In a little more than two years the website has become ENORMOUSLY popular. :)
I have tried my best to give timely email answers to any questions that
I have recieved. I love answering your questions if I can....but due to the
popularity of the site I am sinking in a sea of emails.
I work a full time job as well as doing my EVP recording and website updates.
I regret to say it....but I simply can't continue to answer all the emails I am receiving.
There simply isn't enough hours in a day.
So.....I've decided to set up this "Frequently asked Questions page" for
folks out there who have questions.
My promise to you, the dedicated viewers of my website, is that I will ABSOLUTLY, 100%
read every word of every email you send to me.
I just can't promise that I will have time to respond to you.
If your questions come at a time when I have time to answer them...I will GLADLY do so.
I encourage you to sign my guestbook and guestmap.
Why do you always seem to record mostly in cemeteries?
Answer #1
Answer #2
Answer #3
Let me ask you this......
Answer #4
Answer #5
Answer #7
Answer #8
Answer #9
For instance.....we go into a presumed haunted location and get our recorders running.
Answer #10
When you have recorded your sound into "sound recorder", click on "File" and then "Save As" on the sound
Please leave me your email address with your comments so I can send you notices when
I do updates to the site or add new spirit voices.
I encourage you to continue to email me with your questions.
As I recieve them....I'll do my best to include your question and my response on this page whenever I update it.
Okay....with that said...onto the FAQ's. :)
Thanks for your understanding.
FAQ's
Please remember that the following information is purely "my" interpretation of what I believe
I have learned from recording and listening to "ghost / spirit voices".
I DO NOT claim to be an expert!
I firmly believe that there are no such things as experts on the subject of the paranormal.
It is a continual learning experiance.
I also do not insist to you that I am 100 % right in the answers that I am including here.
They are merely my thoughts on this strange new subject.
Click on the following links to jump down the page to the answer!
What kind of recording equipment do you use? Is it expensive?
Do you ever really "Hear" the voices of ghosts with your own ears without the use of a recorder?
Do you often have people saying that they hear something completly different
than what "you" have heard when they listen to your EVP's?
Do you do anything for protection before you record in a location?
If I record in my home.....or at a family gathering, will I be able to hear the voices of
loved ones in my family who have crossed over?
Have you ever recorded the voices of a deceased relative or someone else you knew
who has passed on?
Do you ever record in your own home?
Why do some of your ghost voice recordings have a "robotic" or "musical" sound to them?
Are they faked?
I think I've captured an EVP on my recorder!
How do I transfer the recorded ghost voice to my computer so I can work with it or send it
to someone in an email to listen to?
Question #1
Why do you always seem to record mostly in cemeteries?
The main reason I tend to record mostly in cemeteries is that they
are quiet and relativly free of "living" humans that could be mistaken
for ghost voices when I review the tapes.
Actually...I believe spirits or ghosts are everywhere.
If you could somehow record in a busy shopping mall and filter out all the "living" human
voices....I think you would find several ghostly visitors chatting amoung the mix of people.
Question #2
What kind of equipment do you use record spirit / ghost voices? Is it expensive?
Many people are surprised when I tell them that the high tech recording equipment
I use is a simple mini tape recorder or digital voice recorder.
This is a science that you do NOT have to spend tons of money
on to have success. However....the software that I use to filter and amplify the
EVP's is a little pricey.
I use "Cool Edit" and have found nothing else available that does the high degree
of quality that this software does.
I'm not saying that cheaper or free software isn't out there that can do the same
thing.....I'm just saying that I haven't found any yet.
Question #3
Do you ever really "Hear" the voices with your own ears without the use of a recorder?
Well....its happened...but not often.
Its called Clairaudience and I believe everyone has at least a little bit
of this ability. Ninty nine percent of the time I hear absolutly nothing without
the use of the recorder.
Actually....the times I "have" heard voices with my own ears where there shouldn't have
been any were times when I was NOT thinking of spirits or EVP research.
Have you ever thought that you heard faint voices while there was some kind of other "white noise"
going on around you?
What I mean is.....many people, myself included, have thought that they heard faint voices at such times
as when the shower was running.....or mixed in with the whine of an electric fan.
Turn off the fan....or the water....and there is only silence.
Resume the activity and you can swear that you hear the voices again!
The theory is that the available white noise is somehow providing a "carrier" for the spirit voices into our world.
