What exactly are we hearing on our digital recorders when we capture an EVP? One of the weaknesses of amateur paranormal investigators (and even some professionals) is that many simply assume that what they’ve recorded is the actual voice of the dead speaking from beyond the grave. It has been my experience that not enough time and effort is devoted into exploring other possible explanations. A list has been compiled of common theories as to what EVP’s might be that I’d like to discuss in this article.
Radio Waves, cell phone signals, etc. Many in the scientific community believe that EVPs are nothing more than stray radio waves or cell phone signals, walkie talkies, etc., being picked up by digital recorders and played back in fragments. The theory goes that these waves are not on an audible frequency but can still be picked up by a recorder mic and heard on play back. I have a hard time with this theory because many of the EVP’s I’ve recorded are too specific to be random radio chatter and many are recorded in locations where signals of any kind were nonexistent, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t happen and credence to the theory should be given, especially if the evp sounds random and there is static with the recording.
Another, more common theory amongst skeptics is that the voices people claim are EVP’s are actually just the stray voices of other people, distant or near, whispering or mumbling, creating the illusion of an EVP. I regret to say that this is a much more likely explanation for a large majority of EVPs. Including some of my own. I’ve had to throw out more evp’s than I can count because I simply could not rule out the possibility of contamination by another investigator or outside interference. My motto is, if you can’t be sure, then toss it. This is also not a very popular theory, however, and investigators are usually inclined to embrace the questionable evp rather than discount it. Let’s face it, it’s no fun to hear what you think is a class A evp, then have to throw it out because you aren’t sure if it was just a person who whispered, so most don’t. Many will rationalize their decision by stating that no one could possibly have said such a thing, when, in fact, that’s exactly what happened.
Some believe that many perceived EVP’s are actually the stray energy of the past that have somehow been imprinted or recorded onto the environment and when conditions are just right, are able to be repeated, or played back in the present. This event is then able to be recorded by modern equipment such as digital recorders and video cameras. This sounds a little far-fetched, but so did photography a couple hundred years ago. We take the technology of photography for granted today but back when it was first introduced, many likened it to magic or worse, witch craft. Could it be possible that science has not caught up the time loop imprint phenomena, but may in the future? Either way, this theory is interesting to speculate about.
Religions offer a more sinister explanation for what’s going on. Christianity teaches that the dead don’t return or hang around to speak to the living and that what is actually being heard is a trickster or demon, playing a dangerous and evil game in order to fool the living and misguide them. Islam holds a similar position, but refers to the trickster as a Djinn (from which the word Jinni comes from) and states that the Djinn live in a parallel universe to humans, but most choose to follow Satan (the devil). They can see people but people cannot see them and they enjoy playing games with humans and trying to misguide them. The Jewish religion refers to something called a Dybbuk, or evil one, whose only purpose is to hurt the living. Basically these theories assert that whatever is speaking is not human, should be feared and any further attempt at communication is dangerous and should be avoided. Thanks to Hollywood and films such as The Exorcist, The Oman, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Paranormal Activity, the demon theory has become quite popular. Recent years have seen an uptick in paranormal “demonologist” and so called demon haunting cases have suddenly popped up all over the place. I’m hugely skeptical of this “epidemic” and feel it might make for great entertainment, but is extremely rare in real life.
Another, lesser known theory is that what is being recorded is actually the psychic imprint of the living (the investigator), answering their own questions with their mind and somehow psychically transferring these answers to the recorder subconsciously. How likely is this theory? How powerful is the mind? An interesting experiment was conducted amongst a group of psychic researchers a few years back in which they made up a ghost, gave him a name, gender, and physical details, even a back story. They then told other investigators at a certain haunted location, during a ghost conference, that this made up ghost was rumored to haunt that location. A few months later, one of these people returned to the area and took a photograph of what he claimed was the ghost that the researchers had made up. When the researches saw the photo, they conquer with the man that indeed, the ghostly image in the photograph resembled the description they had planted in peoples mind months before. If the image of a made up ghost can appear on film, why wouldn’t it be possible for the thoughts or inner voice of a person be able to be imprinted on a digital recorder, especially if they were concentrating hard enough on a specific response? The mind is a powerful tool and the power of suggestion is staggering. There have even been cases where certain individuals were able to imprint images in their mind onto film. Of course, this is only speculation.
Which brings us to our last theory, the most widely held, most fervently believed and most passionately debated. That is, that what we are hearing is actually the dead, or ghosts speaking from beyond the grave, desperate to communicate with the living. This is the theory that draws people to this field, that keeps people up at night, that scares, intrigues, and compels most of us to look deeper, further, longer into the subject of the paranormal. This is the theory that keeps paranormal reality TV in business, sells books, makes movies and is nearly universal in its appeal. Why is this theory so cherished and so deeply and passionately defended? I suspect it has something to do with our desire to believe that it all doesn’t just end when we die, that there is something beyond the silence of forever and the darkness of the grave. EVP’s that are considered voices from beyond validate already deeply held beliefs by many that there is life after death, that the soul does exist and that we do, indeed go on.
Of course, this is also an impossible theory to prove, or even subject to rigorous testing under controlled conditions. None the less, it remains the single most relevant reason as to why the paranormal field has exploded in popularity the last few years and it will always remain the first conclusion that investigators will jump to when they first hear that class A evp that says “Help ME” Which is fine, as long as they don’t expect to be taken as seriously as they could be, if they had devoted a little more time in exploring alternate theories.
