Hot Abercrombie Chick on true theories being scientific

Hot Abercrombie Chick Posts: true theories scientific

I like to read this woman's blog. I find many interesting things here and her take on life is always fun to read. This chick is pretty conservative, and I doubt she believes in ghosts, but she does have a good point that EVP believers and skeptics alike may want to take into account:

Does a theory have to be scientific to be true?

She is talking in the context of the theory of evolution, of course, and not the paranormal, but the principles are the same and she has some tasty food for thought for all of us.

Paleontologists, anthropologists, astronomers, and just about everyone else who studies things from the past is forced to make assumptions that they cannot always prove with hard physical science when they form their theories. Yet we often take this as real "science" because we don't have any way to prove it wrong and don't call what these people do "crazy" or "impossible"; well, at least not anymore.

Her fictional example, similar to what you will see in any natural history museum, concerns the color of prehistoric flower J32. Her pretend scientists have decided based on environmental evidence that the petals of this flower were bright orange.

There is no way to prove this scientifically since we have no more J32's to look at and the existing measuring equipment technology cannot detect anything that would tell us what the actual color was. So is this theory scientific, even if it turns out to be true?

Well, it seems the answer is no. It might be true, but it's not scientific. Yet scientists often try and pass this kind of thing off as science, because it was based on environmental evidence and the theories of the leaders in the field. They stick it in the museums and the text books and the rest of us just go along because we can't prove it's not wrong.

Hum, doesn't sound like the way we treat those in the paranormal studies, does it?

In her post on evolutions, Abercrombie Chick says:

"For a hypothesis/theory to be scientific, it must (by Popper's generally accepted standard) be falsifiable - that is, it must be possible for it to be shown to be false. If a theory isn't of the sort that could be shown to be false, it doesn't count as a scientific theory. That does not, of course, mean that it is not or could not be true - it simply means that it isn't something that can be dealt with from within scientific methodology. "

Gee, that sounds a lot like ghost hunting for EVP. No scientist has proved ghosts don't exist or EVP is not possible communication with the dead. As a matter of fact, the few scientists who tried failed miserably to prove their theories.

So evolution gets in textbooks and EVP is laughed at by the scientific community. Sound to you like maybe science has a little double standard here since ghost hunters don't wear white coats and have fancy labs or lot's of letters behind their names?

Food for thought.

Tell us your EVP story.

Many people in the past few days have been sharing their own weird EVP or ghost experiences with me via email or comments. Thanks go out to everyone, they were very interesting and fun to read. Many will keep you up at night!

I thought it might be fun to have all these facinating stories in one place and to give you readers an opportunity to share your story with the rest of us.

So, put your own strange experiences in the comments here and let's share!

Missoulian: Ghost hunter pulls disappearing act

Missoulian: Ghost hunter pulls disappearing act

Definitely one of the poorest excuses for news I've ever read, this published today just shows how eager many in the press and the public are to find anything, and I mean anything that discredits ghosts or the paranormal, even stooping so low as to report complete nonsense. Seems like things are pretty boring in Missoula Montana today if this is straight from the editors desk.

It seems the board of the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula don't believe in ghosts and have little respect for those who do. So the big news today in bustling Missoula? They've lost their ghost hunter! reports crack journalism ace and paper editor Jamie Kelly.

You see, someone offered his ghost hunting services last year to investigate reports of a military looking and somewhat mischievous spirit haunting the grounds that was seen many times by the past curator and others over the years. Bob Brown, the museums current executive director, "can't quite recall the young University of Montana student's name (it's buried there somewhere in a thick, scrawled-over yellow legal pad)" but he does remember what they told this person. It would be $25 an hour for this ghost hunter to use the building. After all, they would have to staff the building while he was there.

"The ghost researcher has not contacted the Museum to pursue the poltergeists." states the Dec 20 board of directors meeting notes. What a surprise. With a welcome like that I can't believe it! I'm not sure I would call some unknown college student who wrote a letter on a yellow legal pad a "ghost hunter", but I do know they seem to have a poor attitude for people who study the dead themselves.

Anthropologists and ghost hunters actually have a lot in common: most of their findings are a lot of "I think" or "it seems", "looks like" or "perhaps" gleamed from miniscule amounts of evidence with little hard scientific proof to back up any of their claims. Ghost Hunters claim to know all about the afterlife and museum people claim to know all about the past. But the reality is they all just do a lot of educated guessing because of inexact science.

If ever the Museum of Fort Missoula needs to excavate or investigate anywhere I know of, I'm sure going to encourage the owners of the property to charge at least $25 an hour for the privilege of their "scientific study" of digging holes, sifting dirt and looking at people's ancient trash.

Stephanie and her Ghost

Stephanie is 31 and lives with her 14 year old daughter who claimed to see a "shadow man" in their new apartment twice a month, often just standing and staring at Steph as she slept.

Dismissing this as childish fantasy miss Stephanie was surprised when she actually captured the man on film and his voice on tape!

Creepy stuff at her site documenting what she has found at this apartment. Evidentally anyone can bring over any camera they want and capture orbs by the dozen as the CD player or vacuum start up on their own to cover the noise of the TV flying off the entertainment center!

She has some amazing pictures and a great page about her story. But we are here to listen to EVP and she has some scary ones.

"I've got to whisper through the walls" says one mans voice. Is it her neighbors spying on her or an evil spirit explaining his poor state of existence?

"No, see, I'd kill him. I told you. Please believe me" The voice of a ghostly little girl or a misunderstood cell phone transmision? You decide.

"I'm demonic" Is this the voice of the shadow man they see?

Check out Stephanies haunted apartment and listen to all her EVP. She's got quite a story and some pretty scary pictures too!

Why no Trucker CB EVP?

I'm listening to some evp samples and I'll be posting later about a facinating site with a lot of creepy stuff for you to hear. But I had a thought...

I've listened to literally hundreds of samples by now. I'm starting to feel like Raymond from the movie, only with a smaller neck. As I hit one of them tonight I thought to myself "that sounds kind of like a trucker". Then it hit me. I can't believe I'd never thought of this before since skeptics often point to CB's as the cause of EVP.

Why don't we have more samples that sound like truckers?

I used have a CB in my car all the time back in the 80's. My friends and I would play hide and seek using them. Some of us would hide in a certain area in a car and the rest would try to triangulate our position by radioing each other with our signal strength after our broadcast every five minutes until they could figure out where the "mouse" was. It was a great way to spend many an evening and didn't cost us a thing but some gas. Sounds geeky, but it was a lot of fun.

