EVP Session: The Farmer's Walk

This is the the second EVP session I have conducted in an area outside my house I have called "The Farmer's Walk".

This session was performed at 9:30 March 18th (contrary to what I state in the session).

There is a loud whine the first 10 seconds of the recording. I will try to remember to let the recorder go for 10 seconds before beginning so I can cut this out next time.

I think I did a better job this time asking questions. When the session starts, I accidentally fall back to my old ways with an unfriendly tone, then quickly recover by starting over and stating my name with a friendlier tone. I still ask questions too brusquely - it's hard not to be self-conscious basically talking to yourself.

I also need to stand still after I ask a question. The rustling of my movement is obscuring any possible answer I could be picking up.

3:06 something taps the recorder. It wasn't me. I was holding it in one hand, and keeping a tight grip on it.

3:35 In response to my question "What did you do for a living?" there is something imprinted on the recording. I tried reducing the background noise in audacity, but it's intelligible. I also tried reversing the audio, but that turned up nothing I could understand either.

4:08 the recorder is tapped again, harder this time.

5:03 noise from the recording software

5:21 noise from the recording software

I see something peek it's head over the bed at me

Yesterday morning I was on the bed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a white flash of movement. It looked distinctly like a small head that peeked up over the side of the bed and quickly ducked back down.

EVPs and Bumps-in-the-Night: Recordings from January 5th, 2009

Here are more recordings that have been stored on my digital recorder, this time from early 2009.

Clip #1, 3:00 am, 0'13''
Noise Reduction: 10db
0:05: Me breathing
0:06: Something is being banged or taped around. The taps start quick, then slow down.

Clip #2, 4:21 am, 0'10''
Noise Reduction: 10db
0:06: A small voice humming.

Clip #3, 5:34 am, 0'13''
Noise Reduction: 10db
0:05: A loud bang, which is enough to wake one of us up.
0:09: Holly making a sound as she is half-woken from her sleep either by the sound, or me turning over.
0:13: A little girl's voice - not Holly's.
0:21: As we are still getting comfortable to fall back asleep, you hear a little girl's voice say "Hi".

EVP Maker software

Following on the heels of my mention of the Ghost Box software, I discovered another interesting tool for us "amateur" investigators. This is some software called EVP Maker.

The premise behind EVP Maker is that it takes any sound clip, chops it up, then randomly spits out slices of the clip. In this way, it behaves more like a controlled version of a Ghost Box.

An excellent bonus is that the developer has created a cued wav file of all the allophones in the English language. The software also knows how to handle cued files, and can therefore output a random stream of these allophones, hence making a ghost box that removes false positives from radio station voices!

My only con with this is lack of portability. You could install it on a laptop, but it would be great if it were ported to the iPhone/iPad and the Android OS.

EVPs and Bumps-in-the-Night: Recordings from June 18th, 2008

Date Recorded: June 15, 2008

Analysis Started: 2/5/2009 11:34am
Analysis Completed: 2/10/2009 3:54pm

Here is the last of my 2008 clips that I had stored on my digital recorder. I'm finally getting them off the darned thing and onto the blog. I analyzed this recording last year! Time just slips by too easily.

Clip #1, 12:24 am, 0'15''
Noise Reduction: 10db
0:05: A small tap or click
0:09: A rapid series of clicks. I have no idea what could have caused this.

Clip #2, 6:04 am, 0'15''
Noise Reduction: 10db
0:05: A huge, violent bang. You can actually hear something bounce right after from the impact. I am amazed we did not wake up from this. You can hear us slightly stir after the noise.

Sarah hears a little girl singing in Sophia's room.

A while ago Sarah related this story to me. I don't always have the opportunity to write in the blog immediately, but I at least try to put a little place-holder in there so I could go back later and fill in the blanks. This is one of those times.

So Sarah came to me about a month ago and told me that she was cleaning her room a few days before. Shelby and Sophia were still at school. She heard humming or soft singing coming from Sophia's room. Sophia's door was closed (at it usually is because of her cat). Sarah went over to Sophia's room and opened the door. There was no one in the room, except for the cat.

