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Glowing eyes in a foggy mirror


Mictian

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There is quite a few people asking this question, it has nothing to do with spirits.

One reason it happens in hotel rooms could be because mirrors can often have permanent marks from years of condensation and soap setting in as well as cleaning and the hotel mirrors tend to be cleaned more often than home mirrors, hotel mirrors would be cleaned everyday by the cleaners, so over time the cleaning agent they use will leave an film. This and the amount of condensation in there would be perfect to create the glory effect.

10 hours ago, rjulia said:

This happened to me in a hotel room

Very common to happen in a hotel room because of the above reason. By looking at the picture,  the mirror has had its fair share of condensation and no doubt cleaning agents on it.

 

Aldo found this and from an earlier post:

 

It sounds like you have light from the bathroom lights reflecting off of your eyeballs. This reflected light is then reflecting off of the foggy mirror, and being dispersed by the condensation, blurring the light as it reflects back to your eye, and looks like a "ring" around your eye. 

On 2/22/2012 at 10:43 PM, giant781 said:

This is a "glory" type effect. Light coming straight at a foggy mirror is scattered in all directions by droplets floating in the air (steam), longer wavelengths scatter farther (red has a long wavelength). Then this scattered light is reflected back by the mirror

 

Edited by freetoroam
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I got a pic of this phenomenon, too. Notice the halo over my phone's camera lens? It's directly under the light.

As with other people who've posted about these "eye halos," this happened to me in foggy bathrooms after hot showers in hotel rooms in the Southwest (Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Sedona). This was in March. Maybe it has something to do with the dry cool air from outside meeting the warm wet air from the bathroom.

My wife saw them, too. If you invited other people into the bathroom and they couldn't see "eye halos," it was because they weren't standing in the right place. Have them stand *exactly* where you were standing, with their eyes at the *exact* same level. Then they should see "eye halos" as well -- not around your eyes, of course, but around their own eyes.

This isn't a supernatural phenomenon. It's a real, physical phenomenon, happening in the real world, not in your head. But it's an observer-specific effect, so it can really freak you out. Actually, I think this effect may happen often, but it's usually more subtle, and we normally avert our eyes from the foggy part of the mirror, so we don't notice it. It reminds me of the rings you see around street lamps at night.

(But if you need a supernatural explanation for eye halos, I can help. The ancient Navarinos believed that eye halos are a message from the Great Spirit that you are a special and enlightened being. Eyes are windows of the soul, so if your eyes glow, your soul must be really wonderful. But the even more ancient Anazazas believed that eye halos are a friendly notice from the Great Spirit that you're being too narcissistic; not everything you see in the universe is about you. Either way, the Great Spirit wants you to focus on being good to others. Take whichever explanation you like best.)

20170325_115759.jpg

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The effect is obviously related to having a view that is orthogonal (ie at 90 degrees, both up/down and left/right) to the mirror, and it appears that lighting must also be at or close to orthogonal, as in both examples we have either a light very close to the line of sight, or strong backlighting.

Also, the amount of fog and its nature appear to be critical too - I've been trying to duplicate the effect but having not much success so far.  I suspect that the quality of the mirror glass's surface, and also any chemical residue from cleaning, also comes into it.  Those of you that have used RainX on your windscreens and seen how it makes the glass fog up differently will know what I mean..

As I pointed out earlier, all these characteristics are consistent with heiligenschein, which is what I believe it is.

So photographing anything other than a camera lens with the halo is going to be a challenge, but I shall continue trying!

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/10/2017 at 6:05 PM, ChrLzs said:

rjulia, well done!!  Kudos to you for being the first to actually attempt to record the phenomena.  I'm going to experiment with different cleaning methods and now you've given me an idea of the extent of the 'fogginess' that caused the effect, I might have a better chance of reproducing it...

 

Might take a while, but I hope to be back.  BTW If this turns into a scientific paper, I shall give credit where due!

Thank you so much!! How can I give you my email? I'd love to hear more about your experiment. Props to you! 

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5 hours ago, rjulia said:

Thank you so much!! How can I give you my email? I'd love to hear more about your experiment. Props to you! 

I'll pm (send a private message to) you.

I've tried without success so far, but I do have some other lighting techniques yet to be applied.

