EVP

[aspiringwriter]

What is EVP? Well in layman's terms it's Electronic Voice Phenomenon. Basically it's where (and correct me if i'm wrong) voices of spirits can be heard on electronic equipment, especially audio tapes.

Does anyone have experiences with this? Just curious.

[Perks]

I was just researching this for something I'm working on... incredibly weird. Lots of fun stuff if you google it.

[aspiringwriter]

Interesting.... :) And it is interesting, especially if you watch Ghost Hunters on Sci Fi...

[preyer]

'white noise' with michael keaton dealt with this. it was a pretty good movie, though i found the ending unsatisfying. definitely check it out, though, as it's got a lot of creepy parts... eventually.

my thought on it? it's BS, plain and simple. just my opinion, of course. but take someone predisposed to such things and have them take a photograph (almost invariably of trees) of something and they're likely to find a random patch that indeed does look like a face. and that proves nothing, lol. (my neighbour is kind of a kook who believes her then recently deceased father showed up in her backyard and she's shown me the photographic 'evidence' to prove it. i didn't have the heart to tell her i thought it was an UFO.)

it's indeed interesting, though. there's a society of such EVP's, i believe, who get together to share their recordings which are conveniently done, and i think recommended, with low-tech equipment.

ever hear of a whirling dervish? they're religious fanatics who believe that by spinning around and around in fast circles they'll, i don't know, reach a higher state of being or some crap. and i'm sure that were i really wanting to believe that riding the tea-cups at king's island would make me have a religious experience, i'd have one once all my senses were screwed up. doesn't mean scooby-doo is a god, though. personally, i have to question an enlightening experience which makes me puke the same way i question playing around with technology in such as way as to illicit fuzzy 'evidence'.

i'd heard a few of these recordings. of course, i wouldn't trust a damn thing i heard off the net. you'd be foolish to do so. but, some of the ones that seemed done in earnest were pretty vague snippets of sounds that, while sounding faintly like a human voice and distorted words *on occasion*, could have been anything.

is it a hoax? i believe the people who play around with this stuff believe it's 100% legit. so do whirling dervishes. so do children believe in santa clause, who leaves 'evidence' of his existance every x-mas.

it's weird and fun and interesting and more than likely just a bunch of hooey when you get right down to it. of course, i haven't read my 'skeptical inquirer' in awhile, so i have no scientific 'proof' one way or another.

oh, holy crap, folks, you're not going to believe this, but i think i just saw elvis' face in my dog's fur as she just walked by! speak to me elvis, speak to me! i know, if i cup this coffee mug left over from this morning (gotta get on the wife about that) over my ear, he'll impart great wisdom. what's that? good to the last drop, ya say? well, i'll be buggered. this information is hotter'n a firecracker. i'd better alert the 'elvis sighting' society pronto.

[sthrnwriter]

With EVPs, I don't know if they are legit or not. A recorded noise could just be that, a noise. It doesn't necessarily mean someone from beyond is saying anything. Sometimes when it comes to EVPs, someone says they hear a certain word or phrase and then, everyone else think they hear the same thing. I think the guys on Ghost Hunters called it Matrixing or something like that.

Some people will believe anything to be able to communicate with the loved ones they lost. In a way, I can't blame them. If someone dies so suddenly, this is a way to be able to talk to them again. But here's a question. Does communicating with the dead through the use of EVPs help a person to heal and to let go? In my opinion, I don't think it does.

I got White Noise for my birthday a few weeks ago. I agree it was a good movie but I didn't care for the ending either.

[BlueTexas]

EVP and the experience shown in the movie "White Noise" are two different things.

I believe I have heard and collected genuine recordings of voices of the dead. I also believe anything can be faked--but I also think EVP is the best way to truly document a haunting.

You can hear some of the recordings some friends and I have taken at http://www.mysticghost.com.

[ScottAJohnson]

No disrespect intended toward Preyer, but I must disagree. First, this is an entirely different phenomina than "spirit photography," orbs, or mist. Secondly, EVP is most commonly recorded on digital and analogue recorders. The general rule of thumb among ghost hunters is to get the best equipment you can. We use portable digital voice recorders for just that reason: They're portable. Incidentally, we also advocate using external microphones to cut down on "jostling" noises.

You are correct, in that in some cases, people are predisposed to hearing what they want in any given recording. However, there are a great many cases in which someone with no prior knowledge or reason to affect the outcome of an investigation has identified voices by those who were not there on recordings.

As far as it being BS, EVP is a widely accepted, though not understood, phenomena in both the paranormal investigation world and in the regular scientific community. That is not to say that scientists agree that we're hearing the voices of the dead, but that there are voices that do not register on an oscilloscope as coming from the normal human range of speaking, and that the sources cannot be identified.

Personal experiences, yes, I've heard voices. No, I don't know for certain if it was paranormal or not. I don't think EVP is the best way to document a haunting. Only the combination of several different types of solid evidence can hope to prove a haunting. As you said, most anything can be faked.

I've heard EVPs that are tragic, funny, and downright scary. The question is do you choose to believe or not. All the evidence in the world won't matter once that choice is made.

[aspiringwriter]

Thanks for all the comments here :) It is indeed a very interesting subject and of course people are entitled to their opinions. I'm not knocking anyone or anything...I was simply interested and wow!! :) Keep this thread going.

[Greenwolf103]

EVP's are legit tools for ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, etc., and not exactly limited to pictures and sound. Don't rely on movies/stories for information on EVP's. I know someone who uses EVP's in his field of work and he even wrote about them in his latest book (which I edited): http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/book1.html (It's the first one.)

[Liam Jackson]

If you want the inside perspective on evp and the proponents, check out: http://aaevp.com/

Personally, I believe if you want to find something badly enough, you will. (Not saying I'm an unbeliever...just a healthy skeptic.)

[pickman]

I have no personal experience of EVP, but you might find this useful: http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/194_evp1.shtml

[preyer]

no disrepect taken, scott. i used the photo thing just as an example of what people can see (or hear) if they want to see (or hear) something bad enough. broken down to the basic, my opinion is if you record enough white noise long enough, you're bound to eventually pick up on an anomoly just as if you stared at a wall for long enough you'll begin to pick out patterns that aren't there, lol.

sure, the movie was sensationalized. but the accompanying documentary was interesting enough to give someone a brief glimpse into what's going on currently with the 'study' and has a lot of recordings which are mostly subjective at best and downright eye-rolling at times.

in terms of using the idea for a story, though, hey, it's a great idea. i'd have loved to read the rest of that fortean times article (gotta love the fortean times). i'd played around with the idea once for a story, 'creating god,' where a weary ad executive is listening to a dozen ads all at once and believes he hears particular words. sort of the same thing, a bit different.

[Jamesaritchie]

(my neighbour is kind of a kook who believes her then recently deceased father showed up in her backyard and she's shown me the photographic 'evidence' to prove it. i didn't have the heart to tell her i thought it was an UFO.)

.

A UFO is more believable than a ghost?

[Jamesaritchie]

Try EVP for yourself. It isn't difficult. All you need a digital recorded and a cemetery.

[emeraldcite]

I though EVP was Elian versus Predator...just another bad sequel...

[aspiringwriter]

EVP is a natural phenomenon and unexplained....still it's interesting to see everyone's opinion/perspective.

[preyer]

it's best if you ask people in person, but if you ever think about it, ask someone if they believe in ghosts and/or aliens. i sometimes got some interesting answers and on occasion a powerful reaction.