In visual Instrumental TransCommunication (Visual ITC), recognizable features are found in what should be only random optical noise. No known physical principles account for the phenomenal features and they may be found in virtually any sufficiently noisy media. The Examples and Techniques sections of this website include several such techniques for capturing the features. This report includes results of an online viewing study in which website visitors were asked to describe what they saw in unmarked visual ITC images.
Of the seven examples, an average of 61% of respondents correctly identified the feature. Each example was presented with original, grayscale and increased contrast versions. The increased contrast version was most often correctly identified.
Question: Will website visitors report seeing same or similar features in visual ITC examples?
This is a study to determine whether or not images recorded in optical-frequency noise can be consistently described. The video-feedback technique was used for all of these examples. As is shown in the diagram, a video camera is pointed at a television screen and the output of the camera is connected to the input of the television so that the camera “sees” what it has just recorded. The camera is usually focused slightly beyond the screen to produce a soft focus image. The zoom, focus and camera presets are adjusted until a “rolling” effect is achieved on the display not unlike the special effect of “warp drive” in the movies.
The recorded video is examined one frame at a time. Those with “interesting” optical texture are “grabbed” and examined with a photo editing program to find the features. An example “interesting” video frame is provided here.
Preliminary Results
Example
Extra detail
No or Unrelated Detail
Basic Shape
Detail
Recognized
Shape
1
19 or 15%
25 or 19%
68
35
103 or 81%
2
28 or 22%
92 or 72%
28
8
36 or 28%
3
41 or 32%
32 or 25%
43
53
96 or 75%
4
26 or 20%
56 or 44%
46
26
72 or 56%
5
24 or 19%
34 or 27%
47
47
94 or 73%
6
24 or 19%
82 or 64%
23
23
46 or 36%
7
18 or 14%
24 or 19%
51
53
104 or 81%
128 Entries
26%
39% Did not see feature or saw it incorrectly
61% Recognized Correct Detail
Procedure
Please examine each example and state what you see in the associated text box. Each example has been clipped out of a video frame and is shown in its unaltered form, as an enhanced contrast image and in gray scale. The three versions are intended to help you visualize the feature.
Unaltered clip from video frame
Increased contrast
Increased contrast and grayscale
Example 1: (All three are the same image) 81% correct recognition
What you should see: This is the head of a dog facing toward you and to your left. You can see his eyes and snout. A little of the neck is visible and just a hint of ears. The animal appears to be very alert and appears to have short hair.
Unaltered clip from video frame
Increased contrast
Increased contrast and grayscale
Example 2: (All three are the same image) 28% correct recognition
What you should see: This is the head of a person facing to your left and looking down a little. His/her left eye is in the middle of the picture and seems to be slanted like an Asian and the nose-brow line seems very strong. He/she appears to be wearing some kind of cloak or ceremonial garb. The person seems to have dark hair put up in some kind of formal arrangement or he/she may be wearing a hat of some kind. The overall impression is of an oriental warrior or nobility.
Depending on how you look at this one, there are several pretty dominant faces. They show up mostly in the black and white version.
Unaltered clip from video frame
Increased contrast
Increased contrast and grayscale
Example 3: (All three are the same image) 75% correct recognition
What you should see: This is the head of a person facing to your left and visible from the chest up. It is not clear if this is a male or female, but my guess is male. The blue area is his coat and it seems he might be wearing a white coat and shirt with a bow tie. He may have something like an animal in his left (your right) hand. He appears to have a dark beard and dark hair.
Unaltered clip from video frame
Increased contrast
Increased contrast and grayscale
Example 4: (All three are the same image) 56% correct recognition
What you should see: This is the head of a man facing to your right and tilted slightly down. You see him from the chest up, but his pointed chin almost touches the bottom of the frame. He has prominent cheeks and is smiling so that he seems to have a large but evil laugh. His chin, nose, cheeks and temples are bright areas. It would seem he has no teeth to fill out his face.
Unaltered clip from video frame
Increased contrast
Increased contrast and grayscale
Example 5: (All three are the same image) 73% correct recognition
What you should see: This is the head of a man facing to your right and tilted slightly down and to the right. The nose is prominent as a long bright line right of middle. The bright section at top appears to be top-illuminated hair. Like the nose, the right (your left) cheek is brighter as is the side of what looks like a full beard as if the same light source is shining on those areas. The man has a long face and seems to be more like a biblical character than like a businessman.
Unaltered clip from video frame
Increased contrast
Increased contrast and grayscale
Example 6: (All three are the same image) 36% correct recognition
What you should see: This is a person visible from the chest up. It may be a woman or a man. Since he seems to have a dark shadow of a beard, I will say he is a man. He is facing to your left. The green areas seem to mark the lapel of a reddish coat. He has long black hair that appears to be combed around some kind of hat. The hat seems like a too small derby, which is why he may be a clown.
Unaltered clip from video frame
Increased contrast
Increased contrast and grayscale
Example 7: (All three are the same image) 81% correct recognition
What you should see: This is a head facing to your left. It is a profile from the neck up. The person may be a boy or boyish girl with short hair and appears to be wearing a dark shirt with a white collar like a sweater over a “T” shirt. The hair and face seem to be illuminated from your left and top.
Part III
A Research Study into the Interpretation of EVP
Published in the Spring 2013 ATransC NewsJournal Read Part 1 and Part 2
Brief
In the past two issues of the NewsJournal (Winter and Spring 2013), I described two research studies that examined the problem of EVP interpretation. The first study looked at experienced investigators’ interpretations of nearly 100 EVP, and the second one examined lay people’s interpretations of EVP that were recorded using “radio-sweep” techniques. Although no experienced EVP enthusiast will be surprised that listeners disagreed in their interpretations of the various EVP, many will find the exceptionally low level of agreement troubling.
In the first study, only 21% of the listeners agreed on the most common interpretation on average, and many of the EVP showed no agreement across listeners whatsoever. Agreement was even worse in Study 2. When people listened to EVP without knowing what the investigators who recorded them thought the EVP said, they agreed with only 6% of the words that the investigators heard. And, only 1 out of 360 interpretations perfectly matched the investigator’s interpretation. These findings are particularly troubling when we consider that the investigators presumably submitted these particular EVP because they thought that the sound clips were among the best they had recorded.
All EVP investigators know that particular EVP are often interpreted in different ways by different people, yet they often act as if they know what a sound clip actually says. The low rate of agreement in interpretations of EVP is obviously a concern for those who are interested in EVP, so in this article, I will tackle the thorny question of how EVP enthusiasts should deal with this issue.
Why Should We Care?
In many cases, whether an investigator’s interpretation of a particular EVP is “correct” may not matter very much. Those who record EVP as a personal hobby or do paranormal investigations for mere enjoyment don’t harm anyone when they confidently claim to hear something that most other people would not interpret similarly and that, in fact, might not actually be there.
But, in other cases, EVP interpretations have consequences. Most notably, when EVP are presented as the words of a deceased loved one, the messages they supposedly contain can affect people deeply. Simply believing that the words come from a loved one is sometimes reassuring to people, and if the message is positive, it can create great relief. But what about when the words seem to convey a dark or troubled message? How sure should an investigator be about the source and content of a message before delivering it to a deceased person’s loved ones? Similarly, homeowners who believe that their property is haunted sometimes invite paranormal investigators to examine the house, and such investigations often yield EVP. When should an investigator feel confident enough to relay a purported EVP message to the homeowners?
Even when the specific content of an EVP doesn’t matter much, confidently claiming to know what a particular clip says nonetheless seems dishonest and carries the risk of undermining an investigator’s credibility when other people do not hear the same thing. (Paranormal television shows are particularly bad about this, providing interpretations of EVP that are often inconsistent with what viewers themselves hear.)
What Should We Do?
As much as investigators would like all of their EVP recordings to be crystal clear to everyone, they very rarely are. Rather than sweeping this problem under the rug and pretending that EVP are clearer and less ambiguous than they really are, investigators need to address the issue head-on. Below I offer seven recommendations for improving the quality of EVP interpretations.
Don’t Be So Certain. The resounding conclusion from our two studies is that investigators should not be as certain of their interpretations as they often are. Investigators sometimes feel that they have special insight into the EVP they record, but in our two studies, only a very small percentage of listeners agreed with the interpretations given by the people who recorded them. Furthermore, given the low rate of agreement and the tendency for people to overestimate the likelihood that they are correct, investigators should express their interpretations in a cautious, tentative manner that conveys that their interpretation might not be right. Too often, we hear people assert “This EVP says…” when a far more honest and defensible claim would be “I think I hear…” or “To me, it seems to sound like….”
Don’t Share an Interpretation Until Others Listen. All EVP enthusiasts know that people’s interpretations of EVP are sometimes affected by what they think other people hear. In fact, it is often difficult not to hear what someone else said they heard. In our second study (NewsJournal, Spring 2013), we found that agreement with the individual words in an EVP jumped from 6% to 23% when listeners were told what the recording investigator thought the EVP said. The implication is clear: If we want to increase our chances of finding the best interpretation of an EVP, we must allow people to come to their own conclusions before hearing what other people think.
Offer Alternative Interpretations. When listeners suggest different interpretations of an EVP, any interpretation that is independently offered by multiple people must be taken seriously. If the interpretation is being shared with a client – such as a grieving family or the owner of a property that has been investigated – all of the most common alternative interpretations should be presented. It’s okay to admit not knowing for certain what an EVP says and to offer several possibilities.
Calculate an Index of Agreement. Every EVP enthusiast has had the experience of confidently arriving at an interpretation of a particular EVP only to find that no one else agreed with him or her. They have also had the experience of having another investigator claim “This is a Class A EVP” (which, by definition, would be interpreted similarly by everyone) when, in fact, no one else hears the same thing. Since we all assume that our own interpretations are reasonably correct (or, at least better than other people’s interpretations), the only way to find out whether our interpretation is plausible is to have several people – 10 at the minimum – independently listen to the EVP and privately record their interpretation. In this way, an investigator can see the percentage of listeners who agree with his or her interpretation (as well as possibly identify a better interpretation that more people agree with).
But how much agreement should we require before claiming than an EVP says this or that? Each investigator must decide for him- or herself when to share interpretations with others, but let’s consider an analogy to put the problem in perspective. Imagine that your doctor detects symptoms that might or might not indicate that you have a serious illness. How sure would you like the doctor to be before he or she shares a specific diagnosis with you? And if the doctor conferred with other doctors, what percentage of other doctors would you want to agree with his diagnosis of your condition before he reported that you have a particular disease? More to the point, would you trust a doctor who said “I think that you have Disease X, but only about 20% of other doctors agree with me?” That’s roughly the average percentage of agreement that we found in our first study.
Among behavioral researchers (such as research psychologists), the minimum agreement that is considered acceptable before data can be used is 70%. That is, if two independent researchers count, rate or interpret some aspect of people’s behavior, they must agree at least 70% of the time in their ratings or interpretations for the ratings to be reliable enough to use. That figure strikes me as a reasonable criterion. Investigators should not assert that an EVP conveys a particular message unless at least 70% of listeners independently agree.
Interpret EVP Word-by-Word and Encourage Partial Interpretations. As would be expected, the results of our two studies showed that listeners agree on individual words more often than they agree on entire EVP. This suggests that EVP should be interpreted word-by-word (if not syllable-by-syllable), with listeners indicating uninterpretable syllables by an asterisk. In our first, study we had the impression that listeners who interpreted every word sometimes “heard” words that helped a phrase make sense. Listeners should not try to make sense of the entire phrase but rather should simply write down each word that can be interpreted and ignore those that are unclear.
Having a group of people give partial interpretations of only the clearest syllables may collectively provide a good interpretation. Although this idea remains to be tested, I suspect that a group of people who each deciphered only the words (or syllables) that are clearest to them will generate a better interpretation of an EVP than any given person.
Challenge Others’ Interpretations (Gently). Many investigators hesitate to question others’ interpretations when they disagree with them. Most of us do not want to provoke disagreement and conflict, particularly when we know that some people can become rather ego-involved in their interpretations. In addition, knowing how unclear most EVP are, many investigators may disagree with another interpretation yet have little confidence in their own interpretation of a particular sound clip. Yet, failing to indicate when one does not hear another person’s interpretation may give an impression of implicit agreement, leading an investigator to be more confident of his or her interpretation than is warranted.
When challenging an interpretation, the approach should never be “You’re wrong, and I’m right,” because, on average, one’s own interpretation is no more likely to be correct than anyone else’s. Rather, the message should simply be “I’m not sure that I hear that. To me, it sounds more like ….” When such disagreements arise, as they inevitably will, the automatic and default recourse should be to get more independent interpretations, with no effort to pressure people into hearing any particular thing. The goal should be to find the best translation – not to prove that you are right.
Leave Ambiguous EVP Uninterpreted. It’s okay to say “I have no idea what this EVP says.” Particularly when an analysis of agreement across several people shows little or no agreement (as occurred on many of the EVP we used in our studies), the most honest conclusion is that the EVP is uninterruptable. In some cases of uninterruptable EVP, the vocal characteristics may be so pronounced that an investigator will nonetheless conclude that the sound clip is a bona fide EVP, but that it is simply not possible to decipher it (just as one can hear voices through the wall of a hotel room but not understand what they are saying). However, in many cases, the failure to arrive at an interpretation that others independently agree with should lead an investigator to reconsider whether the sound clip is an EVP
Conclusions
Low agreement in EVP interpretations is the elephant in the room among those who are interested in EVP. All investigators know that low agreement is a problem, but they hate to confront it because it casts a pall on the entire enterprise of recording and interpreting EVP. Yet, failing to confront the issue simply creates more difficulties. Consistently acknowledging the agreement problem and encouraging investigators to be honest and cautious in how they assert their interpretations is an important first step. And following recommendations such as those offered here will help to restrain us from claiming more than we actually know.
With a Ph. D. in social psychology, Dr. Leary is a research psychologist who studies topics related to self-awareness, motivation, and emotion. He has conducted research on topics such as reactions to social rejection, the effects of excessive self-attention, people’s concerns with their social images, and the relationship between personality and behavior. He is on the editorial boards of several scientific journals in social psychology and recently released a psychology course on DVD entitled “Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior.”
Editor’s Note
For an additional study of how people hear EVP, please refer to the article EVP Online Listening Trials in the ATransC online Journal.
“Radio-sweep” is a generic name for EVP thought to be formed using sound produced by sweeping a radio dial. In principle, it produces a form of EVP referred to as “opportunistic EVP.” Please review Locating EVP Formation and Detecting False Positives and Radio-Sweep: A Case Study. Also see the article on page 9: “A Two-Year Investigation of the Allegedly Anomalous Electronic Voices or EVP.”
Radio-sweep technology, popularly known as “ghost boxes” or “spirit boxes,” is examined as a technology used for recording Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). The results of a session reported in the ATransC Idea Exchange were used for a blind, online listening test similar to previous tests reported in the online ATransCJournal as EVP online listening trials. The generally negative results are reviewed and reasons why the technology may not be suited for trans-etheric communication are discussed.
Introduction
“Radio-sweep” is a technology that involves rapidly changing the tuning of a radio receiver to produce a sound track composed of bits of sound from whatever radio programming is on the air and from whatever radio station is detected by the radio at the time. In theory, the communicating entity somehow arranges for the radio programming of local stations to be producing the required sounds at the moment they are required and that the sweep will detect those sounds at the right moment to produce the desired message.
Radio-sweep technology, popularly known as “ghost boxes” or “spirit boxes,” has become a popular technology represented by its advocates as a way to record EVP. It can be accomplished by manually tuning a radio, but a number of modified radio receiver devices are now being sold as EVP recording devices ranging from a few hundred dollars to over $1,200. A survey of the literature produced by manufacturers indicates that there have been no controlled studies of this technique to establish that it actually produces EVP.
As part of the Association TransCommunication mission to provide guidance to members about trans-etheric phenomena, this technology was examined to evaluate its capability of producing EVP, how it might do this and whether or not it can improve understanding of trans-etheric communication. There have also been frequent complaints that examples of radio-sweep results did not seem to actually contain intelligent information. At the same time, many members have reported great success with the technology, and this dichotomy required that such an evaluation included an examination of our current assumptions about EVP formation.
A companion article, EVP Formation, describes how EVP are thought to be formed and addresses current understanding of how EVP is heard and reported.
Online Listening Test
A study of radio-sweep was conducted using an example considered typical of the technology. This example was posted in the AA-EVP Idea Exchange with the comment:
“I used a Mini-Box and heard”:
Reported EVP: “Big Circle.”
“I asked: ‘Is the Big Circle there?’”
Reported EVP: “Circle, Big.”
Reported EVP: “Is it —-?”
Reported EVP: “Is it?”
Reported EVP: “Might be!”
“Let me know what you hear. I only cut out bits of silence and my first comment to make it fit.”
This example was obtained using one of the Mini-Box radio-sweep devices sold by the apparently defunct Paranormal Systems for $300 (as of early 2009). The manufacturer describes it as “…a useful tool and a new way to establish spirit communications.” The example for analysis was selected because eight of eight members commenting in the thread stated that they heard the example as it was reported.
With the exception of “is it,” which is a clearly enunciated phrase, I was unable to hear the examples as reported. To assure that it was not just my inability to make out the reported message, I broke the example into the same segments reported by the practitioner and posted them on ATransC.org as a new listening test. They were labeled as “Example 1” (through 5) and an unlabeled text field was provided for the website visitor to indicate what was heard. This same procedure has been used for previous listening tests resulting in average correct word recognition of 25.2%. See: EVP Online Listening Trials
The test was stopped after forty-one entries were received because a decisive outcome had been obtained. The results were:
Example 1: “Big Circle”— Zero recognized words (%Rw = 0.0%). Common response were “This is Butler,” “puffin” and “buckle.”
Example 2:“Circle, Big” — Zero recognized words (%Rw = 0.0%).
Example 3:“Is it —-?” —Ten of a possible 123 words were reported for %Rw = 8.13%. “It” was reported, but in many different contexts other than what was expected.
Example 4:“Is it?” —Forty-one of a possible eight-two words were reported for %Rw = 50.0%.
Example 5:“Might be!” — Zero recognized words, %Rw = 0.0%. Commonly reported words were “Hi,” “I’m” and “Spring.”
Here is the original sound track.
Observations
Examples 1-3 and 5 are mostly sound fragments that would most likely be reported as artifact noise if found in a digital recorder.
Example 4, “Is it,” is composed of two clearly spoken words, and its high %Rw indicates that the listening test works. If such a clearly spoken example did not have a high %Rw, then it would be necessary to question the validity of the test.
The “Is it” segment is a case of a randomly, but naturally occurring sound segment. Story telling is then used to make it seem part of a meaningful response.
The use of short examples has been questioned; however, in the other trials a one-word example scored the lowest while two-word examples did overall as well or better than the three or more word examples. The previous trials indicate that, if there are recognizable words present, then there should be at least a few correctly reported words for each example. See: EVP online listening trials
Radio-Sweep Audio Output
Potential voice and voice-like sounds in radio-sweep includes:
Chaotic sounds that are inappropriately given meaning (sometimes known as Pareidolia).
Clearly spoken words that a practitioner incorporates into a story about the message that is meaningful.
Sounds that invoke meaningful impressions in the practitioner, which are then explained as messages.
Transform EVP formed from the noise produced by the sweep.
Altered Perception and Story Telling
In EVP Formation, a companion article intended to explore how EVP are formed, it is noted that there are a number of ways mundane sounds are mistaken as EVP. The most common way follows the process:
The practitioner asks for information during the recording.
Sounds are heard, either live or on the resulting recording.
The practitioner “hears” what is expected in the sounds.
The practitioner reports what was “heard” and listeners hear what is suggested.
This is not malicious intent, but a natural response to trying very hard to find a particular kind of information in a chaotic signal. This appears to be especially common in if the chaotic sound has a staccato pace, as we have seen the effect in both radio-sweep and EVPmaker output.
