I caught part of “Ghost Hunters” some days ago. I’m a complete and utter skeptic about these things; I am sure there is nothing supernatural going on there or anywhere else.
But dammit, when they played those tapes of the supposed “ghosts” speaking, it really tweaks me for some reason. WTF? I’m sure it’s just a fake or live human voices caught by accident, but I need to turn on the damn lights when I hear that shit. What’s up with that?
You are not the only one. I am 100% sure that ghosts cannot exist and yet they are probably my biggest phobia. I live in a house that is 240 years old and I get scared every time I have to get up at night and walk across the house in the dark to use the bathroom. If you told me, there was an actual human intruder in the house I would be a lot more Ok with it.
I don’t believe in Freddy Kruger either but the first Elm Street movie can creep me out. You don’t have to intellectually believe something is a possibility in order for you to get disturbed by the notion.
Heh, I’ve just been listening to a lot of EVP myself.
I, too, am very skeptical. I, too, am creeped out by this. Hell, I want to try to GET some EVP… I think my office place might be haunted.
Being a skeptic doesn’t mean you can’t “believe” in the supernatural. In fact, a skeptic would keep his mind open… “Sure, it MIGHT be true. It might also be totally mundane. I’ll wait and see.”
One of my best friends has been a member of the skeptic’s society for years. He tells me that there are fewer things he’d love more than to actually talk with a ghost… it would be an amazing piece of evidence.
I’m an absolute nut for creepy, paranormal phenomenon, but EVP is just nonsensical. Audio recording equipment records changes in pressure in the air, which simply means that you would have to hear any sounds for them to be recorded - there aren’t any sounds that we wouldn’t be able to hear at the time of recording, but would be audible on playback.
And, while we’re at it - why does it seem like EVP people always use the WORST equipment to record their EVP phenomena? It seems like they’re always using handheld microcasette recorders and walkman-style tape recorders, notorious for injecting TONS of noise onto recordings, to get their specimens.
Eh. SOMEthing is there. We just have to take it at the EVP-ers word that it wasn’t heard.
That’s why I want to try EVP for myself.
They probably can’t AFFORD better equipment. Contrary to what was shown in the stunningly accurate documentary, Ghostbusters, ghost hunting doesn’t pay well.
Further, keep in mind that they do a lot of processing of signals “in post”, as it were. The link I provided has lots of information on what processing they do to the recording.
All I know is: It sounds like something. Something that’s not just garbled noise that MIGHT be something. To me, it sounds distinctly like voices. It might be a hoax. It might be something totally mundane and boring. But it sure is fun.
My experience is the opposite… that they’re always using an external mic specifically to minimize recording noise.
I’m going to go read up on the processing. See, I’m an audio engineer by trade and hobby, so I know quite a deal about this stuff.
I’m not criticizing them for not being able to afford better equipment, but rather for claiming to have picked up such unattainable content with said equipment. If someone used a $20,000 tape deck with a $10,000 microphone in acoustically-treated conditions and THEN picked up a “ghost voice,” I’d give it more credibility. As is, it’s as if I took a polaroid camera outside at night, pointed it at the sky, snapped a picture, and then claimed the resulting blobs of color were aliens.
The other side of the coin is that I find it hard to explain the “voices” as simple aberrations on the tape, from mechanical interference. Random noise sounds like random noise. Voices sound like voices… they have structure, pace, rhythm, all those things that can be picked out even if the words are unintelligible.
The site I linked to has a bunch of EVP’s that sound like they’re in foreign languages, for instance.
Hey, I’m a total Agent Mulder on anything like this - “I want to believe.” 
I just read over that site, and I honestly can’t bring myself to listen to any of those for fear of crapping my pants. Especially since it’s 2:00 in the morning.
Do EVP researches believe that the sounds “actually” happen, but they just can’t hear them, but the tape machines pick them up? Or do they believe that the messages somehow bypass the microphones and imprint themselves right on the tape?
One thing that makes me majorly skeptical is that on TV shows I’ve seen dealing with EVP, the practitioners seem to do a ton of digital post-processing to their recorded audio before any “messages” are detected - applying many effects and plugins before the sounds “appear.” The problem with this is that even one of those effects (not to mention many in succession) often introduce sounds and audio artifacts into the soundfile, and imagination does the rest.
Reality Check: There are thousands of radio and TV stations in the world. They use high quality microphones but there has never been an occurence of a ghost voice appearing “live” on radio or TV.
Yet, ghost hunters with their crappy equipment catch those voices on tape all the time. :dubious:
Maybe ghosts steer clear from TV studios. :rolleyes:
How can you be 100% sure they cant exist, just because no proof has been presented that can prove they do exist doesnt mean they dont!
I’m with Shag on this one. Which by the way, I think he said he was a 100% sure. Which has a slightly different meaning than: “It is an unequivical fact that gohst do not exist.”
As to the OP: Myself, I don’t really get creeped out by shows like that. But I can remember once me and some friends were talking about how we used to do that “Bloody Marry” thing in front of the mirror. I definately got the whillies just talking about it.
My theory is it’s somewhat of a Pavlonian thing, most of us don’t become skeptics untill we become older (late teens, whatever) Which by then, no matter what we think; we’ve already been hard wired to get the hee-bee-jee-bees when ever exposed to the scary stuff.
I’m not sure if I should thank you or curse you out for giving me that link. I will not be able to resist listening to it, and I’m gonna be freaked out…
Sounds to me you guys will be interested in White Noise, coming out in January.
So, you won’t be going to see White Noise, then?
Wow, simulpost by two guys named Max. What’re the odds?
That is why the ghost hunters go to places that are already reported to be haunted. Your logic is like saying that never catch Sea Bass in Denver so there is no Sea Bass.
Not that I believe in EVP. But I agree that it sure is creepy.
I tried starting threads on if people have tried getting EVPs, which immediately died out.
G
Anyway, I first read about these in the 70s in Raudive’s BREAKTHROUGH and William Peter Blatty’s autobiographical TELL THEM I REMEMBER YOU. Blatty also used EVPs in the plot of his novel LEGION (it didn’t make the movie version EXORCIST III, I’d love to see an actual movie of LEGION). A few years back, I heard them on Art Bell’s show when I was home alone at night. That station got turned off in 5 minutes!
I can listen to them alone in the house now.
However, one night, Mom & I were driving back from a church party in the country late at night past several graveyards & listening to Art’s guests EVPs that night was pretty cool. I gotta admit I probably would have changed stations if I’d been by myself. Of course, I avoid driving alone past graveyards late at night also.
I’ve NEVER wanted to try to catch EVPs. Too much like Ouija board usage for me!
Go back and re-read the part where they do extensive processing of the recording. Would it be enough to explain this discrepancy? I’m not sure. However, the simple fact that TV and radio stations have very little “dead air” (no pun intended) would explain why you wouldn’t be able to hear any EVP’s… someone’s always talking. I guess the dead consider the living to be very rude. 