But even as slang talking teenagers it was difficult for us to not use the famous "trucker" voice everyone seems to automatically go into on the CB. You know that twang if you've been around CB's at all. Sometimes it sounds as though everyone is from the south, even if you are in Maine! I spent many nights on the road during the 90's in semi trucks when I was in the music production business. I know what CB talk sounds like both in town and on the road.

Then why do you never hear any EVP say "there's a smokey on your six there big truck?" or "I just blew through the choke and puke at 95 and bears got his ray gun out. Y'all watch yourselves now, hear"?

Why don't most of the EVP sound like CB people do? How many non truckers or radio heads actually own CB's anymore? Can EVP really be CB radios?

White Noise Movie Review by Regman

Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe says White Noise is "a moronic exercise in supernatural claptrap" but Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter thought it sent "more than a few chills down the spine". I'm caught somewhere in the middle.

I went to see the film today with my friend's 15 year old boy to get the teenage perspective as well. There was a great trailer as Lou Lumenick reported in the New York Post "If only White Noise...were even a quarter as good as the coming-attractions trailer." yet I was surprised to see a couple of hundred people had turned out at 3pm on a Friday to watch a movie that was getting such horrible preliminary reviews. Maybe the critics were wrong and people will love this movie.

I'm sad to report that I and my young friend as well as many others at the theater today felt there was a lot missing from this movie.

I now know this is indeed a thinking persons thriller, a kind of "chic flick" with some scary parts but mostly a lot of watching and listening and trying to figure out what is going on. It's not your average scary movie so don't expect to see the same old thing but I think the main problem with this script is that they tried too hard to put the same old stock horror gags into all the wrong places and never fully developed anything.

From the very beginning the whole thing feels disconnected, like a bunch of scenes just strung together with something missing in between. It looked more like an almost done TV show or a concept presentation than a finished full length feature with a big star trying to make a comeback or a director trying to break into films.

British TV director, Geoffrey Sax, who is making his theatrical debut, never gives us a chance to really get to know or even like any of the characters including Johnathan Rivers, the architect Mr. Keaton plays with obvious skill but very little else. It's almost like everyone in the movie is in some kind of trance, unable to show any emotion at all. Even the little boy, when he is around, seems more like the neighbor's bothersome robot child than our hero's beloved son. I didn't have a stop watch but I'd be surprised to learn that any of the four main characters other than Rivers was on screen for longer than 5 minutes at a stretch or had more than 10 pages of dialog all total.

The story bounces from place to place but you are never quite sure where we are going or why we are here. Much of the movie is mostly silent as we watch Keaton drive his car, walk around his office, record EVP, listen to EVP, stand around murder scenes and then set up his ultra high tech EVP/ITC lab at his house. It's kind of like watching a cop movie, but spending the whole first half of the movie on the stakeout.

When you finally expect it to get good and the bad guys finally show up, it only gets hokey and tries to throw in as many horror movie cliches as possible to try and please the modern thriller audience.

There is little explanation about the three mysterious ghostly figures you assume are the bad guys other than a shrugged "they can't all be nice" from EVP obsessed Raymond, the man who gets Rivers started in all this in the first place and is the first to mysteriously perish. They look like aliens and trash houses better than the Mafia or the CIA looking for micro film. They seem to have the vocabulary of your average movie outlaw biker and may be related to the Dementors from Harry Potter's world. But you never find out exactly who they are or what they want. When they do appear you expect them and there is little surprise or suspense involved.

Once our hero starts getting images and audio on his computer from people who are not dead yet, the movie becomes a sort of cross between the paranormal batman and that old TV show Early Edition about the guy whose mystical cat brought tomorrows paper today so he could save everyone before they died. It almost feels like some studio executive finally said "enough with the EVP, what if he could save people with messages from the future?" so they wrote that in.

Then I think another exec said "but cop shows sell well, what if he were a sort of crime solving ghost hunter?" so our hero is off to save the missing girl. "But wait" said another desk jockey, "that's not scary, we need some psycho who looks all weird, maybe like that guy from Silence of the Lambs, he gave me the creeps" so in he goes. Then, I swear to God, someone must have said "but I loved the part in Harry Potter when the Dementors attacked Sirius Black. Can't we have something like that?"

So we get an ending that makes no sense, explains nothing, happens way too fast and isn't scary or suspenseful at all. It just seems like they decided to wrap things up and release what they had. It was very disappointing.

The film is not a total loss however. We are treated to some excellent lighting and camera work form Cinematographer Chris Seager and editor Nick Arthur's choice of angles and cuts helps to make this movie interesting and ominous, even if the script never delivers the goods. The choice of locations and the almost constant presence of running water is tastefully done and fits the story well. There are a lot of great shots in this movie. Too bad it didn't have the script to go with them.

As for new film director Geoffrey Sax, I feel for him. He does have some talent which is demonstrated in many places and it's sad to see his big debut into feature films fall so flatly on it's face. There is potential here, but I think too many studio folks held the reins and I don't think Mr. Sax had a clear course to follow. This movie just wanders around too much. I would not be surprised to learn the directors cut is 4 hours long; that would explain the obviously missing pieces.

As for Mr. Keaton, I don't think he really cares about White Noise. From the interviews I read and the performance I saw today it is obvious he never really got into this project and I'm wondering why he ever signed up for it in the first place.

Now don't laugh, I enjoyed it. I really did. It was a fun movie to see but will not be going into my list of all time favorites. I see this as becoming more of a cult classic like the Rocky Horror Picture show; there sure is enough silence to fill.

Maybe the audience could make it better?

See a real life ghost hunters review of White Noise
or read our first reader review and see what Chris had to say.

White Noise Press Coverage

As is to be expected on opening day, articles and movie reviews abound in about every paper and weekly in the country. I get updates from several sources as these are released and I wanted to comment on some of my observations as I read what these people the rest of us trust have to say.

While much of the coverage is right on and I've found many movie reviews I quite agree with, I did find it interesting that most of the stuff you will read about EVP is just rehashed from the official press releases.

I even wonder if some of these writers actually read anything else about EVP before they wrote their piece. That's just lazy journalism. Count how many times you find this in your reading: "a process by which the dead communicate with the living through the static and white noise of modern electronic devices". Thank God for cut and paste, I guess.

I would also like to ask some of the reviewers if they actually saw the movie? I don't know how many times I've seen it reported that Ian McNeice plays a medium. The character has a whole long line about how he is not a medium or a psychic and the dead contact him when he and Rivers first met at his house. Were the reviewers getting popcorn during this part? Or did a press release get printed wrong?

I also see the "this is crazy" articles everyone expected. Not surprisingly, this point of view takes up three or four times the space devoted to believers, but I'm not sure I blame mainstream editors for this. Most readers want to hear "this is all crazy" anyway. Telling people they can talk to the dead might just kill your career.

