We wish each of you a most enjoyable Holiday Season and a New Year full of phenomena

From Our Viewpoint

I know that many of us were wondering if we would make it to the year 2002.  Tom and I sat in shock in front the Television on Sept. 11.  We had plans and were supposed to head out the door.  I turned the TV on while the coffee was brewing and then you know what happened.  We sat in disbelief never making it out the door.  I know most of you know exactly what you were doing that morning.  We will all never forget.

Many of our members live very close to where all of this was and is happening.  One member’s letter said “Hello from the front.”  She lives near the pentagon.  One member in New York thought about moving to property out in the country.  We were to attend a conference in New York weeks after the terrible events of Sept. 11.  I believe in life after death, but I was not the least bit excited about getting on an airplane, but we did.

Things have changed, after September 11 we have been faced with much more uncertainty in our lives, from flying to the economy and Anthrax.  People have lost loved ones; people have lost their jobs; some have loved ones going to fight a war.

With all of this going on, we were faced with Christmas.  That most happy time of year, so we are told.  Yes, Christmas with all of its commercialism is still very happy for many.  But for some it is also the most difficult time of the year.  Forty-one percent of people, according to a survey by Prevention Magazine and Dateline NBC, consider the holiday season stressful, ranking it with asking the boss for a raise.  But the stress does not just come from all of those things that we are supposed to do and get done during the Holidays.  Christmas and the Holidays are the time that many are sick at heart because someone that they love is now on the other side.  We have heard from many that feel a great depression because of this.  Just today I found myself putting an arm around a friend in tears because she has lost both her mother and her brother this year, and it’s Christmas.

What can we do for those who are missing a loved one?  We can certainly reassure them, as most of us in the Association firmly believe that we live after death.  But the biggest thing that we can do for someone is to just listen.  When a person is telling you about a problem, it is unlikely that they actually want you to give them a solution.  Most of the time, they just want you to hear them.

For those of us who are EVP researchers there can be another hurt.  Why don’t those whom we have lost, and most want to hear from, speak to us through EVP?  Many of us have heard from the ones that we needed to, but there are others who are still waiting.

I was very close to my Dad and really wanted him to use EVP to contact me and let me know that he was all right.  My father did contact me.  I had three vivid dreams that were as real as if he had been with me in physical reality.  Perhaps I was a little skeptical about the first dream and thought that the dream was just my way of helping me through a desperate, heartbreaking time.  By the third dream I was convinced that my Dad had really gotten in touch with me to let me know how much he loved me and that he was alive and still pursuing his many interests.  My father never has contacted me via EVP.  Whenever I ask to speak to him my grandmother, his mother, comes through.  She tells me what he is doing, where he is, etc.

My father was an engineer and I reasoned that he should be able to get through to me via EVP.  After all, he was a brilliant man with a technical mind.  My paternal grandmother was a homemaker and not someone who I thought would be the least interested in electronic gadgets.  She also came from a very strict religion that absolutely did not believe in any kind of communication with the dead.  Messing around with anything that even smacked of the paranormal would have brought on a lengthy lecture on my winding up in hell fire.  So much for logic!

So what do we do when our call goes unanswered with EVP?  For one thing we can keep trying.  It took my Mother over two years to get through to me via EVP.  But the other thing that we should be doing is looking for that communication somewhere else.  We just don’t understand why one person can get through with EVP and another can’t.  Because we are interested and working in EVP/ITC this is the way we expect them to communicate, but it just doesn’t always work that way.  I do know that, when you are heartbroken from the loss of a loved one, they will get through to you.  It just might not be in the way you expect.  You may feel their touch, receive a sign, smell a fragrance associated with them, see them visually, receive a telephone call, feel their presence or have a series of dreams like I did.  We must remain open and look for contact in whatever way it comes, because it will come.        Lisa    

Our First ITC

A while back Tom and I were going to run an EVP experiment.  We have had an old color TV in the experiment room since we moved into the house.  We decided to take out our video camera to try to see if we could get some pictures using the video feed back loop method while we did an EVP experiment.

