WEBVTT - Spooky EVPs 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:12.680 Get in with Technology Textuff from dot Com. Hey there, 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:15.920 and welcome to text Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland, and today 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.000 in the studio once again, I am joined by my 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:23.320 Horrid Thinking co host, Joe mcclarmick. Joe Lokan, Hi, everybody, 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:27.000 How you doing? I am just doing fantastic. My brain 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.560 is full of bats and spirits from beyond. Well, it's 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:34.120 it's good that that happened this week, since we are 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.400 celebrating Halloween this week, and as part of our Halloween celebration, 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.320 Joe had come up with a suggestion for an episode 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:42.680 of tech Stuff. I said, Joe, what do you want 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.320 to cover? And and you came up with a topic 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:50.559 pretty quickly, like spookily quickly. I wanted to talk about 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:53.040 this for a while. In fact, I've been thinking, next 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:55.120 time I go on tech Stuff, I wanted to talk 0:00:55.160 --> 0:01:01.120 about electronic voice phenomena, right, e v P? E v P? Yeah, 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:04.400 what is that? Well, first of all, for those of 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.840 you who are long time listeners of tech Stuff, you 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.800 might think that sounds a little familiar, and that's because 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.280 we touched on e v P. Chris Pallette and I 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.039 did back in an episode recorded way back in February two, 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:22.360 thou ten called ghost Hunting Technology, and in that episode, 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.679 I opened up by saying, before we get into this, 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:27.640 I gotta let you guys know I'm a skeptic. Well, 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.680 you'll be amazed to know that in the four years 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.400 since I recorded that episode, you have become a medium. No, 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.600 I'm still a skeptic. Okay, well I am a skeptic too. 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.720 I I don't suggest the topic of electronic voice phenomenon 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.360 because I believe that there's something to this, But I 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.840 suggested because I believe it's fascinating. It is fascinating, and 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.920 it's also it's not just something that is uh very 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:58.160 popular topic on various Internet forums as well as YouTube videos. 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.680 It's also something that features heavily into ghost movies. Right, 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:06.040 There's there's always that scene in a ghost film where 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.360 someone is going back over recording and hearing things that 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:14.239 were not heard during the initial investigation. Yeah, but wait, 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:16.880 let's back up, because some people might not be familiar 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.200 with this term. Well, why don't you paint a picture 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.240 with your words, Joe? Okay, Yeah, what are we actually 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.720 talking about when we say the words electronic voice phenomenon. 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.200 Here's one scenario you walk into a graveyard on a 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.760 cool autumn evening with your portable audio recording system as 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.600 I do, which makes it a little bit less romantic, 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:40.840 But there you go. Your idea of what a romantic 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.280 evening is. Quick walk through the local graveyard tells me 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:47.040 more about you than I was prepared for. But pray continue. 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.400 I take after the tradition of Dr Septimus Pretorious in this. 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.040 If that's I enjoy a midnight snack in a crypt okay, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.040 and well you know I can get a little Victorian 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:58.960 every now and then. Let's let's continue on with your scenario. Okay, 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.200 So you're bringing along some kind of audio recording system. 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.960 This could be a digital audio recorder or just an 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.160 old cassette tape deck with a microphone, or even the 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.480 built in mic on your video camera. And you placed 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:14.520 the audio recording device near the grave of a famous 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:18.480 murderer or a Civil war general, or a reputed witch, 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.320 or maybe a reputed Civil War general witch who murdered people. 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.480 That would be a really cool grave to see. Well, 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:27.680 you know, I just need to go to Oakland Cemetery. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.040 There are some crazy graves in Atlanta. There are also 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:35.600 the Decatur cemetery is very cool anyway, So you set 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:39.280 up the device, you press record, and you leave it alone. 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:43.320 Or you could record while you ask questions, an attempt 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:45.640 to go to spirit into speaking, So you could sit 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:49.000 there and just say, how did you die? Do you 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:53.760 have anything to say? What's in your famous banana pudding recipe? 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:58.640 They'll never tell The answer is I have banana newt 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:02.480 And then later, when you come home, you play back 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.720 the audio and lo and behold in the quiet moments 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:09.240 between your questions, or sort of just floating ambiently throughout 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:13.040 the cemetery air while you're recording, our little rumblings of 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:18.680 static and bumps and creeks and mysterious tones, and they 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:23.360 all seem to form words, maybe even words directly answering 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:29.839 your questions. So that is electronic voice phenomenon. It's the 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:35.000 discovery of some sort of voice, something with purpose, not 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:40.280 just random noise that is, at least in theory, trying 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:45.000 to communicate with someone. Sure, And that's not the only 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:48.920 way you could discover an electronic voice. So you don't 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.000 just have to record in a graveyard. You could record 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.880 anywhere you think there might be something trying to communicate 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:58.720 with you, or sometimes people record radio transmissions. They say, oh, 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.360 I'm listening to you know, my radio, my HAM radio, 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.360 or even just my FM receiver, and and here's what 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.120 I caught in the static and in some frequency band 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:12.599 that's supposedly not occupied. Uh well, well, have more to 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.440 say about that later in the episoite. Right, So, what 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.760 do e v P enthusiasts typically seem to believe is 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.720 going on here? Well, the most common claim I've seen 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.320 is pretty straightforwardly what you'd expect. It's that there were spirits. 