Story by Karen
Stollznow
www.bad-language.com
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?
Years ago I visited Peppercorn
Cottage, a ‘haunted house’ in Turramurra,
Sydney. Apparently, spectral screams and ghostly
singing can be heard at night. One evening, some
friends and I set up a recording device and left
it to record for an hour. The recording revealed
nothing.
Years later, in January 2007,
I attended an investigation of the National Hotel,
in Jackson, California (see: www.bad-language.com/ghostmining).
The Hotel is reportedly the home to at least 30
ghosts, and much paranormal activity. Apart from
some anecdotal ‘evidence’ of spirits
and poltergeists, the only real ‘proof’
found were a couple of EVPs. But do these confirm
that the Hotel is haunted?
One EVP sounded like the raspy,
torturous strains of Sylvia Browne, grunting “chill,
chill”. The other EVP was inaudible, although
a few people claimed to hear a mumble, or a whisper,
or a moan, or a cry. Of course, these sounds all
have different tones; a mumble is a low pitch noise,
a whisper is a high pitch noise. The disagreement
in interpretation undermines the claim, and an EVP
is just that, an interpretation of a random noise.
EVPs are subjective interpretations
of a recording. We imbue meaning into EVPs, the
message is in the ‘ear of the behearer’.
EVPs are similar to the idea of ‘Reverse Speech’
and backward messages, to play a recording backwards
and ‘hear’ a ‘message’.
One theory compares hearing words in noise to seeing
faces on food. This is pareidolia, to see people
and forms in patterns, such as the Virgin Mary on
a cheese sandwich, the Face on Mars, and Jesus on
a tortilla (see: www.bad-language.com/popetart).
EVPs, backward messages and pareidolia are all illusions.
EVPs can be seen as a form of audio pareidolia.
However, thinking we have heard an EVP, or seen
Mother Theresa’s face on a cinnamon bun doesn’t
make us stupid or insane. It is totally normal for
humans to search for these recognisable patterns,
in both visual and audio stimuli.
Some EVPs are believed to contain
human noises like shouts or cries. Others are believed
to reveal language. However, not all noise is language,
and not all sounds have linguistic meaning. For
example, take the ‘words’ “chill,
chill”, as heard in the EVP from the investigation
(note that these ambiguous messages could be interpreted
differently in different languages). If this is
a real message, sent from a real spirit eager to
connect with the living, what is the meaning of
this? Guessing what was ‘said’ is not
proof. Is it more plausible to believe that this
is a message from a deceased person, or to think
that this is gibberish created by background noise?
How disappointing to think that if spirits can contact
the living, they can only communicate with grumbles,
sighs, mutterings and cryptic ‘words’?
How can EVPs be explained? Again,
each one is unique, so no single explanation will
account for them all. However, the causes are rather
mundane. One of the most common causes is radio
interference. Recorders can pick up fragments of
radio signals, recording incongruous snippets of
real human voices. Other EVP ‘messages’
are often described as garbled, ungrammatical, or
featuring different languages all mixed together.
These are characteristic of cross modulation. Recording
equipment (especially poor quality equipment and
poor usage) can also record feedback and other technological
hiccups, producing curious voice-like sounds. Some
dispute this explanation, claiming that the ‘voices’
often respond to questions, make general chit-chat
and address the investigator by name. My response
to this is…provide the evidence!
The other cause of EVPs is, again,
interference, but of the human kind. Does the EVP
reveal a disembodied voice, or an unidentified ‘bodied’
voice? Are these grunts and groans from the bowels
of hell, or a burp from someone in the next room?
We need to question the validity of the recording
and consider the environment in which the recording
was made. Even noting those who are present during
recording won’t discount the possibility of
the presence of others, and the coughs, mutters,
echoes, conversations and background noise created
by anyone there or nearby. We need to be even more
critical if we weren’t there at the time that
the recording took place. I doubt that EVPs could
be unearthed in a controlled environment using professional
equipment.
We also need to question the motives
of the person who made the recording. Could it be
a fake? A joke? A hopeful interpretation? When we
record something, we usually expect to find something.
Do we have an emotional investment in the search?
Do we really want to ‘hear’ something,
and so overlook any evidence to the contrary? Is
there a simple (or complex) explanation for the
sounds? It can be even more entertaining to sniff
out a logical explanation for an event than it is
to automatically assume that something paranormal
has happened. I think that those who believe in
the paranormal want to seek the truth as much as
the skeptic does, they just stop searching earlier.
Anyone can make their own EVP, both fake, and real
ones (as long as we remember that even the ‘real’
ones are probably normal, rather than paranormal).
If you want to create a fake one, record a plausibly
eerie message or noise (e.g., help me! or a scream)
and superimpose this over a recording of an eerie
noise, such as a howling wind or thunderous storm.
If you have any audio software applications you
can edit them to produce convincingly creepy effects.
How can you snag a ‘real’
EVP? EVPs are usually recorded in stereotypically
haunted spots, such as a cemetery, an old school,
hotel, prison or abandoned building with a haunted
reputation. Grab a recording device and record in
an appropriate location. You can even coax the ‘spirits’
to respond, ask them questions and sweet talk them
a little. Finally, listen to your recording and
interpret any sounds you hear. These might be anything
from strange background noises to the sound of some
idiot stepping on your recorder, but be sure to
rationalise each sound.
Karen Stollznow
is a linguist, author and researcher who lives in
the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a prolific investigator
of paranormal and
pseudoscientific phenomena and is Associate Editor
of The Skeptic journal (Australia).
Visit www.bad-language.com/evp
to hear some EVPs, including the one from the investigation.
Don’t forget to submit your own creations!
Also
See: White Noise Written by:
Todd M. Bates Founder of Haunted Voices
Electronic
Voice Phenomena
HAUNTED
DANGER
ZONE
A
SERIES OF CAUTIONARY TALES
BY JANE J. WICHERS
GRAVEYARD SHIFT: Part
One: Vox Fatum
The Search for EVP: READ
MORE VISIT HERE
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<
|
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.
AND
SOME SONGS HAVE EVP'S READ
MORE HERE NOW
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