Unfortunatly....its just that....a theory, and as of yet.....unproveable.
Question #4
Do you often have people saying that they hear something completly different
than what "you" have heard when they listen to your EVP's?
Yep...it happens quite frequently. Its also one of the strangest phenomenas I've ever
experianced. There have been times when I get an EVP so clear that I'm estatic with
excitment....only to see blank looks on the faces of people that I play it for because
they cannot hear it at all.
It has also worked in reverse with me. I've had a friend of mine who does EVP work
excitedly call me with what she feels is an incredible EVP....only to be dissapointed that
I can't hear it. I can't explain it...but I feel it might have something to do
with the tiny differences in frequency that we each can hear.
There also seems to be a great difference in the ways that Men and Women hear EVP's.
I've noticed that sometimes, women tend to hear slightly different versions of an EVP than do many men.
I believe the EVP's exist....but that some of us simply can't hear them.
Question #5
Do you do anything for protection before you record in a location?
Well...I've been warned time and again from several people including a psychic lady
that I have great respect for that I should do some kind of protection ritual before
recording. Most of the time though....I don't. However....I "DO" speak aloud before
recording and as I'm leaving thanking any spirits / ghosts that communicated with me and
politely reminding anyone there that they are not welcome to follow us to our home.
When you ask for the spirits of the dead to communicate with you by speaking into
your recorder, even though you might not think so it "IS" meadiumship.
You are opening a doorway or "asking" that a doorway be opened.
By recording in your home you are "inviting" ghosts to come through.
Don't get me wrong....I'm not saying with 100 % certainty that undesirable events may
occur if you record at home. Just don't be surprised if after doing so if paranormal
activity begins occuring there.
As of yet...I really don't believe there is any danger from doing this.
Once when I was a little boy walking to our favorite fishing hole with my Grandpa, we took a shortcut through the cemetery.
I told my Grandpa that I was afraid.....and his response was
"Them dead folks can't hurt ya boy.....its the live ones you have to look out for."
I believe thats probably true. :)
Qustion #6
If I record in my home.....or at a family gathering, will I be able to hear the voices of
loved ones in my family who have crossed over?
Answer #6
Boy....this is a tough one, and a question I get quite frequently.
It is possible.....but it is not probable.
I know that people need to hear the voices of their deceased loved ones.
They need to know that they are okay.
The science of "Electronic Voice Phenomena" is relatively new and there are MANY variables
that influence success or failure when attempting it.
If you are in desperate need to hear the voice of someone you loved and lost....by
all means try. The worse that can happen is that you won't hear their voice on your tape.
However.....don't be surprised if when you play back the tape.....you hear the voice or voices
of complete strangers. This has been my experiance more often than not.
Question #7
Have you ever recorded the voices of a deceased relative or someone else you knew
who has passed on?
Yes....I have on three different occasions recorded the voice of my deceased
Sister in Law "Belinda".
These were short but clear EVP's spoken in "her" voice and speaking words that
made it clear who was talking....such as saying the names of myself and my Wife.
Because of the "personal" nature of these EVP's...they are not listed on the website.
I have to mention here.....referring back to the previous question......that on the occasions
when we recorded Belinda's voice, we were not trying to.
On all three occasions, we were recording in areas where we had no reason to think that
we would encounter her spirit. One location was nearly sixty miles from
her home and place of burial.
Question #8
Do you ever record in your own home?
Nope! :)
I'm no coward.....but on the other hand.....I have to sleep here!
Of the hundreds and hundreds of spirit voices that I have recorded,
I only consider three of them to be true "hostile" entities.
So its like here in the world of the living, 99 percent of folks are good, decent
people.....but there is that 1 percent "nasty" element out there.
Don't let me give you the wrong impression.
I personally feel that these "poison" spirits / ghosts CANNOT hurt you.
However.....they CAN make you upset by the things that they say.
Just like those type of people here in the world of the living....they would delight
in having been successful in making you upset by saying something they know would
bother you. If you "do" encounter one of these types of spirits.....the best thing
you can do is to give them the same reaction you would to a living person saying bad things.
Ignore them.
Question #9
Why do some of your recordings have a "robotic" or "musical" sound to them?
Are they faked?
No.....I assure you they are quite real.
Let me give you a brief explaination of how we filter our recordings.
Those strange robotic sounds are a side effect of the computer program that we use.