We downloaded and listened to the EVP session via the computer and Cool Edit first and found the message, “Continue with the pictures, I will help.”  Well, that was exciting so we immediately downloaded the video into the computer and started viewing the video, frame by frame.  We learned that it is a very slow process and takes as much time if not more time as listening to an EVP session.  We found nothing on the video, but could also see from the video that we may have had the camera focused incorrectly.

The next day we ran another EVP session.  We thanked those on the other side for their assistance and asked who it had been who had said that they would help with the pictures.  The message came back right after the question, “Anthony.”

It gets busy around here and it is hard to believe how quickly time passes, so it was at least a month before we once again tried to get ITC.  We had both thought about it many times and when I meditated or spoke to those on the other side before sleeping, I would thank them and ask them to help with ITC contacts.  But somehow the time was not right.

Then about a month ago the time did seem right to try again.  We did mediation and played a piece of music.  There is a particular piece of music that I love and we always play it as we set up the equipment and prepare for an EVP session.  One of our friends calls it a signature piece.  I feel that when that music is played, those on the other side know that we are going to do an experiment.  We focused on ITC only and did not run an EVP experiment.  We ran the video for one minute as we had now learned how long it takes to review frame by frame.

We downloaded into the computer and immediately saw two images that were interesting and very exciting.  We tried to work with a couple of the images but they were very dark.  We could see them on the computer screen but the same results were not there when we tried to print them.

Then we got side tracked on trying to find the best software to view the images.  This caused us another delay of a couple of weeks.  We downloaded a few free trials, one by Adobe that would cost over $500 if we decided on it.  Learning new software, especially with online “Read Me” help files is time consuming and frustrating.  We eventually went back to the video viewing software that we already had on the computer.

In early December, we sent two frames of the video to Erland and Mary Babcock.  Erland is probably the most knowledgeable person in the United States on ITC pictures.  He wrote us back that the pictures were too dark to print but that he would try to work with them.  Both Erland and Mary saw a man in one of the images.  Interestingly, this was not what we had been focused on in that frame.  As you can see in the image above (1), we were seeing a larger man.  What Erland and Mary did with the frame and what they sent back to us was thrilling.  (See images 3 and 4 in the following article, A Brief Discussion of the Pictures.)

When we looked at the picture that Erland sent back (image 4), Tom got very excited and said, “Look, it looks like he is sitting in an out door setting with the sky.”  I then looked closer and could see green in a pastoral setting.  The man is with a child, but this is very hard to see.  The man in the wide-brimmed black hat seemed somehow familiar.  Had I seen this in another ITC image somewhere?  I looked back through as many past ITC journals as I could find, but did not find anything similar.  I can’t tell you about the excitement that was going on in our house.  It took me a long time to get to sleep that night.

Erland had written that he had made a printed copy of one picture and was sending it to us in the mail.  He said that he had been trying to print one thing when another image of a man, standing in seemingly old style clothing and sporting a handle bar mustache, showed up.  “Was this a grandfather?” he asked. 

The printed picture that he sent us is startling.  As you can see in the image at the left (2), it is full figure with only the feet missing, and yes, he has a handle bar mustache.  Is he a relative?  Or, is he a member of a hoped for ITC team on the other side?

We again went back through the video images one by one.  We were literally in shock with the number of images that were received in that one-minute.  Most of them are too dark and would not print for the newsletter, but there were many people.

One picture of a lady was to dark to print, but she had a nose that looked like my mothers.  If this were a picture of my mother it would be one that shows her in her late twenties.  We will have to wait and hope for more images to be able to make any kind of claim, as the picture is just not good enough to do so now.

There is another of a man from his head almost to his feet, only his face will print (7).  Another very interesting frame shows a whole group of people together (5).  It is just like a snapshot at a family gathering.  One person has an arm around another.  Who is this family?  Who are the people now sending us pictures?

We feel incredibly lucky and blessed by our unseen contacts on the other side to have received this series of pictures.  But they have presented many questions.  Is one of these people Anthony?  Will the contacts continue?  If we do EVP with the video will be get some answers?

A Brief Discussion of the Pictures

The ITC images described by Lisa provides an interesting study in ITC photography.  The initial video was taken with a Cannon 8mm ES2000 analog camcorder set about six inches from a Sony KV20TS32, 20 inch Trinitron color TV.  The camera was focused just beyond the screen surface and the composite video out of the camera was connected to the video input of the TV so that the camera was “seeing” its output in a video loop.  The camera was zoomed so that about five inches of the screen was revealed to the camera.