An interesting explanation as to how practitioners and listeners might find EVP where there are none is found in the Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization, which include:
The Law of Proximity: Stimulus elements that are close together tend to be perceived as a group. The Law of Similarity: Similar stimuli tend to be grouped; this tendency can even dominate grouping due to proximity. The Law of Closure: Stimuli tend to be grouped into complete figures. The Law of Good Continuation: Stimuli tend to be grouped as to minimize change or discontinuity. The Law of Symmetry: Regions bound by symmetrical borders tend to be perceived as coherent figures. The Law of Simplicity: Ambiguous stimuli tend to be resolved in favor of the simplest.
A reasonable conclusion is that the practitioner heard what was expected. “Big Circle” is an important part of ATransC culture, and hearing this term after asking for someone in the Big Circle to comment is natural, especially considering the low quality of the sound file. The next step would be to imagine a story that would allow what was thought by the practitioner to have been said to make sense. Next, the listeners simply conform by hearing what they are told is present in the recording.
Intuitive Tool
Either the actual sound file had the reported utterances (except for Example 4, it did not), or if not, the practitioner may have intuitively sensed the response. By this, I mean that the radio-sweep output could be used as a technology for divination much as other intuitive aids such as Tarot cards or tea leaves. When Tarot cards are laid out for a reading, the practitioner has an array of visual/intellectual cues that can be used to develop a story; but the meaningfulness of the story is largely the result of the practitioner’s intuitive ability. In the same way, a radio-sweep sound file contains audible cues from which a story may be developed, but the meaningfulness of the story would be largely the result of the practitioner’s intuitive ability. In effect, the practitioner becomes an oracle intuitively reading the radio-sweep output.
It should be noted that this observation is not intended to detract from the practitioner’s ability. Other research has clearly shown that various forms of mediumship and/or intuitive sensing are valid techniques for trans-etheric information access. It is not my intention to say that information reported by radio-sweep practitioners is not meaningful or accurate. Methods of evaluating the information content, other than those used in this study, must be used for such a determination.
Radio-Sweep as a Source of Noise for Transform EVP
As discussed in the article, EVP formation, the traditional method for EVP is the recording of the phenomenal utterances by transforming available audio-frequency noise into voice. In fact, it has been shown that virtually any noise is apt to be transformed into voice. The primary output from radio-sweep is noise, and as can be expected, it is common to find examples of transform EVP in the output sound file.
The presence of transform EVP in radio-sweep output is a confounding problem for the evaluation of the technology. Radio-sweep can produce EVP which results in meaningful information; however, the evidence indicates that, when transform EVP is produced using radio-sweep, that technology is being used as a novel way to produce noise for ordinary EVP formation. The radio-sweep output does not appear to be phenomenal in itself.
Transform EVP Formation and Physical Mediumship
To compound the problem of evaluating the veracity of radio-sweep for EVP, it has been noted that some practitioners do produce EVP using the swept dial of a radio as a sound source. The rarity of such practitioners suggests that other processes are involved.
Recent observations indicate that the ideal audio-frequency energy for transform EVP formation is both chaotic favoring human voice frequencies (200 to 4000 Hz) and with many short transients. For instance, a recorder with a lot of noise but without a lot of amplitude changes is not as effective as a recorder with noise that has many perturbations in the noise heard as clicks, pops and very short (stuttering-like interruptions in the noise. As it turns out a very rapidly scanned radio spectrum often produces such noise. For example, the radio-sweep results we have heard reported by some practitioners as EVP, and that do appear to be EVP, have been produced using a manual sweep on a radio with a round tuning dial. Rapidly turning a small tuning dial from stop to stop (probably half a second) results in a sufficiently short “dwell time” on individual stations that only bits of voice are heard, much as if a phoneme file was being used instead of radio-sweep.
EVP produced by radio-sweep should be formed of many voices and music components, yet in the meaningful examples produced by some practitioners, the voice is typically all one person speaking for the entire sweep. This is what would be expected for transform EVP using the radio-sweep noise as a sound source.
Direct Radio Voice (DRV) such as that produced by Marcello Bacci and Anabela Cardoso, meaningful messages are produced from radio broadcasts that are thought to have an etheric origin. This is thought to be a form of physical mediumship produced by Bacci and Cardoso using a radio as a sort of high-tech séance trumpet. This is a very rare form of phenomenon that may also be produced by some EVP practitioners.
In other words, some practitioners appear to produce meaningful and reliable EVP using radio-sweep technology. However, once again, the radio-sweep output does not appear to be phenomenal in itself.
Violation of Self-determination
While the idea that we have self-determination or free will is faith-based, it does raise an important question. I am not aware of any instances in which we have been forced to do something by our etheric communicators. In fact, there are many examples in which they seek to protect us. For radio-sweep to be a viable technique for EVP, it seems necessary that programming is exactly as required for the intended message. That implies that radio announcers are forced to speak words that are required for the message. If this is the case, then it is a clear violation of our self-determination. In effect, the radio announcer is forced to say “Hello Tom” at the exact moment a practitioner sweeps the dial past that station if the intended utterance is “Hello Tom.”
Discussion
Why did eight of eight listeners on the discussion board report hearing what the examples were reported to have said while online listeners did not? Perhaps the suggestion of what will be heard in not so clear sound is all that is needed to entrain the mind of the listener to hear exactly that. This tendency to hear what is suggested is most evident with examples that are of very poor quality. EVPmaker using live voice and radio-sweep examples have such a confusing, staccato pace that they tend to confound the mind, making it difficult to “lock onto” the actual sound stream. The result is that the listener may be forced to depend on instructions for what is to be heard.
The three techniques that have been decisively shown to produce EVP are audio recorder using noise (transform EVP), EVPmaker using allophones and speech synthesis. All three depend on available physical energy and processes for voice formation. This is discussed in the article, EVP Formation. Radio-sweep depends on the availability of the right sound being present at the exact moment the sweep selects that station. In fact, the entities appear to use most efficient methods for communication and do not routinely make people do things for the sake of communication. We are aware of no precedent indicating that EVP have been formed by first creating physical energy and/or causing physical processes. The only trans-etheric influence we have seen evidence for appears to manifest as the subtle energy usually described as “psi energy.” The processes most commonly influenced by psi energy are random, and in EVP, this is seen as the influence of random noise. There is no empirically demonstrated evidence we are aware indicating the entities are able to cause someone to do something in order to communicate via EVP.
It is important to note that when evaluating radio-sweep, it has been demonstrated that the noise produced by the sweep process is sometimes used for transform EVP. As such, it is possible to find a few words formed from the noise, but in this mode, radio-sweep is just an expensive way of producing noise for voice formation.
We have been examining radio-sweep since an ATransC member began working with it years ago. While we have not been able to find a reason to think the technology produces EVP, we have found substantial reason to think it does not. Certainly one cannot permanently close the door on any technology, but until properly designed research produces empirical evidence that radio-sweep produces EVP, our policy must be that radio-sweep does not produce EVP as advertised.
Harrison Connections: Tom Harrison’s ‘Desire to communicate’ by Ann Harrison
Saturday Night Press Publications, 2015, ISBN-13: 978-1908421111
From the website: Ann Harrison has given a personal and sincere account of her husband, Tom Harrison’s after-death efforts to communicate with her and with his many friends over the four years since his transition. For forty-three years, Tom enthralled many people with his accounts of his mother’s physical mediumship and was dedicated to helping people understand that we continue living after death and that we can communicate with the departed. There can be no doubt that he is intent on continuing his lifelong work from his new perspective.
The author examines four types of evidence for the survival of the individual soul after death: scientific instruments and techniques, near-death experiences, reputable psychics and mediums, and out-of-body experiences. She shows how this evidence points to common Christian/Western themes, such as the reality of a heavenly realm where we reunite with loved ones, as well as to truths generally dismissed in the West – reincarnation, karma and pre-birth decisions.
An Extraordinary Journey: The Memoirs of a Physical Medium by Stewart Alexander
Saturday Night Press ISBN-13: 978-0955705069
See Saturday Night Press Publications
This autobiographical book details the development over 40 years of England’s most well-known present-day physical medium, Stewart Alexander. A very private man, he has devoted his life to the work of helping those who have been bereaved by helping them make physical contact with those loved ones who have passed over. Not content with his own mediumship he has, over many years, looked into the mediumship of past well-known mediums who have been accused of fraudulent acts despite a mountain of genuine evidence for their mediumship and has his observation in these pages. A very readable book.
Witnessing the Impossible Robin Foy, Torcal Publications, 2008, ISBN-13: 978-0956065100 scoleexperiment.com
From the publisher’s website: Witnessing the Impossible traces every session of the ‘Scole Experimental Group’ over the years, from its foundation and the beginning of The Scole Experiment in 1993 to its very sudden and unexpected ending in November 1998. In all, it follows over 1,000 continuous hours of mediumship and objective Physical Phenomena. The book represents the only true and complete eyewitness account of this unique and pioneering experiment, which pushed the boundaries of psychic research further than ever before at that time, consequently changing the face of physical mediumship and its resulting phenomena for all time. An absolute Must for all serious students of Psychic Research, and of immense interest to the whole of mankind.
The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death Grant & Jane Solomon in association with The Scole Experimental Group. thescoleexperiment.com
The Scole Experiment chronicles the extraordinary results of a five-year investigation into life after death. At the beginning of 1993, four psychic researchers embarked on a series of experiments in the Norfolk village of Scole. The subsequent events were so astounding that senior members of the prestigious Society for Psychical Research asked to observe, test, and record what took place.
The Afterlife Experiments Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death Schwartz, Gary, Ph.D. and William L. Simon, Pocket Star, 2002, ISBN: B0001I1KN2
This narrative puts the reader on the scene of a breakthrough scientific achievement: contact with the beyond under controlled laboratory conditions. In stringently monitored experiments, leading mediums attempted to contact dead friends and relatives of “sitters” who were masked from view and never spoke, depriving the mediums of any cues. The messages that came through stunned sitters and researchers alike. Dr. Schwartz was forced by overwhelmingly positive data to abandon his skepticism and reached some startling conclusions.
Previously published in the Fall, 2004 ATransC NewsJournal (Vol. 23, 4)
Earland’s brown jug used for moving water ITC
Last quarter, we described how Arthur Soesman of the Netherlands was able to capture faces with a video camera and a bottle that is partially filled with water. He examines each frame of the video, seeking phenomenal features. In effect, he is substituting reflection from agitated water for the feedback noise used in Video ITC. The phenomenal features are often more distorted, probably because of the bottle, but they are impressive.
Erland Babcock has taken up Soesman’s challenge, only he has substituted a digital camera for the video camera. You can see the brown jug Erland found in the accompanying picture. The results have been impressive and continue to improve with each experiment. He told us he is submitting some of his work to an art contest.
We have included a good example to the left. You can see an arch of reflected light that is not part of the phenomenal images. The arc is rising from the bottom of the picture and more to your left of center. A round-faced man’s chin is just touching the top of the arc. The dark area above that is the man’s mouth and above that are two dark areas, which are his eyes, look at your right ear.
Just to the right of center is a man looking to your left. There is a bright line in the shape of an arc opening to the top of the page above his nose. This is not part of the feature. Just above that arc are his brow line and a well-defined left eye. You should be able to make out the man’s mouth, left cheekbone and hairline/temple.
Below is a recent experiment, in which we see what looks like an old, tall man in the background with long hair blowing in the wind to your right. His right ear sticks out from his hair more like a mule’s ear. He is looking toward you but down at the girl. Directly under his chin is a translucent dome hat, in which you can see the head and hair of a little girl facing your right. Hair on the left side of her head is blowing past her left cheek. It looks like her bare shoulders are pulled up, as if hunching down against the wind that is at her back.
Just in front of her is possibly a boy wearing the same type of hat. His chin is sloped into his neck and you can see his open mouth just under his nose that is facing up. He may have a dog in front of him looking at the boy.
The Reverends Lisa and Tom Butler, NST write a column for The National Spiritualist Summit magazine. The column includes a review of the media for information about phenomena related to Spiritualism, survival of personality and transcommunication. The objective is to show that these phenomena are being substantiated by modern research, and for mediumship, that there is no need to depend on 100-year-old research reported in the history books for “proof.”
Each issue has five-to-eight items representing news reports, research, books and special notices which have been gathered to further our understanding of survival phenomena. Consider them a study guide, including names and website links. For instance, the list of 32 items below was compiled from a 2014 search of Media Watch issues using the keywords of healing and intention.
The individual issues of Media Watch have been combined into a single PDF file that can be downloaded here. It will be periodically updated as new issues are published.
As always, your input is invited.
Healing Intention
This section is new and still to be populated. Our objective is to include information about current research into the nature of the etheric as it is influenced by healing intention.
We would like to invite others to contribute to this section. If you have an idea or article, please query via the Contact button below.
Compiled 2014. These links have not been reviewed in 2016.
References for Healing Intention
Remember that non-mainstream journals are often not accepted as reliable sources by mainstream academics.
As presented by Paolo Presi at the 2006 AA-EVP conference
Introducing Il Laboratorio
It is a great pleasure and honor for me to attend this very important International Conference and I wish to thank Lisa and Tom Butler for their kind invitation to participate. I will begin by explaining the targets, methods and research activities carried out at Il Laboratorio – Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Biopsychocybernetic Research, the purpose of which is to study phenomena that, for a long time, we all wrongly judged as “paranormal.” [Il laboratorio is no longer operational.]
To begin, I would like to draw your attention to the name of our organization so that you understand the leading criteria of our scientific activities. The first word, “Il Laboratorio” (The Laboratory), is self-explanatory and refers to a place provided with equipment for scientific research. The word, “Interdisciplinary,” indicates that our research is performed using methods belonging to different sciences and/or disciplines linked together in a methodological and conceptual way. To follow an interdisciplinary approach in the investigations has today become a necessity of contemporary scientific thought, particularly when the research is designed to understand certain phenomena emerging from the human mind.
The Il Laboratorio team intends also to investigate unusual occurrences; usually referred to as events that go beyond psi-cognitive and psychokinetic phenomena, in areas that traditional parapsychology did not intend to investigate. Our area of interest also includes study of so-called “borderline phenomena,” such as Out-of-Body-Experiences (OBE) and Near Death Experiences (NDE), as well as phenomena that depend upon altered or modified states of consciousness like sensitiveness and mediumship.
Our research is also concerned with investigation of the subjects involved in psychic phenomena from the neuro-psycho-physiological point of view, in order to bring to light possible interconnections between the subject and the final link in the phenomenological chain, like physical psychic effects. This includes the so-called bioresonance phenomena that are concerned with the interactive interface that man has with his immediate and more remote physical surroundings, as well as with his social psychological background.
The word Research refers to the studies designed and systematically implemented in order to increase our understanding and knowledge of unusual occurrences through the use of scientific methodology wherever applicable and feasible.
The final word in the name of our organization, Bio-psycho-cybernetic, indicates that our investigations are not limited to explaining psi phenomena by criteria and laws based only on physical paradigms, but by considering each occurrence belonging to a complex system whose properties can be understood by studying the whole system from different perspectives.
I wish to stress that the philosophy guiding the researchers of Il Laboratorio deals with events as they occur, whether as they appear in the physical world, or as evidence of inner or psychic experience. This neologism was suggested by the founders of Il Laboratorio and adopted with the goal of supporting a gradual revision of the terminology of parapsychological research in order to distance our discipline from the ghetto of the pseudo-sciences. Our activities are therefore both practical (in the field) and theoretical. They deal with the reliability of documented reports, the verification of reported occurrences, and the scientific and technological circumstances (including controls) within which findings are gathered.
Within the context of present scientific knowledge, utilizing where possible and feasible the most updated technologies, our researchers conduct their research.
Before introducing to you the Department directly involved in Instrumental Transcommunication, I would like to give you some information about the other Departments that work together collaboratively.
The Research and Theoretics Departments report directly to the General Director while the Voice, Image and Psychophysiological Departments report to the Research Department.
Dr. Enrico Marabini heads Il Laboratorio as General Director. He also manages ad interim the Theoretics Department. This branch of Il Laboratorio handles the epistemological issues that arise from our research activities. This is a very important Department since its task is to confirm the correctness of methodology, and the procedures and interpretations attributed to results arising from the experimental activities of the research teams.
The Research Department, managed by Dr. Michele Dinicastro, coordinates all the research activities performed by the Departments.
Dr. Giorgio Gagliardi manages the Psychophysiological Department. He is entrusted with the investigations into the personality and physiology of the subjects involved in paranormal phenomena. This is a very complex topic and, at the same time, one that is of great importance in the context of both psychological and physiological interactions between the human personality and the phenomena under investigation.
The topic of Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) is dealt with by the Voice Department, managed by myself, and the Image Department managed by engineer Daniele Gullà.
The Voice and Image Departments conduct their research activities thanks to the competence and collaboration of colleague Daniele Gullà, a skilled electronics engineer, who is an expert in electro-acoustical analysis of voices, as well as image recognition and processing. His extensive experience in these fields has allowed him to accomplish qualified legal advices for Italian Courts of Justice.
I am pleased to provide detailed information about our research including some practical and significant examples.
There are many ways to study the paranormal or unusual events relating to the survival of consciousness after death. Many operators who try to “receive” messages from the beyond are motivated mainly by emotional issues, such as the loss of a loved one, where the contents are surely more important than anything else. Other researchers, like myself, are conscious of the great importance of the topic and are studying the process by investigating the many different expressions of the phenomena. By doing so, those researchers attempt to characterize all the elements that contribute to increasing the meaning and validity of the results of experimentation. That is why I consider it mandatory that the phenomena witnessed be thoroughly investigated and that the investigations be carried out using methods and technical tools that are recognized as being suitable for scientific research.
It should be the task of the serious researcher to uncover all events that can be considered anomalous because they do not fit the established laws of physics. Only in this way will we awaken the scientific establishment to the importance of this kind of research, and only at that time will a revision of the paradigms, now considered unchangeable by science, take place.
In line with Thomas Kuhn’s thought1, we recognize that this may be a very slow process, but the only one capable of leading human society to the conscious maturity that will result from scientific understanding of new discoveries. To that purpose, together with my collaborators at Il Laboratorio, we dedicate our efforts in this way. We use the most up-to-date professional software and hardware to document all the peculiarities and anomalies that are found in the electroacoustical structure of authentic paranormal voices obtained under controlled conditions.
In this presentation I am pleased to share with you some examples of the preliminary findings in this matter.
Investigating Paranormal Voices Using Computer-Based Analysis
On 17 September 1952, Italian Fathers Agostino Gemelli and Pellegrino Ernetti reported a case of alleged anomalous communication received through a magnetic wire-recorder. The reported phenomenon attracted little attention until 1959 when Friedrich Jürgenson, a Sweden artist and documentary filmmaker, obtained the same kind of phenomenon. Intrigued by these claims, Latvian psychologist Konstantin Raudive commenced his own experimentation that confirmed Jürgenson’s results (1971).
Much research has been conducted in several different countries in order to help us understand the mechanisms governing the phenomenon. In Italy, we have an ongoing research program, named Sfinge Project, which is supported by a grant generously donated by the Swedish Helene Reeder Memorial Fund. Before dealing with the preliminary results obtained in the Sfinge Project, it is useful to provide some information about the signal acquisition and processing quality required to perform reliable analyses. See: Instrumental Analysis of EVP Collected via a Sound-Psi Interaction
To obtain voices of sufficient quality to permit analysis, the original recording signal must provide for a reasonably good Signal/Noise ratio (S/N). If the voice signal is at the same level as the background noise or lower, the chance of successful analysis will be extremely low. To obtain a good sound quality the original recording signal needs a relatively high signal/noise ratio, like that obtained through a digital recording rather than an analog recording through an audio cassette recorder.
Digital recording is obtained by recording directly onto a computer or digital audio recorder (solid state or digital tape recorder). The key difference between digital and analog systems consists in their acoustic dynamic ranges: those from digital recording systems are greater than 90 dB while those from audio cassette recorder (analog) are usually not more than 60 dB. That is why it is important to record Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) with a recording system that ensures that the acoustic loss of information is reduced to a minimum.
