EVP's - What Are They Really?

Originally posted by DrJay1975


Now I've seen some unexplainable disembodied voices or which were only explainable via paranormal means. But EVP's?

EVP's are not and have not ever been credible evidence of the supernatural.

So on one hand, disembodied voices can be paranormal. Spirits (for lack of a better term) can do this, but they can't place their voice on a tape/hd? It's a bit naive to claim they can do one thing and not the other. Do you have the inside track on spirit capabilities?

I've heard EVP's that not only refer to the investigator by name but also answer in a context sensitive manner to that of the investigator. The odds of picking up stray terrestrial signals at that precise moment in time that will fulfill that criteria are staggering.

This is not to say that some EVP's don't have a prosaic origin - which I'm sure they do.

IRM

Maybe its just pareidolia but involving the ear.

reply to post by postmeme


Some of it is definitely that.

IRM

reply to post by InfaRedMan


Why must you draw me out of my lurking IRM?
I know and understand what your talking about in regards to the EVP's that are presented on mainstream paranormal programs.
They have yet to come close to resembling my personal experience.
They seem to reflect what an EVP is based on what was presented in the movie White Noise so many years ago.

My real life experience with the phenomenon happened in the mid 80's before anyone had even heard of it, and honestly I had no clue when it happened that there was a name for it.. it was just scary as hell. The voice that overrode my Rock me Amadeus recording from american top 40 was clear as day and was preceding and followed by a sound of wind blowing with a very simple but disturbing voice uttering the single word ME that was drawn out over several seconds then went right back to the song.
We did everything we could to try to find an explanation for it. The radio station said it was impossible and did not come from their end and that there were no other crossover signals anywhere near them in the that area of the band. My uncle who was a hardnosed skeptic about everything was extremely bothered by this and had it analyzed by friends of his in the recording business.. no one could offer an explanation and it ended up bothering him so much that he destroyed it to protect me as everyone somehow felt there was evil in that voice. I have to admit it did have that feel to it. the voice effected everyone that heard it in a very noticeable way.

I still regret that it was destroyed though. It is the only physical evidence I have ever had of all the weird things I have experienced.

seriously I killed the thread? If I delete my post will people come back and talk again? sorry irm

reply to post by NephraTari


Hmmm, If I didn't know better I would say that Falco was the person exclaiming the words "ME". I think what you heard was the ghost of Falco's dead career (from the future) trying to milk every last bit out of the only hit he would ever have. MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Now seriously....

That's pretty freaky NephraTari! I'm glad I never found any such thing on my mix tapes. It could have been one of many possibilities... It's just a shame that the tape was disposed of, especially with the signal processing equipment we have today.

IRM

[edit on 18/5/10 by InfaRedMan]

reply to post by DJM8507


That is an interesting design and part of me wonders about the mirror themselves. If standard mirrors would work properly or if they would have to be the older silver backed.

As for the faraday cage, I would suspect to hedge out interference from modern RF devices like radio signals and microwave communications.

I know that it is said that Spiriciom has been debunked, but is that really true? I think what we have is sufficient suspicion that it could have been a faked that leads many to the conclusion that it was faked, but there's no real proof of it. If you've listened to the tapes, you know the conversations were often highly techniocal--which resistor combination to use to counteract impedence--that sort of thing, or really pretty mundane--stuff about cabbages and brocolli. I'm left wondering why anyone would go to the considerable trouble of doing all that. Any fake had to be an elaborate setup that was technically detailed. Unless there was sufficient monetary gain to be had, it doesn't seem worth it to me.

Technically the Spiricom approach is much different than the Frank's Box approach. The philosophy of Frank's Box is to scan an active spectrum which picks up voices as it travels. These are then theoretically "used" or "borrowed" by the spirit entity to form communications.

The Spiricom approach uses a series of 13 tones broadcast at a specific frequency, 29.575 MHz, which is a little-used part on the high end of the 10 Meter HAM Radio band. This hodge-podge of tones is then picked up by a receiver which also has a microphone in the room. The rersult is recorded. The idea here is that the spirit entities modulate the broadcast frequency combination to form an intelligible voice.

As I was researching this I suddenly came to the conclusion that I have nearly all the components necessary to set up a working Spiricom system. I have a multi-tone generator on my laptop that can be set up to combine the 13 frequencies. I have a Kenwodd TS-2000 transceiver that can broadcast the tones at 29.575 (Most radios don't accommodate that specific frequency, inclusing most 10 meter radios). And I have a Yaesu portable that can receive on the same frequency.