My first active EVP session

I've made it clear in past posts that I have not wanted to perform EVP investigations in my house. I don't want spirits to become more active and try to interact more with people in the house, simply because I have younger girls that are already freaked out about the whole haunted thing.

But Monday night I had an epiphany: Last summer, Sarah saw an apparition walk up our yard. I realized I didn't have a problem at all doing EVP sessions outside of the house.

So Monday night, I went outside after the kids went to bed and walked over to the spot where Sarah claimed to have seen the apparition. I only planned to be out there a few minutes because Holly was still at work and I knew she would be coming home very soon. So I already had a bit of a time-crunch on myself mentally. I brought out my Sansa e280 hacked with Rockbox software and started the recorder, which has turned out to be a real kick-ass recorder, because the software allows built-in gain with the microphone.

So here's the session. WARNING! The first 10 seconds contain a high-pitched whine. This is a bug in the Rockbox recording software. I apologize for it:

There was a slight wind blowing, and there was quite a bit of interfering events like cars passing (which drives me crazy because the country road I live on almost never has traffic, but two cards passed by during my short little session)

Anomalies noticed:

00:51: Some sort of metallic bang. I did not hear this while recording.
02:56 Although I failed to tag this, this was a semi truck decelerating.

Ok, so it was my very first EVP session. Nothing paranormal was captured, but I've listened to it a few times now, and realize there are some improvements that I need.

1) I need to have an arsenal of questions ready. I ran out of questions early. I also need to figure out how to have a longer 1-way conversation. Easier said than done!

2) I was too quiet in the beginning. I also need to introduce myself in the beginning.

3) I need to be friendlier and more conversation-like.

4) I think I did a good job tagging noises that I heard. And it was helpful, because at 2:37 there is a noise, and immediately my ears perked up while listening to it the first time, and then I hear my tag, "dog".

I think I'm going to be doing quite a few more EVP sessions in the area I'm going to refer from now on as "The Farmer's Walk Area".

EVPs and Bumps-in-the-Night: Recordings from May 31, 2008

Date Recorded: May 31, 2008

Analysis Started: 01/18/2009 9:12am
Analysis Completed: 01/21/2009 7:24pm

Here's another clip of footsteps while we sleep.

Clip #1, 3:34 am, 0'41''
Noise Reduction: 10db
0:10: Footsteps start

Ghost Boxes

I recently discovered an interesting device called a Ghost Box. At its most elemental level, it is a hacked Radio Shack AM/FM radio. Only specific models of their catalog can be hacked, but once the modifications are made, it automatically scans the airwaves at a fast clip, playing small sections of voice and noise from the radio stations in the area.

The theory goes that ghosts or spirits in the vicinity of the unit can manipulate the sounds and voices coming from the speakers and answer questions or make statements to those listening. Here is a sample from YouTube:




However, speculation exists that claims the voices being picked up are simply random and could be construed as coincidence. The trick is to ask questions that are in context, for example what color coat am I wearing?

So I am now on a quest to obtain a hackable radio. I obtained a list of hackable models from the web. I found one of them at our local Radio Shack for $30. I'll be getting it soon to hack it.

I still have a policy of doing no EVP sessions in my house. I have teenage daughters and I really don't want to draw attention to my family in that way. I don't want to stir things up or make things more active. But I am thinking about starting an investigation group, and a tool like this would be very handy.

EVPs and bumps-in-the-night from December 29, 2008

I'm finally getting back to posting the stored clips of sounds that I've recorded the past few years.

Here are three more from the end of Dec '08.

Clip #1, 1:17 am, 0'14''
0:05: A quick series of taps that appear to travel from one area of the house to another. This is a very strange set of sounds.

Clip #2, 1:25 am, 0'10''
0:05: This sounds like an object moving quickly across a smooth surface, ending in the object smacking against another object. Whatever it is moved quick, like it was thrown across the surface with a lot of force.

Clip #3, 3:53 am, 0'11''
0:05: A bang so loud that it echoes in the hollow of the walls.