Unfortunately, we often have to work with very weak or noisy signals due to imperfect recordings. Too often poor quality microphones or audio cassette tape recorders are used and this results in a high distortion effect and makes analysis and decoding unreliable. It is worth repeating that the accuracy of analyses of the signal depends on the acoustic quality of the recording acquired.
In the Sfinge project, we used a personal computer, acting as a recorder of input signals coming from a high quality, condenser-type microphone and processed by a professional microphone preamplifier, with digital output, and a multiband signal processor. This project provides practical experimentation, under controlled conditions, involving four of the most skilled ITC operators in Italy, each working in independent experimental sessions.
We started the project with the first operator by experimenting with the typical microphone recording method, using a cassette tape recorder with built-in microphone.
The first experiment was conducted with a female operator, Mrs. Lida Russo from Livorno, Italy. She used her audiocassette recorder, which was really quite modest. Unfortunately, in the experimental sessions performed, she recorded only some voices of poor acoustic quality.
Exactly the opposite happened to our research team using a professional recording system, operated by Daniele Gullà, which served a cross-referential function. The introduction of professional recording tools to record the whole experiment brought us some unexpected and astonishing results. See: Computer–Based Analysis of Supposed Paranormal Voice
Another important check was carried out using a professional phonometer in order to survey the existing background noise during the experiment. Generally speaking, the main objection currently raised by the critics concerns the ambiguous sonority that mainly characterizes EVP material. In their opinion an ambiguous acoustic event, properly fragmented and cadenced, might be decoded as a linguistic message. They argue that when a high fidelity recording system is used, the alleged paranormal voices reveal themselves to be a simple noise, not voices. Our experimentation demonstrated exactly the opposite. The digital recording revealed the presence of voices not audible on the audio cassette recorded by the operator.
In my opinion, the primary cause can be found somewhere between the recording devices used, the existing psychological and/or psychical condition of the ITC operator, and the whole “Minds System”2 constituted by the people attending the experiment. In fact, the operator under observation was expecting good voices to be recorded by the experimenters from Il Laboratorio. Consequently, Mrs. Russo’s main expectation was the successful recording of voices on the sophisticated recording devices. These were arranged in the room by the researchers. Several times, Mrs. Russo asked Daniele Gullà if voices had been recorded on his devices; she was not worried at all whether voices could be recorded on her own tape recorder.
The great influence exerted on the device by Mrs. Russo (the ITC operator) was experienced again when our psychologist, Dr. Giorgio Gagliardi, and his assistant were ready to perform a psychophysiological examination of her. This examination requires the use of a polygraph connected to a personal computer, which records the neurovegetative and electrodermic changes occurring during the psychological test.
Before leaving his home Dr. Gagliardi checked that both devices were functioning correctly. No problems were found, everything was working properly. Once the electrodes were positioned on Mrs. Russo’s head and everything was ready for the test, the personal computer gave an error message. Several times the computer was checked and restarted but the error didn’t disappear. The most significant occurrence happened when Dr. Gagliardi returned to his home: inexplicably both the devices were found to be operating correctly, without any error!
Lastly, all of the approximately fifty photos taken with a digital camera, many of which show Mrs. Russo ready for the experiment with the electrodes positioned on her head, were inexplicably and definitively lost. It is my opinion that the stressful psychological condition of Mrs. Russo’s mind, probably due to her anxiety about the results of test, set off such occurrences.
In the following, the results of the analyses done on two very short tonal sentences are reported. The tonal sentences are saying: “ami Enzo?” (“do you love Enzo?”) and “oh mamma” (“oh mom”). It must be said that Enzo, the unknown speaker, is the name of the deceased son of Mrs. Russo.
The whole sentence \AMI\ENZO\ is uttered with a light temporal dilatation, with an evident pause between the two words. The voice is a loud, clearly audible voice, well cadenced, which was not heard by either the experimenters or the operator during the experiment. In the first sentence (duration 2.278 sec.) only the first part \AMI\E was analyzed because the word \ENZO\ was partially overlapped by the voices of people attending the experiment.
The analyses revealed several anomalies as follows:
Modulations of signals changing mainly in amplitude instead of in frequency.
Formants visibility limited to F1 and F2 only.
Vibrations of vocal cords detectable in short intervals only.
Abnormal fluctuations of voice frequency ranges.
Poor melodic and harmonic contents.
Vowels expanded in time.
Abnormal excitation of cochlear liquid (simulated via software).
The voice reverberation differs from the one existing in the room.
Aleatory values of vowels in I.P.A. table.
High content of noise and significant aperiodicity of signals.
Impossibility for the software to structure a model of Vocal Tract due to the low influence of overglottal organs (resonators)
Jitter values indicate the presence of possible dysphonias.
Spectrograms used for the analysis of the EVP examplesExample of vocal tracts anomalous
The electroacoustic measures reveal the presence of significant structural anomalies deviating from normal human speech parameters even if the sentence is uttered with a loud, clearly audible voice, apparently quite similar to the human voice. The second sentence \OH\MAMMA\ (duration 1.897 sec.) is uttered twice; the first utterance is made with a loud, clearly audible voice, while the second utterance is an acoustically very low, whispered voice, saying the same words.
A sound, similar to the one produced by pushing a call-bell (such as used on a reception desk of a hotel to call the personnel), precedes the first utterance. Nobody heard such a ring during the experiment. In the first and in the last vowel \A\ the software functions (L.P.C. and Autocorrelation) clearly reveal the activation of overglottal resonators but the vibrations of vocal cords are not distinctly noticeable.
The analyses performed on the second sentence exhibit the same anomalies as in the first sentence and in addition:
Abnormal trend of the fundamental frequency F0.
Impossibility for the software to represent the sound using the cochlear model (software simulation).
The voice seems to be partially structured both by voiced sounds and whispered sounds with only some structural components pertaining to human speech.
Formants are fragmented and apparently generated by a thickening of existing background noise.
The electroacoustic measures carried out on the second sentence confirm the presence of important anomalies in the voice structure. The presence of the fundamental frequency without the consequent vibration of vocal cords is inexplicable. It must be said that, in normal human speech, only the vibration of vocal cords generates the fundamental frequency.
The energy and the high a-periodicity of signals pertinent to vowels are absolutely unusual and detectable only in the zones affected by consonants. This unusual occurrence found in the paranormal voices is very important since it supports my personal hypothesis about the paranormal process of the generation of formants: it seems to come from an inexplicable process of local thickening of the existing background noise.
In particular, it was noted that such formants, mainly modulated in amplitude, are structured in the typical frequency bands pertaining to the vowel sounds. As a consequence – and this is a very important point – such formants, so structured, maintain unaltered the semantic content of the words in the listening phase. In addition, it was found that if some slight deviation or partial lack of signal occurs, causing the software to register an incorrect vowel sound classification, the information already existing in the listener’s brain (at the conscious or subconscious level) is able, during the listening phase, to make a suitable integration of missing parts in the input signals.
In order to exclude eventual deviations interpreted as anomalies due to the software used (Speech Filing System v. 4.6)®, a second professional software (Praat v. 4.3.37)® was used in accordance with a specific requirement in our Operating Procedure. The analyses performed using the second software confirmed the anomalies detected by the first software.
Another very interesting case of paranormal telephone voice that we have analyzed is the case involving Edna. In this regard, Il Laboratorio was asked to analyze a telephone voice sample, sent via email by Sonia Rinaldi, a well-known Brazilian operator who is also a presenter in this Conference. The sample is from an experiment carried out by recording a normal phone call, initiated by Cleusa, on Rinaldi’s personal computer. Cleusa was the adoptive mother of Edna, a young girl who died at the age of sixteen when run over by a car. The phone call lasted fifteen minutes during which Edna spoke seventy-eight times.
The experiment was made in a very original manner. During the conversation between the two ladies, three CDs, containing the utterances of phonemes pertaining to foreign languages (other than Portuguese), were simultaneously played. Using such a tone mixture as background sound-source meant that it was impossible to structure meaningful sentences in the Portuguese language that would be coherent with the topic of dialogue.
The sentence submitted for analysis was found to be half modulated over the sound-source and the other half perfectly clear of such sounds. The latter was recorded when the CD player was switched off. From the voice data provided, the second half of the sentence was analyzed, where the voice resulted without any background sound-source.
I must point out that the sample analyzed was sent to Il Laboratorio via e-mail and therefore subject to all the limitations of that means of communication. The analyses performed on Edna’s voice revealed the presence of the following structural anomalies:
Severe fragmentation of fundamental frequency F0 and its too much low fluctuation in frequency (found to be less than 15 Hz, while in normal human speech it ranges from 30 to 60 Hz).
Severe fragmentation of vocal cord vibrations, detectable in the positions of existing fragments of fundamental frequency.
Unusual increase in sound intensity in the high frequency bands ranging between 2000 and 3000 Hz. In normal speech, when the frequency range increases, the intensity of sound usually decreases. In our case exactly the opposite was found. It seemed to be a voice uttered affecting the soft palate area (glottal voice), or produced by a vocal apparatus of reduced dimensions.
Abnormal formant trends with a partial fusion of second formant F2 and third formant F3.
Abnormal formant bandwidths.
Abnormal increase of sound intensities in the third formant F3 and in the fourth formant F4.
The high values of Jitter and Shimmer indicate the presence of dysphonias due to possible phonatory pathologies. In particular the impulsive changes in voice frequency (Jitter) represent an indirect evidence of instability of the vocal system.
Abnormal speech fluency characterized by lack of voice breaks. In normal speech, the voice breaks are caused by the occlusions produced by certain consonants, or due to the aspiration/expiration of air to/from the lungs. In human speech, several voice breaks can occur depending on the length of the words.
Abnormal fluctuations of voice frequency ranges.
Poor melodic and harmonic contents.
Following the detection of such anomalies and in order to investigate further, Edna’s alleged paranormal voice was compared to her lifetime voice. The comparative analyses were carried out using a software named “FBI Image Searching”®, currently employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States. This software has real-time image recognition capability. It can be used for any kind of images and produces extremely accurate results. This software is able to process millions of images. The computer processing involves artificial intelligence to learn directly the content of an image, or several images, and to retrieve all similar images based upon their content.
The “FBI Image Searching” software provides a tool for image matching through “One-to-One” and “One-to-Many” functions. In the investigation of the Edna communication, both functions were used for comparing the acoustic maps (images) of her voice. The “One-to-One” function provides the identification by matching a single image against another single image. The “One-to-Many” function provides the identification by matching of a single image against a database of images with no declared identity required. The single image under investigation is generally the newly obtained sample and the database contains all previously filed images.
Scores are generated for each comparison, and an algorithm is used to determine the matching record. Generally, the highest score exceeding the threshold results in identification. In our case the images processed were the acoustic maps relevant to Edna’s voice while alive and her alleged paranormal voice. By introducing an accuracy acceptance limit greater than 95%, the “One-to-One” comparative analysis recognized the acoustic map of Edna’s voice while alive in the acoustic map of her alleged paranormal voice.
In order to add weight to our research, the voice of the living Edna was added to the 908 voices existing in the database, where 229 voices belong to Portuguese and Brazilian speakers (Edna was Brazilian). With the same acceptance limit, the “One-to-Many” function provided a comparison between Edna’s alleged paranormal voice (its acoustic map) and the 909 acoustic maps of other voices contained in the database. The matching process took 7 hours to do 48,600 calculations, with the processor (CPU) working at 100% of capacity (Processor type AMD K7 operating at 3 GHz with RAM of 1 GHz). When the computer processing was completed, the “One-to-Many” function had identified the acoustic map of Edna’s alleged paranormal voice in the acoustic map of Edna’s voice while she was alive.
This was the only acoustic map that exceeded 99% similarity through the computer matching process against 909 acoustic maps.
Investigating Paranormal Images by Using Biometric Techniques
Biometrics is a scientific technique for measuring, in a direct or indirect way, the morphologic and anthropometric features of a person for identification purposes. Identification is understood to be the procedure whereby it is possible to recognize a person based on a sufficient number of references, such as the shape and sizes of the face features as they compare to the underlying cranial structure.
In legal matters, biometrical tests are often used to recognize an individual who has committed a crime or an absconder who is trying to conceal his or her identity. Biometrical testing is also used in other cases where a need exists to identify an individual. Consequently, the most frequent users of such methods are police departments, forensic medicine departments, and particularly intelligence services.
It is important to note that identification systems are not yet perfected. Depending upon the quality of the images used as a reference, the existing error rate can still be very high. For this reason, many of the technologies used today for forensic tests are not always able to offer fully reliable results concerning the identification of an individual; basically, they only establish compatibility indexes through similarity of statistical ratings.
In the past decade, major progress has occurred in face recognition systems. Many software packages have been designed with the ability to achieve recognition rates of more than ninety percent. The introduction of more sophisticated and accurate information technologies and the increased capability of computers have allowed the design of new recognition systems that utilize sophisticated and innovative algorithms in their processing systems, like Neural Networks, Wavelets and Computer Graphics.
One of the well-known methods used at Il Laboratorio is the so-called “Anthropometric Face Recognition.” The features taken into account relate basically to the distances between certain points of reference, or landmarks, also known as “Repère points”, situated in the cranio-facial structure. They relate also to the morphological somatic features of the shape of the face or parts of it. When manual or semiautomatic procedures are used, at least a dozen points are measured. Certain techniques require up to eighty points with calculations in three-dimensions (3D).
The accuracy of the measurements of dimensions on the image considered as reference and the corresponding dimensions on the image under analysis is extremely important. The smaller the variances the more evidential and convincing the resulting analysis will be.
Comparisons made at different times on the same face are unlikely to yield the same result with one hundred percent accuracy. This results from the inevitability of error in measurement, even if extremely slight. Though the measurements will always be similar, it is impossible to obtain an absolute measurement. This error relates mainly to the quality of the images that are compared.
In the investigation of paranormal images, due to their poor quality, it is essential that the software used should reduce the possibility of errors during the measurements. Today many improvements have been made in the field of face recognition so that the margin of error is significantly reduced. For the case reported in the following example, the most recent generation of face recognition software was used.
“FaceIt” is a software package used by forensic detectives in many countries as well as in many airports for the purpose of anti-terrorism prevention. It employs a complex method involving mathematic calculations on multidimensional matrixes, as well as making use of algorithms, such as Neural Networks, that operate in a similar manner to the natural neural network in the human brain.
A conventional software program may supply a completely wrong response even if only a single “bit” in the input information is wrong. On the other hand, an application based on neural networks attempts to correct the error by using previously stored information. This is very helpful with paranormal face recognition, since there always is a variable amount of background noise that makes the image unidentifiable. If the noise doesn’t completely cover the features of the image, a neural network is usually capable of producing a response by using the part of the information that is not polluted or distorted. This allows recognition of noisy or partially concealed face images. The reduction of the error rate to 0.03% increases significantly the reliability of the identification performed.
It is interesting to note that this software, while exploring a human face, picks up and learns a lot of information necessary for its identification. That computerized process is performed in the same manner that a human being scans a face for recognition.
Without going into detail, the system works in the following way:
The extraction algorithm for the biometric data generates an image representing a bas-relief reconstruction of the face’s main features.
The Eigenfaces algorithm, certified by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), processes the input data and the existing data in the database by generating an image constituted by a dispersion of points that allows a quick search for similar faces. The resulting images are displayed; they appear as though superimposed from various images contained in the database.
The comparative analysis between a new sample image and the images contained in the database is carried out by generating an image of contours and automatically performing measurements between approximately 80 contour nodal points. These measurements are then compared to the corresponding measurements taken on the images contained in the database (a total current number of 7,230 faces).
The software is also provided with an option called Reconstruct Face, which makes it possible to reconstruct original images in 3D starting from the processed data, by means of the Eigenfaces algorithm.
The cross-correlation function aims at identifying the images contained in the database that are closest to the sample image. The faces displaying the highest degree of similarity, ranging from 1 to 80, are graphically presented.
The system has both a great strength and a great weakness. The strength is that recognition accuracy reaches 98%, with an ability to even recognize people in disguise (wearing a false beard, moustache, dark glasses, hats or hoods). The weakness is that, since the system is based on probabilities, it always identifies a match, by displaying the three most likely faces contained in the database. However, based on research performed in the United States on a database containing five thousand faces, the false recognition error proved to be lower than 5%, and was therefore considered as acceptable.
The Castagnini Case
In 1992, Massimo Castagnini died in a car accident. One year later, on the anniversary of his death, his friends, who used to play with him in a band, decided to honor his memory by organizing a concert party. On that occasion Massimo’s friends dedicated to him a song titled “Beyond the limit” and one of them took about seventy pictures, but several times the camera jammed inexplicably.
When the rolls were processed, among all the pictures there was one that contained inexplicable gaudy colors and luminous streaks that drew his mother’s attention. In the picture she and a few friends were greatly surprised to find, in the middle, a blurred and semitransparent image bearing human features in which was immediately recognized Massimo’s likeness holding in his hand something that seemed to be a microphone.
Photograph in which the face center-top is an “extra.”
In 1999 Daniele Gullà carried out spectro-chromatographic and densitometric measurements on the picture, which ruled out any accidental or intentional counterfeiting of any nature. Then an anthropometric investigation was also performed by analyzing the face displayed in that picture and comparing it to Massimo’s image while alive. The measurements taken, based on the distance rates for the two faces compared on twelve anthropometric points, together with circumstantial evidence suggested that the paranormal face might belong to Massimo.
Two years later Daniele Gullà had acquired much more advanced technology, which is also used by the police in the United States, and obtained confirmation that the two images belong to the same person. For the Castagnini case, Daniele Gullà employed the Face Recognition and FaceIt software packages.
The alleged paranormal image was compared with an image dataset made up by 2,048 faces, including the one of Massimo Castagnini, which had been added to the database.
The choice made by the Eigenfaces function identified the file named “casta01A”, which is a picture of the living Massimo’s face, as the most similar to the paranormal image, with a degree of similarity of about 97.5 %. The result is remarkable in that the alleged anomalous image is lower in quality than an ordinary image; therefore, the number of required biometrical features is lower than the number one would hope for.
Comparison between the “extra” in the preceding. photograph and the person it is thought to be.
In summer 2004, after the acquisition of new software, it was possible for Daniele Gullà to repeat the identification test on Massimo’s paranormal face using the FBI Image Searching® software. That software, already used in Edna’s case, has a capability of reaching an accuracy rate above 99% based upon a database of 40,000 images. The recognition of Massimo Castagnini’s face was successfully accomplished with an identification rate of 99% after more than 1,900,000 cross-tests performed using the One-to-Many function.
Today, thanks to new software, we are able to reconstruct faces starting from the elements contained in the paranormal images and/or make comparisons by laying a reconstructed face on its alleged paranormal image.
How to conclude and explain the results?
The results of the analyses performed to date must be considered as an explorative sample of almost recurrent anomalies detectable in the electroacoustical structure of paranormal voices and of the possibilities of investigating paranormal images. Since the anomalies discovered seem to be of a similar type, it could be stated in a provisional way, that the paranormal voices are characterized by some substantial differences when compared to human voices. From my point of view such differences mainly refer to the process by which they are structured.
The subjective auditory and instrumental tests prove that the acoustic quality of the paranormal voices is the main variable in this phenomenon. In more than three decades covered by my personal survey, the variability was mainly found in the microphone voices where the range of audibility goes from whispered voices to extremely comprehensible voiced sounds. In the telephone voices, like Edna’s voice, the quality changes as well.
In many cases, those voices seem to have originated in the same manner as microphone voices, that is, by modulating the background noise or other sound material available at the moment. In other cases, such as those reported by D. Scott Rogo, the quality of the telephone voices seems to be almost the same as a normal telephone voice. This variability in the microphone and telephone voices was found in the Direct Radio Voices as well. For example, the Direct Radio Voices obtained by Friedrich Jürgenson and many other operators differ substantially, from the acoustical point of view, from those received by Marcello Bacci. Why?