All I need is to get the tones out of the computer and into the Kenwood. For this I am buying a rigblaster, which purports to be a computer to radio interface, a small 10 meter antenna for the Kenwood, and a high end digital recorder. Once I get this all hooked up, I ought to have the functional equivalent of Spricom IV.

reply to post by schuyler


Be sure to let us all know how it goes!

IRM

reply to post by InfaRedMan


We don't put much stock in EVPS. THe environments are too uncontrolled and the people are typically poorly accounted for. THere is a very high probability of picking up other boradcast signals as well. DO an experiment. Have one of your friends who is a truck driver or someone with a powerful cb and amp sit at the end of your driveway. Kill all the power in your home and unplug your stereo to be sure. Set a tape recorder or digital voice recorder in the room with the stereo. Now have the friend talk on the CB. Do it for 5 min. Then go back in and listen to your recording. WoW, a nifty EVP.

THey aren't reliable. We don't know how spirits communicate so stating that any method of speaking to them or photographing them is reliable or unreliable is impossible. But if you eliminate the normal explanations a lot of the unexplainable suddenly becomes explainable.

I certainly agree with you that interference can be an issue and, as a HAM operator, I'm well acquanited with bleed from other frequencies. I think this is especially true with the "Frank's Box" approach, which scans up and down the AM and or FM band and postulates that entities would somehow utilize existing broadcast words. I just think that idea is full of holes. Any words are, by definition, conventionally broadcast.

The Spiricom approach makes much more sense to me. You pick a little-utilized frequency, add a harmonic set of frequencies as a carrier wave, and see what happens.

I realize a lot of people seem to feel that Spiricom has been debunked. The one guy who did the bulk of the debunking is a Dr. Stephen Rorke. I've been clear through his site (which is ghastly, btw) and my conclusion is that his is a largely circumstantial thesis that pulls in wild ideas of his own that are nowhere near proven. Most of the other sites that claim Spiricom is debunked pull off Rorke's.

I've been acquainted with the tapes since they first came out. I corresponded with Meek before his death and I still have an original Metascience Foundation cassette of the conversations. These are not just a few words out of the ether; they are complete interactive conversations.

I also realize O'Neill was an odd duck and he very well could have made the whole thing up. As far as I can tell, he had the technical know how to do so. But when you listen to the conversations all the way through you have to admit that if they were faked, O'Neill did a masterful job. They are REALLY good.

It just struck me as I stared at the simplified schematics of the Spiricom device that the reason it was difficult and expensive for them to make was because they had to construct the frequency oscillators themselves and they were using tube radios. The rest of the gizmo isn't all that complicated. Today, that job is simple with free software. All you have to do is feed the output of the multi-frequency software generator out of the laptop and into a transmitter, then have a second radio receiver to pick up your transmitter and a good quality recorder to capture what's there.

I had always thought that to duplicate a Spiricom would mean studying schematics, buying diodes and resistors, and trying to figure out what the hell they had done. It was kind of a revelation to realize this could be done with off the shelf parts and, considering what I already had on hand, could be done for a few hundred dollars. I already have $3000 worth of radios and a HAM license, so to strart from scratch would be about $4K, though smart guys could construct it for much less.

When I accumulate all the parts I'll post the entire setup here. Just a fun project to try. Maybe I can meet Grandpa after all! :-)

reply to post by DrJay1975


I think you will find that no one on this thread will argue that a portion of EVPs are produced via prosaic means such as errant radio signals, other investigators, acoustic/resonant anomalies and the like. However, it does not account for them all. I will maintain that there is a small portion of EVP's that cannot be explained away in such a manner.... and that's coming from a skeptic!

IRM

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
reply to post by DrJay1975

 

I think you will find that no one on this thread will argue that a portion of EVPs are produced via prosaic means such as errant radio signals, other investigators, acoustic/resonant anomalies and the like. However, it does not account for them all. I will maintain that there is a small portion of EVP's that cannot be explained away in such a manner.... and that's coming from a skeptic!

IRM

How do you know all EVPs aren't caused by the mundane? What about hoaxes? You aren't using a skeptical approach here.

reply to post by cripmeister


Simple. It's my belief based on the plethora of evidence I have seen over the years. Just like it's your belief that they are all mundane based on the evidence you have encountered. You and I have simply found ourselves on different pages in respect to this topic.

I don't need to believe that they exist, or that there is some kind of life after death. I don't really have a dog in that race. I have no agenda either way. My approach is dispassionate. If someone could prove to me that they are all mundane, I would happily accept that answer. I just haven't seen anyone make a case that explains all of them away so easily. Therefore I remain open minded to the suggestion that we may not know everything either way.

