EVP'S - VOICES OF THE DEAD?

Can the dead really speak to us? Can these disembodied voices imprint themselves and be captured on electronic devices?

Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are sounds found on electronic recordings which resemble speech, but are reportedly not the result of intentional recording or rendering. EVP'S are commonly found in recordings with static, stray radio transmissions, and background
noise. Recordings of EVP are often produced by increasing the gain (i.e. sensitivity) of the recording equipment.

Paranormal explanations for the origin of EVP include living humans imprinting thoughts directly on an electronic medium through psychokinesis and communication by entities such as spirits, nature energies, beings from other dimensions, or extraterrestrials. Portable digital voice recorders are currently the technology of choice for EVP investigators.Since these devices are very susceptible to Radio Frequency (RF) contamination, EVP enthusiasts sometimes try to record EVP in RF- and sound-screened rooms... BUT you can't do this when you are on a haunted location!

Interest in EVP surrounds claims that they are of paranormal origin, although a number of natural explanations have been offered including apophenia (finding significance in insignificant phenomena), auditory pareidolia (interpreting random sounds as voices in one's own language), equipment artifacts, and hoaxes.

Parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive, (1909–1974) was a Latvian writer and intellectual, who studied parapsychology all his life, and was especially interested in the possibility of the afterlife. He popularized the idea, described EVP as typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase. In 1965 he claimed to have picked up the first recorded EVP on a tape recorder: a woman's voice speaking in German saying, "Go to sleep, Margaret".
Raudive later wrote:
"These words made a deep impression on me, as Margarete Petrautzki had died recently, and her illness and death had greatly affected me."

                                     Vintage Tape Recorder

He would spend the last ten years of his life researching EVP'S and would amass 100.000 audio tapes conducted in strict laboratory conditions.  His work, Breakthrough was published in English in 1971. 

Investigators today, equipped with electronic gear—like EMF meters, video cameras, and audio recorders—scour reportedly haunted venues, trying to uncover visual and audio evidence of ghosts. Many use portable recording devices in an attempt to capture EVP. (Some EVP enthusiasts describe hearing the words in EVP as an ability, much like learning a new language. Skeptics suggest that the claimed instances may be misinterpretations of natural phenomena, inadvertent influence of the electronic equipment by researchers, or deliberate influencing of the researchers and the equipment by third parties).

The concept of EVP has had an impact on popular culture. It is popular as an entertaining pursuit, as in ghost hunting, and as a means of dealing with grief. It has influenced literature,radio, film, and television.
Investigation of EVP's is the subject of hundreds of regional and national groups and Internet message boards. Paranormal investigator John Zaffis claims, "There's been a boom in ghost hunting ever since the Internet took off. 

Many "Paranormal" radio shows and Podcasts on the internet deal directly with the subject of EVP'S on a weekly basis by hosting people who are ghost investigators, authors and psychics who explore this topic and inform their audience with their sometimes shocking and terrifying recorded evidence.

Films involving EVP'S include Poltergeist, The Sixth Sense, White Noise, and Paranormal Activity. It has also been featured on television series like Ghost Whisperer, A Haunting, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, and Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files.

It seems the practice of capturing EVP's will continue and the exploration of its validity by many dedicated investigators as a true paranormal phenomenon is here to stay!

Here is my true to life encounter with one very disturbing EVP I captured in the basement of my house in February 2010. This is only a small sample of the continued evidence my family and I have collected while being on a long 5 year journey of living a paranormal life.

Home Aud 08.aup is the file name. It was only 9:13 minutes long.

Here is the sequence:

00-6:30- from the beginning I asked a series of questions to my deceased friend and members of his family about the things missing in our house and what we took out of his home, etc.

at 6:30-  heard static and there are bumps or taps

7:02-  suddenly the audio gets louder although I did not put up the volume-I had put the recorder down on a box the whole time and never touched it-something tuned up the volume dial.

8:34- I mention that the heater turned on

8:37- I say, "That's going to make noise"

8:40- (This is it) large area on the audio a Horrible raspy voice saying (we think)

"SHUT OFF THE RECORDER" It scared the Hell out of me.

8:42-9:13- I don't react at all as I didn't hear the voice and just goes to the end as I go back upstairs.

I can't include include the whole audio clip because of privacy issues.  If you would like me to e-mail the 10 second Sound Wave clip to you (you can play it on your Windows Media player) of that horrific EVP voice please contact me: 
http://www.anitajointenzo.com/Contact_Anita.html   or
pastimages@aol.com
When you hear this- it will give you nightmares!