In addition, sometimes the EVP operator’s own voice was recorded on the tape. Both Carlo Trajna, an engineer and well-known Italian researcher, and myself experienced this occurrence. In other instances, direct voices (not radio voices) were heard over the external speaker of the tape recorder while listening to a tape that contained pre-recorded normal acoustic material. A subsequent check revealed that such voices were not recorded on the tape.
In my opinion, the process by which paranormal voices are received may depend upon the degree of sensitiveness or mediumship existing in the operator. Basically, the presence in the operator of a deeply internalized conceptual model, together with expectations consistent with such a model, may be able to activate or create a hidden psychic channel for receiving voices in such a way. This occurrence happens, for example, when an EVP operator believes that the voices may be received through a radio in the same way as normal radio transmissions.
But how can the above mentioned psychic sensitivity or mediumship be rationally conceptualized? To begin, I believe that it is an attribute that everybody possesses to greater or lesser extent; also, it seems that the attribute of mediumship can be developed when a motivated operator devotes himself to experimenting on a regular basis. Secondly, this attribute seems to be supported by the deep inner conviction about the possibility of real communication with other planes of consciousness.
As early as 1985, I defined this particular psychological condition as “Inner Attentive Disposition.” Consciousness contemplates no more profound or perplexing question than this: what is the role of consciousness in the establishment of reality?
In the paradigm of our western culture, the human mind is limited to being a passive processor of sensorial experiences. Conversely, based upon the mystical traditions of oriental cultures, all experience in the physical world is presumed to be created by consciousness such that all tangible reality stems from illusion.
The empirical evidence of paranormal voices and images teaches us that the physical and psychological relationships between consciousness and the physical world entail subtle effects and processes that often appear to violate the most fundamental and consolidated scientific paradigms of space, time and causality. To this purpose I mention the conclusion of the great Danish physicist Niels Bohr about the enigma of modern quantum physics that I consider from many perspectives to be quite relevant to our research: “We are both onlookers and actors in the great drama of existence3
The recent experimental data acquired using state-of-the-art recording and data processing equipment, together with appropriate research protocols and updated interpretation techniques, led us toward a bio-psycho-cybernetical interpretation of the phenomenon. In other words, the final effects entail complex interactions within what I like to define as a Minds System, the definition of which provides for the possible existence of and the effective participation between one or more interfaced minds (incarnate and discarnate) that are able to communicate with each other thanks to the effective and functional psychic model acting in the operators’ minds.
These psychic models are able to produce effects on the physical plane through a kind of action, defined in the parapsychological literature as Psychokinetic effect or PK effect. In this regard I agree completely with the great English parapsychologist John Beloff4 when he said that psychokinesis couldn’t be a force, or energy, or a physical process. He believed that PK was an unexpected action resulting from a direct interconnection between our mind and the Universe with all that it contains.
John Beloff argued that the unexpected action could not result from a super-energy located in the human mind or body, but that it could be something that happens under certain circumstances. In other words, it could be an idea or a mental intention that is able to automatically force a physical system to express that idea or that intention. The occurrence should in itself be a conclusive event and self-explanatory without the need for any other process acting as the bridge to make the final results understandable.
It is evident that different operators obtain paranormal voices that have different acoustic characteristics even if they are experimenting using the same method and device. From my point of view, this could be the result of a different psychic model operating in the mind of each operator, at the conscious or unconscious level. It is probable that different psychic situations produce different physical effects depending upon the psychic model and how it is conceived and internalized by the operator.
I would like to conclude this presentation with a purely speculative reflection based upon from my personal experiences in searching for the dynamics that govern the psychic processes and what I imagine might exist behind what we observe and measure in our investigations.
I believe that in the immediate post-mortem state the surviving nucleus of consciousness does not suddenly become, as many people incorrectly assume, omniscient (i.e., knowing everything about the past, present and future).
I believe that after death, human consciousness continues to act, for a certain period of time, based upon the individual’s knowledge of the psychic models acquired while living.
The new state of existence could imply a more effective level of consciousness, like a more enlarged perception of reality. This situation may differ from individual to individual, depending upon the individual’s adaptation to his or her new state of consciousness. The dynamics for creating new psychic models involves both the consciousness of the living and discarnate.
In ITC, there is often mention of technical means or problems and other references typical of humans living on Earth. This situation suggests the persistence, in the surviving consciousness, of psychic models that were acquired while living in the physical world. This is, I believe, the reason that the vast majority of authentic transcommunication come from personalities who have passed over fairly recently. In such cases of surviving consciousness located “nearby” in the more immediate post-mortem plane, the discarnate being is still influenced by experiences on the physical plane and has therefore the same, or a quite similar, psychic model.
To structure a new psychic model, it is necessary to have a strong willingness to supersede all previous existing schemes with new ones, even if at first sight, they appear impossible. In other words, to reach the desired goal, it is necessary to have an attitude of faith strong enough to set aside any rational interference.
Jesus Christ preached the same concept when He spoke of “the faith that moves mountains”.
Thank you very much for your kind attention.
Atlanta, Georgia, United States, June 9th 2006
References
Thomas S. Kuhn – The Structure of Scientific Revolution – The University of Chicago, 1970.
For “Minds System” should be intended a group of interacting psychic beings.
Niels Bohr – Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature – The University Press, Cambridge, 1961
John Beloff – Presidential presentation at Society for Psychical Research, London, 1975.
Seeing Both Sides: The arrow of creation is at the center of the dispute concerning the validity of EVP by Tom Butler, (cc)2001
There is a common thread that runs throughout any discussion of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). It is the general acceptance amongst EVP experimenters that we are communicating with other people. Not dead people, really, just people who are no longer in this world. It permeates our thoughts even though we know there are those who do not agree and even though no one has been able to offer a comprehensive explanation for the presence of these communicating entities. The belief is just there, inescapable and undeniable: we are talking to people whom others call dead.
For the people who study EVP, this idea that we survive physical death is not a matter of religious belief. The evidence seems clear and undeniable. Yes, it is true that this belief is shared by most religions of the world. But there is much to be said for the sort of physical evidence provided by EVP, as opposed to revealed knowledge. There is no need to have faith in something that is so well documented with evidence.
Others do not agree with the conclusions we draw from EVP. People who have been trained in the physical sciences generally discount the possibility that we survive physical death. Or, if they do not outright discount survival, they relegate it to that which is religious and make no attempt to mingle these articles of faith with facts of science.
How can this be? How can intelligent, earnest people who are clearly observing the same reality, find so little common ground.
I believe the foundation of this difference in worldview can be found in the assumption of where creation has taken place. Here, by creation, I intend to say the formation and evolution of self-aware entities. The nature of the other objects in our reality must wait for a later discussion.
In the physical sciences, our self-awareness can be reliably traced back to the origins of the first living cells in that fabled primordial soup of creation here on earth. Based on this model, it is assumed that similar primordial soups must have existed in other parts of the universe, leaving room in this model for the existence of other life forms. Perhaps our universe is teaming with life.
Now here, I will enlist the study of metaphysics to champion the side of survival, for scholars of this field also seek to embrace the question of survival from a scientific viewpoint. In metaphysics, the origin of physical life is, indeed, thought to have originated in that fabled soup. However, also in metaphysics, physical life and self-awareness have very different paths of evolution. Self is thought to have originated outside of physical reality.
So here, I am introducing the concept that there is a greater reality, of which, our physical universe is but an aspect. Because this greater reality is not physical, I will simply refer to it as nonphysical reality. While the existence of nonphysical reality cannot be declared a given, it can be stipulated that there is such a thing for this discussion. Just for the sake of discussion.
There is no use discussing how Self came to be. Perhaps there was a primordial soup of energy that first gained self-awareness. Regretfully, the how of Self’s creation is beyond the scope of this discussion. I will say, though, that this is not about an anthropomorphic god of creation. The point here is that, in metaphysics, there is a dual aspect in the nature of people. We are human beings and we have evolved from simple organisms here on earth. Also, we are Self and, as Self, we have evolved in an environment that is outside of physical reality.
So, allow me to describe the question of origin as a question of creation and the path of evolution as the arrow of creation. The question then, is which way does the arrow of creation really point?
In physical science, there is no foundation for a nonphysical aspect of reality. The arrow of creation must point from that primordial soup to present day. Anyone properly trained in the physical sciences has no choice but to hold that this is true if they are to remain faithful to their education.
In metaphysics, as it is amongst most EVP researchers, and yes, in theology, speculation in the existence of a greater reality allows us to embrace all of physical science and to expand that understanding with the concepts defining nonphysical reality. For Self, the arrow of creation can point both ways, but it must first point from some etheric origin toward present day. No other consideration can explain the phenomena we experience.
There is a second trajectory of this metaphysical arrow of creation that must be described. Somehow, someway, the physical aspect of reality must also have been created. The arrow of creation points toward the creation of that physical world primordial soup, as well.
And so, this is the point of my comments. The observed and demonstrable phenomena cannot be explained unless the arrow of creation for the Self is considered to point from the nonphysical to the physical aspects of reality. Once the existence of a nonphysical aspect of reality is accepted, then the majority of what is generally called “paranormal” phenomena can be explained as the natural processes of nature.
Allow me to offer a for instance. It has been clearly demonstrated that it is possible to stimulate the brain in such a way as to cause the person to remember something or to sense mental images. In physical science, the conclusion is that, since it is possible to find a place in the brain that is involved with that function, then that function must originate in that part of the brain. Therefore, for instance, memory is a function of the brain. By extension, Self is a function of the brain. The arrow points to the evolution of Self as a byproduct of the evolution of the body.
However, if the existence of a nonphysical aspect of reality is allowed, then it can as easily be argued that, by so stimulating a region of the brain, the researchers are stimulating the portion of the human body that facilitates the Self’s existence in the physical. In other words, in metaphysics, the Principle of Agreement holds that an object of reality must be energetically in agreement with the aspect of reality it will inhabit. In practical application, we express this as Self residing in a physical body. It is our physical body that enables us to be energetically in agreement with the physical aspect of reality. For a particular ability of Self to be expressed in the physical, the body must be able to support that ability. If for some reason the body is damaged, say it is blind, then that ability cannot be expressed. In this case, the Self would not be able to see in the physical.
The body probably has evolved from that single cell, but it is a physical thing that functions as a host for Self. Yes, it is a form of life with an attendant energetic body, but the body is believed to lack Self-awareness. It is generally thought to be dependent on Self for volition beyond simple requirements of survival such as eating or reproduction.
In another example, recent research in parapsychology has established that we are able to telekinetically influence physical objects. This in itself is a substantial breakthrough in support of the possibility of a nonphysical aspect of reality. Since telekinesis has gained some credibility amongst physical scientists, it has come to be something of a catchall to explain other, less acceptable phenomena such as survival of the Self. In EVP, telekinesis is often cited as an explanation for the origin of EVP. “Humans are telekinetically putting the voices on tape.”
In fact, telekinesis may be a good explanation for the processes involved in EVP, since by definition, it means to mentally influence objects. The Self is nonphysical. Self residing in a physical body and Self that is free of a body while the body is sleeping or because of physical death, should be qualitatively the same. However, since the communicating entity is generally thought to be free of a physical body, it must have the assistance of a Self still residing in a physical body to satisfy the Principle of Agreement. In more common terms, the EVP experimenter is believed to function as a medium through which the communicating entity is able to impress its messages.
Of course, the mediumship aspect of EVP is not accepted by all EVP researcher, let alone physical scientists. However, this should serve as an example of how simply changing the direction of the arrow of creation can change the interpretation of an observation. The possible presence of telekinesis in EVP does not mean that the experimenter is the communicating entity. It means that the EVP may be impressed into the recording medium via telekinesis. The source of the telekinetic ability may be the EVP researcher, but the source of the message and all of its characteristics could very well be a nonphysical entity. The observation that telekinesis is involved would be the same in either case.
If you consider that our universe is but an aspect of a greater reality, and if you consider the complexity we are aware of in this universe, then simple extrapolation demands that the larger reality be vastly more complex. But the existence of a greater reality and some hypotheses concerning its nature must first be stipulated to before such an extrapolation can be made. Who amongst us is qualified to make such an extrapolation?
Few of us who are trained in the physical sciences are also trained in metaphysical thought. While it is the nature of EVP to attract researchers who are technically inclined, few EVP researchers are well versed in both fields. Evidence of this is frequently placed before us by physical scientists who propose super conscious or holographic principles to explain all of the various characteristics of EVP that is reported by experimenters. At the same time, we see EVP researchers who have substantial background in metaphysics, propose the survival hypotheses as the explanation for all of the reported phenomena.
In fact, all of these explanations may correctly explain some of the observed phenomena, but as stated, they are not acceptable to the other school of thought because they do not answer all of the questions. Not being one to sight a problem without proposing a solution, it is clear to me that cooperation amongst physical scientists and metaphysicians is in order. Of the many forms of EVP, some may very well be evidence of the holographic nature of the universe. At the same time, other EVP are probably evidence of the survival of Self after physical death. Both schools are right within the appropriate context. However, we may never come to understand this if qualified EVP researchers do not work with people who are qualified to speak of physical principles. Neither can do this alone.
But here is the good news. Some open-minded scientists are beginning to seriously evaluate EVP because they can see that there is something going on that is extraordinary. Physical scientists are trained to follow the evidence. They recognize that phenomena represented by EVP and mediumship cannot be explained with known physical principles. Rather than shrinking away from such controversial subjects, they are seizing the opportunity to study these phenomena.
For instance, there are members of the Association TransCommunication (ATransC) who have the necessary scientific background to address the issues and who are fast becoming serious EVP researchers. Other EVP experimenters are learning to describe their work in terms that are acceptable to the scientific community. We have found that members, as in EVP associations around the world, have a true pioneer spirit when it comes to trying new ideas and techniques. As a community, EVP experimenters represent a collective laboratory ready and able to support scientific investigation.
This illustrates an important point. Many of the scientists whom we seek to certify these phenomena are already interested and are participating in EVP related associations around the world. It is for the rest of us to order our thoughts and to clearly describe our experiments. Not all EVP experimenters are EVP researchers, but all EVP experimenters are potential contributors to EVP research. We know so much and we have so much evidence, now we must bring that to the researchers in a form that is rationally presented and well documented.
Many of you are probably aware of the work being conducted at the Human Energy Systems Laboratory in the University of Arizona, at Tucson [moved??]. This is research concerning the validity of mediumship. A team of mediums has been reliably graded at between eighty and ninety percent accuracy in the messages they are able to deliver via mediumship. Since EVP and mediumship seem to be closely related phenomena, this research tends to validate the concepts involved in EVP as well. This research also offers a formidable method to verify the Survival Hypothesis.
Interestingly, the existence of a nonphysical aspect of reality is beginning to be well established through research by scientists who are not even aware of EVP, but who have learned to look in the direction of a possible nonphysical cause for phenomena. For instance, one of the more exciting bits of news to make the rounds in the Association is a report from the Boundary Institute that they detected a change in the output of an array of random number generators that seemed to predict the attack on the World Trade Center September 11, 2001. Could this be evidence of consciousness influencing physical processes?
In another study, a group of doctors at the University of Southampton have published a groundbreaking report that claims for the first time, that there is scientific evidence of life after death. Dr. Sam Parnia, who led the study, believes the mind might be independent of the brain. He said: “The brain is definitely needed to manifest the mind, a bit like how a television set can take what essentially are waves in the air and translate them into picture and sound.”
Such conclusions would not have been seriously voiced a few years ago.
I will close with an explanation of why I think it is so important that the scientific community validates the Survival Hypothesis. First, it is not to provide validation for people who already accept personal survival. While validation would be nice, these people already have proof. We have the philosophy in ATransC that we are teaching the world to experiment with EVP one person at a time. We believe that Humankind is on the verge of a major shift in worldview. This shift is toward the understanding that the physical and the nonphysical aspects of reality are part of a greater whole. In this worldview, will be the understanding that we survive physical death, and therefore, we must have a new value for life and sense of the importance of personal growth. Humankind is composed of people and people respect the opinion of scientists. Should scientists begin to speak of the Survival Hypothesis as a reasonable theory, people will be more inclined to accept this view. Humankind’s change in worldview will more quickly evolve to embrace these concepts. I believe that is the true benefit in scientific approval. That, and the portable EVP phone booth some engineer will build for us once our scientists have provided the necessary supporting theory.
So I say to you in the scientific community that there is a large EVP community that is waiting and able to help you. EVP is a most powerful tool that can provide a window into the nonphysical aspect of reality. It is here now, it is well understood, it is repeatable and anyone can do it. You should also know that it is very inexpensive. Why not set up a series of survival experiments in which mediumship and EVP are used as cross-correspondence tools for data verification? Why not give it a try to help catatonic patients or for grief management? Why not use it as a possible link into the thoughts of sleeping people for dream research? What if you could record an EVP message that would identify the physical location of something that is lost? Would that interest you? We cannot guarantee that EVP will work in all of these ways, but we can assure you that the communicating entities of EVP are also interested in helping you.
by Rachel Browning This is a digested version. The full report may be read at evp-voices.info (closed) Previously published in the Fall 2013 ATransC NewsJournal
Introduction
The following article documents the spontaneous recording of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) in an experimental physical séance circle. It is a personal attempt to investigate and understand the nature of the voices. The initial focus was to determine the source and validity of voices obtained on digital recorders during séances and to investigate their concurrence with sitters’ reports of visual phenomena. As yet, it has not been possible to determine a source that would explain or replicate the phenomena.
The Furzey Hill Physical Circle was formed to explore the validity of physical séance phenomena. From 2005 to 2008, members changed intermittently and the reported phenomena varied from sitting to sitting. Whilst very occasionally, a partial materialization was reported, more common phenomena such as fleeting lights and noises were reported with regularity. In May 2008, I was gifted an Olympus VN2100 Voice Recorder. I sat alone and made a recording of 38 minutes; it has some of the clearest voices captured so far. The most startling are two elderly women; one has a distinctly upper class English accent,v1 the other has a regional London accent.v2 Expecting the recorded voices to be an isolated occurrence, I took the recorder into the next sitting. Not only were there multiple voices present, possibly the same elderly lady could be heard.v3
Some group members were very concerned that a study of the voices would de-focus the group from our original goal of developing physical phenomena. A fixed study period from August 2009 to March 2010 was agreed after which we would return to our original focus of sittings.
The Séance Circle and Reported Phenomena
The group regularly consists of three members including me, who acts as the medium. Members are not religious but the group sits as a Spiritualist circle; however, there are three important departures from the traditional physical séance; the use of continuous red light, no use of music or singing and I do not enter a state of trance.
There is one source of light in the room, an overhead fluorescent globe with a 60-watt red bulb. This is controlled by a dimmer switch, which is out of the reach of sitters and the medium. In one corner of the room, there is a black-curtained cabinet. In sittings, the curtains have an aperture at the front of approximately two feet, allowing the sitters a clear view of the medium. Blackout blinds are placed at the window and cover the recessed doorway, successfully eliminating all daylight. It was agreed that the first three sittings would be held in blackout conditions to encourage the development of phenomena.
The first phenomenon to be reported in the circle was a dull white/yellow light approximately two inches in diameter, emanating from a wall to the left of the séance cabinet – this was visible for approximately fifteen minutes. Moderate red light up to 20 watts does not appear to inhibit the generation of physical phenomena. Lights are still seen, both static and moving. They have been described as tiny pinks of color to brilliant flashes of lightning. At 60 watts, knocking, unexplained noises and EVP capture are reported but no visible phenomena. We attributed our observations to low lighting; however, coincidental EVP have confirmed many reports of lights and noises.
Figure 1: The séance room
Partial materializations were reported in five isolated sittings over the period of nine years. Transfiguration was the most common type of phenomenon commented on in EVP. An example was the voice of gentleman with a North East English accent, who said “We’re not impressed with that,” as a circle member observes many faces transfiguring in rapid succession.v4 Audible phenomena can be most perplexing; the sound of a heavy horse walking on cobblestones was centered in the middle of the room. Again, this phenomenon was never repeated. Voices have been heard in the séance room by all present but never clearly enough to understand their speech. Whistles are occasionally heard in the room, at other times they can be heard on the recording without our awareness at the time.v5
All guests sitting with us whilst a recording was made were able to identify voices on the recordings not heard in the séance room.