The resulting video clip was loaded into a computer and Pinnacle Systems Studio DC10 Plus was used for review.  The video was examined frame by frame and interesting frames were captured as individual pictures.  Image 3 is an example of these “grabbed” video frames.  Because we were focused on an area of the screen that had a lot of optical texture, the resulting frames tended to be dark.  The screen was also strobbing from light to dark.  While this seems to have given us ITC, it has also frustrated our attempts to display the images with our method of printing this newsletter.  Those of you receiving the newsletter via email will see clearer, color images.  This article will be at aaevp.com, as well.

As Lisa said, she sent two of the more interesting frames to Erland Babcock, who performed his magic to produce images 2 and 4.  Erland uses editing software that came with his Toshiba PDR-M70 digital camera and it is more effective than any of the editors we use.  Lisa had seen other possibilities in frame 3, but I was focused on what looks like a full-bust image of a man in the middle of the frame.  If you look at the upper left quadrant of the image 3, you can see that I have highlighted what looks like a hat.  Image 4 is that region enlarged and enhanced by Erland.  With this image, and other renditions not shown, you can see a man wearing a hat.  It looks like he has a full beard.  There is evidence of blue sky above him and shrubbery at his right.  His shoulders may also be visible.

It is important to note that the resolution of the original frame should not support the fine shading of the shape of the hat.  In other words, I believe that the ITC image has higher resolution than the original frame.  Also, if this were an illusion, we would expect to more often see other familiar objects.  Erland has pointed out to us that he has captured pastoral scenes and what looks like aerial views of land and water.  But as the following two images show (5, 6), we are mostly collecting faces, which raises the question again, why faces, why whole faces and who are they?

Image 5 is the bottom half of a frame.  Even in this poor reproduction, you can see that there are numerous faces, including three distinct heads at the bottom—as if it were a family portrait.  Image 6 is an enlargement of the right head in image 5.  Lisa pointed out to me that, in the original frame, it appears to be a group picture in which a woman has her arm around another woman.  The closer we look, the more heads and faces we see.

Finally, we include an image showing a full head of a person (7).  The original frame was almost completely black, so what is shown here is an enhancement.  It is hard to tell, but the person looks a lot like an extraterrestrial standing in front of a round window.

British TV Program on EVP

The Witness Series aired a documentary produced by David Monaghan called, Voices of the Dead, on Sunday December 9, in the UK.  The British TV Guide described the documentary as, “A look at the Electronic Voice Phenomena Societies whose members believe they can record the voices of the dead on ordinary cassette recorders.  With 30,000 members from 87 countries, this organization even has the backing of the Vatican as a source of proof of life after death.”  The TV program was the “Pick of The Day” in the prestigious London Sunday Times.

David wrote after the program was shown that, “…the word here is good.  The film has had excellent reviews with the words ‘magical’ and ‘fantastic,’ and there has been virtually no scoffing or mocking—a real show of interests—the viewing figures were great, and all of the British people involved.”  In an email to Linda Williamson he wrote, “People have begun getting in touch about the program.  There has been a lot of interest and even a friend called saying he overheard people talking on a bus about how they had seen the film, and heard the voices and it was true!  The letter that I received today was from a woman that tried taping the night after seeing the show and got a voice.”

As of the printing of the newsletter we still had not seen the program.  We do know that AA-EVP members Linda Williamson, Alexander MacRae and Judith Chisholm were featured in the program from the UK along with Sarah Estep and Dale Palmer from the US.  We have heard that Lisa is in the film for a few seconds while conducting an experiment with Alec.  Erland Babcock and others at the NII conference were filmed and interviewed but we still do not know who all is in the program.

The number of hits on the AA-EVP web site has been running 200 and 250 a week.  The week following the Witness program the web site recorded 886 hits.  This can only be the result of people seeing the TV program and then going to look for more information on EVP.

David Monaghan is to be commended for doing this outstanding documentary.  We can only hope that some US broadcast network will pick up the program so that we all have a chance to see it.

