A
SERIES OF CAUTIONARY TALES
BY JANE J. WICHERS
GRAVEYARD SHIFT:
Part One: Vox Fatum
The Search for EVP
“Those who can make you believe absurdities
can make you commit atrocities.”
Voltaire
Over the years, interest in Electronic Voice Phenomena,
or EVP, has waxed and waned with the capriciousness
of the growing cult of paranormal enthusiasts.
This quasi-scientific method of attempted contact
with (and by) the dead is not an old concept –
throughout their respective careers both Edison
and Marconi, the fathers of modern communications,
were developing techniques they hoped would result
in contact with departed human personalities.
Later, galvanized by the Spiritualist movement
of the early 20th century, attempts at the recording
of disembodied voices once more became an important
part of paranormal research, at least on the amateur
level.
It wasn’t until the 1940’s that the
first “verifiable” spirit voice was
recorded on tape. This was accomplished by the
Reverend Drayton Thomas who, while investigating
the psychic abilities of famous medium Gladys
Osborne Leonard, apparently captured the audible,
disembodied voice of a spirit manifestation she
had produced. Thomas later identified the voice
as that of his own father.
More intense research and investigation began
seriously in the 1950’s and produced interesting
results. Once fears had been allayed that the
unexplainable communications were not actually
Cold War propaganda broadcasts from “the
enemy,” it became possible for investigators
to postulate that EVP might be a “recurring
system of interdimensional communication.”
It was at the end of the 50’s that Friedrich
Jurgenson, a retired Swedish opera singer with
a confessed interest in EVP research, claimed
to have recorded fragmentary, garbled bits of
strange, seemingly human speech while recording
wild bird songs for his personal use. Jurgenson
contended that he was “absolutely certain”
that he had been completely alone when he made
the recordings; he also stated that he recognized
one of the voices as that of his dead mother,
calling his name.
Jurgenson’s amazing recordings fueled a
decade of intense interest in EVP with individuals
such as Dr. Konstantin Raudive and other researchers
contributing astonishing, sometimes creepy examples
of what they claimed to be extra – (and
intra -) dimensional communications from the spirit
world. For the first time, a comprehensive cataloguing
was undertaken providing researchers with a means
of study, comparison and, where appropriate, elimination
of hundreds of examples of EVP.
Popular interest in ESP and psychokinesis reached
a peak in the 1970’s and early 1980’s
and for a time eclipsed what was considered the
“fringe” research into EVP. It wasn’t
until the 1990’s that EVP research once
more emerged as a valid subject of investigation,
if not yet a viable science.
Today, one only has to go online and “google”
the EVP abbreviation to gain access to a literal
treasure trove of information – including
misinformation and disinformation – about
the subject. Web searchers can tune in to hours
upon hours of tape recordings of alleged spirit
contact, most of which are identified (perhaps
hastily) as communication from discarnate human
beings who have “passed on.” There
is not a single “paranormal” website
worth its salt that does not, however briefly,
address this burgeoning popular preoccupation;
and as a consequence of this renewed interest,
haunted houses, haunted buildings, abandoned or
empty places, but most especially cemeteries across
America are often filled with people who are interested
not in just seeing dead people, but in talking
to them as well.
EVP'S
Submited by: MICHAEL FIRMAN
I am ghost hunter from New York... These
are the EVP's of the little boy ghost that
haunts my house.
To hear these EVP's use the highlihted
links below.
KITTY
WAV. This is the little boy
ghost that haunts my house the first one
my cat meows and the little boy spirit
voice will say kitty. Recorded Jan. 8,
2006
MOMMY
AND DADDY BROKE UP WAV.
He will say mommy and daddy broke
up. Recoeded June 12, 2006
PAPA
WAV. A train goes by and he
says papa. Recorded Jan. 8, 2006
The
Dead Do Speak...
And
Michael Firman listens!
On
our journey of all that goes bump in
the dark of night and the light of day...
We are prepared for anything to happen
as we explore
the world of ghosts, haunting's, and
the spine tingling proof offered in
EVP (electronic voice phenomena).
