What's your opinion on EVP's?

Question

What's your opinion on EVP's?

I was a skeptic for quite awhile...But...A few friends and me went to a cemetery with a tape recorder and well you know what happens next...

We were able to "catch" an EVP...It was absolutely NOT a
"pick-up" off some radio frequency or a simple sound...This was a full spoken sentence and a remark to a smart a-s-s comment we made while we were there.

Again-what's your opinions on EVP's in general? Is this proof enough for me-that there is in fact life after death?

How else do I explain our evp?

To answer the question from the person below.

How do I know it was not a radio frequency interference?

We were making fun of a specific item at a gravesite and after going home and reviewing the tape...we got a response of our "poking fun"...the response was, "hey stopping making fun of my grave!"

how do i know it wasn't one of us? we were all girls there (about 3 of us) and the person who responded sounded like a man...and it didn't sound human-like you and i-a bit of a "growly" "scratchy" "deep" man's voice...

and there were no other people in the cemetery (it is a very small cemetery) and the response to us was not heard at the time...but rather heard afterr we played back the recording....

and lastly, my question wasn't whether or not you believed me-i wouldn't expect anyone to...

i suppose this is something you have to experience firsthand.

Answer 1

I'm scared -- I'm in agreement with psiexploration's answer! That's never happened before.

Well, actually, not total agreement. I agree that EVP research in general is pretty flaky and that much stricter controls need to be placed on EVPs and on all paranormal research, but I would need stricter controls than what he proposed, just for starters. Then you get into the whole business of pareidolia, voice recognition, etc., and it gets very very messy. Also, I don't think the polygraph is useful, it's too easy to defeat it.

Regarding your recording, I have no doubt that someone in your group is playing a prank on the others. It's just too easy.

Answer 2

It only occurs because the brain is organized as a massive pattern generator. This effect can be demonstrated by finding a loop of static and playing it for people until one or two claim to hear the voice (prompt them by telling them it's an EVP tape and that they should hear something -- invariably one or two people out of a hundred will hear something). Now, get a different group of 100, and tell them to listen for what you recorded being "heard" by the previously mentioned one or two people. Better than 80% will report hearing it this time through, because they have been primed with a pattern to recognize. Indeed, if you randomly pick certain words with certain features (s and f sounds with occasionally punctuated hard syllyables) and a bit of random noise, you can convince a large majority of people that that randomly chosen word is spoken in the random noise. No, there is no credibility to EVP claims.

Answer 3

Here's something: all the EVPs in "White Noise" were real. We've gotten several, including ones we got just last night. No one was speaking, in fact Tim, our Audio guy, had just finished saying where we were, what time it was, and the date. Very clearly on the tape was "Do you know what you want?" A few minutes later, a little girl said "Look at the camera" right after I had taken a picture. Some time later, there was another voice, one we've heard at another site, a good thirty or forty minutes away say "Get out the light. Use it. I don't know what's wrong with her. Help her." We had another voice say "Watch where you're walking."

The only filtering that goes on with us is removing background noise and possibly amplifying what we couldn't hear clearly. Otherwise, there's no change in the content of the tape whatsoever.

As for your EVP, I can't say. It's possible that you got something. I haven't heard it so I can't tell you exactly what you got.

Keep looking, though. You'll probably get more, some clear, some not, but it's fun trying.

Answer 4

I think EVP's are interesting but can easily be interference from broadcast radio and ham radio. I have been into ham radio for a long time and heard some really strange stuff come over the airwaves. I just can't for sure say that they are supernatural when there is such an easy explanation.
If someone asked exact questions and got an exact answers then maybe that might be real.

Answer 5

EVP's are very questionable evidence (just my opinion).
How can you eliminate the possibility that is was a radio broadcast? or animals or insects that could be recorded but not heard by the human ear? How can you establish that it was not you or one of your friends simply talking on the recorder?
I think for EVP's to be accepted that all people present would have to pass a polygraph test saying they had no part in fabricating the EVP as a first step. Then I would want a voice matching analysis of all persons present against the EVP. After that I would look for a sound frequency that it was impossible for a human voice to make (as well as for human ears to hear).
Then I would want several people (not part of your team) to independently record (in writing) what they believe the statement to be and see if everyone heard the same thing.
I would then like a control site of a place with no reports of hauntings to be investigated using the same procedure to see if the sound can be replicated independent of environment.