Sometimes the news is less about the news and more about not upsetting anyone, particularly the advertisers. They just fill the space around the ads with whatever people want to read and don't worry too much about making us think or challenging our beliefs at all because most of us would just write mean letters or buy another publication. Besides, it's hard to prove EVP and most in the press don't like to do more than laugh at things you can't prove, especially ghosts. Again, you might end up having to contact your career with EVP if editors or readers think you are crazy.

So, if you believe, don't expect to see a sudden jump in the popularity of EVP with most sections of society or the press. If you are a skeptic take comfort in the fact it seems most of the world agrees with you and there is little motivation in the press to do more than laugh it off as crazy people picking up the radio on their tape recorders and believing it's ghosts.

Too bad many writers never bothered to look deeper into EVP or even took the time to get all their facts right. I'm coming to expect that more and more in mainstream media. It really is a shame.

A Ghost Hunter Review of White Noise

Matt Ferrell, founding editor of GHOST! Magazine and member of the North Florida Paranormal Research Inc and webmaster of the Ghost Tracker Investigations is a real life ghost hunter of some repute and I wondered what he might think of a movie about EVP. He graciously allowed me to share with you what he had to say on the GHOULI discussion board about the movie WHITE NOISE.

Last night I went to an advanced screening of "White Noise".
My review of the night? Went something like this:

My sister and I went, and she brought along a couple of her friends. Mel, who runs the magazine with me, was also there (www.ghostmag.com) and I ran into James there who is part of one of the radio stations here in town and has been on investigations with me, along with roaming around St. Augustine. Bart and Lori of Ghost Tracker (www.ghosttracker.com) were also there. Also ran into Deb Nichols, a psychic that I've investigated with at the St. Augustine, Florida Lighthouse in 2001, and my friends Helen and Dave of SPIRIT Investigations from here in Jacksonville were there as well. Dave gave a short speech before the show on their group, and EVP. He did a good job.

I'm not to big on movies.. so my review probably doesn't really count for much.. but for what it's worth, it was a decent movie. For the most part they stayed true to form as to the method of recording EVP and stuff like that. Although I think the data that was shown/captured was a bit more then what the usual investigator gets. Also of course there was some Hollywood stuff thrown in. For the most part nothing to big though (No 'Ghost Busters' type effects.. hehe), just shadows and figures here and there.. until the end when the Hollywood stuff went all out. But it is a horror/drama type film, so I expected the Hollywood stuff and scary moments and "evil beings" to be put in there.

All in all though, it was a good watch. I viewed it as entertainment, not as "this is how investigations and research is done".. so with that mind set, it was good. If you go in viewing it as "This better be EXACTLY true to form", you're probably going to get disappointed by at least SOMETHING. That goes for anything in this field though, including other groups' websites you may go to, TV shows and documentaries you may see, etc.

With such a controversial topic as ghosts, where everyone has their own ideas and theories, you know you're going to run into stuff that doesn't mesh well with your ideas, and you know that many people have different ways of thinking about the subject. Especially with Hollywood/Movies, you know they're going to throw the special effects and scary moments into a ghost film. You just have to watch it and deal with it. It's entertainment where someone merged their thought of how true research is done, with that of what they think is a good script.

If anything, maybe it'll spark more interest of the subject into people, and they'll go out researching and finding more credible info about the investigation and research side of things, rather then going by just what the movie shows. It's like the holiday Halloween. It's a quirky holiday where people dress up in costumes and everything else, but it sometimes sparks an interest in people and makes them think "What If?".. then from there they seek out and learn more about the unexplained, and sometimes even become some of the top names in paranormal research.

So watch it. Enjoy it. And don't take it too seriously.It's a movie made for entertainment.

Matt Ferrell
GHOST! Magazine

See my Review of White Noise
or read our first reader review and see what Chris had to say.

Subscribe to Ghost Magazine

WHITE NOISE now in Theaters!

HAPPY WHITE NOISE MOVIE DAY

Well, the moment we have all been waiting for is finally here! White Noise opens in theaters today all across the US and I believe Canada. What will people say about the movie? How will EVP be perceived by the public and in the media? Will the reviews be right and the movie is really slow or will people like the change of pace and flock to this thinkers thriller? We shall see.

I will be seeing the movie tomorrow, so watch for my review as well as late breaking movie news! Have a happy White Noise opening day, and thank you for your support.

Did you see the movie? Leave a review in the comments section below and share with the rest of us! Let the world know what you think.

Reflections in the White Noise

As the release of the movie WHITE NOISE is almost here, it is time for some reflection and thought before finally seeing that which started me off on this wild adventure in the first place. I can't believe the day that once seemed so distant is already here; my journey to this point has gone by so fast.

Sick Thoughts?
I ran across a discussion post on a movie fan site listing me as the "Guy's sick blog about why it's not possible" and I thought WHOA did they miss something or did I? Are my thoughts and observations sick? I didn't mean to offend anyone and I never said it was not possible! After inquiring with a 15 year old member of the house, I was assured that "sick" means good and that they enjoyed the site. Cool!

But it got me to thinking about what I do believe is possible, what I now think about EVP and what people might take away from my thoughts and commentary here.

Studying the Electronic Voice Phenomenon and writing the EVP Recordings has changed my life to no small extent and continues to be a lot of fun. With the new year here and the release of the movie, this is a good time to think about why I did this, where I've been, what I think now and where this will all go from here.

Why did I do this?
Originally I did this to start my experience with blogging. I figured it would be a good way to keep notes for myself and give me an excuse to write while looking into something I find quite interesting; a few bloggers or some friends might swing by and find my commentary suitable to kill a few minutes or get a laugh or two.

I never dreamed it would turn into this! I now have a fascinating new hobby to pursue and many fine folks like you to join me on the way while adding their comments and thoughts for everyone to learn from. I never imagined the support I would get from around the world and I certainly never fathomed how engaging this whole EVP blog thing could be.

Where have I been?
I've been fortunate during the holidays to have the time to visit dozens of evp websites and listen to literally hundreds of EVP samples of various quality or believability. I've learned much of the history of Instrumental TransCommunication and Electronic Voice Phenomenon and about the many various theories as to the cause.

I've looked at all the available experimental data I could find so far and I've talked over the web with dozens of ghost hunters, evp researchers, people with real life experience and die hard skeptics alike. I've read many serious papers, books and articles and I've spent literally hundreds of hours over the last few weeks learning all I can about this strange phenomenon and the people who study or report it.