The program is called "Cool Edit" and was designed for the music industry.
I REALLY wish I could figure out a way to make the harmonics included in some
of the EVP's go away....but as of yet, we have been unable to do so.
You see....if the spirit voice we record is strong and clear, it required little or no filtering with the software.
Unfortunatly, these type of voices only amount to about 1 or 2 percent of all the voices we capture.
As for the rest of them.....well I'll give you an example.
During that time we frequently have periods that we announce to each
other that no one is allowed to speak....no whispers, nothing.
Usually these periods last only a couple of minutes....then
the person who initiated the silence speaks up and announces an end to the recording period.
Okay....when we review the tapes after such an investigation lets say we
come across a spot on the tape where there is DEFINATLY a faint human voice.
Usually you can tell if its male or female....adult or child.
But sometimes....because it is so faint....you simply cannot make out whats being said.
At this point, using the computer program, we amplify the voice about 10 times.
This usually makes the voice much louder....but still at a point where you cant understand it.
The problem is that when you amplify the voice....you amplify
any existing "white noise" along with it.
This could be anything from highway traffic to a soft breeze blowing through the treetops.
So.....we listen to the recording while watching the wave form on the computer screen.
We then carefully select a tiny sample of what we consider to be just
the white noise and tell the computer program to remember that "sample".
Then we select the entire file again, letting the computer take away the
existing white noise that we selected....but this time from the entire file.
After it has rendered a finished "filtered" file, we listen to it again.
Frequently at this point......we can now understand what was being said!
Unfortunatly....this comes with a price.
That price is those strange musical sounding harmonics that get blended with the voice by the program.
Basically....the fainter the voice and the more you have to amplify and filter
it....the more harmonics you get mixed in with the final product.
I probably shouldn't have posted a few of the EVP's that I have on my site
because of the amount of harmonics in them.....but I get excited when I finally figure out what I feel is being said. :)
I believe the people in the music industry call it "fairy dust".....and battle
it like we do when they are using the program to work on music.
Anyway.....although files like this tend to make some people feel
we have "made this stuff up".....we frequently go ahead and list EVP's like this because they are indeed real.
Some people who are experianced ghosthunters have emailed me and told me that listing such EVP's might undermine
my credibility.....that people might think they have been faked.
Other folks have emailed me and told me that I shouldn't have listed the really clear ones that we have on our "best of" page.....because they are too clear and people might think they have been faked!
Sigh......either way someone isn't going to be happy.
Oh well.
Thats why I go ahead and list EVP's that we have recorded of ALL different volumes and qualities.
Either people are going to believe....or they aren't. Its up to them.
Question #10
I think I've captured an EVP on my recorder!
How do I transfer the voice to my computer so I can work with it or send it
to someone in an email to listen to?
The process is actually quite simple.
Most computers have a sound card installed in them.
Look at the back of your PC's tower and try to find a place "a jack" where it is marked "microphone".
It may just have a little image of a mic stamped lightly next to it.
Okay....once you find it....remember where it is....we'll get back to it.
You will need a simple audio wire with an 1/8 inch male plug on BOTH ends.
These can be purchase at any radio shack store for a couple of bucks.
One end of the wire goes into the jack on the back of your computer I was talking to you
about before....and the other goes into the "earphone" jack of your recorder.
On most computers.....there is a little program called "Sound recorder".
I don't know where it will be located on "your" computer....
but try looking under "Program files / Accessories / Entertainment / Sound recorder"
When you are ready to record, open "Sound Recorder"
Push play on your recorder and quickly click on the "record" button on the sound recorder screen.
You may hear your recording coming over your computers speakers as the
sliding bar indicator on sound recorder
starts to move from right to left.
You can stop the process at any time between 1 and 60 seconds.
Sound recorder stops by default at the 60 second mark.
If you don't see some kind of fluctiations on the green line of sound recorder as it is recording, you may
not have a good connection. On my own computer....I sometimes have to wiggle the ends of the wire connecting
the recorder to the PC to get it coming through correctly.
This may just be something that you have to mess with a bit to figure out.
recorder screen. Select a folder in which you want to store your sound file and click okay.
It is from this folder that you can select the file in the future if you choose to listen to it over your computers
speakers or work with it with a sound editing software such as "Cool Edit" or "Soundforge".
Thats all there is to it!