Is This the Afterlife?

Matt Warne sent us an article that ran in the Daily Mail on December 14 called, Is This the Afterlife?  It states, “At last, scientists deliver compelling evidence of near death experiences.”  The article sites a Holland study by Dr. Pim van Lommel and colleagues of Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem.  They found that one in five heart attack patients experienced a near death experience or NDE.

The researchers said, “Our results show that medical factors cannot account for the occurrence of NDEs, although all patients had been clinically dead, most did not have an NDE.  If purely physiological factors caused NDE most of our patients should have had this experience.”

ITC Photography from TV Noise

Erland Babcock wrote to tell us about his recent experiments, “I was fooling around the other night using a blank TV channel on my computer.  I used my digital camera to photograph the moving snow on the screen.  I did this several times at random times.  I then removed the TV channel from the computer screen and loaded the images from the camera into the computer.  I brought up each image, one at a time, and used the computer to get rid of any color so I ended up with a black and white image.  I then visually searched that image for anything that looked like it might be interesting.  When I found something I cropped it to remove the rest of the image.  I then blew up the image 100-200, possibly to 800%.  If the image remained interesting I enhanced it by the use of contrast, brightness, sharpness and any other control that will enhance the image.

“These images were produced that way and are from nothing more than random noise on a blank TV channel.”

Vatican Okays Talking to the Dead

The July issue of Britain's Psychic World newspaper includes an article that notes, "Major changes to Roman Catholic views as the Vatican says it is OK to talk to the Dead."  Assistant Editor, Michael Colmer says he has discovered the keynote Vatican policy change regarding "Communication with the Dead."  It originated with the Rev. Gino Concetti, chief theological commentator for the Vatican.  Fr. Concetti said in the Italian journal, L'Osservatore Romano, "Communication is possible between those who live on this earth and those who live in a state of eternal repose, in heaven or purgatory.  It may even be that God lets our loved ones send us messages to guide us at certain moments in our life."

In the article, Fr. Concetti maintained that the new Catholic Catechism specifically endorsed the view that the dead could intercede on earth and quotes the dying St. Dominic telling his brothers: "Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life."

From the July, NSAC News published by Robert Egby.

AA-EVP Article

The Autumn 2001 Spiritual Scientist has an article written by us that describes some of the work you are doing in the Association.  This is the publication of the Scole Group that is widely distributed in the British Isles, Canada and the USA.  We have had a number of people communicate with us as a result of this new exposure for the Association.  You can see the article at aaevp.com.

The EVP Coffee Pot

When Charlotte Claypool first wrote to us about EVP and her interest in joining the AA-EVP, we were immediately interested in hearing more from her about her EVP contacts.  You see Charli has been getting EVP messages in a number of ways but most interesting are the voices coming from her coffeepot!

She wrote, “I am a Real Estate Broker with no prior interest in EVP or paranormal activities.  Phenomena began taking place in my presence 10 months ago.  Voices began to emanate from a common household appliance which was purchased in Nov. 2000.”  It is a Krups Duofilter Chrystal Arome Coffeemaker.  “The voices are discernable and can be heard in ‘real time’ by anyone; they do not have to be recorded to be heard.  The entities coming through are prolific speakers and they are numerous.

“Once I got up the courage to record the voices, using a digital voice recorder, I found that the entities actually had discernable male or female voices, different dialects and plenty of opinions.  They readily answer questions.  The digital recorder downloads directly into the computer and the recordings can then be analyzed using Cool Edit.

“I had these ladies that kept talking about pink lemonade so I went out and got a bottle and set it by the coffeepot.  Later I asked if they knew about the pink lemonade?  The Ladies in unison replied, ‘Yes, sweet new girl.’”

Charli said she gets different groups through different media.  “Direct recording off my ham radio with scratchy static produced relatives, people who knew my mother.  They said, ‘That’s Charlotte Whipkey’s young lady.’”

There is another thing that Charli does that is interesting and different.  She writes her questions down on a piece of paper for those on the other side to read.  She wrote, “They love the notes, one lady said, ‘Fun to read letters from Charli.’  I like to keep my own voice out of the recordings and the notes make a good record to keep with the recording transcript.”