I tried ITC for the first time and saw something move in my video. Four others confirmed there was something moving, but it could just be pixelation from an inexpensive video camera stimulating our active imaginations. I've had strange things happen to my computer while listening to EVP samples or trying to post my thoughts but that's not uncommon when using Mr. Gate's monster. I've felt cool breezes and cold spots descend on me during some listening sessions and during others I've received unexplainable sudden feelings of horror, discomfort, contentment and joy or even gratitude that quickly came and then faded away. Could be the late hours in a cold office with nothing to eat.

Or it could all be spirits stopping by to see what I'm up to. Interdimensional web surfers, so to speak. I'm not one to get spooked easily or feel like people are looking over my shoulder when I'm writing or researching anything; usually the living have to poke me with a stick to get my attention when I'm working. But there were definitely times when I swore someone was out of bed and standing behind me or there was a group of people near, only to find myself all alone in an empty room.

So, what do I think?
I write my thoughts and commentary as honestly as I can while trying to examine everything presented to me with an open mind and a skeptical attitude. I've seen, heard and felt too many unexplainable things in my life to discount the paranormal entirely, but I have also had many "paranormal" experiences that later turned out to be nothing out of the ordinary at all. I guess I'm in the middle between full believer and full skeptic and that's fine with me.

I always treat the views of others with the utmost respect from a sincere desire to hear their honest thoughts and views so I can learn from them. We all have our own beliefs, theories and experiences to share. Yet I ask everyone to explain their theories or prove their claims and stand ready to debate on the issues if necessary.

I try not to play favorites with any point of view and seek only to learn the truth, not prove my own theories. As a fairly spiritual creature, I remain open to all the various possibilities and believe such fantastic things as ghosts, recording the dead or transdimensional communication may be possible.

I may use the terms "ghost" and "spirit", but I'm by no means convinced that is what lies at the root of EVP. I admit there are some recordings out there that give me the heebbie geebies and may be supernatural or alter dimensional in origin, but there are also other possibilities to take into account before running off claiming I know ghosts exist. I don't believe it's all demons and I don't buy what the skeptics feed me about radio waves and mass psychosis or that it's all simply impossible either.

Nothing is impossible. History documents many "impossible" things and their strange inventors thought totally batty by their contemporaries for the strange things they studied or dared imagine whom we now hold in high regard. Our religious texts also tell of amazing beings of light, angels from heaven and messengers of God sent to the world to help and advise us in times of need as do our ancient myths and the oldest stories of all civilizations. People everyday experience things that are unexplainable but quite possible when experienced first hand!

I just can't join the many who simply turn away or ridicule ghost hunters and believers in the paranormal because they don't share their convictions or find them unable to completely prove their experiences using modern science. We may not yet have the science. It was not that many years ago when splitting the atom or controlled nuclear power were thought impossible by many too; even those working to develop these very technologies.

If there is one thing my life has taught me, it's that we keep furthering human knowledge and sometimes that means rewriting what we may have already thought was set in stone. Many scientists today claim to be on the verge of altering our complete understanding of physics with such amazing things as string theory with it's many alternate dimensions and more than a few things have changed in the high school texts since I read them a short two decades ago.

Conclusions
So far, I see no proof either way as to the cause of EVP. It seems there is very little controlled scientific study going on. The information that is available is scattered and often hard to find, out of print or outdated to begin with. Research efforts stall because many skeptics claim there is no point in researching the impossible and many believers claim science can't explain it or don't have the skills or funding to collect serious data themselves. So, after three quarters of a century since it's discovery, no one really knows what causes this electronic voice phenomenon.

I find the people who study this phenomenon, those who experience it and the ghost hunters who attempt to document it to be fine people with little motivation to fool humanity. So far they have been very open to me and my constant questioning and I thank them for taking the time to help me out so generously.

The many stories I've read on websites and discussion groups or from people who have sent me samples seemed genuine and sincere. I've chatted with some of these people and debated with others for days on the many discussion groups about evp. I'm no stranger to internet communications and have learned to never fully trust anyone I have not checked out pretty well first. Most believers and skeptics are well respected in their communities, intelligent, educated and logical people with no obvious agendas or mental illness. I find their testimony to be valid and have no reason to doubt what they say in most cases.

The scam artists are easily spotted and the EVP community works quickly to debunk obvious fakes and ban those people responsible from all the many different online groups. They take their own reputations and that of the groups and communities they belong to very seriously. It seems everyone is really trying to find the truth with reason, science and logic. Sometimes their individual perception may be clouded by their strongly held beliefs, but that happens to the best of us at times, particularly when we are convinced we are right.

But the final conclusion boils down to this: I have no idea what causes evp or itc and have no clue how voices that respond to questions or very clear pictures of the dead can appear in modern recording devices. It's a fascinating mystery to me.

Where do we go from here?
Well, I'm not one to turn away a fascinating mystery so I'm going to stick with it and learn all I can! It seems I've just scratched the surface of this amazing phenomenon and there is much more to learn and experience. I think many of the theories out there can easily be proven or debunked with proper experimentation and cooperation while the answers may hold great meaning to our collective futures and mankind's understanding of the true nature of existence. The truth is out there. But can we find it?

I'd like to go on a real live ghost hunt and participate in a controlled experiment. I'd like to chat more with the experienced researchers and skeptics alike. I'd like to experiment on my own and further analyze some of the better documented samples. I will listen to more of the samples available and read the many books, websites and information I have not yet found the time to and the great many more I have yet to uncover.

My journey, it seems, has just begun.

I hope you will join me by bookmarking or subscribing to this blog in your news readers or online portals. I pledge to find you the best EVP samples and information out there from all the various points of view. I'll present what I find with my own honest commentary from an open mind and a little skepticism too. I'll ask the hard questions of those in the know and bring you what I discover each and everyday.

Save time and skip all the hours of searching, chatting and downloading of audio files. Learn all about the amazing paranormal world of the electronic voice phenomenon as you browse along with me after I find the best stuff out there. You can be the judge. You can listen to the evidence and look at the findings. You can contribute your own views and comments so together we can finally reveal the secrets behind EVP!

Bookmark me today!

James Alcock on Electronic Voice Phenomena

Dr. James E. Alcock PhD., a professor of Psychology at Glendon College, York University in Toronto Canada and full time skeptic has many interesting views on EVP and some possible natural explanations. While I don't see any of his arguments as proof that EVP does not exist, he does bring up some valid points that anyone studying this phenomenon needs to think about. Dr. James Alcock on EVP

1- Cross Modulation as a cause. A common phenomenon where recorders simply pick up stray radio waves. Our planet is covered by transmissions on almost all known radio bands and many devices have been known to pick up these signals including Alcock's own record player in the 60's.

This is always a possibility and probably explains away many 'spirit voice' recordings. Alcock complains that early EVP researcher "Raudive dismissed this possibility, saying that it cannot be radio since one never hears music or other obvious elements of radio transmission."