EVP Communicators
The communicator’s motivation to make contact and talk appears to be either out of curiosity to find out if they can be heard or to make a comment on an aspect of the sitting. They do not report being directed to make contact but do on occasion refuse to speak if they are reprimanded by another communicator. Received EVP clips do not provide evidence that communicators have a depth of knowledge on the mechanics of how they send messages but they are fully aware that they can be heard on our recording devices.
Regular members have received no communication from families or friends. Personal messages to members are purely centered on the phenomena within the circle. Some communicators express an ability to follow a member away from the group but have no function other than to observe their actions. They express little interest in assisting with our development but are entertained by our endless fascination with them. At no point has the circle received regular messages from a group of communicators that perform as guides to facilitate development.
Regular communicators have distinct accents and often repeat the same phrase, almost a vocal calling card. Many are willing to give their name, but when asked for personal information that would satisfy us of their identity, it is not forthcoming. We rarely capture messages telling us how or why the communicator died or a matter pertaining to their death, it does not seem important to them. At odds with this are EVP from field recordings, where EVP is more likely to make reference to death and dying.
Séance Recordings
Up to four laptops were used to analyze each recording; all are standard unmodified machines, each running Audacity 1.3 beta (Unicode), which is an open source sound editing platform. Four digital recorders are used; two Olympus VN2100, a Sony ICD-B600 and an Olympus LS10. External microphones were not used. After the sitting, data is immediately transferred from all devices to Audacity in real time. Direct file transfers were only possible from the Olympus LS10; these had fewer voices versus the same recording transferred via a cable.
Once clipped, isolated EVP are played as soon as possible to those who attended the sitting; it is important that reviewers have a fresh memory of the discussions held in the séance. Depending on our understanding, EVP clips are then graded into three categories; A: clear and easily understood by most listeners, B: understandable with repeated playing or earphones and C: difficult to understand speech or a noise not heard in the séance room at the time of recording.
The ability to obtain EVP on four digital audio recorders and on three laptops illustrates the phenomenon is not an inherent or idiosyncratic anomaly to one device. When used together, both Olympus VN2100s were capable of picking up the same voice, at varying levels. Only two voice clips were captured on the Olympus LS10 at the same time as a VN2100; although audible, they were Grade C clips and not easily understood. I prefer not to artificially modulate isolated EVP, so it is necessary to learn the patterns of stress, pitch and inflection before attempting to interpret each message. There are examples of very clear but meaningless EVP in our archive, these are excellent in training your ear for analysis but purposeless in their content.v6
EVP comments can be seemingly random, nonsensical and grammatically incorrect. Single words are often spoken in isolation and it is rare that we capture more than a short sentence. Foreign clips are captured infrequently; those that could be interpreted have had meaning to the group. Without doubt, the most puzzling EVP are those of members’ voices, speaking phrases and sentences that we are certain were not spoken by us. This type of EVP is nearly always clear, although characteristically incorrect in comparison to their normal vocal profile and use of language.v7 We discussed in the circle how our voices could be manipulated; we were surprised to hear the reply, “Then I change the waves.”v8 EVP comments hint that existing sound waves in the environment are morphed to convey the message of the sender.
For some recordings in 2009, the in-between station noise from a short wave radio set at 5 MHz was tested as a carrier wave for voices. These sittings were outside of the specified study period and its use did not increase the capture of the voices, it was therefore discontinued.
The Study
There were a total of twenty-one sittings within the study period. Recordings were reviewed and a tally was made of how many direct responses or irrelevant comments were isolated. From the results, it appears that relatively few direct responses were captured in any one sitting, but if considered overall, eleven percent of the total number of EVP clips were of interest. It should be noted that a number of these clips were grade C and therefore an unpracticed ear may well arrive at a less impressive figure.
“Great big flash on your head” –“That bastard saw me.” Figure 2: Audacity waveform of clip v10
As well as looking at the amount of direct responses, I was keen to establish if EVP could be captured on more than one device at a time. In the sittings where two recorders were used, there are examples of the same EVP present on both recordings. Whilst these clips are significant there are relatively few; further duplicated recordings are taking place to try to replicate the results.
Whilst the study provided a focus for critical listening; it did not address my subjective interpretation of the EVP. I wanted more certainty that the clips I translated would be commonly understood by a wider English speaking audience and I was concerned that my interpretations would lead to selective reporting and bias. I chose to perform an online listening survey to compare my interpretation of EVP versus a test subject. Participants were directed to the two-part survey through the group website.
Before beginning the survey participants were asked to declare if they believed in the possibility of afterlife communication, if they were a non-believer or if they were undecided. In part one, they were asked to interpret a mix of a series of 8 Grade A, B and C clips from the archive. In part two, they were provided with a translation of the same 8 clips and asked if they agreed with our interpretations.
It was tempting to present only class A voices, those that are most easily understood, however, I considered that a range of clips requiring varying levels of auditory acuity would provide a more realistic appraisal of interpretative skill. All groups were more inclined to attempt a translation if they did not agree with the provided interpretation.
In part one, no group or individual was able to interpret the clips which had an unusual speed – yet I had found translations easy. The remaining clips were more like everyday speech; test subjects found them easier to understand. I consider the survey to have been personally helpful even if the outcome was somewhat predictable. I cannot assume to provide an agreed interpretation for all voice clips but am confident that the translations I provide for grade A clips are likely to be agreed with by other listeners.
Direct Response Examples
(Clips not available)The first recording took place in May, 2008. By December, 2008, EVP clips with direct relevance to the circle were building. I consider a direct response or comment to be a voice other than ours that answers a question, makes a remark concerning the action of a group member or a valid observation of something taking place within the room. I was keen to understand how much awareness the EVP senders had of our environment.
I have provided the transcripts of three clips that I think illustrate well the communicators’ ability to both hear and see what is happening in the séance room:
Clip 1. My voice: “Down there,” EVP: “Big flash.” A circle members says, “I saw a big white flash.”v9
Clip 2. A circle members says, “Great big flash on your head.” EVP: “That bastard saw me!” v10 (See Figure 2)
Clip 3. My voice: “There’s a group of chaps and all standing there talking.” EVP: “Is anybody saying they think of us?” v11
Conclusion
The ability to capture a voice on more than one device at the same time may indicate that the EVP is a recorded transmission of a physical sound wave and not a mechanical or electrical fault inherent to a recording device. This does not in itself provide evidence of an incorporeal source but it does suppose a source of physical generation. It also leads to the unanswerable question; how would an etherical intelligence commute thought to a sound wave that is able to be recorded at the same pitch and volume as human speech but that is not heard in the environment at the time of recording?
It would be logical having only read the study results to conclude that EVP does not provide evidence of post mortem communication. However, had you taken part in a sitting, witnessed the recording and were satisfied that no deception took place, then on playback were able to hear an anomalous voice in reply to yours, it would be logical to explore all alternative explanations, regardless of how unlikely they were. We are fortunate in continuing to experience and report physical phenomena and EVP in our sittings; the study and recordings will continue.
[Editor: EVP will “normally” occur in only one recording process at a time. An exception is if the noise output device has an analog stage. In that case, it is possible the EVP could be formed there and recorded by more than one recorder. With this exception, the one process-one EVP characteristic is so dependable that it is used in the Control Recorder for EVP Best Practice: atransc.org/bp/Control_recorder_for_EVP.]
Collecting photographic quality Video ITC features is turning out to be an elusive goal. We do not know if the techniques we are using will ever provide such quality, but we are certain that we can improve on the quality of what has been collected. It is also clear that our transpartners are also seeking to improve the images. In the following set of features, you will see that there is evidence of movement in consecutive frames and the possibility of larger scenes and groups of people.
These examples have been collected with the camera standing about three feet from the television screen. In some instances, the camera is also placed at about a forty-degree angle from the centerline of the screen. The resulting features tend to be larger but they also tend to be less sharp in focus and contrast. The result is more a suggestion of something recognizable than a clear-cut image. If you take time to carefully examine the examples, you will see that these represent an important evolution in our work.
A face in the upper-right corner, looking down
A man with mustache and possibly muttonchops. He is facing to your left.
Woman from just below her knees, up. She is facing, possibly walking, to the right. We believe you can see her arms holding a basket or gourd. She is wearing some kind of a hat. It also appears that there are trees and blue sky behind her.
Calf. As with the dog, the area of bright white is the forehead and the nose is below the white area. You can make out a little of the animal’s back in the lower-right area.
Apparently, a man (profile) whose head is in the middle-left portion of the frame. He appears to be looking to your right. It seems that he has something in his left hand. The area of dark extending to the right, just under the head, may be the person’s right shoulders and arm.
Dog. Look at the spot of bright white. That is the dog’s forehead. Follow the area of gray to the right and down to find the dog’s nose.
This dog showed up on consecutive video frames. In this one, the dog is facing you. It has upright ears. Some of the body may be showing.
Now the dog is closer to you. All you can see is from the nose up.
This appears to be a group of people. Only the man in the center (facing to your left) is evidently a person. The others are little more than a hint that something might be there. But collectively, the frame suggests that this is a group of people. For instance, there is a rather well formed man at the bottom and to the left of center.
Paracoustics: Sound & the Paranormal
White Crow Books, 2015, ISBN-13: 978-1910121535
This unique book examines that fascination and presents a selection of the leading research in paranormal acoustics together with an in-depth review of the equipment and techniques that are used by researchers and investigators.
Electronic Voices: Contact with Another Dimension?
by Anabela Cardoso
O Books, 2010. 236 pp. $24.95 (paperback). ISBN 9781846943638.
This is the story of a normal woman who experienced the impossible: objective contacts with another dimension through loud and clear voices received by electronic means during Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC) experiments.
Translated Breakthroughs in Technical Spirit Communication
Dr Theo Locher and Maggy Harsch-Fischbach. This book is available to be freely read at the World ITC website. Select “BOOK” from the navigation menu.
Please note that Mark Macy and Rolf-D. Ehrhardt have made a number of important books about EVP and ITC available in the “BOOK” section.
Ghost of 29 Megacycles, A New Breakthrough in Life after Death? John G. Fuller, Souvenir Press, London GB, 1985. ISBN: 285-62691-4
This is the story of the development of the Spiricom Device. From the jacket: Is it possible that, when certain audio frequencies are combined with a tape recorder, the dead can communicate with us, not through a medium but using their own voices? When this theory was first outlined to John Fuller his reaction was skepticism…when a tape was played to him, purporting to be a conversation between a living man and a doctor who had died five years previously, he was …cautious.
If the phenomenon could be proved beyond doubt, the implications were enormous: it could be the biggest break- through in the history of mankind…The group of people involved in the research were no credulous cranks, but level-headed scientists, electronics engineers, physicists, doctors and clergymen – professionals who would not lightly lend their names to an apparently lunatic theory.
Voices From the Tapes: Recordings from the Other World Peter Bander, Drake Publishers Inc., New York, 1973.
Initial German Language title: Carry on Talking.
Few discoveries have caused a greater controversy than the Voice phenomenon of Raudive and Jurgenson. Are these really the voice of people whom we know to be dead? Leading electronics engineers, physicists, and psychologists were invited to carry out controlled experiments…and over 200 messages cam through, among them the voice of the late pianist Artur Schnabel …Peter Hale one of the world’s leading experts in the field of electronic screen suppression carried out an experiment …and afterwards said “ I cannot explain this in normal physical terms.” Gay Byrne, …was shocked when while preparing a program in which he was to skeptically challenge the authenticity of the Voices, he took part in an experiment which was climaxes by Byrne’s hearing his own recently deceased mother’s voice on tape.
Phone Calls From The Dead D Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless, Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey, 1979.
ISBN 0-13-664334-5
Book Jacket In October of 1968, Mrs. Don Owens of Ohio received an urgent call for help from a friend. The time of the call was 10:30 p.m. – the exact time he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Are these actual phone calls from the dead…two highly respected, veteran parapsychologists – undertook and intense two-year investigation into this puzzling phenomenon…Rogo and Bayless conclude that these enigmatic phone calls actually do occur – and are probably more common than most people would like to think.
Voices of The Dead – Radio Broadcast, Psychokinetic Power – Or Messages From Beyond the Grave…? Susy Smith, The New American Library, Inc., Bergenfield, New Jersey 1977
From the back cover: Are the mysterious speakers recorded on tape really present though invisible to the Living? Spirit voices have been are even now reaching out across the barrier of death to communicate with the living … Countless people have explored and tested this phenomenon, and psychic Suzy Smith presents their extraordinary experiences and the promising results they have so far achieved.
Talks with The Dead William Addams Welch, Pinnacle Books Inc., New York, New York 1975.
ISBN: 0-523-00580-6
From the cover: “That night I heard my first spirit voice on the tapes. With an exquisite sense of the apropos, it said, ‘Hello.’” With this experience William Welch began the painstaking but thrilling research which led to the breakthroughs he now shares …His experiments with taped voices present new evidence that man can have intelligible communications with the dead…that, in fact, there is life after death.
After We Die, What Then? George Meek, Ariel Press Columbus, Ohio 1987 ISBN 0-89804-099-X
After centuries of being taboo, the subject of our survival of death has once again become popular. After We Die, What Then? is a comprehensive examination of the nature of death and the proof of our survival. This edition has been expanded to present the latest findings in the field, not just in mediumship but also in electronic communication. This book establishes the continuity of life as fact, not speculation. It also contains fascinating information about what happens to consciousness after the death of the physical body — and answers 50 common questions about life after death.
Breakthrough:
An Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication with the Dead Konstantin Raudive, New York: Taplinger, 1971.
This is the book that brought information about EVP to the public. Voice phenomena were accidentally discovered in Sweden by Friedrich Jürgenson in 1957. Jürgenson showed Raudive how to record the voices and the book is the results of six years of research into the phenomena. A dead persons voice appears during playbacks of tape recordings on which no such voices were audible at the time of the original recording. These voices often state their names and may be identified as male or female, but all speak very much faster than is normal and employ a curious speech rhythm.
The Dead Are Alive Harold Sherman, Fawcett Gold Medal, New York, 1986.
ISBN 0-449-13158-0
From the Cover: In case after amazing case, you’ll listen to the actual voices of the dead–contrary, lyrical entrancing. You’ll explore the meaning of out-of-body experiences and learn how spirits of the dead can be seen as well as heard. You’ll also discover how YOU can communicate with the dead–and capture their voices on an ordinary tape recorder!
Conversations Beyond the Light Griffin Publishing, Dr. Pat Kubis and Mark Macy, Irvine, CA, in conjunction with
Continuing Life Research, Boulder, CO, 1995
ISBN 1-882180-47-X
What would happen if the information highway and the network of sophisticated communications systems we have today were able to hook us up with the world beyond? That remarkably is exactly what this book says happened in the 1990’s. Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC) is a term used to describe this communication through all kinds of instruments between researchers on earth and a group in the Beyond who call themselves Timestream Station. Research teams on Earth received communications from these colleagues in the spirit worlds through video images, computerized messages, and even telephone calls.
Miracles in the Storm
Mark H. Macy, New American Library, New York, New York, 2001
ISBN 0-451-20471-9
From book cover: Over the centuries many psychics and seers have communicated with the other side. But until the revolutionary, new technique of Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC) was developed, no one could approach the purity of contact now under way with the Beyond and with divine beings who convey their messages of infinite wisdom and peace.
Contact the Other Side, Seven Methods for Afterlife Communications Konstantinos, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383, 2001.
ISBN 1-56718-377-8
Modern technology has given us powerful new tools for an age-old dream – seeing and speaking with the dead. Using things you probably already own like a camcorder, computer, or tape recorder, you can contact departed loved ones or other spirits, record their images and voices and establish two-way communications between the worlds.
World events are very unpredictable these days. If we think about it, this is often the case, as we never really know what tomorrow will bring. One thing that is of great comfort to most of the members of the AA-EVP is the knowledge that we don’t die. Now we are finding that more people are joining the ranks of the AA-EVP who share our belief in survival. Some of these people, you may be surprised to know, are respected scientists.
In the last couple of years we have seen an increase of the public interest in mediums and survival, due in a large part to the success of TV programs like that of John Edward and James Van Praagh. These mediums bring in messages that are very evidential and millions more people today are learning about survival through their television sets then were just two years ago.
Dr. Gary Schwartz, at the Human Energy Systems Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona conducted a series of experiments to test the validity of mediumship. Schwartz’s experiments were conducted using carefully designed protocols and provided credible evidence for survival. As you might expect, they created considerable controversy, especially with the skeptical press.
The International Association for Near-Death Studies held their Fourth Esalen conference on Survival of Bodily Death, in May of 2002. Researchers from the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, psychology and physics concluded that three areas of research provided strong evidence for survival. Near Death Experiences (NDE) was at the top of the list. Reasons cited were, accurate observations of medical operating procedures made by clinically dead patients, reported encounters with deceased persons even though the experiencer did not know the person was dead and accurate reports by blind experiencers. Reincarnation was cited as a strong proof for survival based on examples, such as children accurately recounting previous lives and birthmarks corresponding to lethal wounds experienced in a previous lifetime. Mediumship was also noted as strong proof of survival because of the veridical messages often delivered by mediums.
Dr. Sam Parnia is one of two doctors from Southampton General Hospital in England who has been studying NDEs. The work is very significant in that it shows that a group of people who were clinically dead had well-structured, lucid thought processes with reasoning and memory formation, even though their brains were shown not to be functioning. Parnia was quoted as saying, “The possibility is certainly there to suggest that consciousness, or the soul, keeps thinking and reasoning even if a person‘s heart has stopped, he is not breathing and his brain activity is nil”
Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands was published in volume number 358 of The Lancet.The Lancet is one of the world’s most respected medical journals and publication of this article caused quite an uproar in the medical community. The article cites a study by Dr. Pim van Lommel and colleagues of Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem. The results showed that medical factors could not account for the occurrence of NDEs. Although all patients had been clinically dead, most did not have an NDE. The researchers noted that, “If purely physiological factors had caused the NDE, most of our patients should have had this experience.” The paper states that induced NDE experiences are not identical to spontaneous NDE experiences. It questions, “How can clear consciousness outside one’s body be experienced at the moment that the brain no longer functions during a period of clinical death with flat EEG?”
A National Science Foundation report based on interviews with 1,574 people across the country found widespread and increasing belief in what it terms, “pseudoscience.” It also cited several other polls with similar conclusions. Among those was a Gallup survey last year that showed belief in ghosts, haunted houses, witches and the ability to communicate with the dead, all increased by double-digit percentage points in the past decade alone. Belief in ghosts and haunted houses is now around 40 percent, and communicating with the dead is nearing 30 percent. Eight of 13 such phenomena included in the Gallup report showed significant increases and only the belief in devil possession declined. The Science Foundation survey showed that sixty-percent of the people surveyed believed that some people possess psychic powers or ESP.
Those of us who are doing research in EVP and ITC, not only have the advantage of knowing that consciousness survives but we also get to hear and see our loved ones. For instance, in our last Video ITC experiment, we asked for the first time to have a relative appear. We called on Tom’s father and asked him to appear in the middle of a frame. Amazing enough, he came through in the center of the frame as requested. Interestingly, his pose is the same as that in a picture Tom keeps at his desk. When we saw the paranormal picture we immediately grabbed the picture off Tom’s desk for the comparison. As you can see in the accompanying picture, the nose is distorted and enlarged. Also, from the nose down the face is mostly lost in the noise that is created with the Video ITC method. However, you should be able to make out the similarity of the eyebrows, high temple, distinctive widow’s peak and nose.
People have a point of view, but organizations are composed of a community of people. While personality-typing (temperaments) is a way to model the points of view of people, a similar model might be used for organizations based on typical goals, objectives and assumptions. From the perspective of Etheric Studies, one might have:
Human psychology: Usually parapsychology; specifically an academic approach with emphasis on a physical-world perspective; emphasis on research; collaboration but guided by community norm.