Charli is working on a new web page at www.coffeepotghost.com that will detail her experiences and provide a way to listen to samples of her EVP.

Contact Established

We have been in communication with author, Larry Dean.  His new book, Contact Established, will be published next year.  Larry Dean is a trance channel who started receiving communication from an alien contact.  These communications were later verified from information received by the New Spiritual Science Foundation (The Scole Group).  Larry is also the co-founder of Skysearch UFO Research Organization in England.

Larry wrote, “My liaison with the Scole Group and their Trans-dimensional communications is documented in the book, together with the history of ITC and the basic experimental methods for developing it.”  We were pleased that Larry asked to use information about how to record from the AA-EVP web site.  The book describes Larry’s contact experiences that have taken place since 1994 and also includes interviews with renowned UFO researchers.

Is Spirit Photograph ITC?

Recently, we received a photograph taken by Peter Berg at a National Spiritualist Association of Churches convention.  The first photograph shows AA-EVP member, the Rev. Gene Pfortmiller holding a card over a woman’s head.  The second image is an 800% enlargement of the spot over his throat.  The third is the enlargement with the background removed, showing an apparent human head.

Look closely at the spot of light.  Some people, who saw the picture in the review window of the digital camera, say that they saw it in the shape of a hand that turned into a round orb.  Can you see the face?  Erland Babcock’s wife, Mary, noticed the face after he had made the enlargement.

This is an interesting example of a photograph showing apparent phenomena that, on closer examination, provides what appears to be further ITC evidence.  We are aware of the “faces in the clouds” illusion.  We are considering a standard: if the image exhibits six of ten reference points (face, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, ears, brow, cheek, hair and profile), then it is candidate for consideration as phenomena.  This example exhibits most of these reference points.

We have seen many "spirit" photographs containing orbs or other irregularities in the image.  In the past, we have simply considered them at face value.  As more has become known about ITC techniques, it has become apparent that communicating entities are able to use strong sources of energy to produce images.  This leads to a reasonable conclusion that it is wise to take a closer look at these irregularities to see if ITC is present.

Can bright spots in photographs be the optical equivalent of background sound in EVP or video feedback in ITC?  Strong white light is like random sound and the gray texture is like noise.  Is it possible that this photograph can point to a common factor for EVP/ITC?

Another important question this photograph brings up is that of the ubiquity of faces.  Why do we find so many?  Why not more images of cars and houses?  Let us know what you think.  The full report for the photograph is on the web at aaevp.com under Examples.

Water as a Background Source
(From Egroup discussions)

George Wynne asked Stefan Bion of the VTF, “What is ‘the good old water method’ to which you refer?”

Stefan replied: “In a few words, I'm using a small fountain pump (hope it's the right term) inside a vessel (large ceramic flowerpot, metal milk can, etc.), filled with a few cm of water.  This bubbling water sound is recorded via a piezo horn speaker (which is "misused" as a microphone) onto cassette tape.  Through the piezo system, the water noise disappears and the voices are coming out more clearly.  Water and piezo are located in neighboring rooms, separated by a door ajar.  By closing/opening the door more or less, the sound can be adjusted so that the higher frequencies are lowered.  Switching the pump off and on by a remote switch seems to support the voices further.  During my questions, I would switch the water off, and then on again in expectation of EVP.  The sound of the voices reminds me a bit of a talking budgie.  :-)

“But regardless of the method, one thing should be kept in mind: The “human factor.”  If and which type of EVP one will get, seems to depend on the “mind state” of the experimenter (and maybe other, unconscious factors).  Also the relation of the experimenter to “the other side” seems to be important.  For instance, many experimenters are getting contacts to Konstantin Raudive.  I myself don't have a relation to him and thus don't get any EVP from him.  For grieving persons who lost a loved one, the chances for a contact seem to be increased (however, it not only depends on us).”

George then asked, “There are some commercially available surf, rain and white noise sounds generated by an audio device … that are supposed to induce restful sleep.  Do you know whether any experimenter has tried these as ‘raw material’?”

Stefan wrote, “We have tried such noise sounds some years ago, but without much success.  I prefer ‘real’ water.”