Unfortunately I have to point out the various experiments conducted in the early 70's and later in the 80's that concluded radio waves could not have caused the voices they recorded and serious researchers can quickly debunk recordings that include any obvious radio intercepts. If the cause was cross modulation that would not explain why many of these voices respond directly to questions with appropriate answers.

2- Apophenia- Alcock describes it as

"a common perceptual phenomenon whereby we spontaneously perceive connections and find meaningfulness in unrelated things. In other words, it involves seeing or hearing patterns where in reality, none exist. A visual example is the Rorschach Inkblot test. A common example of apophenia occurs when people are in the shower, and mistakenly think that they hear their door bell or telephone ringing. The white noise produced by the shower contains a broad spectrum of sounds, including those that make up ringing bells. The ear picks out certain sounds from the spectrum, and we detect a pattern corresponding roughly to a bell."

This is a fascinating point and one I had wondered about. In testing some of the EVP I've been listening to, I would ask friends to listen to the recording and tell me what they heard. Often they were unable to distinguish a voice until they read what was supposedly said and then it became clear to them. Apophenia would explain why the voices can answer questions.

Alcock explains it like this:

"We are told that tape recordings made with no one around contain mysterious voices. This sets up a mental set that motivates us to try to discern voices. That is, we must presume that there may be something there, or we would not waste our time in listening. If others have told us what the voices seem to say, this expectancy influences our auditory perception, so that our brains match up bits of random noise to the words that we expect to hear.

Of course, if we play the same piece of tape over and over, as is explicitly recommended by some of the web sites cited earlier, and if we do everything we can to focus our attention on the "noise" (perhaps by listening through headphones, again as recommended by the web sites), then we not only increase the likelihood of discerning voices if they really are there, but we maximize the opportunity for the perceptual apparatus in our brain to "construct" voices that do not exist, to detect patterns that match up with our expectations.

Then, once we "hear" the voices, then it is easy, given the mental set that is usually involved, to attribute them to deceased individuals. This interpretation is likely to produce an impressive emotional reaction, and since we have now heard what we set out to hear (our expectancy is fulfilled) our belief in the reality of the voices of the dead grows, and this may be rewarding in various ways. Such an outcome is likely to heighten the expectation that we will hear more voices the next time we listen to such tapes. "

Of course, using headphones and listening over and over is standard practice for anyone searching for faint recorded sounds, including law enforcement and professional recording engineers. This is good evidence gathering, not something some crazy people with a website made up. Not to mention there are those rare few samples that any listener could easily agree on; the ones that sound as if someone was actually standing right in front of the microphone. Alcock responds

"First of all, of course, the extraneous voices, if really there, could be the result of intended or unintended background interruptions by real people the recordings were not made under any sort of controlled conditions. Secondly, it is fascinating just how easy it is for our brains to come to interpret certain noise patterns as words, once we know what the words are supposed to be."

My problem with this argument is two fold.

One, he is grasping at straws when he states that it "could be" background noise. Well, yes it could, but it could also be voices from the dead as supporters claim. There is no firm proof that spirits do not exist or that they do. He complains that many recordings were not made in controlled environments and I have to join him in this while also pointing to the many that were. "Could be" isn't going to cut it from skeptics and neither are sloppy collection methods from researchers.

My second problem is the way he describes perception:

"Perception is a very complex process, and when our brains try to find patterns, they are guided in part by what we expect to hear. If you are trying to hear your friend while conversing in a noisy room, your brain automatically takes snippets of sound and compares them against possible corresponding words, and guided by context, we can often "hear" more clearly than the sound patterns reaching our ears could account for. Indeed, it is relatively easy to demonstrate in a psychology laboratory that people can readily come to hear "clearly" even very muffled voices, so long as they have a printed version in front of them that tells them what words are being spoken.

The brain puts together the visual cue and the auditory input, and we actually "hear" what we are informed is being said, even though without that information, we could discern nothing. Going one step further, and we can demonstrate that people can clearly "hear" voices and words not just in the context of muddled voices, but in a pattern of white noise, a pattern in which there are no voices or words at all.

Given that we can routinely demonstrate this effect, it is only parsimonious to suggest that what people hear with EVP is also the product of their own brains, and their expectations, rather than the voices of the dearly departed.

Well, yes, and no. Isn't that what hearing and speech recognition is all about? My brain gets some input from my ears after they receive sound waves and then my brain runs through the huge database in my head to discern what these sounds are and who may have made them? I understand the point that often our brains are incorrect in their assessments, but if many brains all agree, then isn't it possible there is something really there? Isn't that basically the definition of how we agree on what is real and true in the first place?

Basically he is asking me to believe that when I hear a recording of any type, particularly that of noise, the possibility exists for me to hear things that were not originally recorded. I have to agree with that as a possibility but I would argue that saying it's all in my head when everyone in a room full of people can hear the same voice just does not convince me.

If most people hear a voice, even one they do not understand, we can usually agree there is a person saying something. Take listening to a muffled CD as an example: Just because I may hear a particular phrase that you may not does not mean that the Rolling Stones don't actually exist anywhere except in my head. If we all listen to a song we may hear different lyrics being sung, but the artist still said whatever they said and everyone can usually agree that something was said by somebody.

Some of the EVP recordings I've heard are too clear to be interference or all in my head. There is a sound there. I've even listened to some without reading the included text just to see if I heard the voice or it was in my mind. I heard voices. My computer software shows me voices in a visual way. I can see the waveforms and know there is a sound there. How can that all be explained by Apophenia or my faulty perceptions of reality?

It can't be explained. That's why it's been dubbed a paranormal phenomenon. That's why it deserves more serious study. That's why skeptics and believers alike should look for answers together and debate the issues to boil everything down to the truth.

But self named skeptics are rarely in search of the truth, no matter how much they say that is what they hold most dear. Alcock concludes with advice to his fellow members of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal:

"How can someone who has heard the voices be persuaded to be more critical and to examine more mundane possibilities?

A rational, deliberative discussion is rarely helpful because clear evidence or logic is not involved. Believers are reporting an experience that was highly meaningful and perhaps highly emotional to them not something that is easily challenged by logic. Moreover, there is a self-selection of people predisposed to believe the voices are compatible with their belief system."

Dr. Alcock, the same can be said of most skeptics too.

After stating "we must rely on science as the avenue to truth rather than personal experience or other people's anecdotal reports. Science, with its reliance on data and its insistence on looking for sources of error and for alternative explanations, provides the best method that humans have produced for protecting against error and self-delusion", the good Dr. claims "Electronic Voice Phenomena are the products of hope and expectation; the claims wither away under the light of scientific scrutiny."