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.640 They're attempting to communicate from the other side of the 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.719 wall between life and death, beyond the veil, as it's 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.480 often referred to. There you go. And so the web 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:37.640 and YouTube have actually made it a lot easier to 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.080 experience this for yourself. So they're just a ton of 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:45.840 YouTube videos, their whole channels devoted to cataloging supposed e 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:49.200 v P and I really recommend going and listening to 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:50.800 a few. If you're at a computer right now, you 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:52.960 can just pause for a minute and go watch one 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:54.920 of these or something. And for those of you really 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.000 curious about this phenomenon, we are going to include some 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.919 examples of the sort of things that you would normally 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.160 be scouring if you were trying to find this. This 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.560 meaning we are not necessarily going to be inserting messages. 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.840 But we're not necessarily not going to be inserting messages 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.599 really love. That's up to our audio producer NL Okay, 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.480 so that'll come up when it comes up. The question 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.000 I guess for today is when you when you seem 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:25.640 to hear words being formed in these strange audio anomalies, 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:28.840 is it really a transmission from beyond the grave? Are 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:33.080 angels and ghosts and other disembodied beings communicating to us 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:37.400 by leaving anomalies on our audio recording equipment? Or is 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:41.039 something else going on? Now? Just I mean not that 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.800 I'm a Mr. Spoiler, but my own personal view is 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.400 the second option that there's something else going on. Well 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.400 mine too, But I think we should explain why. Yeah, yeah, 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:51.440 And part of it would be, you know, a little 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.840 walk down memory lane to look at some of the 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.919 developments of what led to the E v P craze 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.400 in the first place. Right, Well, I can imagine that 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.839 when audio equipment was new, you know, the ability to 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.000 record audio and play it back, This must have been 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.400 kind of a strange world. For people, I mean, they've 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.120 never had anything like that before. Like once a sound 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.160 was ephemeral before. Sure, once it happened, it was gone. 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:20.400 It was like a meal or something. You know. You 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.320 could try to imitate it by going back a second time, 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.720 but you couldn't perfectly capture it. It was like going 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.160 to see a stage production. Right, You're going to see 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.640 a stage production, and no matter how well rehearsed that 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:35.600 production is, no two performances are going to be identical, 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.680 and so the moment that you experience of watching a 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.960 stage production is a unique moment. By definition, It's never 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:46.440 going to be exactly the same way again, which is 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.400 one of the reasons why I love theater so much. 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.960 The same sort of thing was that, until the invention 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.400 of devices that could actually record sound to a medium 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.600 so it could be played back later, every sound was 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.160 like that. It was You heard it that one time 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.840 and that's it. Yeah. So what it suggests to me 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:06.960 is that this very well could have been a creepy 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.160 phenomenon to people. We grew up with it. I mean, 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:11.920 we're used to it, But I mean, might it back 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:17.040 then have been inherently kind of spooky? Yeah, it certainly could. 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.400 Have been, and in fact it led people to ask 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.520 interesting questions that to us may seem quaint, you know, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:25.600 since we have the benefit of hindsight, but at the 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.960 time you could really understand. You know, you're talking about 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:33.080 taking something that was viewed as non permanent and making 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.520 it permanent. This is this is almost a kind of 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.560 magic when it first happens, right, I can see the 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.680 magical approach to it. Yeah, like Mr Edison, am I 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.280 going to hear a ghost talking on this wax phonograph? 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.600 And someone in fact asked him that very question, essentially 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:51.040 saying did he think it would be possible to ever 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.280 invent something that would be capable of contacting the dead? 