I
am ghost hunter, a paranormal investigator
I live in Dunkirk, New York, I have
been a Evp investigator for four years,
and what I plan to do with the info
I have gathered is to share it with
people. I work with two other wonderfully
dedicated investigates on the team,
Kenny Narducci, and Tim Carrow, both
paranormal researchers dedicated to
finding new technology to enhance and
better understand EVP's.
Electronic
Voice Phenomena >More Here<
|
“I can believe anything,
provided it is quite incredible.”
Oscar Wilde
Also
See: White Noise Written
by: Todd M. Bates Founder of Haunted Voices
But just what is EVP? Most people probably have
some idea of what they think it is; many people
claim to know exactly what it is, widely dispatching
their opinion for all and sundry to enthuse over.
Or, not.
But, really, what is EVP?
Strictly defined, EVP is “weird, mysterious,
apparently paranormal sonic events of unknown
origin, which can sometimes be heard (and captured
in recordings) on various types of electronic
apparatus…” (Poysden 1999)
The “apparently paranormal sonic events”
take on diverse forms. Often they appear to be
speaking in other languages or in the “polyglot”
peddled by some as the “language of the
spheres,” indecipherable to human beings
but apparently spoken with abandon by denizens
of the spirit realms. Sometimes the voices call
on individuals by name and speak directly to researchers,
responding appropriately when questioned. These
electronic voices have also been known to interrupt
normal radio signals and interfere with radio
communications in general. Some others engage
in dialogue with each other, so that the researcher
is delegated an eavesdropper; often the voices
will provide many clues to their veracity such
as secret or highly intimate personal information,
or by assisting in everything from avoiding traffic
jams to solving murder cases. This is seen by
some to be a result of the “greater insight”
communicating entities have assumed in the passage
through death.
It’s not for nothing then, that EVP research
is often called “Ouija Board with Batteries.”
Just as spirit communication through use of the
Ouija board is discouraged because of the unpredictability
of the results and the very real dangers this
random tool can turn up while “trolling”
in the lower etheric regions, so many professionals
also feel that EVP is the “Russian roulette”
of audiopsychic research.
It would be naïve to assume, therefore, that
every voice captured on a tape recorder or other
sonic apparatus is most definitely that of a departed
human being. In fact, this is most often NOT the
case and it has been contended that legitimate
examples of actual disembodied human voices are,
in fact, extremely rare. Certainly, there are
deliberate attempts by survivors to contact deceased
family members or friends who have passed on,
and if these attempts are made within a reasonable
period following death – most say within
six months to a year – then it is likely
that the spirit response, if any, will originate
with that particular deceased individual. A limited
exception to this general rule is if the “investigation”
is conducted in a cemetery where bodies are being
buried on a regular basis. In this event, a good
many graveyard specters may be around, and EVP
obtained among the active burial areas may be
considered as possibly more legitimately discarnate
human in origin.
Waiting for periods longer than six months to
a year following burial, investigations in “historic”
and mostly unused or notorious burial grounds,
or, as most frequently happens, general “fishing”
with tape recorders and cameras among the anonymous
dead in any given cemetery, will probably produce
EVP, but it will be less likely that the phenomena
is generated by spirits that were once living
human beings.
If the discarnate living are eliminated as the
source of EVP recorded in these cemetery forays,
then what, exactly, is leaving its voice imprint
on the recorders and videotapes of these mostly
nascent investigations?
“They don’t put fences
around the cemetery to keep people out, they put
‘em there to keep what’s in there,
IN!”
Common Southern Folk Belief
The dead, our dead, will usually linger for a
period of time around the area where their discarded
physical body (the etheric shell) has been laid
to rest; these are the familiar “graveyard
specters” of folklore, of whom it is often
said that the most recently buried must assume
the role of graveyard watch for a year or until
another new burial releases it from this duty.
(In fact, there are reports of families fighting
to avoid this dubious honor when two persons have
died at the same time, each family literally running
to the cemetery, dead relative in tow, in an attempt
to avoid the fate of the latest buried falling
on their loved one.)
After a period of time, however, (and not as long
as some have suggested) the spirit of the dead
person is finally released into the astral realms
through the experience many experts call the “Second
Death.” This means that they are no longer
“adrift” near the physical plane of
existence they formerly shared with us, and, presumably,
they may be contacted only with the skills and
guidance of a trained spiritual medium, or alternately,
if they initiate contact.