But all I see here are theories and "could be". I find it disappointing to have no quoted research whatsoever by this committee for scientific investigation. Where is the investigating? Show me the data when you "routinely demonstrate this effect" of apophenia in your lab using EVP examples. Show me the data proving any sample is actually a stray radio broadcast. Show me one single experiment your committee has done to prove your theories correct.

I'll end with a quote from the good Dr. Alcock which I wholeheartedly agree with:

"There is a lesson in this for all of us, for we just as surely may be mistaken in some of our own deeply held convictions."

Reporter gets EVP at Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Mike Szymanski, a reporter for Zap2it.com reports hearing the barking of his dead dog Pepe at a recent press conference for the movie 'White Noise' held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Famous for hauntings by Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift, the hotel was the setting for an EVP demonstration by Tom and Lisa Butler of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomenon to promote the new Michael Keaton movie in theaters now.

Skeptical reporters were asked to sit in a circle and say the names of someone they had lost in an attempt to capture the voices of these spirits. After an hour of recording a few phrases sounding like "hello" and "it's fascinating" could be heard on the tape. Szymanski had said the name of his dead grandmother, but when the tape was played back he only heard scratchy sounds and no messages from grandma.

However, someone else had stated the name 'Pepe' and when that part of the recording came on, Szymanski says: "there was a distinct grumbled barking that couldn't have been recorded 14 floors up in the hotel. I didn't tell anyone at the time, but I gulped because the dog sounded very distinctly like my irascible dachsund, Pepe, who died a year ago."

Read about the amazing
EVP reporters captured at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel now.

The Big Circle - Bridge To The Afterlife

Martha Copeland, AA-EVP member and soon to be author has formed a most interesting group. Called "The Big Circle - Bridge To The Afterlife", these people get together all over the world and record for EVP from their loved ones at the same exact time, every other Thursday at 8pm EST (GMT -5).

The concept is an interesting one. A group of "bereaved parents, spouses, siblings, and friends, whose mission is to build a channel, a Bridge to the Afterlife" so they can contact the specific people they want in the hereafter. They post Bios, photos and stories of their loved ones who have passed on and everyone tries to contact those specific people during each EVP session.

It's not scientific; so don't expect a lot of jargon here. They are strongly centered on the spiritual and grief management aspect of Electronic Voice Phenomenon. But if there is an ”energy" needed or you require a lot of "will" to make EVP possible, these folks are on the right track.

The group was started by Copeland after her daughter Cathy died in a car accident in 2001 and began sending messages to the family, including the dog, over the computer or digital and tape recorders. Her first "I'm still Here!" is the title of Martha's upcoming book about their experiences and those of other members. You can get on her mailing list to be notified when it is published at http://www.evpcommunications.com/ or read about her recordings here.

In Martha's dreams and some of the EVP, it seemed Cathy had "spirit friends" who were helping her. Some EVP researchers have reported similar groups trying to contact the living, some even having formal names like the Spirit Group Timestream. Martha wondered if this was possible. When she asked Cathy the response was: "Yes, the 'Big Circle'" and thus the group was born.

I encourage everyone to listen to their EVP recordings and learn more about this fascinating group of people. Join them if you have Thursdays free and help build a bridge to the afterlife with the Big Circle.

Do you hear voices in the White Noise?

The new Michael Keaton movie White Noise opens on Jan 7 and is sure to scare audiences with its spooky theme centering around voices of the dead caught on tape and weird ghostly images appearing on TV screens. But, as audiences leave the theater, many will be wondering if this is a real phenomenon or just a Hollywood creation. The surprising fact is that people have been capturing these strange voices since the early 1950s, yet very little is known about where they actually come from.

EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomenon is a way some say you can communicate with the dead using average household electronic devices like portable tape players and digital voice recorders, your video camera and even a coffee pot or your computer. Some say you need white noise such as a fan or running water to record properly and give the ‘spirits’ something to create their voices from, but many claim all you have to do is tape yourself asking questions of the dear departed and when you play it back you might just hear them respond.

Supporters like Tom and Lisa Butler of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomenon, or AAEVP, say that just about any recording device will do and they have thousands of samples taken by people of all walks of life from around the world. Skeptics claim it is all simply intercepted radio transmissions or active imaginations. While radio transmission is a prime suspect in this world of over crowded airwaves, there has been scientific research conducted to explore this possibility with some startling results.

In 1971, engineers at Britain’s Pye Records decided to set up an experiment with the famous European psychologist and EVP researcher Dr. Konstantin Raudive at their special studio that blocked out all radio and television transmissions. The conditions for the experiment were quite strict and Dr. Raudive was not allowed to touch any of the equipment or make any modifications whatsoever. The good Dr. was allowed only to speak into a microphone during the 18 minutes of recording. Everyone present agreed they had heard no voices or any unexplainable sounds at all during the experiment, yet when they played the tape back, over 200 voices could be heard.

Also in 1970 another British researcher, David Ellis who researched EVP as his degree project at Cambridge University wondered about the possibility of radio interference. Setting up an experiment in a radio wave blocking room made of copper sheets called the Faraday cage, Ellis sought to prove once and for all if radio waves could cause EVP. Researchers at the University agreed; if he didn’t capture a voice it would prove radio waves had been the culprit all along. To everyone’s surprise, Ellis captured a definite voice. Since the Faraday cage does not block sound waves, a stray voice from outside was blamed and further study was canceled. EVP enthusiasts still ask why there was not another experiment to confirm these unexplainable results at such a prestigious university.

In 1982 Scottish researcher Alexander MacRae, a college lecturer in microelectronics and NASA voice recognition researcher, heard strange growls and groans as he worked on his biometric invention, the Alpha. MacRae used a tape recorder to take his notes and was surprised to hear voices, including that of his father when he played them back. After years of research and thousands of collected samples using the Alpha, MacRae concluded “All the utterances are short; and each one begins at its beginning and ends at its end; each utterance is complete. Now that cannot be random. I have worked out that the odds against all the phrases being short and the right length happening by chance are of the order of a trillion to one.”

Sound engineers and scientists in a specially designed studio, a noted psychologist, researchers at Cambridge and a NASA voice expert all concluded radio waves were not the cause of EVP. So what could it be? Are these really spirits of the dead contacting us through some inter-dimensional phone system?

Dr. Robert Carroll, noted skeptic and author of the “Skeptics Dictionary” and SkepDic.com, says no; it’s all in our heads. The human brain is simply making sense out of the chaos of noise and people hear what they want to hear. He quotes psychologist Jim Alcock: “Perception is a very complex process, and when our brains try to find patterns, they are guided in part by what we expect to hear; The brain puts together the visual cue and the auditory input, and we actually “hear” what we are informed is being said, even though without that information, we could discern nothing.”