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.880 And his response was, it is possible to construct an 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:01.840 apparatus which will be so del k that if there 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.240 are personalities in another existence or sphere who wished to 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.520 get in touch with us in this existence or sphere, 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.439 this apparatus will at least give them a better opportunity 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:16.839 to express themselves than the tilting tables and wraps and 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:21.000 Uiji boards and mediums and other crude methods now purported 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.240 to be the only means of communication. So I thought 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.400 the plural of medium was media. Well not for not 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.880 for the these kind of mediums. Did you hear about 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:34.599 the tiny criminal psychic who escaped prison? She was a 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.360 small medium at large. That's great, thank you. Uh now 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.720 that we I just had like fifty people and subscribe 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.280 to my podcast. But that's okay. I I promised it's 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:46.880 the last time I'm gonna make a terrible joke like 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.240 that for this episode. Um, I can't make any grand promises. 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:54.480 But yeah, it's it's interesting that he was. He was 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:58.680 very clear, clearly stating that if such a thing does exist, 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.000 then there's no reason and why this wouldn't give them 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:05.079 another opportunity. That makes perfect sense. Sure, well, I mean 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:09.839 I can see it too, Like, for example, if people 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.760 claim to hear ghost voices with their ears, I mean, 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.360 what's going on there is that there has to be 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:20.240 an actual sound that's exciting the Well maybe, I mean 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:24.080 it could be that they're imagining the sound, but I 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.320 stipulated if people are actually hearing, of course, then again 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.040 what is actually hearing? Well, okay, now we're getting into 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.320 too many questions about perception versus reality. But if you 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.960 have a recording instrument there you can at least find 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.880 out if there was in fact a phenomenon that could 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:44.000 be perceived as opposed to one that was imagined to 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:47.400 be perceived in the head of the person who claims it. So, 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.400 in other words, if I say, I keep hearing this 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:53.440 low moaning voice in my house, and I set up 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:57.200 a recording device and I tell people I just heard it, 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.920 and you listen back and there's nothing on the recording, 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.200 and that might suggest that the problem could be in 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:04.600 my head, not outside of my head. And of course, 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.800 if spirits could speak from beyond the grave, something like 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.800 this might in theory be useful. For example, take the 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:16.320 Houdini example. You know, before Harry Houdini died. He the 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.600 story goes that he and his wife set up a 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:23.640 system where he gave her a secret message and nobody 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.560 else knew the message, and he said, look, if I can, 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.040 if it's possible for me to return from beyond the 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.920 grave and let you know that there is an afterlife, 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:34.240 I'll come back and tell you the secret message, and 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.280 that way you'll know it's really me. Uh. And so 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.200 I don't think that she ever claimed that happened, but 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.480 I think they did every Halloween. Yeah, But if she 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.599 set up a recording device and could even if you 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.040 couldn't hear normally, she might be able to hear through 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.640 some kind of anomaly in the audio the secret message. 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.840 If it was the message, well, okay, that'd be good evidence. 0:11:56.280 --> 0:12:00.080 But no such thing had happened. Now to continue on 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.920 our timeline of e v P, because of course, Edison 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.920 just said that the devices he was making could potentially 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.440 be used for such a purpose if in fact any 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:14.360 phenomena existed, right, So, uh, he was not coming out 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:16.440 and saying there are ghosts. He was just saying that, well, 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.520 if ghosts exists, then there's no reason why I can't 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:24.160 record them. Um, well, you have a man by the 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.640 name of Friedrich Jorgenson who publishes a book titled Voices 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:35.439 from Space and in the late Sounds. In the late fifties, 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.160 he started recording sounds by setting up a microphone on 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.240 his windows sill for the purpose of recording bird song. 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.000 But he claimed that when listening to the recordings that 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:51.400 he had made, he was hearing voices saying things, um, nothing, 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:53.960 you know, huge or whatever. But he was picking up 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.079 little things, and he started to suspect that in fact, 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:00.600 the microphone was starting to pick up stuff that is uh, 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:05.960 otherwise undetectable. So it was picking up things that were 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:10.120 not perceivable in his environment, according to his story. He 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.760 also claimed in nine that he received a message about 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:17.640 a central investigation station in space. So, um, there's there's 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:22.320 also some interesting You can't diagnose people obviously, right, especially 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:24.560 with well, first of all, I am not qualified to 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.960 diagnose anybody in anything. Second into the past. Secondly, yeah, 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:33.040 diagnosing into the past is always a mistake. But with 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.480 those caveats in mind, it doesn't sound on It sounds 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.080 to me like a form of schizophrenia. Uh, people who 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:44.400 believe that they have heard things from outside of themselves 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.640 saying stuff, whether that's you know, instructions to do things 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.280 or just saying things that only they can hear. Uh, 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.080 it sounds very similar to that. However, he was claiming 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:55.800 that he was picking them up on a microphone, which 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.280 clearly would be beyond that. Right that now, now it's 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.920 perceptible to other people, it's not something that's just in 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.480 