So, for instance, if you want to “talk”
to your Uncle Joe after he has passed on, the
best time to do this is when the event is still
recent, the rule of thumb being not to wait longer
than a year. By this time, the recently dead (or
at least those who persist in lingering on this
earthly plane) ought to have come to understand
that they have, indeed, died, and hopefully should
be ready to depart to the adventure that awaits
them in their life on the other side.
Obviously, then, the explanation of the “what’s
in there” of the old Southern cemetery fable
is: Not just the dead.
“How long are you going
to stay with [Regan]?”
“Until she’s dead and lies stinking
in the earth!!”
From, “The Exorcist”
Whenever the living have occasion to walk among
the cemeteries, the “Cities of the Dead,”
it should never be assumed by us that everyone
who has been committed to the tombs and soil surrounding
us got there via the usual religious rites. Nor
should we take for granted that just because a
person’s corpse is accorded religious rites
at burial that the person it used to be automatically
merited such rituals or honors, or would have
even sought out such religious trappings in life.
Graveyards are full of people who outwardly were
the model of all Christian piety and neighborly
goodwill, but who may have spent a lifetime concealing
hidden and unthinkable crimes. Others, and we
all know them, are outwardly and inwardly so unrepentantly
miserable, mean and offensive that no amount of
blessings at the graveside would be able to expunge
a life thus spent, incurring the ill will of everyone
met.
It should also be remembered that the earth of
cemeteries receives many dead about whom no pretense
of godliness can be made: there is always an area,
even in modern cemeteries, where criminals, and
other reprobates of society are buried together,
though set apart from the other, “goodly”
dead surrounding them. This tradition is as old
as burial customs and was known to have been openly
practiced in American burial grounds as late as
the 1850’s; thus it is safe to assume that
in most of the older cemeteries that are still
receiving burials, there is a plot of land so
designated, though not always easily spotted.
“Hello. Is there anybody
in there?”
Pink Floyd, “The Wall”
Anyone at all familiar with “investigations”
of cemeteries and burying grounds will attest
to the atmosphere in these places. Indeed, for
centuries, this atmosphere – the overwhelming
feeling of chill, melancholy and vague threat
– has been a primary insurance against intrusions
by the merely curious as well as those posing
actual danger to the resting dead (graverobbers
– who mostly got over it -- and necrophiles,
for instance). Though in the present day, when
more advanced scientific understanding of (at
least) the death process has taken the place of
most overt superstitions concerning the dead,
and with the encouragement of self-proclaimed
“investigative” professionals seeking
proof of their convictions, the living have exhibited
more bravery in their expeditions into Death’s
dark acres.
Nevertheless, few willingly proceed there alone.
Many will propose that this is part of the investigative
process, that having more than one witness to
a thing is better and will make the event more
believable, if something were to happen. But in
the end, it is simply the presence of another
warm body that usually wins out over cold, impersonal
– and completely independent – investigation.
But what is the source of this latent fear, this
feeling of melancholy, this watchful silence in
the atmosphere of gloom? Surely it can’t
be the sleeping dead? Though many believe this
to be the case, the often overwhelming, vaguely
troubling feeling is not the fault of the dead
at all, but of the beings that keep the dead company.
And, like it or not, they’re as eager to
talk to us as we are, apparently, to talk to them.
“The cast-off etheric shells
of dead human beings . . . and other stray bits
of etheric substances serve as food to these entities.”
Greer
In other words, the dead are never alone, and
when we, the living, enter cemeteries with anything
other than caution, we are simply playing into
the hands of spiritual intelligences and elemental
energies that have been at this a lot longer than
we have.
Certainly, if we go into cemeteries and begin
to ask questions, to speak out loud to what we
think are simply “the dead,” these
entities, to whom we are usually connected only
as a decomposing food source, are going to be
ready, in fact, eager to respond. Positive responses,
responses that apparently seem to answer questions
or identify significant individuals or facts,
are often all that are necessary to assure future
“investigations” and the continued
connection with living human beings – something
decidedly new to these basic and mostly unbalanced
spirits.