Emergent science: Emphasis on academic approach; deliberate openness to new ideas; open to concepts of nonphysical and survived personality if they can be explained with mainstream science.
Human potential: Usually academic; open to nonphysical explanations; focus on personal growth and the human condition; supports research; education by opinion setters.
Social paranormal: Desire for scientific approach; for many, often first experience in paranormal; strong community; emphasis on nonphysical and survived personality; no formal collaboration; education by emergent cultural norm.
Metaphysical: Study/research of phenomena related to trans-etheric influence; desire for scientific approach; community emphasizing educational and application of principles; specifically open to nonphysical and survived personality.
It is important to emphasize that this list of organizational points of view is conceived from the ATransC perspective. We find no fault in these points of view or their representative organization (as we see them), but it is important that people understand there are important differences.
Litmus Test
Compare this categorization of points of view for organizations involved in the study of things usually referred to as paranormal phenomena with the research showing that transcommunication involves communication with survived personalities. Then consider your self-evaluation of your point of view. Do you think there is only physical reality and that your mind is a product of your brain? When you die, will there be anything of your self-awareness left to experience? If this is your viewpoint, then the only organizational point of view you should consider is human psychology. That is, reports of paranormal phenomena are due to mental aberrations.
If you are open to new ideas such as survived personality but insist they must be explained in terms of mainstream science, emergent science organizations are for you.
If you believe in the existence of subtle energy connecting all living things and that people can deliberately interact with this energy, you will probably be more comfortable with the human potential groups. This is especially true if you feel personality has evolved from the physical and that there really is no reality outside of the physical.
If you just think paranormal phenomena is interesting and have no well-developed ideas beyond that, then the social paranormal groups can provide an important place to begin your discovery about things paranormal.
Finally, if you feel that some part of your loved ones has survived bodily death and that they may be able to communicate with we who remain in the physical, then the metaphysical groups are almost your only resource.
Of course, a person can be in all of the groups. The important point here is that you should take some time to examine your point of view and what you expect of organizations you support. Learn to recognize the perspectives authors have in their writing. For instance, a parapsychologist will likely talk about mental mediumship (communion with discarnate people) from the perspective that the medium is unconsciously getting information from the sitter, or at most, somehow accessing information via some subtle energy. In the same way, an academically trained person will be reluctant to give much credence to the opinion of people who are not academically trained.
ATransC’s Point of View
We used “metaphysical” to name the personality type we think ATransC best relates to because it is one of the few that describes a study of the greater reality. To study metaphysics, one must think in terms of whether or not personality is separate from body, if it has evolved independently, and if so, what is its native environment? One must take care not to assume the personality is separate from the body. Evidence, good reason and well considered hypotheses must guide the study. However, in order to realistically consider all of the hypothesized possibilities, the possible nature of a greater or nonphysical reality must be included in the models.
In many ways, etheric studies and metaphysics are synonymous, but while metaphysics is the academic study of concepts, etheric studies is the study of known forms of phenomena with the intention of understanding how they occur and how to apply them to good use.
The ATransC is amongst the very few organizations in the English-speaking world that includes the possibility of survived personality in the study of these. If you think this study is important, then please consider supporting the organization with your membership and donations.
Part II
A Research Study into the Interpretation of EVP
A Second Study of EVP Interpretation Published in the Spring 2013 ATransC NewsJournal Read Part 1 and Part 3
This is a Minibox by Paranormal Systems, Inc. (2007). It is basically a radio equipped with a tuner that automatically sweeps the dial. The sweep is continuous and the rate is variable. See the ATransC endnote.
Introduction
In the previous issue of the NewsJournal (Winter 2013), I described a research study that examined the problem of EVP interpretation. As all EVP enthusiasts know, people often disagree over how particular EVP should be interpreted, and we were interested in documenting how serious the problem really is.
In that study, 24 investigators each interpreted a large set of EVP, and the most common or “consensus” interpretation of each EVP was determined. Then, the individual investigators’ interpretations of the EVP were compared to the consensus interpretations to see how well they agreed. The results showed that, on average, only 21% of the investigators’ interpretations of particular words agreed with the consensus interpretation. To put this finding in perspective, imagine that your family doctor arrived at the same diagnosis as most other doctors on only 1 out of 5 of their diagnoses. Such a low rate of agreement would obviously raise serious issues about medical diagnoses, and similar issues must be addressed about EVP interpretations.
In this article, I describe a second study that was conducted to answer additional questions about EVP interpretation. This study, which was partly funded by a grant from the Association TransCommunication to the Rhine Research Center, examined EVP that were recorded using radio-sweep technology. Radio-sweep technology, often known as “ghost boxes” or “spirit boxes,” involves rapidly changing the tuning of a radio receiver to produce a stream of noise that is composed of bits of sound from the stations that are being scanned. Advocates of this technique believe that communicating entities use the snippets of sound to produce words. Many investigators suggest that EVP that are recorded with radio sweep are more distinct than those recorded without background noise. However, critics note that the noise source itself sometimes contains words or other sounds that might be interpreted as intelligent communication. In any case, we were interested in whether the low rate of agreement found in the earlier study of EVP that were recorded without a sound source is also found with radio-sweep EVP.
A second goal of the study was to examine how people’s interpretations of EVP are affected by knowing what other people heard. EVP enthusiasts know that people’s interpretations of EVP can be influenced by what other people say they hear. For that reason, some investigators do not share their personal interpretations until others have listened and come to their own, independent conclusions. But exactly how much are listeners’ interpretations biased when they know what other people think an EVP says? And does this biasing effect depend on whose interpretation is known? Often, listeners tend to give the interpretation offered by the investigator who recorded the EVP special attention, possibly because listeners assume that the original investigator has listened carefully many times before rendering an interpretation and is aware of the conditions under which it was recorded. If so, listeners may be particularly affected by knowing the interpretation of the person who recorded the EVP. To examine the biasing effects of knowing other people’s interpretations, we had people listen to EVP after learning what others thought they said and had other people interpret EVP without knowing others’ interpretations.
The Study
To obtain a set of EVP for the study, an announcement was posted on the ATransC website and published in the NewsJournal asking investigators to submit radio-sweep EVP that the investigator believed contained an anomalous or ethereal voice. We also asked the submitting investigators to indicate what they thought the EVP said.
Nineteen EVP were submitted, of which we selected 12 audio clips for the study. If an investigator’s statement or question preceded the clip, it was removed so that each clip contained only the EVP with a few seconds of radio-sweep noise before and after when possible. These 12 EVP varied in length from a one-syllable word to eight words (containing 11 syllables).
Before we started the study, a pair of experienced paranormal investigators provided their independent interpretations of each EVP. We used these interpretations to see whether people’s interpretations agreed more with the original investigators’ interpretations than the “secondary interpretations” provided by these other investigators
The original investigators’ interpretations of the 12 EVP contained a total of 55 syllables and 46 words. The secondary interpretations by the other investigators contained 63 syllables and 53 words. The original and secondary interpretations not only contained different numbers of syllables and words, but the secondary interpretations agreed with the investigators’ interpretations on only 4 words (8.7%).
Ninety adults were recruited to participate in the study. The participants were 23 men and 61 women who ranged in age from 18 to 81 (average age was 46.5). Dr. Christine Simmonds-Moore supervised the data collection, which occurred in a laboratory at either the Rhine Research Center or the University of West Georgia.
After each participant completed a background questionnaire, he or she was randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions. These experimental conditions differed in whether participants received an interpretation of each EVP before listening to it. Participants in the no-interpretation condition simply wrote down their interpretations on a form that we provided, one EVP per page. Participants in a second condition saw the investigator’s interpretation of the EVP at the top of each page of the form before interpreting the EVP. Participants in a third condition saw the secondary interpretation (made by the other two investigators) at the top of each page. By having participants listen to the EVP under three different conditions (no interpretation, investigator’s interpretation, or secondary interpretation), we could examine the degree to which knowing others’ interpretations affected what participants reported they heard.
Participants listened to each of the 12 EVP clips through headphones in a quiet research room and wrote down their interpretations. Participants listened to each EVP as many times as needed to decide what the words might be.
Agreement with the Investigator’s and Secondary Interpretations
In deciding whether particular syllables and words in the participant’s interpretation matched the syllables and words in the investigator’s and secondary interpretation, we leaned in the direction of leniency. For example, singular and plural forms of a word were counted as a match (Richard/Richards), contractions were counted as a match with their constituent words (“don’t” and “do not” were counted as a match), and homonyms were counted as a match (weight/wait, their/there, hire/higher). Also, a particular word did not have to appear in the same position in the participant’s interpretation as in the investigator’s or secondary interpretation. For example, “book” would be counted as a match in “now take the book away” and “he should write the book today” even though book is the fourth syllable of the first phrase and the fifth syllable of the second.
The primary question was how many of the words in the investigators’ and secondary interpretations participants heard. Did participants hear the same things as the investigators? The answer depends on whether participants saw an interpretation of an EVP before they interpreted it.
When participants did not see any interpretation before listening to the EVP, they agreed with the investigator’s interpretation on only about 6% of the words (and 10% of the syllables) and with the secondary interpretations on about 8% of the words (10% of the syllables). More discouragingly, among participants who did not learn any interpretations before hearing the EVP, only one participant interpreted an EVP precisely in the same way as the investigator who submitted it. That is, out of 360 interpretations in the no-interpretation condition of the study (30 participants × 12 EVP), only one perfectly matched what the investigator reported. This is obviously a rather low level of agreement.
Of course, agreement differed across the 12 EVP. On the EVP with the greatest agreement, only one participant failed to match at least one word in the investigator’s interpretation. But on the EVP with the least agreement, not a single participant agreed with the investigator’s interpretation!
Agreement also differed across participants. In the absence of knowing the interpretation, the “worst” participant agreed with only 2% of the investigators’ words, and the “best” participant agreed with 14% of the words.
Knowing the investigators’ or secondary interpretations improved agreement markedly. Participants who had seen the investigators’ interpretations reported an average of 23% of the words and 23% of the syllables in those interpretations. After seeing the secondary interpretations, participants’ interpretations matched 27% of the words and 25% of the syllables in those interpretations. Thus, knowing how other people interpreted an EVP strongly influenced what participants said they heard.
Implications
Although the results of this study say nothing whatsoever about the nature of EVP, they raise questions about the degree to which we can trust interpretations of most EVP. I imagine that some investigators will find these results exceptionally discouraging. Most EVP enthusiasts are quite aware that people’s interpretations of particular EVP often disagree, sometimes wildly, but the extent of the problem may be more sobering than many imagine.
“Methods, the psychophone and the EVPmaker software methods proved to be highly unreliable, not because they are particularly bad acoustic backgrounds for the production of the voices but because they are undoubtedly a source of uncertainty and ambiguity in the analysis of the results. They can very easily originate pareidolia and/or projection of meaning based upon expectation. Very particularly with the EVPmaker software, it is easy to find “results” in recording-sessions where they do not exist. In addition, an erroneous interpretation of the content of possibly anomalous utterances found in the recording is very likely. Most of the EVP “results,” published in the Internet, fall into one of these categories.”
From:A Two-Year Investigation of the Allegedly Anomalous Electronic Voices or EVP
by Anabela CardosoRepublished from NeuroQuantology | September 2012 | Volume 10 | Issue 3 | Page 492-514
Other investigators may object that the situation is not as dire as the data suggest. For example, some may object that most of the participants in this study were not experienced with recording or interpreting EVP and, thus, the data may say little about the quality of EVP interpretations by experienced investigators. Yet, as noted, the two experienced investigators who provided the secondary interpretations agreed with the investigators’ interpretations on only 11.5% of the words. And the fact that participants who were trying to identify the words in the recordings under controlled circumstances heard only about 6% of the same words as the investigators should give us pause.
In many instances, these disagreements have no practical implications. If investigators on a paranormal investigation of a public location don’t agree on their interpretation of a particular EVP, often no harm is done. However, in cases where other people have a stake in the interpretation—as when grieving parents believe that an EVP is the voice of a deceased child—then interpretations matter a great deal. Like the earlier study, this experiment suggests that investigators should be more cautious in interpreting EVP for other people when the interpretations matter.
With a Ph. D. in social psychology, Dr. Leary is a research psychologist who studies topics related to self-awareness, motivation, and emotion. He has conducted research on topics such as reactions to social rejection, the effects of excessive self-attention, people’s concerns with their social images, and the relationship between personality and behavior. He is on the editorial boards of several scientific journals in social psychology and recently released a psychology course on DVD entitled “Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior.”
Editor’s Note
For an additional study of how people hear EVP, please refer to the article EVP Online Listening Trials in the ATransC online Journal.
“Radio-sweep” is a generic name for EVP thought to be formed using sound produced by sweeping a radio dial. In principle, it produces a form of EVP referred to as “opportunistic EVP.” Please review Locating EVP Formation and Detecting False Positives and Radio-Sweep: A Case Study. Also see the article on page 9: “A Two-Year Investigation of the Allegedly Anomalous Electronic Voices or EVP.”
Reported by Edgar Müller
Originally published in the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena Fall 2006 NewsJournal
Editor’s Note: A doctorate is required for full membership in the Parapsychological Association, a requirement which effectively isolates those who should be studying ITC from those who do study ITC. We are greatly encouraged by this report and the small changes toward more openness we have seen by the PA.
Approximately seventy highly qualified researchers were participating in the convention and nine of the fifty-one papers presented or items on the agenda were about the Survival Hypothesis. This is quite a substantial proportion of the total material, considering the fact that many parapsychologists, at least officially, refuse to accept the possibility of dualism; that is to say that there may be a brain and a mind, integrated in the daily functioning but nevertheless separate components of cognition and that the mind, which is not an identifiable physiological organ, may survive the death of the brain.
Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC), including voice, was dealt with on three occasions during the Convention, once in a negative way and twice quite positively. As far as I know, this is the first time in the long history of parapsychology that ITC was officially discussed at the Convention in this way and that the Survival Hypothesis received so much attention.
As we know, parapsychologists have tremendous problems to make their field of research acceptable within psychology and other disciplines in mainstream science. At the same time the issue of survival has a low status within parapsychology. It seems that most parapsychologists endeavor to avoid being connected with the topic, so that their already questionable reputation in mainstream science should not become even worse. At least until recently, most parapsychologists who are engaged in some kind of survival research have dismissed EVP as not being serious and suitable for scientific research.
One of the speakers, an impressive professor from a European country, presented a well prepared paper on the aspects of the survival hypothesis and commented briefly on all the known indications that survival may be possible, such as NDE, OBE, birthmarks on children claiming reincarnation, apparitions, mediums and at the end of the list there were the magical words ITC. However; he did not comment on ITC, and instead hesitated, shook his head and finally said, “Others may talk about it,” as if he did not want to be contaminated by this field.
Some of the papers on the Survival Hypothesis were very balanced. That is to say that the speakers presented all pros and cons in an open-minded way, keeping the door open that there may be a survival. Admittedly it was underlined that we probably never can get scientifically acceptable evidence that there is an existence after the death of the body.
One delegate said that he definitely was not a survivalist and it would be difficult to convince him that some functions of cognition and personality could exist after the death of the brain; however, he said he had participated in an experiment about which he said, “Could you believe it, there were voices coming out from a radio….” So he gave a brief but correct description of the Bacci experiment that occurred in December, 2004. It was obvious that he had been shaken by this experience and was now more open to the survival hypothesis.
One important paper presented by a professor from the United States included a kind of summary of the topic and he opened his speech by telling a personal experience regarding EVP. He was in Mexico visiting some colleagues when a young girl was murdered. Apparently, a friend of one of his colleagues was doing EVP research and succeeded in getting several utterances from the murdered girl. This professor listened to the tape and was quite impressed; he took a copy of the tape back to the United States and decided to present it at the Convention. Thus a session was played back for the whole convention via all the loudspeakers. The quality was very good.
dgar Müller is one of the administrators for the Helene Reeder Memorial Fund for Research into Life After Death, (HRF) which has awarded two ITC research grants (as of Fall 2006).
I am glad to notice the change in my colleagues’ attitudes in the Board of the Swedish Association of Parapsychological Research. There are some who still think that all talk about ITC is rubbish but others have now stopped joking about me and ITC and take the topic more seriously. Thus my old mentor in this field, Dr. Nils-Olof Jacobson and myself can now work in a friendlier and more understanding atmosphere for EVP in Sweden.
One of the papers and comments from several participants were very critical to psychic mediums. My personal experiences are unfortunately not encouraging either. I have several times tried to get some advice from mediums concerning how to proceed with ITC research to get better results but without any reasonable answer.
Finally, an observation from the convention. As you know it is customary to give each speaker a polite applause when the paper is finished. Normally these applauses have duration of three to four seconds. After the first and admittedly the best paper on the Survival Hypothesis, there was applause like in a theatre; long and intensive. Of course, it came spontaneously, maybe from the subconsciousness of the delegates
Anabela: Paolo, you are a well-known international ITC researcher who has been in the field for many years. When did your interest in ITC start? What prompted you to dedicate so many years of your life to the study of these phenomena? Was there a specific factor or event that triggered your interest? If so, can you tell us what it was please?
Paolo: I have been involved in ITC since 1973 when I first heard of the possibility of communicating with other dimensions through the use of technical media. At that time I believed that such phenomenon did not need human mediumship [intermediation] since it appeared to be transmitted by means of a technical device such as a tape recorder. Since the young age of fourteen, I have been deeply fascinated by so-called parapsychological phenomena. At that time, I believed that all psychic phenomena had its origins in the human mind. When I learned of the possibility of communicating through ITC with another world where all humans are supposed to go after their death, such information literally prompted me into a deep investigation of the subject. At the same time, the possibility of experimenting by myself gave me the opportunity to verify what Friedrich Jürgenson claimed.
Anabela: Did you experiment with EVP yourself? If so, please give us a brief account of your most significant results. How did you feel about what happened, what were your emotions and thoughts about those anomalous events, if they occurred during your own experiments?
Paolo: Yes, I experimented by myself for the next four years. I received the first voice in 1975 after a lot of unsuccessful experiments. This happened after a visit to Marcello Bacci in Grosseto. It was astonishing when I verified that the voices were able to reply coherently to my questions. After this first verification of the real existence of EVP, I mainly devoted myself to investigating the phenomenon produced by other experimenters in order to understand the process involved. One of my initial goals was to identify the constants and variables that characterize the phenomenon. This preliminary research allowed me to conclude that the real key to the phenomenon was not the technical devices used in the experimental sessions but the experimenter him or herself. Today, I think that the information, coded in words, comes to us only through the person, although not from the person only.
Anabela: I know that you have met some of the most remarkable ITC researchers of the past including the great pioneer Friedrich Jürgenson. Can you describe for us how your encounter with Jürgenson happened and what impression he made on you?
Paolo: I met Friedrich Jürgenson at a Recanati Conference in 1977. Going back to the memories of that time, I remember that I was very much touched by his rich and powerful personality. Everything about him conveyed an impression of spirituality. His presentation at the Conference was very impressive for me because I understood from it that his life was totally dedicated to the spreading of his comforting message of survival to parents who had lost their children.
Anabela: What other outstanding researchers did you meet in those far off years of the 1970s? Please share with us your feelings and the impact each one of them had on you.
Paolo: In the same Recanati Conference, I met Eng. Theodor Rudolph from Ulm (Germany). He was an Electronics Engineer specializing in high frequencies and laser techniques at the Telefunken Laboratories. He was also a close collaborator of Dr. Konstantin Raudive, and manufactured for him the so-called Goniometer. He was the first to investigate EVP from a physical/technical point of view, and interpreted the unshielded energy involved in EVP as energy similar to gravitational energy. On the same occasion I also met Dr. Franz Seidi from Wien, a pioneer researcher in Europe who designed, manufactured and experimented with the so-called Psychophone.