his head necessarily. Uh. In the nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies, 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.720 another man named Constantine rawd Ive, who was a student 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.200 of Jurgenson's, begins to make e VP recordings of his own, 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.920 and he allegedly recorded more than one hundred thousand audio 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.680 tapes worth of phenomena. He published in nineteen sixty eight 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:23.640 his findings under the title and herberaths vered Herbauer, which 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:28.480 is what is innaudible becomes audible. The English title for 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:32.400 the book was Breakthrough an Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:36.160 with the Dead. So while I didn't see that Jurgensen 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.640 was specifically stating that he was hearing messages from beyond 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:45.040 the grave, that's that was rawd Eve's interpretation certainly that 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:49.160 these were spirits that were attempting to communicate. Uh. There 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:53.760 are a lot of interesting stories, especially from psychologists who 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.520 looked into rod Ive's approach and try to use a 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:02.120 scientific methodology to test whether or not UM there were 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.560 some confirmation bias or other issues going on. We'll talk 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:10.479 more about some of the psychological explanations for e VP phenomena. 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.800 I don't know that's like a t M machine, but whatever, UM, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.240 But anyway, we'll talk about those towards the end. Two 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:23.280 was when the Association trans Communication is founded. This is 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.640 an actual nonprofit organization dedicated to the study of all 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.680 forms of trans communication, which is communication across the veil 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:33.840 with an emphasis on instrumental transcommunication and its subset electronic 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:38.680 voice phenomena instrumental trans communication that sounds so legitimate. Yeah, 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:42.400 well it sounds better than like Quiji board, right, So um, 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.760 At any rate, uh, there are people and there are 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.360 smart people who are really looking into this uh and 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:54.960 trying to see what if anything of substance you know, 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:59.200 ectoplasma or otherwise happens to actually be there. Okay, So 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.160 we have the idea on one hand that there are 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.960 real voices that are coming from real agents that may 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.840 be people in space or or are most often thought 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.760 of as spirits or ghosts of some kind, communicating through 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:16.240 electronic media. What's the other side of the case. The 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.160 other side of the case is that there is no uh, 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:23.560 there is no supernatural source for this and from this stuff. 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.720 There are plenty of natural sources that could explain many, 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.440 if not all, of the e v P that are 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.760 out there. Right, The argument is not necessarily that it's 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.880 not supernatural. It's just that you don't need to resort 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.320 to that. There are plenty of things that could explain 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:40.880 the fact that you seem to be hearing voices in 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:44.640 electronic media, which and the argument using the acam's razor 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:48.360 approach is saying, if you have an explanation that does 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:52.960 not require something that is herefore too unknown to science 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.320 in order for it to have happened, then chances are 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:01.520 the more mundane explanation is in act correct. Okay, so 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.800 what are those possible mundane explanations? I think we should 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.600 break it down sort of into three categories, which would 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.880 be the input, the output, and then the interpretation. That's 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:14.320 the way I sort of see it. So let's start 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.840 with the input. I think there are a lot of 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.439 different ways that the way you record audio in the 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:25.440 first place can create all sorts of anomalies, so that 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.560 you wouldn't just expect to hear blank, white noise. You 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:34.359 would expect to hear random noises, you know, strange things. Sure, 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:38.800 what could influence that? Well, Uh, it depends on so 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.960 many things. For one, it depends on what medium you're using. Right, 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:45.720 If you're using magnetic tape, magnetic tape already has like 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.840 a hiss associated to it, and that's before you've even 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.240 started to put anything to the tape. If you've ever 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:54.800 listened to magnetic tape and it's you know, a quiet 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.359 section where there was no sound being recorded, it's just 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.879 the tape playing. You'll still hear that hiss noise, So 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:03.680 that already has a base level there. Uh. Digital records 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:05.320 a little bit different. Of course, it all depends upon 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:08.760 the quality and and sensitivity of the microphone. I've seen 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:14.720 some people on message boards at least advising against high 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:19.359 quality audio recording equipment, right like somehow the higher higher 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:21.840 quality the recording, the less likely ghosts are gonna talk 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.879 to you. Or maybe it's the higher quality the audio, 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:27.879 the less likely you're going to get any artifacts that 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.200 can be misinterpreted to be messages from beyond the grave. Hey, 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:35.560 maybe that's me editorializing a little. Um. There's also the 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.480 idea of raising up the microphone sensitivity, just cranking it 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.240 up as high as you possibly can, in order to 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:46.680 pick up any possible noises, and you don't. From from 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:48.880 one perspective, that makes sense. You're saying, oh, I want 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.760 to make