the professional authors of the "Orb Project" book, I don't claim to know what may exist in the unseen world. What I do know and claim is that the smoke-like substance, the light balls, light streaks, light tubes, light rings and other bizarre anomalies photographed by Robbert and presented in this report are not in any way "faked." Time, if nothing else, will eventually prove both my own—and Robbert's—truthfulness. In the meantime, as pointedly stated by a very wise Carl Jung,