Cognizant responses, assuming the names of deceased
loved ones, even providing “proof”
with intimate knowledge – discarnate spirit
entities are capable of all these things and more.
Ultimately, the symbiotic relationship is established.
The human interest intensifies, guaranteeing repeat
visits; the appetite of the discarnate spirit
intensifies, and slowly but surely they begin
to turn the situation to their advantage.
It is interesting to note, while sifting through
the real-life experiences of hobbyists and investigators
who frequently visit cemeteries on “ghost
hunting” expeditions, just how many accounts
there are of entities apparently following these
individuals home. In many cases, a full-blown
haunting begins at the new location with all the
attendant “proof” present –
more EVP (surprise!), anomalous photographs, and
often visual manifestations and poltergeist activities.
Invariably, the individuals who begin to experience
this activity will be amazed by it and, in some
cases, actually delighted that they have been
favored with a visit from beyond the grave. At
this initial stage a kind of “haunting envy”
is not uncommon, with other investigators in the
original group wondering why they haven’t
had the opportunity to experience this themselves.
Rarely, at this point at least, does anyone seem
to stop to think about what it may be that has
followed him or her home. Most often, it’s
not just – or not even – “the
dead.”
This kind of pervasive naïveté is
highly problematic and is usually most apparent
among self-styled “experts” in the
paranormal field; these are usually people who
know a lot, but who, evidently, don’t know
enough to be scared like their less experienced
peers who still approach every encounter with
the spirit world with a wise dose of caution.
Another fascinating thing that occurs frequently
and can be found a great deal in the massive files
of EVP evidence posted on the myriad paranormal
websites is that, in nearly every collection,
there are usually several examples of disturbing,
threatening, “angry voices” that have
been recorded. More insistent than the goosebump-producing
pleas to be left alone, these voices, as anyone
can hear, sound as if they were never human, and
the aggressive, demanding tone they often display
makes this argument even more convincing. These
horrible, disturbing voices appear out of nowhere,
often hissing or growling, but always insisting:
“GET OUT!”
Have
you ever heard an EVP? These are recordings
that are claimed to be messages from the
dead, spirit voices of angels and demons,
or alien contact. Known as Electronic Voice
Phenomenon, Raudive Voices or, the scientific-sounding
Instrumental Trans-Communication (if you
want to add credibility to the practice).
Apparently, this is when you want the recorder,
television, computer or radio to speak to
you.
What
does an EVP sound like? Each one is unique.
Some resemble language, or human-like noises.
Some sound ethereal and otherworldly. Some
sound sad, sinister, or scary. Others are
simply nonsensical. Are they ghosts or gobbledegook?
READ
MORE HERE!
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|
“It is important to remember that there
are many kinds of beings without physical bodies,
and only a certain percentage of them were once
living human beings . . . equally well it may
be some other sort of spirit. Ghosts play so large
a role in surviving folklore traditions that almost
any non-physical entity is likely to be identified
as a ghost, whether it has any connection to the
human world or not.”
Greer
It seems apparent, then, that a large percentage
of the “voices” and sounds being recorded
by EVP investigators and enthusiasts ought to
be considered of highly dubious origin. This is
not in the least to say that these individuals
are not recording EVP, nor is it to imply that
they are not receiving respondent interaction
with some discarnate entity. But it should be
obvious to any individual who has spent any amount
of time researching the paranormal and who has
any experience in recognizing the activity of
non-human spirit beings that most of the recorded
EVP material presented as “evidence”
of the existence of the human spirit after death
is in reality the product of human interaction
with discarnate spirits who have never walked
the earth in the flesh, the true inherent nature
of whom can only be speculated upon.
Put bluntly, if some Civil War soldier interred
in 1864, for example, is still hanging around
his grave and talking to modern interlopers, then
there’s a real problem present, and instead
of pestering this beleaguered spirit to respond
like a robot to insipid questioning, a truly compassionate
individual would seek a way to help this “lost
soul” find his way to the other side!