In 1979 at the Fermo Conference, I met a very special scientist: Burkhard Heim from Northeim (German). At that time, he was the director of the Institute of Field Physics and was devoting a large portion of his life to the pursuit of his unified field theory well known as “Heim’s Theory.” During a wonderful conversation on EVP he said to me: “Remember, in any research you intend to do, you always have to take particular care of the spiritual aspect; do not forget that!” In his book, Postmortal States, on the theory of a six-dimensional reality, he demonstrated and mathematically supported the existence of the Beyond.
Anabela: What is your opinion of the developments that have taken place in the field of ITC research since those days? (1970s)
Paolo: This is a very interesting question. Frequently I ask myself what is the cause of the new developments that have taken place in Instrumental Transcommunication in the past three decades. In other words, why did such developments occur? Firstly, it must be said that where the experiments have been carried out in accordance with certain physical models (as for example in the experiments with the Spiricom by George Meek and William O’Neil), sooner or later results have occurred consistent with these models. Secondly, it is well known that although many voices may be obtained by a dedicated researcher through a particular technical device, the same device fails to produce results for another experimenter. My conclusion is that the phenomenon is able to adapt itself to the psychic model preferred by the experimenter. This does not mean that the voices come from our unconscious, but that our minds are able to formulate a mental intention to communicate that conforms to the particular psychic model that we happen to hold. I think that this mental intention forms the “bridge” that the communicators have mentioned on several occasions. This bridge allows us to contact other planes of consciousness.
Anabela: We were recently together giving invited presentations at the 15th Anniversary Conference of Infinitude in Paris, and we both met a number of people who told us of their own results, some of which were very impressive; for example, apparently clear anomalous images and voices. I am sure many more, who did not manage to speak with us, also had interesting experiences to report. How do you explain what seems to be happening worldwide in this field. For instance, the spreading of communications apparently coming from another level of reality, and how do you expect this trend to develop in the future?
Paolo: Conferences such as the one organized by Infinitude are very useful for the researcher since they allow us to assess the evolution of the phenomenon. It is most important to speak with the people present at the conference since they are a precious source of information about their own experiences. On such occasions we have the opportunity to learn much more than in books and to survey the latest developments of the phenomena. I think that, if the new human psychic models contain strong expectations about the improvement of the contacts, such developments will occur sooner or later.
Anabela: Do you attribute these novel developments to some potential for such developments in the human mind, to the communicators themselves, or to the interaction between the two, for instance the interaction between the human psychic potential to receive them, and the desire and work of the communicators to make them happen? In other words, do you believe that the communicators really exist as a separate entity or do you think they are a creation of the human mind?
Paolo: It is necessary to clarify: what I mean by “psychic model.” Put simply, you have to liken the “psychic model” to the tuning dial (the quadrant in a radio set where the broadcasting stations are listed) of a radio. To tune a radio correctly to a certain broadcasting station (i.e. to the name of the station, to the wave band, to the frequency, etc) it is necessary to scan the tuning dial and stop the frequency pointer at the desired station. The same happens with our psyche: only if we mentally pre-establish as firmly and deeply as possible the way and the method in which we believe communications will take place, will these communications become feasible. In the case of tuning a radio, what comes through the loudspeaker does not depend on we who do the tuning, as the origin of the broadcast sounds comes from the transmitting station. Similarly, in the case of ITC, our desire to establish the contact and the belief that the contact is possible (our psychic model) is analogous to the act of tuning. Thus although this psychic model is a necessary part of the process, it does not in itself create the communications.
Anabela: If we continue to analyze the massive spread of ITC communications, we can rightly assume that there are at present many thousands of people who, in the quiet of their homes, experiment and perhaps obtain significant results. This was predicted by the communicators themselves many years ago, and it seems to me to be perhaps one of the best ways to establish the reality of the phenomena, in opposition to the attitude of the scientific community at large (there are naturally a very few honorable exceptions among scientists) that continues to ignore them. I would appreciate your comments on these two approaches: from one side the great interest of common people, and from the other the disdain of science toward the so far sole phenomenon in the field of survival research that is objective and repeatable and can be scientifically analyzed within the framework of the scientific method.
Paolo: As I said before, all the experiments carried out in the quiet of the experimenters’ homes are very useful since they can yield significant results and precious material for research. On the other hand, an intensive investigation by means of scientific methodologies and techniques is, today, absolutely indispensable. I can understand the behavior of today’s scientist on this issue because every paranormal event contradicts one or more of the well-established paradigms of science. In line with Thomas Kuhn’s thought, only by using scientific language and by demonstrating events that are presently considered anomalies will we alert the scientific community to the importance of this kind of research, and only then will a revision of the paradigms, currently considered immutable by science, take place.
Anabela: To conclude our pleasant conversation I would like to ask you to share with the readers of the ITC Journal your expectations for the future of this discipline, and how you anticipate it will develop.
Paolo: My main expectation is acceptance by science of the importance of all objective evidence such as ITC phenomena that support the possible existence of the other planes of consciousness where one day all of us will dwell.
Anabela: Very many thanks Paolo! The readers of the ITC Journal and myself greatly appreciate your sharing your experiences with us and taking part with me in this interesting exchange of views on the exciting field of Instrumental Transcommunication research.
Bibliography:
Thomas S Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolution,: University of Chicago,1970
This study is suspended due to lack of participation
proposed by Tom Butler Previously published in the Summer, 2013 ATransC NewsJournal The study began with: Seeking EVP Examples for Study
Abstract
The propose of the article, with Seeking EVP Examples for Study, is to issue a call for transform Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) examples in the form of an audio output file containing the EVP and a file containing the environmental sound and/or sound used as input for voice formation. Both files must be so configured as to allow side-by-side comparison from a marker sound. The examples will be analyzed in an effort to find a relationship between EVP formation and the energy profile of the sound file which contains the example.
An overview of the various forms of EVP and current theories for transform EVP formation are provided. A hypothesis is proposed that transform EVP are formed via stochastic resonance and that the source energy in the form of the message (that which is amplified) is made available by strategically apporting sounds already present in the physical. The study is expected to show a net increase in energy associated with EVP.
Introduction
One of the first questions we faced in 2000 as new directors of the AA-EVP concerned how the paranormal voices of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) are formed. Since any serious study of any phenomenon requires a theory describing the means of its formation, one of our first acts was to draft a theory for EVP formation.
Early efforts to model EVP were confused by the different technologies being used to produce the phenomenal voices. Stefan Bion (1) developed EVPmaker which depends on the psi influence on a random process to select prerecorded voice fragments to produce EVP. Frank Sumption (2) introduced radio-sweep, which depends on bits of fortuitously occurring radio broadcast sounds to produce EVP. More recently, Bill Chappell (3) developed devices for EVP that depend on environmental energy changes to select words or voice fragments to produce EVP.
Ordinary audio recorders have been used since the discovery of EVP in 1959, and EVP examples produced by them are an often-studied form of EVP. Listening panels consistently rate audio recorder EVP higher than those collected with other technologies.(4)(5)(6) Since the examples collected with a recorder have been shown to be formed out of available background noise, they are referred to by ATransC as “transform EVP.”
At the turn of the century, Alexander MacRae, (7) Paolo Presi (8) and Daniele Gullà (9) were amongst the few people conducting studies of EVP using scientific methodology. Based on that early work, it was possible to compile a list of common characteristics exhibited by EVP which is still used today. (10)
Functional Areas of a Recorder
It may be useful to first have a picture of the functional areas of an audio recorder. In Figure 1, the left triangle represents the input amplifier for a typical digital voice recorder. Because the sound received from the environment is necessarily analog, the input stage is also analog. The diagram equally applies to a computer being used as a recorder with microphone and speakers.
Figure 2 shows the basic parts of all analog stages. Note the feedback loop used as a gain control. This circuit is designed to promote stability and signal quality. It often involves threshold limits that, like the squelch control for CB radio, is capable of introducing instability in the signal flow if not correctly designed.
The Analog-to-Digital conversion process (A/D) is shown in Figure 3. Note in Figure 1 that the input amplifier is connected directly to the A/D stage, and that the output of the A/D is digital in the form of “binary words” which represent the amplitude of the signal and when in time that amplitude was measured.
Design of these components is usually based on the principle that information about a sine wave can be digitally stored and the wave can be later reproduced with only two samples. Voice is in the 5 Hz to 4 kHz range which can be reproduced with a sample rate of 8 kHz.
This design approach also means that recorders can only record what can be sampled. A digital voice recorder such as a Panasonic RR-DR60 with a sample rate of 8 Khz will only record up to 4 Khz sound. Music-quality recorders should have a sample rate of at least 44.4 Khz and record up to 22 Khz. In practical terms, the average digital recorder is incapable of recording audio that is outside of normal hearing.
Note also in Figure 3 that the digital words representing each sample are pulses rather than an analog wave. Each “word” has start and stop pulses which allows the internal computer program to know where the word belongs in the sound stream. Any other digital word, say from a cell phone, cannot be confused with words in the recording device.
What this means is that stray radio waves cannot be detected in the digital stage. It is possible for AM radio to be detected by the input amplifier and included in the conversion to digital; however.
Active, Nonlinear Regions
A typical electronic circuit consists of resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes and transistors. Of these, only transistors are used to amplify a signal; they are nonlinear devices, meaning that there may be a gain between the input and the output. The important point is that the region between the input and output where gain occurs is an energetically active region, meaning there is a dynamic change in energy and not just the storage or loss of energy. This region may be where the telekinetic psi influence is able to produce changes in ambient noise to produce the voices of EVP.
The presence of active regions is important because all of the theories for how EVP are formed depend on a nonlinear, active region. It is also important because the physical processes in these active regions are near quantum scale, which is the level of granularity that is possibly required for detection of psi influences.
Single Point of EVP Injection
Evidence indicates that transform EVP are formed in a single channel of a recorder. For instance, when using a stereo recorder, the EVP will be found on only one side. When using many recorders at the same time, say in a group setting, the EVP will be found on only one of the recorders. This suggests that the information is “injected” into the circuit at a specific place … possibly in one of the potentially dozens of transistors in the typical input stage of a recorder.
Transform EVP Characteristics
Common characteristics of transform EVP provide insight about the nature of their formation:
EVP Forms in Analog Circuits
As a general rule, once an EVP sound file is placed in digital memory, it is faithfully reproduced each time it is played. This indicates that EVP formation probably occurs somewhere between the input and the A/D conversion as shown in Figure 1.
Ambient Noise
Evidence indicates that the voice in EVP is formed from available audio-frequency sound. For instance, it is possible to produce layered EVP composed of elf-like voices formed from the high frequency sound of trickling water and more human sounding voices from the lower-frequency sound of a common household fan.
Microphone Not Required
A microphone is not required if the recorder has sufficient internal noise; however, one is useful for introducing additional noise and making a record of the practitioner’s actions.
Most Useful Sound for EVP Formation
Broad-spectrum audio-frequency sound with many transients (spikes or short pulses) appears to be more effective for voice formation than a steady-state signal with little change in amplitude, phase or frequency. See Figure 4.
Cultural Influence of Content
There appears to be a cultural influence on EVP that is related to the practitioner’s beliefs or those of an interested observer. In view of this, there appears to be a similarity between coloring of mediumistic messages and EVP; both may share a common process.
EVP are Objective
Blind listening panel tests average 20% to 25% correct understanding of multiple-syllables examples. Questions of illusion, delusion, deception and the ordinary being mistaken as paranormal have been addressed and discarded under controlled conditions.
EVP are Interactive
A question can be asked with the expectation of recording an answer which is appropriate for the circumstance. An important practical application of EVP is the potential to establish meaningful, continuing communication with a transitioned loved one. In such admittedly rare instances, gender, age and the nature of unexpected information in the EVP can be agreed to by uninformed witnesses.
EVP Are Intended Communication
Both the etheric communicator and the practitioner’s attention is on the recorder during a session, and more specifically, on the microphone or input of the recorder. This understanding is reinforced by the fact that EVP are formed in one channel and possibly in one component.
Transform EVP Hypothesis
This hypothesis is based on the Trans-survival Hypothesis, which is further explained in the Cosmology Series of essays. These articles are available for review in the theory section of ATransC.org. Please contact us if you are unable to access the material online.
(It is important to keep in mind that this is a proposed model designed to explain how EVP are formed. It requires vetting that can only come from you. Please let us know your thoughts and suggestions.)
EVP are conceptual influences which produce objective effects. Any theory explaining their formation must necessarily address both the conceptual (etheric space) of the communication and the objective (physical space). With this in mind, the hypothesis is presented here in three parts:
Morphic Field
The term “morphic field” is suggested by the concept of “morphogenesis”; “morphic” is a suffix meaning “having a specified shape or form.” “Fields” in this context are conceptualized as subtle energy regions of reality which organize the formation of objects of reality including life forms, physical objects and ideas; thought forms.
A morphic field (11) is a subtle energy field that defines and causes the organization of component parts of an object into a unit. In biology, it is theorized that this is the guiding principle determining how cells form, each according to its unique purpose. For this to be possible, morphic fields must contain the rules determining which of many possible outcomes will be expressed by biochemical processes for a specific life form but which are common to all living organisms. This selection of possible outcomes may be comparable to the selection of audio characteristics for voice formation.
Morphic fields are etheric rather than physical, and as such, represent the necessary interface between the etheric communicators and the physical recorder for EVP formation. Since they bring order to processes, they are the expression of the person’s intention for the process to unfold.
The fields also represent habitual behavior or collective memory of what they represent. In the context of EVP, this memory would tend to assure that the most common expression of something is the easiest. While the momentum of habit is the dominating influence, research indicates (12) the expression of intention can and does change the field. In that way, the field “learns,” and once learned, if the result is successful, the influence of the new habit is universally expressed in every instance of the field. In the same way, as EVP becomes easier in one location, it should become easier everywhere.
Stochastic Amplification
As objects of etheric space, morphic fields require a physical process to have a physical effect. Stochastic resonance11 is a physical process by which a weak signal is amplified in a nonlinear system when a large noise background signal is applied. Since a common factor in many forms of trans-etheric influence is the presence of noise, it is speculated that a weak telekinetic influence (the signal) is made stronger via stochastic amplification. In electronic circuits, the active regions of tubes and transistors provide the necessary nonlinear condition for amplification.
In this theory, a morphic field is thought to represent the weak psi signal, but rather than the signal containing explicit information such as “Hello,” it would contain influences on the stochastic process favoring the selection of audio-frequency energy required to say, “Hello.”
Adaptive Materialization
Some amount of order naturally occurs in noise, which results in a “bunchiness” in reality where one would expect an even distribution. This appears to be true at all scales and is likely due to small variations being amplified via stochastic resonance. EVP formation appears to be affected by this uneven distribution; the optimum background noise for EVP has been shown to be broad-spectrum audio-frequency sound punctuated by short spikes or sharp perturbations in the noise. The words are formed out of the sound but the spikes appear to be useful to initiate the process. See Figure 4.
Especially considering the nature of EVP, it is evident that trans-etheric influences are energy-limited phenomena. This naturally leads to the question of where the energy comes from in the first place.
Apports are an important class of objective phenomena. They are physical objects found in one part of the physical and transported to another location, usually as a sign or gift. A communicating entity is credited with control of the process, which in essence, is the dematerialization of a physical object, movement of the resulting conceptual information in etheric space and the materialization of the object in a new location.
Apportation is spontaneous and seemingly impossible to study clinically, so little is known about possible ways it may manifest. However, there is evidence that the basic process is common to Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC). Some examples of paranormally produced photographs of “the other side” resemble physical locations enough to bring accusations of fraud. Some examples of visual ITC look very much as if they are based on available photographs. In EVP, there are examples that appear to have been taken directly from existing sound files.
A fundamental concept in the Trans-survival Hypothesis is that a physical person is necessary to provide the conduit through which an etheric influence is made physical. That would argue that the actual words in EVP, as physical objects, must either already be in the physical or be formed via the practitioner–probably as a psi influence.
From the perspective of energy efficiency, it may be more reasonable to hypothesize a form of “adaptive materialization” as the mechanism bringing the words to the EVP formation process. In that view, it might be simplest to find the required word somewhere in the physical and apport it to the transform process. This would seem to be the only way to produce an EVP containing information the practitioner or an interested observer does not already know. This possibility provides a compelling reason for people to suspend judgment when faced with “obvious fraud” in things paranormal.
A Study To Determine the Energy Profile of EVP
Because EVP is probably the most available for study of these phenomena, the ATransC has embarked on a research project to determine the energy profile of output file waveforms containing EVP. The objective is to compare the input signals to determine if there is a difference in energy profile, and if so, what may have caused it and where it was caused.
This is the first of a series of studies intended to test the Transform EVP Hypothesis described in this article. To begin, if a change in energy profile can be noted in many examples using sound scientific methodology, then it should be possible to use that foundation of understanding to develop further experiments.
The expected result of this study is to establish the paranormality of EVP based on sound evidence, or to provide the necessary understanding to explain in normal terms how the voices are formed.
Who Can Participate
Anyone able to follow the protocol is welcomed to participate. The Idea Exchange is available for questions and answers, and as always, we are available for questions via email. This first phase will also include a search for confident research practitioners. (13)
Protocol
All submissions should be sent to the ATransC.
Two sound files should be submitted for each EVP example. One containing the EVP, and if possible, the practitioner’s voice. The second should be made with a second recorder and contain the ambient noise from which the EVP was formed. A sharp noise or the practitioner’s voice should mark the beginning of both files. Both files should be less than a minute in duration and should be able to be compared by synchronizing them on left and right channels of a display. (It would help if this comparison file was also submitted.)
Before submission, examples should be screened by a blind listening panel to help assure they are objective. (14)
Once sufficient examples have been received, a research facility will be asked to conduct the energy profile study.
Examples will be screened by the research facility for usefulness in the study. Practitioners might consider using their initial submissions as an interview for participation in further study. Please review the Best Practice for Research Practitioner. (15)
Conclusion
The most important common factor in transcommunication is the expression of intended order in otherwise chaotic systems. This order is hypothesized to be accomplished by way of the ordering influence of morphic fields on physical processes.
A second important common factor is efficiency, as transcommunication is clearly no trivial matter. It is governed by the influence of intention, whether in support as belief, acceptance and willingness to learn, or in opposition as fear, doubt, denial or ideology.
Understanding these influences is central to the understanding of EVP. All indications are that EVP are messages from our discarnate loved ones, but it is not necessary to depend on indications. With predictions based on a well-considered hypothesis and tested with carefully designed experiments, it should be possible to establish not only whether or not EVP are paranormal, but also how they are formed. Since examples of EVP can be collected more or less on demand by confident practitioners, they provide perhaps the most important tool in the etheric studies arsenal for understanding the true nature of our etheric personality, our survival beyond physical “death” and our continued life in the greater reality.
Wall in the Spiritualist Desert Church in Las Vegas, NV
The Reverend Catherine Stewart of the Spiritualist Desert Church in Las Vegas, NV brought this interesting and phenomenal image to our attention. If you look closely at the wall just behind the organ in the church, you can see the outline of a face in the variations of the paint. As you can see below, it is a light blue wall and the image is also shades of light blue, so we have enhanced a photograph of the face and provided it below for clarity.
Look just to the left of the large round speaker, which is at the upper-right of the first picture. The face is in the middle (left to right) of the picture and about even with the center of the big speaker.
If you look closely at the woman, you can see evidence of a lapel and a slender neck. See also, the bottom picture.
The center section of the church wall. Look closely. You should see the slightest hint of a face.
The above photo, but with contrast and intensity changes via a photo editor.
There is evidence that the communicating entity is able to use any chaotic, well illuminated optical environment to produce their images. One person even found a decent face in well illuminated piece of sandpaper. (See the example here) This would be predicted by our working hypothesis.
The Rev. Catherine Stewart wrote, “We do see other faces… The one face is always there, but sometimes her face is full, sometimes thin, sometimes she appears to be wearing a garden hat. One Sunday as we were singing our closing hymn several of us heard from that corner, a beautiful choir singing along with us. Years ago, I was given a message that we would have physical phenomena in the church that would draw many people to witness. That’s why I’ve been working with the trumpet; I thought that would be it—-maybe not. I do know that Spiritualism will reign.”