Lisa Butler has used a water fountain for EVP, and although it does work, the resulting EVP tended to sound like little fairy people because of the high frequencies.

High Frequency EVP

There have been several recent comments in the AA-EVP Egroup concerning the use of high frequency background sound in EVP recording.  For instance, Charli Claypool reported that she and George Wynne have been working together on a few experimental ideas and that George has tried a dog whistle.  George also turns up the microphone amplifier he is using so that he has a great deal of feedback from the speakers.  (It is possible in some recording arrangements to have both the computer speakers and the input microphone active at the same time.)  Thus, he is using high frequency sound and enough feedback to saturate the system.  Charli tells us that George is getting Class A voices with this method.

Frank Sumption reports that, “I ran an EVPMaker session using regular speech audio, and adjusted the speaker volume to give just enough feedback to cause the audio to begin to ring.  The result was absolutely spectacular.  I haven't had a session this good in months!!  I ran a 60 second recording, and got enough phrases in the transcript to fill a full page.”

Both Steven Beresford and Dave Sircom told us about Konstantinos and feedback.  Steven wrote, “Konstantinos mentions the following audio feedback technique:  Hook up a microphone to an amplifier and a loudspeaker.  Place the microphone next to the loudspeaker and adjust the volume so that the feedback is just about to howl.  Then invite the spirits to communicate with you.  You could put a tape recorder in the loop to record whatever happens.

“According to Konstantinos, this method allows real-time conversation.  Apparently, it takes a while for the spirits to learn how to build up energy in the loop.”  Contact the Other Side, 7 methods for afterlife communication by Konstantinos, Llewellyn Books, 1-800-THE-MOON.

It seems clear that the feedback between the speakers and the microphone provides a high density of sound energy.  Because the system is set up so that the system tends to “ring,” the sound being feed to the recording mechanism is relatively unstable.  This instability may make it easier for the communicating entity to transfigure the sound as EVP.  This may also explain why high frequency background sound sometimes works for EVP.  We would be interested to hear what you get if you try experimenting with this.

The Dream
By Lance Payette

When my dad died 30 years ago, I had an oddball After Death Communication that involved a dream telephone.  I had a series of dreams where I would pick up the phone and my dad would be on the line and I would hang up in terror.  In one, I finally said, “Would you please stop calling me?  You're dead.”  In a voice that sounded very tinny and far away, he simply said, “I'm dead but I'm not dead.”  That was then the end of the dreams, as though his message had been delivered.  Anyway, I have a pretty complete library on psychical research (I'm also a member of the SPR and ASPR) and have always found EVP to be a promising area of investigation that seems not to get much publicity or generate much interest in the U.S.

I have since read most of the Telephone Calls from the Dead sort of books and was intrigued that this one was the phenomenon within the context of a dream.  It occurred in 1971, when I was 21.  My dad was highly intelligent and interested in unusual subjects.  He was also closer to me than to either my brother or my sister, who are much older, so it was logical that he would appear to me.  What was always convincing to me about this was the simplicity of the message, the fact that the dreams stopped after the message was delivered, and the fact that my dad's voice had a tinny, far-away quality to it.

The Way We Hear Sound

A frustrating aspect of recording EVP is demonstrating examples to others and finding that they cannot understand a word.  Richard Szumski, recently described an experiment that should shed some light on this problem.

“I was intrigued with the problem (of selective hearing) and ... realized that a microphone is not selective in the same way our ears are.  I'm sure you've been in a room where a number of conversations were taking place at the same time.  You were able to focus your hearing on a particular conversation while tuning out or at least subduing what you weren't interested in.  This usually takes place without conscious effort.  But a microphone, unless placed close to or pointed directly at any particular source of conversation, does not have that ability.

“This can be tested, as I once did, by placing a mic among a group (of people) with different conversations taking place at the same time.  I played the recording for some of my volunteer test subjects who had not attended the original recording and asked what did they hear.  At first their usual reply was, ‘Just a lot of people talking.’  Then I asked if they could make out any part of the conversations.  Some would say they could make out a few words or a complete sentence if not too long or complex, and other said they didn't hear anything but a lot of voices.