After the above conditions have been met you will have something truly unexplained that will be worthy of further and intensive study (in my not so humble opinion).

All that said what people accept as evidence or proof is very subjective even among academics and scientist so it may or may not meet your standard of evidence. I would say it doesn't meet mine (unless the conditions above were fulfilled).

Answer 6

I assume nothing when it comes to EVPs. However, I have a number of questions for those who contend they are the real thing:

What is an EVP? It's a physical sound recorded on an electronic device. Recorders of any kind have a microphone that registers vibrating waves called "sound". Ghosts are not of this world and have no bodies, much less voice boxes, so how can they be able to produce sound?

If ghosts can indeed produce sound then why can't we hear them with our naked ears? I know we don't have the best hearing, but I believe most recorders are set to pick up sounds made in our normal hearing range. So if the device can hear it why can't we? Also, many paranormalists manipulate the sound. This amounts to nothing less than *creating* an EVP.

I've seen the Ghost Hunter shows and it seems strange to me that their recorder could pick up an EVP while the audio equipment used by the camera crew taping the show picks up absolutely nothing.

If ghosts can indeed produce sound why would they communicate using just unintelligible garble? Why just one word or a few words strung together? Why not a whole sentence, paragraph, conversation? Why is there not a point to what they are saying?

If you believe in EVPs you would have to assume that ghosts have been talking without being heard until we humans developed technology advanced enough to pick up these attempts at communication.

When studying any phenomenon one must subject it to the repeatability test. One must also create a control. One way to do this is to ask a question in a cemetery and then ask the same question in multiple other locations. Then ask someone who wasn't there to evaluate the tapes, without letting him know which tape was recorded where. This would begin to establish whether or not EVPs are specific to spooky places. It would also eliminate the subjectivity so many EVP hunters are under.

Why are EVPs in English? If ghosts are indeed real, then wouldn't the world be crawling with them? And if so, wouldn't many of them speak Old English, Latin, Caveman, etc.? I would be curious to see if an English speaker could find EVPs in an area that doesn't speak English, and if a non-English speaker could find EVPs in an area that speaks only English.

This last point brings me to the idea that perhaps EVPs are nothing more than auditory pareidolia. Humans have an instinctual urge to form patterns. Most people will notice shapes in clouds and find other ways of making sense of chaos and white noise. After considering the EVP phenomenon it is my opinion that EVPs are just auditory versions of that very same phenomenon. Add to this the desire of many people to prove ghosts are real and you have a motivation to make more out of what is actually there.

Answer 7

Good question Evp's are amazing and very real ! alot of time communication from a spirit is picked up on recordings.they are not heard by the human ear.and are said in a range beyond our capacity.They also tend to make skeptis believers .As a paranormal investigtor let me assure you that I would gladly take a polygraph to attest to the authenticity of the evps our team has gathered all of our evidence is closely scrutinized for everyones information there are programs and machine in this great scientific world that identifies human voice it also tells you the decibal range in which the voice is picked up all of our teams voices are recorded and all evp evidence is ran for a match.So that is great that you got that it changed your view on the paranormal did'nt it? Why people seem to think that all paranormal investigators run around and fabricate evidence is beyond me I personaly do not care what they believe or don't believe My only care is what the people we help believe and the comfort and closure that we provide them.please feel free to contact me via email if you would like help verifying the authenticity of your evp.Good job ! I treasure all my evp's. your belief in life after death is yours and yours alone I will tell you this,the more you investigate the paranormal the more your believe.Base your beliefs on your own experiences not the opinion of others it is not your job to convince a skeptic.

Answer 8

EVPS are interesting to say the least, but you have to be careful when you are listening to the evidence. One of the best ways to do that is to keep notes of your trip...dates times questions too. Always speak clearly and loud so that your voice or those with you will not be mistaken for something else. And listen to it over and over. Rule out anything that it could be if it is possible to do so. If you are still left with the same evidence and it could not be anything else...then you got something there.

Good luck to you!

Answer 9

No Skeptic would be convinced by such flimsy evidence.You were no Skeptic.

Answer 10

I believe in them a friend of mine let me hear some freaky ones.