Unless one is standing beside a newly placed pile
of dirt under which a coffin has just been laid,
or next to a grave whose resident has only been
in place for several months – and whom you
are calling directly by name – there is
no knowing just who – or what – is
talking to you in EVP encounters. In more cases
than it is probably comfortable for most people
to know, the voices being recorded as EVP are
the mimic reflexes of discarnate (and very likely
malevolent) spirits who set up their domain among
the decomposing human dead millennia ago and who
are happy to oblige the living who come among
them. Spirits who feed on the dissipating etheric
energy of dead corpses will no doubt happily oblige
living humans in an effort to more closely interact
with the potent, living energy they provide. This
more than anything is the real danger in presumption,
in taking for granted that there is a place for
everything and everything is in its place, and
that you KNOW this for a fact - especially where
the world of the spirit is concerned.
“In outdoor settings or places where ritual
magic has been practiced, in particular, the possibility
of a non-human spirit should always be kept in
mind.”
Greer
Many times, paranormal investigators and other
paranormal enthusiasts who frequent cemeteries
and burial grounds will admit when they feel uncomfortable
in certain places. Across the US and the world
there are cemeteries and consecrated burying grounds
that have unwholesome reputations because visitors
are aware of the fact that ritual magick has been
performed there in the past. Some cemeteries are
avoided and ultimately abandoned after having
acquired such disconcerting reputations; as with
any legend, there is often a kernel of fact buried
at the core.
Some people who live a “Gothic” lifestyle
and others who have taken up ghost-hunting as
a hobby because they want to be “like the
guys on TV,” will often deliberately seek
out cemeteries that have this disturbing reputation.
In fact, the more grisly the “facts”
about what has happened in a place, the more attractive,
apparently, it becomes to some individuals. Everything
from weddings to frat parties, to really, truly
legitimate research has occurred in these sinister
locations which makes one wonder if a lifetime
of valid paranormal investigation couldn’t
be accomplished by just following-up with these
indiscrete folks to see how often their disregard
for the darker side of the paranormal has been
found standing by their bed on a moonless night…
Devotees and practitioners of the “left-hand
way,” of bokor Voodoo, or what is commonly
called Black Magick, can often be found connected
with cemeteries in one way or another, either
as a source of materials for use in rituals or
as a location for the rituals themselves. So it
should surprise no one that the residual effect
of these black practices should remain imprinted
on the area where they have occurred for many
years to come. In particular, places where blood
rituals or rituals involving the sacrificial spilling
of human or animal blood have occurred, will be
“polluted” by these activities for
a very long time. Other rituals, such as necromantic
ritual magick or the deliberate invocation of
demonic entities (known as Goetic or Enochian
magick) could leave a residual effect that generations
of Christian burial rites and prayers cannot allay.
This should always be kept in mind since, really,
no one really knows what goes on in the acres
of the dead when no living being is around.
Among the numerous folk beliefs concerning cemeteries
and their occupants – and there are literally
thousands of superstitions worldwide – there
is always a sapient reason for something being
the way it is. There is a fence around a burying
ground for a reason, ostensibly to keep “us”
out but in reality it is to keep “them”
in. The headstones in most older cemeteries are
always facing away from the fence or gate. Why?
So that any dead inclined to wander out of their
grave will be confused and remain confined in
the cemetery. Circuitous routes to and from burial
of a corpse are designed to confuse the corpse
and keep it from rising and following the mourners
home.
Whistling when you pass a graveyard at night is
supposed to keep you safe from becoming the next
person to enter, but it is also recommended so
that you will not hear the voices calling to you
from within.
“None but a coward dares to boast that he
has never known fear.”
Gen. Ferdinand Foch
Recently, a movie was released about the subject
of EVP. “White Noise” was largely
derided by critics and skeptics, though in the
paranormal community it was welcomed, even if
not wholly endorsed, because for the first time
it introduced to mass audiences a subject that
is dear to the heart of dyed-in-the-wool fans
of ghostly phenomena.
Though the plot was tedious and much of the technology
would seem dissimilar to what is actually used
by experts who have had success in the field of
EVP, there is an underlying and very important
fact at the root of the film – the kernel,
for lack of a better word. Without intending to,
the makers of this bonafide thriller actually
touched on the most important caveat in the world
of paranormal research. In fact, they weren’t
the first to do so because this particular caution
was ingrained in most of our psyches by that dinosaur
of paranormal movies, “Poltergeist.”