“I would then cue the tape to something I knew was on the tape such as, ‘Did he really do it.’ …  I did get a few correct responses, but I also got, ‘Dick really did it.’  And, ‘Did she really do it.’  Also, ‘Why did he do it?’  In this case creating a totally different question.”

Richard concluded with, “I'm beginning to think of EVP messages as something similar to an audio Rorschach test.  Your background, experience, beliefs and needs put meaning in a message.”

Richard’s experiment illustrates the problem with hearing EVP rather well.  Beyond some lower threshold of clarity, understanding what we hear depends on context and our worldview.  We should not be disappointed if people do not always hear or understand some of our samples.  However, remember that a Class A EVP should be understandable by anyone.

Psychic Legislator

The Associated Press reported that during a morning devotional message, a Georgia state legislator told her House colleagues that she can communicate with the dead and has been “visited” by missing, intern Chandra Levy.

Rep. Dorothy B. Pelote told fellow lawmakers that she has psychic abilities, the Associated Press reports.

“The last person who visited me was—I don't know if I need to call her name,” the Savannah Democrat said from the speaker's rostrum.  “Maybe I should not, because it's a controversial death now.  She's missing.  You know who I'm talking about.  She has visited me.  She has.”

Ms. Pelote, a former teacher elected in 1992, told lawmakers her psychic experiences began after she nearly drowned as a child.

She explained that she had a vision of a bright fireball in the sky and later began having visions of dead people.  “And the older I get, the stronger it becomes”

Thoughts From Members

  Sarah Estep, Founder of the AA-EVP, wrote something to us that might help some of us who are trying to get an answer to a question or to hear from someone in particular.  “The invisibles may need a minute or two after each question to 'hear' it, and come back with an answer.  So, I would recommend repeating the same question during the recording.  Yes, asking the same question at least several times is good.  I don't wait several days, or a week, to repeat it.  I will ask the same question, depending on what it is, 3-4 times during a recording, allowing about 30 seconds between each repeat.  I've found that often, the 3rd or 4th time, the question will be answered.”

  Clara Laughlin wrote, “My daughter called to say that the father of a close friend was in a hospice and death was imminent, the family distraught.”  Clara was then asked for a prognosis of the situation.  “I printed the man’s name on paper, held it to the mirror and asked Callie (one of Clara’s many consistent communicators) for help.  He replied, ‘How about survival!’  A couple of days later, the father was moved from the hospice and is recovering.”

  Charli Claypool wrote that a recent EVP message said, “Look at Nathan, he is your Cousin.”  She also said that, “On my mother's side there was a long string of Nathan Shaws though, near as I can tell, the last one died in the 1800's.  Doing genealogy research in conjunction with EVP is a very good idea.  While looking up Nathans on some old genealogy research, I spotted some other names such as Ephraim that are familiar to me as names of some of my Spirit people.  May not be one in the same but interesting because then you can go back and ask:  ‘Hey, are we related?’”

  Richard Szumski wrote back in September,  “Although I joined the AA-EVP last May, I just registered (with Tom's help) to go on line so I can send mail to the Egroup.  But I've been able to read your messages since May and have found them thoughtful and non-judgmental.  And most important to me is the absence of dogmatism.  I've been investigating the paranormal for over fifty years (I'm 76) on a semi-professional basis; meaning sometimes I got paid and sometimes I didn't ... mostly didn't.  During that time I often had to deal with two basic groups; the eager believers and determined non-believers.  Both were absolutely intolerant of any idea that did not conform to their beliefs.  And both were totally unwilling to even consider any possible alternate explanation to their experiences.  I admire your group's avoidance of these intolerant attitudes.”

  Erland Babcock described a personal experience, “When my father died I tried to make contact with him.  During his lifetime his spare time was always spent deep-sea fishing.  When I tried to contact him, my contact on the other side told me, ‘He is not here (pause) he has gone fishing.’  Now that figures.  I then asked the question.  ‘How does one go fishing in a spirit world?’  Here is the answer I got.  ‘He is not really fishing (pause) he thinks he is fishing and it is real to him.’  Now some of us have dreamed of falling off a cliff and fell out of bed.  We wake up in a cold sweat.  It felt real to us.  Is it like a dream on the other side except you never wake up?  This brings up the question.  Are we really here or do we just think we are here.  Then what is reality?  Perhaps the other side of the veil is the real world?”