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I was back in the same flat this year and the same thing happened, i took a photo but the same thing happened like in this girls photo, the lens of the camera had the effect not the camera.I see if i can find it and post it.

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  • 3 months later...
On 2/3/2008 at 5:15 AM, Mictian said:

Everytime I get out of the shower, the mirror in my bathroom is always reasonably foggy (I like hot showers!)

However, lately I've noticed that when I look at my own eyes in the reflection of the fogged mirror, they almost look like they're glowing. I don't really know how to describe it, but being a design artist, thought I might try and photoshop what it looks like i'm seeing. Making a cameo appearance in my thread will be Christian Bale. I tried to make it look like the reflection in a foggy mirror aswell.

Here we go

linked-image

That's the best that I could come up with at the moment, and actually looks quite close to what I see.

What's going on here? I thought i'd post this in the "Natural World" section because I don't think it's anything paranormal, and I'm assuming there's some explanation.

Just really intrigued, it's quite strange. Anyone have any ideas?

I know this is an old post, but I've made an account here because this came up when I typed what has happened to me. So, I don't have any answers, but your not alone. Lol.

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On 6/20/2017 at 7:39 AM, ChrLzs said:

I've tried without success so far, but I do have some other lighting techniques yet to be applied.

Sadly I can add an update.  No success still.  I suspect it is not only needing very precise lighting angles, but also the camera needs to aligned in front of your eyes in a direct line.  But then... well, there's a flippin camera in the way.. :D  Right now my climate is not very conducive to foggy mirrors, but I'll keep at it.. maybe one day.  I still think it is related to Heiligenschein.

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  • 5 months later...

I'm determined to capture a picture of this. I used to travel a lot for work so I showered in a lot of hotel bathrooms and like many of you it was there I discovered it, but I have reproduced this effect in the bathroom at my home. Something about the hotel bathroom just makes the perfect conditions for it to be seen. Not sure why this popped in my head, it's been years since I've took notice to it again, something about aliens in a news feed probably...

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  • 2 months later...

This just happened to me, first time ever, and I have had alot of business and personal travel in my past. I am currently staying at a cancer treatment center, receiving radiation 1 hour each time, 2x day for 5 days, and am currently on day 2. I too was unable to capture this on a photo after multiple attempts. The exception to my experience seems to be I only experienced it in one eye? I fully expected to google this and find glaucoma or cataracts but here is where I landed!! Lol

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  • 6 months later...

Yeah, I just saw this today in my sister's bathroom mirror just after stepping out of a hot shower. It looks very much like the rainbow-coloured halo that often surrounds streetlights and electric lights in general. (candles too I guess but most clearly on streetlights) The rainbow-coloured halo is not visible at all though - I imagine the light reflected off our eyes is too weak to produce the halo of proper light sources, so we see that strange 'orb effect'. What is weird though is that we now know that there is always halo/orb reflection 'coming out of our eyes' even though we can't see it. I assume though that that's probably how some especially light-sensitive animals perceive eyes. It is a weird thing to see that's for certain. I'm curious about the post which mentioned that the poster saw it, but their girlfriend didn't!? There are differences in range of perception of sound frequencies I think, perhaps there are differences between people as far as light sensitivity too? Also, perhaps your eyes are particularity sensitive at a certain time. 

Edited by Matcs26
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  • 5 months later...
 

I'm so glad someone else has had this experience it could be lighting but not eye color my eyes are dark brown but in my hotel stay the bathroom mirrors were steamy and there were 2 mirror over the sink and full length. I couldn't see myself over sink so I turned to full mirror and noticed my eyes looked like they glowed (and your picture is spot on ) so I called my boyfriend to look at my eyes he didn't see it so I told him to see if he sees his own and he did but I couldn't see it when I looked at his...he has light brown eyes so it could be lighting but Initially I thought maybe a camera was somehow in the mirroR LOL

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  • 1 month later...