sure that if something is being uh communicated, 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:54.960 even if it's really really faint, I want to be 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:59.120 able to pick it up. And one of the one 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:01.680 of the widely held beliefs that I don't think it's 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:05.560 ever adequately explained. Is that ghosts have a real hard 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:09.520 time speaking up. Yeah, you know that whatever whatever chance 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.439 you know, it takes. Yeah, that that is I almost 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:14.359 should have said that at the beginning, that this is 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:16.480 a very common feature of this is it's not like 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:20.160 you're gonna hear really loud noises. You're gonna hear kind 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:25.080 of faint variations in the static and and little tiny 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.040 things that that are barely making it through. They advise 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:32.040 you to wear headphones and turn the volume way up, so, 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.639 in other words, uh, turning up that sensitivito the microphone. 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:37.720 You know, we did an episode not too long ago 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.760 about audio production and talked about microphone sensitivity and how 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:42.680 you want to set it so that you can get 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:47.240 a decent recording. This is ignoring all of those those messages, 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:49.399 it's ignoring all of those tips in order for you 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.199 to try and maximize the chance that you're going to 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.440 get a hit. Uh. The issue here is that by 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.040 turning up that sensitivity, you turn up what is called 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:02.159 the noise floor. This is just the natural noise that 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:06.520 electronic devices make. Um. You know the fact that you're 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:08.840 using electronics in the first place, means you do have 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:10.600 this ground level of noise, and when you have the 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:14.480 microphone sensitivities at a certain level, you pretty much don't 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:16.399 pick up on it. But the higher you turn it up, 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.359 the more likely you're gonna pick up some of that noise. 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:20.520 So I thought it might be interesting for us to 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:24.760 do a little moment here where Noel's going to insert 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:28.160 a segment where he just he turns the microphone sensitivity 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:32.440 way up. Uh, And so folks were gonna have that 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.080 play right now. Um, you can adjust the volume on 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:40.600 your on your various MP three players or whatever so 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:43.719 that you don't go deaf in case there is a 0:20:43.720 --> 0:21:18.119 loud noise. Well, Noel does this. So no just adjusted 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:21.280 the the gain essentially on our microphones, and we sat 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:22.800 here and listen to it, and to us it sounds 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.080 like white noise. I mean, obviously if we listened to 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.480 it again and again, we might find something interesting there. 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:30.320 And I'll talk more about that towards the end of 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:33.480 the episode. But that that's kind of an example, you know, 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:38.360 just the idea of cranking that microphone sensitivity way up. Um. 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:42.560 Another issue using electronic media in the first place is 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:46.560 the idea of encountering a ground loop. So ground loops 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:48.920 is that's when you've got a current connecting two points 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:53.000 and they're supposed to be the same electric potential, but 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:56.920 in fact they're different potentials. That is what creates hum 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:00.800 and noise and interference. It can happen with just you know, 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:04.159 if you're using that cheap audio recording equipment. This is 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:06.360 the sort of stuff that can happen. You're probably familiar 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:10.000 with this if you play electric guitars. Yeah, you're essentially 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:16.240 you're you're inviting artifacts and distortion and pops and whistles 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.080 and hums to get into your recording, which you know. 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:21.520 I can see why people who are big into e 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:24.560 v P say we should be using this equipment because 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:27.359 otherwise you're not going to get stuff, and not getting 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:30.600 stuff might be an indication that there's nothing there another 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.879 thing that could be creating anomalies at the beginning, at 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:38.480 the recording phase. This is sort of the most obvious, 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:40.520 in the least interesting, but if you watch some of 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:42.879 these e VP videos on YouTube, you'll see that it 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:47.480 influences some of them. They're sometimes recorded in spaces that 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:52.679 are one currently full of people and too prone to 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:56.439 cause echoes. So unless it's at like a mind convention, 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.240 chances are there's gonna be some people talking. Even then, 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.000 they're gonna be will moving around and making noise. But 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:04.760 so a good example would be, say a recording taken 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:07.920 in a church full of people worshiping or visiting the church, 0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:10.480 and you told me that you actually saw a video 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:14.160 that was this particular example, right, Yeah, And in these 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:18.520 cases there are constantly echoes of voices reverberating throughout the space, 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:21.200 and the microphone will pick up little pieces of them 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:25.480 with varying intensity and fidelity based on just all the 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:29.119 constantly changing variables that influenced the propagation of sound waves 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:31.960 in a place with echoes like the church. Along the 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:35.920 same lines, when microphone sensitivity is high, think about all 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:39.000 of the auditory anomalies created simply by the sound of 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:41.640 physical friction. Yeah, I think we've got a little example 0:23:41.680 --> 0:23:44.640