News About Members

  Peter Haviland is a paranormal investigator that has been dealing with haunted phenomena for fifteen years.  Pete is mentioned several times in the October 2001 FATE Magazine article “The Story of the Ale House.”

  Tina Laurent has put together a tape of utterances that she received over a period of months purportedly coming from Arthur Ellison.  He was a longtime S.P.R. member and one of the three scientists who investigated the Scole Group along with Prof. David Fontana.  Prof. Fontana contacted her after hearing that she might have EVP messages from his friend, Arthur.  Fontana is now the Chairman of the S.P.R. Tina mailed the tape to Prof. Fontana but has not heard back from him.

  Alexander MacRae’s new web site at http://aspsite.tripod.com allows visitors to listen to voices he has recorded from his Alpha Device.  He has several interesting essays on the site, one on Observer Dynamics and another on his MU-Epsilon Theory.  There is also a block diagram and information on how the Alpha works.

  Mark Macy's new book, Miracles in the Storm, is now out.  The book explores the technical revolution of spiritual contact through Instrumental Transcommunication, which uses modern technical equipment such as computers, faxes, phones, and televisions to make contact with the "other side."

  Katherine Ramsland’s book, Ghost: Investigating the Other Side, is getting good reviews.  The book begins with Ramsland's chance acquisition of a haunted ring.  Intent to learn more about its secrets, she sets out on a quest that gradually turns into a full-blown investigation.  Efforts in communicating with "the other side" using hard-wired equipment are discussed and Sarah Estep is featured in the book.  Katherine wrote to us that, “Probably the best place to get the book would be Amazon.com or Half.com.

  Linda Williamson was one of the AA-EVP members prominently featured in the documentary on EVP for the “Witness” program shown in the U.K. and produced by David Monaghan.  Her picture was published in one newspaper and there were several newspaper write-ups that featured her.  She wrote that it was funny that one called her “An earnest slightly intimidating Scotswoman.”  Linda is receiving attention for sitting with a group of woman and using EVP to help those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.

Tapers Report

  Clara Laughlin wrote that after the terrorist attack she received these messages concerning it.  “We have new people, many dying people,” “We enable dying people,” and, “We see problem with travel.”

  Mark Macy’s group, at a recent meeting, heard several voices as they came through the speakers and also received many EVP messages.  He wrote, “When I asked, is it a message from spirit?  We received, “Yes, spirit.  It's a beautiful time.  You can pretend, or you can ignore it.”

  Dave Sircom wrote, “In reading the newsletter, I became aware of the numerous telephone answering machine EVP received by so many members.”  Dave did a recording and got, “We tried to call you.”  He said that, “I immediately went to the answering machine, with microphone in hand, and recorded three messages, all hang-ups.  After running them through Cool Edit, I found, “I saw the whole house.” on the first and, “David” (loud whisper) on the second.”

  Charli Claypool recorded, “I've seen Snoopy and he is OK.”  Snoopy was a beagle that her parents had.  She also got, “I can't wait until you and Buddy get here.”  Buddy is her Brother's nickname.  She wrote, “It was a sweet sentiment, though I'm in no hurry!”

  Frank Sumption wrote to the Egroup that he thought this message he had recorded was for Steven Beresford.  The message was, “Steven has bought part of the….” Steven wrote back “Impressive.  I have indeed just bought the critical component of my EVP antenna.”

  Michele Hardison was recording in the middle of the desert behind her house and got a woman saying, “Water.”  Weeks later while recording in her house she got the same woman’s voice saying, “Water” again.

  Tina Laurent wrote that she had been too involved to do any recording for about five days and felt guilty.  When she did record again she found the messages, “Tina, what’s happening” and, “Missed you.”

  Erland Babcock wrote, “I had an experience where I had an open recorder and my wife was telling me to put up the Christmas tree and I said I would do it in a little while.  The next day when we listened to the tape at that point a female voice said, ‘not tonight.’” Erland writes that he, indeed, had not gotten around to putting up the tree.  The EVP voice appeared to know this in advance.