EVP researchers say that while this does often happen, real EVP is much different and most people can agree with what is being said by many voices they tape. Yet, it seems the now famous recording of deceased Ruth Baxter supposedly taken in 2003 saying “I shall see you no more” was actually taken many years ago by EVP guru and founder of the AAEVP Sarah Estep in a lighthouse used as a civil war hospital and prisoner of war camp. For years EVP enthusiasts agreed this recording said, “I was seeing the war”, yet Hollywood now has everyone convinced differently.

Is it the giant letters on the screen telling us what is being said that makes us hear these voices? Could it be radio or TV interference or even cell phone conversations that are mysteriously recorded somehow? Or can you really talk with the dead over your voice recorder or television?

The simple truth is that no one has any proof, not the skeptics or the believers. It could be ghosts, it could be radio transmissions or it could just be in your head.

What do you hear in the white noise? I hear voices.

American Paranormal Pages Blog

Susan Dancy, Editor of American Paranormal Pages
the very popular 'E-zine of American Paranormal Researchers' has joined the world of blogging. Welcome Susan and I hope to quote you quite often!

For those of you not familiar with Susan, this M.E.N.S.A member's interest in the paranormal started at a young age with a near death experience in 1968 causing her to throw out her conventional beliefs and explore the world of the unknown with her unique natural skepticism. Since then she has done much to explore the world of the paranormal and currently serves as editor of the American Paranormal Pages which she founded along with Rachel Britt, a medium and Jennifer Burcham, a videographer and webmaster of their invesigator group website at americanparanormalresearchers.com.

American Paranormal Pages is a wonderful online magazine full of great articles and reviews, photos and some very interesting editorials and investigation reports by her and the other members of her team. Featuring superb articles by staff writers Christine Holleyman, Dee Wilson and Mitchel Whitington and expert protection by Rachel's husband and staff bodyguard Scout, this is one ezine you really will want to bookmark.

Welcome to the Blogsphere you guys. Check them out here.

My Response to the Skeptics

As the White Noise movie promotion machine works it's magic, the topic of EVP is being discussed more and more in paranormal and normal discussion groups all over the Internet. One thing that surprises me is how many people instantly dismiss the phenomenon as "impossible", "demons" or caused by "radio, phones, satellites or something explainable" without any sort of proof or even serious study. Here is my response to them.

"I can say I was like many of you, I thought at first this must be someone just hearing things or some people making things up. This upcoming movie must be a smart hollywood writer taking one or two things some whacked out ghost hunter thought he heard and running with it. There can't really be any good recordings of 'ghost' voices from a simple tape recorder with a lot of white noise on it!

After all, It's not far fetched to see how people can hear voices out of all the frequencies contained in white noise. I can understand how our brains want to make sense of all that jumbled audio information and so we make ourselves hear the people we miss most saying the things we want to hear them say. Especially if someone is encouraging us to do so.

Scam artists of all kinds have been working this whole 'communicate with the dead' angle for centuries because it's fairly easy to do. It's human nature to want to know there is life after death and to tell those who have gone to the other side all those things we should have told them when they were here. Much of our religion, philosophy, art, science and culture developed out of our yearning to understand the unknown and our desires to communicate with the dead.

Yet, actually coming into contact with the unknown is perhaps mankind's most primal fear. Most people are instantly frightened or somewhat titilated at any hint of it. We love to creep ourselves out and it is usually not very difficult to scare or fool people if you put them in the right frame of mind and then give them what they expect to see and hear. My friends and I do it every Halloween, Disney does it every day and scam artists do it too. It's a possibility EVP & ITC are no different.

As I began my research, the EVP samples I found right away in the search engines sure didn't sound like anything to me other than some garbled noise. I found the same old samples at all the popular sites and started to think that was all there was; but I found more as I looked a little deeper than the first few search results pages from Google.

I found many examples to support the 'people only hear what you tell them it says' theory. The White Noise movie trailer has two sound bites that are real recordings that I know of. But there is some controversy over whether the one supposedly from Ruth Baxter says 'I was seeing the war' (since it was taped in an old civil war hospital/prison camp many years ago) or 'I will see you no more' which fit more with the theme of the movie and so Universal writers made up a story about a 2003 recording of a woman who "died in 1987".

When listening to many EVP samples, I heard something very clearly until I read what the voice was "supposed" to say; then I heard that instead. This seems to support the theory that if you tell people what to listen for, they will hear it.

But before everyone jumps to 'they are just hearing things' or 'I can't hear that the voice really says anything so it must be fake or bs' we must admit that people often have trouble making out certain song lyrics (and I know the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan are real live people), not to mention the millions of misunderstood cell and regular phone conversations around the world each and everyday, so I do have to wonder at the possibilities and can't just jump to any conclusions.

I also have to point out: if this really is a newly discovered way to communicate with the other side, the technology would be similar in it's development to the earliest telephone systems which were notorious for misunderstood voices and garbled communications, sometimes depending on the weather or sun spots. So the poor quality of the recordings could just be caused by the crudeness of the method or inexperience on the part of the participants and not actually indicate there is nothing really there. There is also evidence to support this point of view.

Poor quality does not equal imagination. When your cell phone drops your call, your friend on the other end doesn't cease to exist, even if you can't understand what she is saying. We don't think for a moment our friend was all in our imagination or is a demon trying to turn us to the dark side because they sounded scratchy or like some evil robot from a movie and we couldn't make out everything they said. We know cellular communication is a young technology and it will get better as time goes by. We accept these amazing "Star Trek" like communication devices with their often poor reception as normal everyday objects and almost everyone has at least one now.

It's not magic or demons, just simple modern technology. But, take a cell phone back in time as little as a hundred years and they would burn you as a witch or a demon for even claiming it could do all the wonderful things modern phones do. Imagine what the people of that time might say: "pictures and voices traveling through the air on invisible waves? Sending strange cryptic messages to friends pocket? It's surely Satan's evil magic and you must be his servant!". Using the "magic" of a cell phone doesn't make you the servant of an evil supernatural creature, even if the people around you don't understand the technology yet. Many humans just tend to associate "unknown" with "evil", especially when someone starts hearing voices. I've seen no proof and little evidence of demons or evil spirits hurting people with EVP.

I have spent much of the last few weeks listening to EVP samples and learning all I can about this amazing phenomenon. I have heard some examples I didn't believe and I have heard some that will make you jump out of your seat. Hear "The best evp ever" and "a conversation with a ghost" or my favorite so far "Marine staff sgt" and you might think twice too. I have.

Do I know it's not demons or radio waves, pranksters or some other explanation? No, I don't. Do I believe these are recordings of ghosts, imprints from the past or people from an alternate dimension? Truth is, I don't know what it is.