To summarize, I don't believe I've been non skeptical mate.


IRM

reply to post by InfaRedMan


I don't believe all EVPs have mundane explanations, maybe they do maybe they don't. But because it's in my opinion impossible to account for every possible mundane source of EVP I can't dismiss them. And there are no errant or stray radio signals, I think you know what radio signals are and how they work. They are everywhere. Then there's the noise produced by the recording device itself without external interference.

There is no way of conducting a completely controlled EVP experiment. Therefore it's in my opinion impossible to rule out all possible mundane sources.

Just from my own personal experiences with EVPs, I'm convinced it is a real phenomena. What is is, I can't say. You can go with all the theories you want for what they are but because of the number of them I've gotten over the years and countless hours of audio listened to, I am also convinced it isn't radio interference.

Again, I'm only speaking of the 100s of hours I've listened to but never once have I heard anything resembling "breaker one nine..." "We got a 10-20 in progress.." "drink sprite, it tastes good", "use Tide detergent", "I'm over on 5th and main where are you?"

I joined a paranormal study group after I heard some interesting EVPs they had. The main reason is because I told them I was skeptical and had never heard of this. I told them "they" were the ones making the voices. They assured me they weren't. I was encouraged to buy a recorder and come along. I did that. To make sure it wasn't them since I didnt' know how it worked, I sort of walked off by myself to rule out their background voices and to my utter surprise I got one my very first night. The hair stood up on my neck when I heard it. After that, I became hooked on seeing what I could get as I knew no one was around and I couldn't figure it out.

So, this went on for years always trying to get one better than the last. Another reason I say they aren't transmissions of radios and CBs is the pure fact that they don't appear throughout the recording at odd times as you would expect to find. They always seem to come after questions asked and the odds of picking up a transmission related to a question you are asking at the appropriate time are very slim to me.

It is a phenomena you have to experience a few times to fully appreciate it. I seem to have a knack for getting them..why? I dunno but my theory is that it has to do with my energy field and the fact that I am a psychic/spiritual person. I've been with groups of people countless times while they ask questions and get no responses. They'll ask me to try and I get responses. It's very odd, indeed. I have gotten dozens of them, some only "hellos" and "heys" but its the tone of the voices that get me. You can hear excitement, sorry, confusion all in their voices.

I gave it up after about 5 years so I don't actively go out anymore.

Originally posted by schuyler
I certainly agree with you that interference can be an issue and, as a HAM operator, I'm well acquanited with bleed from other frequencies. I think this is especially true with the "Frank's Box" approach, which scans up and down the AM and or FM band and postulates that entities would somehow utilize existing broadcast words. I just think that idea is full of holes. Any words are, by definition, conventionally broadcast.

The Spiricom approach makes much more sense to me. You pick a little-utilized frequency, add a harmonic set of frequencies as a carrier wave, and see what happens.

I realize a lot of people seem to feel that Spiricom has been debunked. The one guy who did the bulk of the debunking is a Dr. Stephen Rorke. I've been clear through his site (which is ghastly, btw) and my conclusion is that his is a largely circumstantial thesis that pulls in wild ideas of his own that are nowhere near proven. Most of the other sites that claim Spiricom is debunked pull off Rorke's.

I've been acquainted with the tapes since they first came out. I corresponded with Meek before his death and I still have an original Metascience Foundation cassette of the conversations. These are not just a few words out of the ether; they are complete interactive conversations.

I also realize O'Neill was an odd duck and he very well could have made the whole thing up. As far as I can tell, he had the technical know how to do so. But when you listen to the conversations all the way through you have to admit that if they were faked, O'Neill did a masterful job. They are REALLY good.

It just struck me as I stared at the simplified schematics of the Spiricom device that the reason it was difficult and expensive for them to make was because they had to construct the frequency oscillators themselves and they were using tube radios. The rest of the gizmo isn't all that complicated. Today, that job is simple with free software. All you have to do is feed the output of the multi-frequency software generator out of the laptop and into a transmitter, then have a second radio receiver to pick up your transmitter and a good quality recorder to capture what's there.

I had always thought that to duplicate a Spiricom would mean studying schematics, buying diodes and resistors, and trying to figure out what the hell they had done. It was kind of a revelation to realize this could be done with off the shelf parts and, considering what I already had on hand, could be done for a few hundred dollars. I already have $3000 worth of radios and a HAM license, so to strart from scratch would be about $4K, though smart guys could construct it for much less.

When I accumulate all the parts I'll post the entire setup here. Just a fun project to try. Maybe I can meet Grandpa after all! :-)

Curious if you ever were able to build your rig?

Would love to hear the results!