We understand that such images are believed by physical scientists to be the chance arrangement of random events, but you should know that this argument does not accept the existence of a nonphysical reality or personal survival. If you take those two most important aspects of our reality into account, then it is more likely that communicating entities seize the opportunity offered by physical noise to impress their likeness.
New Chapter for the “Face on the Wall.”
A recent ITC experiment conducted by Tom and Lisa Butler with their development group resulted in two images that look a lot like the woman whose face is shown above. The picture on the left most resembles the face on the wall, but the one on the right also has the narrow chin. If you look closely, you can see that they both have a hairline similar to the face on the wall. Again, both of these images were collected during the same ITC experiment.
We cannot make the claim that they are the same, but other than the obvious similarities in facial characteristics, when the image was collected is evidential. The church congregation conducted a meditation at the church just before it was closed for the summer. At that time, they asked the lady on the wall to appear to other people. That was on a Sunday and the ITC images were collected by a Spiritualist development group in Reno, NV the following Monday evening.
The article about the Society for Research in Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT), SORRAT Letter Experiment, provides a good introduction to this very interesting group. There is more information in the Examples section. As SORRAT members, we found information about the Fishharp Clan and their castle to be very interesting.
In the letter-writing study, the Imperator Group in the etheric is able to use a pen to write and draw on paper with what is known as direct writing. This is done by their scribe John King. A camera triggered by a motion sensor was used for the photograph below. The white arrow points to the independently moving pen inside a locked Minilab box. After questions are answered, the entities place the letters in stamped, self-addressed envelopes, after which they are apported out of the lab into the US postal service.
Irish castle drawn by the Imperator Group. In the 1400s, this was home to the Fishharp Clan.
The drawing of the castle and the Fishharp were produced in this way and sent to us. Lisa was told that she had a past life with the Fishharp Clan. It is very interesting that the castle of this clan was configured with various intention-directing aids.
The Imperator Group refers to maze walkers who used a maze (bottom chamber of the castle) to help focus their intention, reportedly as an aid for teleportation. The middle chamber contained a second maze of sorts and an organ-like device designed to send “voice thoughts.” The antenna for the organ was the Fishharp above the castle. See the It is All About Intention article.
Direct writing in the SORRAT lab: arrow points to pen
The Fishharp Clan was known as a healing clan and the Fishharp was one of their healing devices, In principle, it needs to be “charged” to be effective and works as a form of intentionality amplifier. The Imperator entities drew us a picture of how to make one and SORRAT member, Dr. Terrald Brooks, made one for us as shown below. It is a brass frame shaped like a fish with copper spokes and an obsidian “eye” which can be moved between the spokes. See the close-up photograph for construction detail. As we understand its use, the practitioner must clearly visualize a desired outcome with the focused intention to make it happen while adjusting the position of the “eye.” We have found with the Fishharp and other such devices that we have a sense of the correct configuration almost as if muscle memory has assumed control of our movement. If you are familiar with radionic devices, there is a similar effect when using the stick plate (see: copenlabs.com).
Fishharp as drawn by the Imperator Group
The thought organ appears to be a form of radionic device in that it appears the communicator first walks the star pattern on the floor adjacent to the organ, and then adjusts the organ.
We think the sequence is to first entrain intention to clearly imagine a desired effect, and then, like the stick plate of a radionics device, adjust the organ until there is a muscle memory-like sense of right. What remains is the impression of the message or expression of intention being sent via the Fishharp antenna.
Close up of Fishharp obsidian eye and spokesFishharp with an obsidian eye made by SORRAT, Dr. Terrald Brooks
Precipitation medium Hoyt Robinette was invited by the Spiritualist church in Reno to speak and demonstrate his mediumship. We attended the Sunday service and what he refers to as “card” and “silk” sittings.
A precipitation medium is one who is able to work with etheric helpers to produce physical objects. Often, the result is pictures as shown in this article. Psychometry is the sensing of information from the subtle energy associated with objects. Hoyt uses psychometry to sense what is written on folded pieces of paper, which is referred to as blindfold billet reading.
As we entered the church, we were each handed a piece of paper and told to write down the first and last name of anyone, now on the other side, that we wanted to hear from and to also ask one question. After a brief introduction about his work, Hoyt put tape over his eyes and then put on a blindfold. He then picked up the stack of papers containing the names and questions, and for each person, spoke the names on the paper. After a brief pause, he also spoke the answer to the question as provided by his guides.
Members of the congregation were generally pleased with the resulting answers and impressed at Hoyt’s ability to recite the names. He blindfolds himself, however, and it was difficult for us to be sure that he could not see through the small space between his nose and the blindfold. A brief search of the Internet will show that it is this concern that is most often expressed by others who have sat with him.
I had written Konstantin Raudive’s name on my paper and Tom had written his father’s name and the names of transitioned ATransC members Erland Babcock and Debbie Caruso. These names were read back to us when Hoyt held our pieces of paper. Because he was giving us the names as they were written and the answers to our questions were pretty general, we felt unsure about his being able to see and did not feel the demonstration of psychometry was evidential. However, there was a little thing that happened regarding the name Babcock. Hoyt had given the name of Tom’s father as written on the paper, and then he said he was confused after saying Erland Babcock. He said something about being confused with fathers. Tom’s stepfather was Max Babcock but he had not written his name on the paper. It appeared Hoyt sensed Max in association with Tom and was apparently uncertain how Erland Babcock and Max Babcock related to Tom. That did seem evidential.
Lisa’s card (top) Back of card (bottom)
Tom’s card (top) Back of card (bottom)
Card Sitting
The next evening, we attended the card sitting. Let me first say that Tom and I helped prepared the room for the sitting and that Hoyt had not seen the room prior to that evening. The room was the basement of the Buddhist church.
Before the sitting, Hoyt handed a new, still sealed pack of plain white, three-by-five inch cards to someone in the front row of seats. The seal was broken and we were all shown that the cards were blank before they were handed back to Hoyt. Hoyt had brought a roughly ten-inch diameter and eight-inch high straw basket with a tight-fitting straw lid. It was full of all sorts of colored pens, many quite nice as used for artwork, crayons and ordinary pencils. He dumped the contents on the table and showed everyone the empty basket. Next, he proceeded to fill the basket with alternate layers of cards and various pens before putting on the lid. The lights were on and we were able to see all of his movements.
We had written names and a question on paper at the beginning of the event, and once again, Hoyt proceeded with blindfold billet reading. The basket was on the table by him but he did not touch it for about an hour and until finishing the billets. He then removed the lid and began pulling out cards with unique pictures on one side and names written on the other. The writing and artwork on each card were formed from the pen, pencils and crayons that were in the basket.
My card had the name Konstantin Raudive (misspelled with “iva”) and other names that I did not recognize. Tom’s card had the names of his father, Debbie Caruso and Erland Babcock, all of which were on his Sunday billet. Konstantin’s name had also been on my Sunday billet.
Our cards are shown here. We do not recognize the little girl on my card or the man on Tom’s, although there is a family resemblance with Tom’s card.
Hoyt reads billets for each of the events and we suspect that doing so may help him “entrain” himself to facilitate the influence of his etheric helpers. In effect, he may be entrancing himself by the process of billet reading. Both the cards and the silks “develop” while he is reading.
The rest of it is just a mystery. Hoyt wore a short-sleeved shirt and there was no place to hide already developed cards. The light was good and we had full visibility of the basket at all times. The basket was examined, is small, flexible, and did not have a fake bottom or sides.
Silk Sitting
The “silk” sitting was the next night and we made a point of sitting next to Hoyt and as close to the table holding his paraphernalia as possible. Clearly visible was a stack of “silks” which appeared to be six-inch squares of white cotton cloth previously hemmed by Hoyt himself. He forgot his inks and had to return to the nearby hotel to get them. While he was away, we were all free to inspect everything. Tom has worked with photography in past jobs, and after smelling, examining in good light and looking for textural differences in the cloth, decided that he knew of no way that Hoyt could have previously exposed the cloth to pictures. Hoyt had also given us pieces of colored paper. These were just normal paper of various colors.
Hoyt returned with a dozen or so small bottles of colored ink as one might use for ink pads. He removed the lids and left them on the table near the stack of silks. These, he announced, were the source of ink that would be used for the images on the silks just as the pens and crayons in the basket were used as the source of color for the cards.
We sat in a circle of about twenty-four sitters with the table as part of the circle, and once again, Hoyt read blindfold billets for about an hour. He then asked all of us to hold a piece of colored paper on our knees with our fingertips. The lights were turned off and Hoyt approached the table with the silks, using a red flashlight. We were within inches of the silks and watched as he picked them up. The silks that we had examined were the ones that he handed out. There was no possibility that he could have switched them with another set. He went to each person and gave them a silk to be placed on top of the colored paper, after which he sat down in the dark and gave brief mediumistic messages to some of the sitters.
After about fifteen minutes, Hoyt came to each of us with a red light so that we could see what was on our silk. We noted the faces on our silks were already fully developed as he approached with his flashlight, and did not require the light to form. We also noted that he was probably more excited than we were to see what was there. We were asked to roll up the silk in the colored paper and keep it rolled up for at least twelve hours while it continued to develop.
Each silk had several faces that looked very much as if they had been printed using a copy stand to project colored pictures from magazines and newspapers. There were several people we felt that we recognized but I will highlight the main ones here. On Tom’s piece of cloth is a picture that we feel is Klaus Schreiber! What a shock, especially since his name had not been given to Hoyt. A much younger Rev. Barbara Thurman was also on his silk. She was/is one of our mentors. In fact, she proofread our book, There is No Death and There are No Dead, and asked for changes that made the book better. We are forever grateful for her work. Again her name had not been mentioned at any time.
We were surprised to see the face of Dennis Hopper on my silk. He transitioned May 29. Hoyt was traveling to Reno at the time and the silk sitting took place June 1. Neither of us has a special connection with Hopper that we know of. Another face appears on both silks and we were surprised to find a possible match when looking for a picture of Klaus. It was received by the Harsch-Fischbach couple; we think in 1988. It is captioned “Ill. 4: ‘Marie at the equipment’” and is said to show the scientist Mme. Marie Curie (rejuvenated) in her laboratory in the “Beyond.” We have included some faces that we did not recognize and wondered if they might be recognized by members.
Understanding Our Experience
As I noted above, a search of the Internet will show many negative comments about Hoyt Robinette’s work. In fact, we were advised not to invite him by friends who should know. At the same time, other friends reported enjoying his sessions. As it turns out, he provided an entertaining fundraiser for the church, and everyone had something to take home that was interesting and caused us to think.
Tom and I have been involved with the study of various forms of phenomena most of our lives and we have recently begun an in-depth study of physical mediumship. Hoyt is one of the most open, likable people we have encountered in this study. He was truly excited to see what appeared on the cards and silks, and showed absolutely none of the sort of protectiveness of the things he used for his phenomena one would expect from someone who had something to hide. We took every opportunity to examine his work, and while these were by no means controlled experiments, there was little opportunity for him to use trickery. Yes, he may have seen the billets under the cover over his eyes, but the billets had very little to do with the precipitation phenomena.
Another criticism that we have heard is that he keeps the billets, and has on file, the names that sitters write down. Again, even if this is the case, we do not see how it is relevant to the precipitation phenomena on the silks as none of the names of people that we recognize on our silks were given to him.
We do not know how the pictures were formed. After quite a lot of subsequent research, we are unable to find a physical mechanism. While the silk pictures look very photographic, they are also pictures that would be difficult to find. Even if he knew who was going to be in his sessions, there was simply no way for him to find appropriate pictures, somehow imprint them with some unknown slow-developing chemicals on the cloth and have them in the correct order for distribution to the right person in the circle. We should note that we sat in a random way in the circle and Tom pretty much shuffled the stack of silks while Hoyt was fetching the ink. Hoyt had no time to do anything but make sure he could find them in the dark.
Instrumental TransCommunication
In transcommunication, the common factors for both visual and audio ITC are a source of physical energy which is subjected to a chaotic process that can be influenced by the etheric communicator to produce an intended form. We have learned that more or less random regions of order naturally emerge in chaotic processes. In ITC, that emergent order becomes the voice of EVP or the image of visual ITC. One of the characteristics of that intended order is the presence of secondary features.
The cards had at least one primary feature but some exhibited the characteristic secondary features of ITC. Formation of the features on Hoyt’s cards and silks appeared to be consistent with ITC in that he provided the physical energy (ink and crayons) and the resulting canvas on which to express the intended order. What remains for us is to study his phenomena to possibly understand the nature of what we would predict to be a chaotic process that lends itself to psi influence. Is Hoyt producing a subtle energy field in the room while he is engrossed with billet reading? Could we use instruments to detect this?
Most of the doubt about the billets would go away if Hoyt would let someone inspect the blindfold; at least put the mask on and maybe even if he used a better mask. It would also be a good idea to have someone randomly picked from the sitters during his session to inspect the basket, silks and such.
We continue to look for photographic processes that could be used for the silks, but rather than rejecting Hoyt’s phenomena as impossible, it may be important to study his work more carefully.
The Reverend Hoyt Z. Robinette is an ordained Spiritualist minister. His abilities include trumpet mediumship, clairvoyance, blindfold billets, spirit cards, spirit pictures on silk and direct voice. His dedication to demonstrating these phenomena has introduced many people to the realization that life continues after “so-called death.”
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This is a study to determine whether or not images recorded in optical-frequency noise can be consistently described. The video-feedback technique was used for all of these examples. As is shown in the diagram, a video camera is pointed at a television screen and the output of the camera is connected to the input of the television so that the camera “sees” what it has just recorded. The camera is usually focused slightly beyond the screen to produce a soft focus image. The zoom, focus and camera presets are adjusted until a “rolling” effect is achieved on the display not unlike the special effect of “warp drive” in the movies.
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With a Ph. D. in social psychology, Dr. Leary is a research psychologist who studies topics related to self-awareness, motivation, and emotion. He has conducted research on topics such as reactions to social rejection, the effects of excessive self-attention, people’s concerns with their social images, and the relationship between personality and behavior. He is on the editorial boards of several scientific journals in social psychology and recently released a psychology course on DVD entitled “Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior.”
ave included a good example to the left. You can see an arch of reflected light that is not part of the phenomenal images. The arc is rising from the bottom of the picture and more to your left of center. A round-faced man’s chin is just touching the top of the arc. The dark area above that is the man’s mouth and above that are two dark areas, which are his eyes, look at your right ear.
A 
Some amount of order naturally occurs in noise, which results in a “bunchiness” in reality where one would expect an even distribution. This appears to be true at all scales and is likely due to small variations being amplified via stochastic resonance. EVP formation appears to be affected by this uneven distribution; the optimum background noise for EVP has been shown to be broad-spectrum audio-frequency sound punctuated by short spikes or sharp perturbations in the noise. The words are formed out of the sound but the spikes appear to be useful to initiate the process. See Figure 4.
There is evidence that the communicating entity is able to use any chaotic, well illuminated optical environment to produce their images. One person even found a decent face in well illuminated piece of sandpaper. (See the example here) This would be predicted by our working hypothesis.
We cannot make the claim that they are the same, but other than the obvious similarities in facial characteristics, when the image was collected is evidential. The church congregation conducted a meditation at the church just before it was closed for the summer. At that time, they asked the lady on the wall to appear to other people. That was on a Sunday and the ITC images were collected by a Spiritualist development group in Reno, NV the following Monday evening.
We had written names and a question on paper at the beginning of the event, and once again, Hoyt proceeded with blindfold billet reading. The basket was on the table by him but he did not touch it for about an hour and until finishing the billets. He then removed the lid and began pulling out cards with unique pictures on one side and names written on the other. The writing and artwork on each card were formed from the pen, pencils and crayons that were in the basket.
Our cards are shown here. We do not recognize the little girl on my card or the man on Tom’s, although there is a family resemblance with Tom’s card.
Hoyt returned with a dozen or so small bottles of colored ink as one might use for ink pads. He removed the lids and left them on the table near the stack of silks. These, he announced, were the source of ink that would be used for the images on the silks just as the pens and crayons in the basket were used as the source of color for the cards.
approached the table with the silks, using a red flashlight. We were within inches of the silks and watched as he picked them up. The silks that we had examined were the ones that he handed out. There was no possibility that he could have switched them with another set. He went to each person and gave them a silk to be placed on top of the colored paper, after which he sat down in the dark and gave brief mediumistic messages to some of the sitters.
Each silk had several faces that looked very much as if they had been printed using a copy stand to project colored pictures from magazines and newspapers. There were several people we felt that we recognized but I will highlight the main ones here. On Tom’s piece of cloth is a picture that we feel is Klaus Schreiber! What a shock, especially since his name had not been given to Hoyt. A much younger Rev. Barbara Thurman was also on his silk. She was/is one of our mentors. In fact, she proofread our book, There is No Death and There are No Dead, and asked for changes that made the book better. We are forever grateful for her work. Again her name had not been mentioned at any time.
We were surprised to see the face of Dennis Hopper on my silk. He transitioned May 29. Hoyt was traveling to Reno at the time and the silk sitting took place June 1. Neither of us has a special connection with Hopper that we know of. Another face appears on both silks and we were surprised to find a possible match when looking for a picture of Klaus. It was received by the Harsch-Fischbach couple; we think in 1988. It is captioned “Ill. 4: ‘Marie at the equipment’” and is said to show the scientist Mme. Marie Curie (rejuvenated) in her laboratory in the “Beyond.” We have included some faces that we did not recognize and wondered if they might be recognized by members.
Tom and I have been involved with the study of various forms of phenomena most of our lives and we have recently begun an in-depth study of physical mediumship. Hoyt is one of the most open, likable people we have encountered in this study. He was truly excited to see what appeared on the cards and silks, and showed absolutely none of the sort of protectiveness of the things he used for his phenomena one would expect from someone who had something to hide. We took every opportunity to examine his work, and while 
these were by no means controlled experiments, there was little opportunity for him to use trickery. Yes, he may have seen the billets under the cover over his eyes, but the billets had very little to do with the precipitation phenomena.
We do not know how the pictures were formed. After quite a lot of subsequent research, we are unable to find a physical mechanism. While the silk pictures look very photographic, they are also pictures that would be difficult to find. Even if he knew who was going to be in his sessions, there was simply no way for him to find appropriate pictures, somehow imprint them with some unknown slow-developing chemicals on the cloth and have them in the correct order for distribution to the right person in the circle. We should note that we sat in a random way in the circle and Tom pretty much shuffled the stack of silks while Hoyt was fetching the ink. Hoyt had no time to do anything but make sure he could find them in the dark.
In transcommunication, the common factors for both visual and audio ITC are a source of physical energy which is subjected to a chaotic process that can be influenced by the etheric communicator to produce an intended form. We have learned that more or less random regions of order naturally emerge in chaotic processes. In ITC, that emergent order becomes the voice of EVP or the image of visual ITC. One of the characteristics of that intended order is the presence of secondary features.
The cards had at least one primary feature but some exhibited the characteristic secondary features of ITC. Formation of the features on Hoyt’s cards and silks appeared to be consistent with ITC in that he provided the physical energy (ink and crayons) and the resulting canvas on which to express the intended order. What remains for us is to study his phenomena to possibly understand the nature of what we would predict to be a chaotic process that lends itself to psi influence. Is Hoyt producing a subtle energy field in the room while he is engrossed with billet reading? Could we use instruments to detect this?
Most of the doubt about the billets would go away if Hoyt would let someone inspect the blindfold; at least put the mask on and maybe even if he used a better mask. It would also be a good idea to have someone randomly picked from the sitters during his session to inspect the basket, silks and such.
The Reverend Hoyt Z. Robinette is an ordained Spiritualist minister. His abilities include trumpet mediumship, clairvoyance, blindfold billets, spirit cards, spirit pictures on silk and direct voice. His dedication to demonstrating these phenomena has introduced many people to the realization that life continues after “so-called death.”