What exactly are we hearing on our digital recorders when we capture an EVP? One of the weaknesses of amateur paranormal investigators (and even some professionals) is that many simply assume that what they’ve recorded is the actual voice of the dead speaking from beyond the grave. It has been my experience that not enough time and effort is devoted into exploring other possible explanations. A list has been compiled of common theories as to what EVP’s might be that I’d like to discuss in this article.
Radio Waves, cell phone signals, etc. Many in the scientific community believe that EVPs are nothing more than stray radio waves or cell phone signals, walkie talkies, etc., being picked up by digital recorders and played back in fragments. The theory goes that these waves are not on an audible frequency but can still be picked up by a recorder mic and heard on play back. I have a hard time with this theory because many of the EVP’s I’ve recorded are too specific to be random radio chatter and many are recorded in locations where signals of any kind were nonexistent, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t happen and credence to the theory should be given, especially if the evp sounds random and there is static with the recording.
Another, more common theory amongst skeptics is that the voices people claim are EVP’s are actually just the stray voices of other people, distant or near, whispering or mumbling, creating the illusion of an EVP. I regret to say that this is a much more likely explanation for a large majority of EVPs. Including some of my own. I’ve had to throw out more evp’s than I can count because I simply could not rule out the possibility of contamination by another investigator or outside interference. My motto is, if you can’t be sure, then toss it. This is also not a very popular theory, however, and investigators are usually inclined to embrace the questionable evp rather than discount it. Let’s face it, it’s no fun to hear what you think is a class A evp, then have to throw it out because you aren’t sure if it was just a person who whispered, so most don’t. Many will rationalize their decision by stating that no one could possibly have said such a thing, when, in fact, that’s exactly what happened.
Some believe that many perceived EVP’s are actually the stray energy of the past that have somehow been imprinted or recorded onto the environment and when conditions are just right, are able to be repeated, or played back in the present. This event is then able to be recorded by modern equipment such as digital recorders and video cameras. This sounds a little far-fetched, but so did photography a couple hundred years ago. We take the technology of photography for granted today but back when it was first introduced, many likened it to magic or worse, witch craft. Could it be possible that science has not caught up the time loop imprint phenomena, but may in the future? Either way, this theory is interesting to speculate about.
Religions offer a more sinister explanation for what’s going on. Christianity teaches that the dead don’t return or hang around to speak to the living and that what is actually being heard is a trickster or demon, playing a dangerous and evil game in order to fool the living and misguide them. Islam holds a similar position, but refers to the trickster as a Djinn (from which the word Jinni comes from) and states that the Djinn live in a parallel universe to humans, but most choose to follow satin (the devil). They can see people but people cannot see them and they enjoy playing games with humans and trying to misguide them. The Jewish religion refers to something called a Dybbuk, or evil one, whose only purpose is to hurt the living. Basically these theories assert that whatever is speaking is not human, should be feared and any further attempt at communication is dangerous and should be avoided. Thanks to Hollywood and films such as The Exorcist, The Oman, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Paranormal Activity, the demon theory has become quite popular. Recent years have seen an uptick in paranormal “demonologist” and so called demon haunting cases have suddenly popped up all over the place. I’m hugely skeptical of this “epidemic” and feel it might make for great entertainment, but is extremely rare in real life.
Another, lesser known theory is that what is being recorded is actually the psychic imprint of the living (the investigator), answering their own questions with their mind and somehow psychically transferring these answers to the recorder subconsciously. How likely is this theory? How powerful is the mind? An interesting experiment was conducted amongst a group of psychic researchers a few years back in which they made up a ghost, gave him a name, gender, and physical details, even a back story. They then told other investigators at a certain haunted location, during a ghost conference, that this made up ghost was rumored to haunt that location. A few months later, one of these people returned to the area and took a photograph of what he claimed was the ghost that the researchers had made up. When the researches saw the photo, they conquer with the man that indeed, the ghostly image in the photograph resembled the description they had planted in peoples mind months before. If the image of a made up ghost can appear on film, why wouldn’t it be possible for the thoughts or inner voice of a person be able to be imprinted on a digital recorder, especially if they were concentrating hard enough on a specific response? The mind is a powerful tool and the power of suggestion is staggering. There have even been cases where certain individuals were able to imprint images in their mind onto film. Of course, this is only speculation.
Which brings us to our last theory, the most widely held, most fervently believed and most passionately debated. That is, that what we are hearing is actually the dead, or ghosts speaking from beyond the grave, desperate to communicate with the living. This is the theory that draws people to this field, that keeps people up at night, that scares, intrigues, and compels most of us to look deeper, further, longer into the subject of the paranormal. This is the theory that keeps paranormal reality TV in business, sells books, makes movies and is nearly universal in its appeal. Why is this theory so cherished and so deeply and passionately defended? I suspect it has something to do with our desire to believe that it all doesn’t just end when we die, that there is something beyond the silence of forever and the darkness of the grave. EVP’s that are considered voices from beyond validate already deeply held beliefs by many that there is life after death, that the soul does exist and that we do, indeed go on.
Of course, this is also an impossible theory to prove, or even subject to rigorous testing under controlled conditions. None the less, it remains the single most relevant reason as to why the paranormal field has exploded in popularity the last few years and it will always remain the first conclusion that investigators will jump to when they first hear that class A EVP that says “Help ME” Which is fine, as long as they don’t expect to be taken as seriously as they could be, if they had devoted a little more time in exploring alternate theories.