I had to sign up for the site just now to reply do this topic.
I have seen this ONCE before, a 3-4 inch halo around my eyes while getting out of the shower, I got dressed and stared in the mirror, before I wiped it I wanted to show a family member so i called for them to come check it out...
THIS is where it got strange, I could see her eye halos too. she said it was weird, and freaky... I was more freaked out that I could see halos around the outside of HER eyes as well...
If this is light reflecting somehow off the eyes I could understand seeing it THROUGH my own eyes, looking into them in the mirror, but to see someone else's is... a bit weird to me. Anyone got any idea why this would be?
I mean I totally understand lenses, i've been a photographer for years, and have done some crazy lens experiments... but this is weird.
Like I should not be able to see another person's eye halos, simply because I am looking directly through the eye used to see it, i can expect to only see my own, and not hers....
Kinda like when you hold a laser pointer close to your head and point it at a stop sign, you can see it super bright but other people near you can't see it as bright, like they can see it, but not as bright as you can.
I could see her halos just as bright as my own.
I would LOOOOVE to know more about this effect and try to replicate it some how. it's fascinating to me.

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  • 4 months later...

I’m glad that you have seen it but I think if you can reproduce it in a different location with the same setup you maybe on to something. I have had it in three different locations and in my current location with a over head light which most bathrooms have it does not happen . Also I invited my wife in and asked her if she can see anything in her eyes or mine and she could not. Also some days it happened other days it did not, some days it was black and white rings , I was at that flat for 3 months and I seen it like 7 times .if you can reproduce the fx somewhere random your on to something. In my current place I never seen it. Ps I tried to photograph it with a Leica d lux, the lens is bigger than a phone lens...I still could not capture it.

Edited by R23
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  • 4 weeks later...

About a week or two I've been noticing this phenomenon with my own reflection after I get out of the shower.  At first I was in shock and a little scared.  Here are some things I've tried while the mirror has been foggy.  I've turned my head from side to side and back and forth. The more i step back from the mirror the bigger the effect gets, as i get closer to the mirror the more they match my actual eye and pupil size.  I put on my reading glasses.  I tried wearing my sunglasses.  I shut off the light in the bathroom and shone a flash light at my reflection and around the room and at the mirror from different angles.  I've closed one eye then the other and each time the corresponding halo disappears.  I've put my hand over each eye to make the halo disappear.  I tried covering my head with a towel to block the lights from the bathroom.  None of what i did had any affect, the halos are always visible as long my mirror is foggy.  I think water has something to do with it though.  Or maybe the fog in general.   I'll try going outside on a foggy day with a hand mirror and see what happens.  Trial and error.

 

 

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  • 10 months later...
On 2/3/2008 at 8:15 AM, Mictian said:

Everytime I get out of the shower, the mirror in my bathroom is always reasonably foggy (I like hot showers!)

However, lately I've noticed that when I look at my own eyes in the reflection of the fogged mirror, they almost look like they're glowing. I don't really know how to describe it, but being a design artist, thought I might try and photoshop what it looks like i'm seeing. Making a cameo appearance in my thread will be Christian Bale. I tried to make it look like the reflection in a foggy mirror aswell.

Here we go

linked-image

That's the best that I could come up with at the moment, and actually looks quite close to what I see.

What's going on here? I thought i'd post this in the "Natural World" section because I don't think it's anything paranormal, and I'm assuming there's some explanation.

Just really intrigued, it's quite strange. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for posting this. I just taught i was going crazy. This happened to last night and for some reason my mind flashed by to those Terminator movies. 

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  • 1 year later...

I had this phenomenon happen to me in a hotel room over the weekend as well. When I tried taking a picture, only the camera lens on my phone had the halo around it just like the other posters that took photos. When observing it though, no halo around the camera was actually there and only the halos around my eyes were visible to me. 

Its cool to know others had this happen to them and its an interesting rabbit hole to go down haha 

20220801_231527.jpg

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Doesnt sound weird or odd to me.

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  • 1 year later...

Glad I’m not going crazy! This is happening to me. What Matcs26 describes is exactly what I see. My fiance can’t see the halos. From what I have noticed, it happens to me while taking a taurine supplements. I used a process of elimination, until finding that it happens when I’m on the tairine, never happened with any of the other supplements that I use.

Taurine defrociency damages the retina according to this study. Perhaps, having lots of taurine in the bloodstream makes the eyes more sensitive to light. I dont feel any difference to light sensitivity, all normal as far as I can tell. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3472058/

I’m wondering if some of you guys took something that had taurine in it, lots of energy drinks have it. 

Thank you for this thread. I truly thought I was going crazy. Even brought it up to my doc who is the one that recommended the taurine supplementation, and he had never heard about it. I’ll share the study next time I see him.

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