Simply put, it is this, opening a channel to the
unknown, be it a digital voice recorder, a “white
noise” static channel, a television channel
with no broadcast, or, most succinctly and perhaps
most dangerously, our minds, is taking a risk
of such possibly tragic and disastrous proportions
that it is hardly within human ability to contemplate.
The bizarre and unbalanced that inhabit the ether
and astral planes around us do not live by any
rules and are certainly not cognizant of human
concepts of honor and fair play. These entities,
who feed on our discarded physical bodies, will
eagerly and willfully attach themselves to a living
human being to feed on our illnesses, our arguments,
our guilt, our fears, and, ultimately, our souls,
until we go to join them in their “Kingdom
of Shells.”
If you are someone who enjoys the activity of
hunting for EVP, remember that a little caution
can go a long way. No matter how much you think
you know, or how empowered you feel by all the
information you’ve read on all the websites
and in books, leave arrogance and naïveté
at the gate. Treat the dead with respect. Treat
their captors with caution and intelligence.
REMEMBER: HERE BE MONSTERS.
Learn
about Transcommunication (ITC) EVP's here: http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/ghosthunting/itc/
GHOST
MUSIC
How
about that song that just stays in your head and
you can't get rid of it. Haunting isn't it? A
song is a relatively short musical composition
for the human voice (commonly accompanied by other
musical instruments), which generally (exceptions
would be scat songs) features words (lyrics).
Many
songs are written for many reasons some about
all the things in the world. But many or about
the real ghost and the things that haunt us. Often
songs are written about lost love and friendships.
And some songs take on a haunted or haunting story
as time goes on. The Ghost Song, The Doors - Greatest
Hits [Elektra], The Ghost Song is a song by The
Doors, and was released on An American Prayer
in 1978, 7 years after Jim Morrison's death in
Paris, France. The song is Morrison's poetry recording
with the rest of the band's music. Part of the
song "indians scattered on dawns highway
bleeding" refers to a childhood experience,
where him and his family where driving down a
desert highway and they pass 3 truckloads of indian
workers. He says that, during that experience,
the souls of the dead indian workers just leapt
into his soul and stayed there until his death.
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/ghoststories/ghostsong/evpsong/
EVP'S
ON THE INTERNET
AA-EVP
Home
The American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena
public web site offering "how to" help
for EVP and ITC. What is EVP and ITC.
http://www.aaevp.com/
electronic
voice phenomenon (EVP)
The belief in EVP in the United States seems to
have mushroomed thanks to Sarah Estep, president
of the American Association of Electronic Voice
Phenomena, ...
http://skepdic.com/evp.html
EVP
EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena. This
Phenomena occurs when the ... 1:) Some EVP is
extremely hard to hear. We will be posting some
of our best ...
http://www.ghostpix.com/gis/E.V.P.html
The
Shadowlands Ghost Sounds page
EVP is a way to communicate with spirits. Researchers
believe that the voices of ... He obtained a "B"
class EVP of a voice saying what sounds like "what's
...
http://theshadowlands.net/ghostwav.htm
Anomalist
Feature: This is EVP
I first heard about EVP several years ago, but
I never paid much attention ... Later, Jurgenson
admitted that he had been trying to record EVP
voices for a ...
http://www.anomalist.com/features/evp.html
EVP
We have prepared a list of ghost voices known
to ghost hunters as EVP, ... for help in getting
these EVP's uploaded properly and functioning
correctly. ...
http://www.ghoststudy.com/evp.html
International
Ghost Hunters Society Electronic Voice Phenomena
Page
Today, many ghost clubs include EVP on their web
sites. Electronic Voice Phenomena is a process
whereby the voice or voices of the dead are embedded
onto ...
http://www.ghostweb.com/evp.html
Real
Ghosts - EVP
Real Ghosts has many incredible spooky ghost photographs.
Learn how to take Ghost Photos yourself!
http://members.tripod.com/~GSOLTESZ/evp.htm