I do know I've accidentally taped cell phone conversations and picked up radio transmissions on some weird devices not intended for that purpose before, but I never had any of these recordings answer my questions, tell me where their will was or say my name with my mom's voice! There is something going on here and it is pretty freaky, but I can't say what the cause even might be at this point in my studies. There are just too many possibilities and too many competing theories.

But I don't believe the ghost hunters I've met and come to know or people like Rich Smith, Sarah Estep (who gives her book away for free for pete's sake) or Tom and Lisa Butler spend so much time, energy and personal funds on their study of EVP and ITC just to fool some people with very little, if any, monetary compensation to be expected from their efforts. None of these people live in mansions or drive fancy cars because they helped found the AA-EVP, WorldITC or wrote a book or two. Wouldn't you do a prank with some money in it or at least something more popular like aliens or vampires? I would.

And for those who say "these people just love the attention": I'm not sure anyone actually enjoys being called crazy for a living or as a hobby. I don't think people study this for attention, but I could be wrong. I just think there are better ways to stroke an ego than risk life and limb hanging around cemeteries or old haunted houses and then having to listening to hours and hours of recordings while being ridiculed by the general population for it. Most ghost hunters are not well known as such publicly and they prefer to keep it that way. Doesn't sound like people out for attention to me.

Is EVP and ITC ghosts, demons, time travel, aliens from another dimension or just plain old radio waves? Who knows? But jumping to conclusions since "it's demons trying to trick you" or " you could fake it so easily with a computer" (which won't fly because half the great EVP out there was recorded before the PC or digital processing was even invented!) or "I listened to some samples and I didn't hear anything so it's all crazy talk" is just silly, disrespectful and rude.

Until more people are willing to look into strange phenomenon and reach for the unknown instead of just making fun of those who do, we shall never know the truth about anything. People laughed at Mr. Bell when he said he could send voices down a wire too. Now we carry this crazy man's impossible magic invention in our pockets and the voices travel through the air and sometimes outer space to keep us in touch with those we love and miss.

So here is what I ask each of you to do:

• If you think it's demons or cell phones ask yourself: What evidence is there? Can I explain why I believe this way?
• If you say you can't hear any of the voices ask yourself: Did I really listen to the samples with an open mind and look for the better quality ones?
• If you think it's ghosts, can you explain why other than a feeling?
• If you think ghost hunters are all crazy, can you name any you have actually met and talked with?
• We should all ask ourselves: Do I really know enough about audio recording technology, radio transmissions or the physics of sound to even decide if this could be a human voice or something else and how it might have gotten onto this recording?
• And who really does understand quantum mechanics, string theory or psychic ability which some claim is at the root of these strange happenings?

If you are honest in your answers, then I'm sure you realize you know about as much as I do regarding the true cause of Electronic Voice Phenomenon or Instrumental TransCommunication. Nobody really knows or it wouldn't be a mystery.

So let's all work together exploring the various possibilities and presenting the available evidence all sides will gather for review and comment by everyone. A discovery, or lack thereof, of any obvious natural or man made causes would surely be forthcoming if everyone seriously discussed the issues, shared their specialized knowledge and conducted experiments to learn the truth. But the question for you is: Can you handle the truth?

I intend to do all I can to help discover the cause and learn the truth. I'd like to know one way or the other and I have to remain open to all the various possibilities presented to me until I see them proven wrong. I can't just discount this fascinating phenomenon because I don't understand it.

I hope you won't either.

Lets Talk Paranormal with Tom and Lisa Butler

Long before all the attention from the White Noise movie, Tom and Lisa Butler, electronic voice phenomenon experts and authors of "There is no Death and there are No Dead", appeared on the popular cable tv show "Let's Talk Paranormal" to discuss their experiences and give out some valuable EVP recording tips.

When host Tracie Austin asked what someone at home wishing to try EVP would do to get started, Lisa gives the lowdown on how to capture your own ghost voices.

"Use whatever recording equipment you have." Any tape or digital recorder and even computers will work. Someone just starting out need not spend any money on fancy equipment until they know they will enjoy their new found hobby.

Lisa shared the story of a novice named Carol who decided to try EVP for the first time while finishing up an exercise routine. She used her Walkman and the backside of her exercise tape to record a spooky voice as it exclaims "Carol"!

Next you start recording and simply ask a question, then wait for a reply with a few moments of silence. While it sounds too simple to be true, the Butler's say this is often all that is needed to hear what the spirits are saying.

Tom Butler then explained about IC or Digital Voice Recorders and how they have revolutionized the ghost hunting world by making evp recording cheaper, faster and more portable than ever before. With no tapes to worry about, these modern recording miracles also add the ability to quickly upload your suspected spirit voices to a computer or other electronic storage device making analysis and sharing with others a snap.

While warning that all EVP samples are not as clear, Tom and Lisa played the famous "I was seeing the War" recording taken by Sarah Estep which is currently featured in the White Noise movie trailers as the voice of departed Ruth Baxter. The debate over what this strange voice actually says is sure to heat up as millions of movie goes swear they can hear "I shall see you no more" as was spelled out in giant letters on the screen. (more on the White Noise movie controversy)

Finally Tracie Austin asks the question evp researchers always dread: "Do you ever get weird sensations in the room?" Laughing nervously, Lisa admits she is glad she can't hear some of the ghostly voices as they are being recorded. She explains "sometimes they tell you to get out"!

Check out the video clip of the interview and hear it all for yourself when you View the show on Let's Talk Paranormal

Previous coverage of Tom and Lisa Butler:
EVP starring Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra?

Suggested Reading: "There is No Death and There Are No Dead" By Tom and Lisa Butler.

Call for Articles, Reviews and Books

Tired of finding the same old thing with search engines? Me too. But I had a thought:

Now imagine a website...
all about Electronic Voice Phenomenon, Instrumental Transcommunication, Ghost Hunting and other related paranormal topics with the very latest information, fully searchable archives, available 24/7 to everyone everywhere and written by YOU!

Wouldn't that be cool?

• Are you a paranormal expert with lot's of great advice?
• Are you a ghost hunter with something to share with new people?
• Did you write a book, pamphlet, discussion post or article that might be of interest to anyone studying supernatural events?
• Need to report some hot paranormal news or a recent investigation or discovery?
• Do you have a strong opinion about communicating with the dead or have you experienced this strange phenomenon first hand?
• Can you visit a website or read a book and write a short report about it?

Then I need your help!

Submit your own news, opinions or articles and help build the world's largest virtual library and news outlet covering the history, study, research, investigation and interpretation of EVP and ITC on the planet.

Sound interesting? Get all the details here: