One of our friends complained the other day about how people seem to forget about her until October comes around. She is the author of several books on hauntings. We are sure many of our members who conduct hauntings investigation also notice that the attention the media gives them increases in October. The AA-EVP web pages usually receive about one hundred hits a day. The week before Halloween the Association web site will get over six hundred hits a day!

Halloween is a special time for us, as it probably is for many of you. We look at it as a special day of remembering our loved ones and friends now on the other-side. In honor of their memory, we always conduct a special EVP and Video ITC session on Halloween.

So how did Halloween come to be associated with the dead? The Druids celebrated the end of summer with the Celtic New Year called Samhain on October 31. They felt that the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead was at its thinnest on this date. The living would dress up in ghoulish outfits to confuse and scare off the spirits of those who wanted to possess the living in order to evade an uncertain afterlife. The Celtic people would also place food out on their doorsteps to pacify any spirit that might be lurking nearby. It was believed that the spirit would eat the “treats” and then leave the family in peace.

In the ninth century AD, something called “Souling” was a Christian church custom. Christians would go door-to-door gathering small pieces of bread called “soul cakes.” Those collecting the cakes would say prayers on behalf of the deceased relatives of the donors thereby quickening the deceased’s assent to Heaven.

The Roman church took events from Samhain and turned it into a Catholic holiday. The name “Halloween” was taken from All Hallows Eve, which was the evening before All Saints Day. This was the day that the Catholics commemorated their saints.

During the Celtic New Year celebration, all fires would be put out and then a large fire would be lit in the center of the village. The pagan rituals would be performed around this large fire. The idea of Bonfires comes from this Druid ritual.

Many of the games played at Halloween, like bobbing for apples are based on divination practices conducted on Samhain. The first to bite into an apple would be the first to get married that year.

Our present-day idea of the Jack-O-Lantern is based on the lore of the fox fire, will-o-the-wisps, fairies fire, and other mischievous creatures. These were believed to be souls of the dead trapped in our world due to their having committed evil deeds while alive.

A celebration that we think would appeal more to our members is the Day of the Dead. More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death. It was a ritual the indigenous people had been practicing at least 3,000 years called the Day of the Dead. The Spaniards unsuccessfully tried to eradicate this ritual.

In Mexico and many southwest areas of the United States, the Day of the Dead is still celebrated around November 1^st or 2^nd. Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake.

The Day of the Dead is celebrated differently, depending on where you go. In rural Mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. Gravesites are decorated with flowers and candles. Children who have made their transition are brought toys and deceased adults often receive bottles of tequila. Families sit on picnic blankets next to the grave and eat the favorite foods of their loved ones.

In some places people wear wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The skulls are used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations believed came back to visit during the ritual.

Personally we know that it is not at all necessary to go to a gravesite to visit and honor our loved ones. We can do this anywhere we are. The members of the AA-EVP certainly think about, honor and even communicate with their loved ones on not just one but many, many days of the year. Even with this, we still find Halloween special. It is as if the Druids were right and the veil between worlds is more easily penetrated during the Halloween season.

We feel that it would be a fine tradition for AA-EVP members to adopt the “season” of October as a time to honor the rebirth we experience when we transition out of this world.

Lisa and Tom

References: X-Project Paranormal Magazine, “The Paranormal History of Halloween,” by Davy Russell, Editor. Also, The Arizona Republic, “Indigenous people wouldn't let ‘Day of the Dead’ die” by Carlos Miller

What Exactly is a Ghost?

Excerpt from Haunted Notes, Vol 6 Issue 2, Summer 2003 “What Exactly is a Ghost” www.hauntednewjersey.com/

In his popular audio tape titled Ghosts, Poltergeists, and the Electronic Voice, Al Rauber defines the term “Ghost” as the continuing existence of a personal energy and consciousness after physical death is realized. Al says that you can ask ten different Parapsychologists or researchers what a ghost is and get ten different answers. “I think the most important factor is that, for a ghost to exist, it needs both energy and consciousness,” explains Rauber. “Energy without consciousness is what is referred to as a residual haunting or a place memory. A true ‘ghost’ will consciously interact with the environment and with those on this plane of existence. I believe that energy can exist without consciousness, but consciousness cannot exist without energy.” Researchers tend to define the term “ghost” differently depending on their background and approach to the field.

With the influx of the amateur ghost-hunters over the past few years, web-sites have sprung up defining terminology's associated with ghosts. Definitions found on these sites for paranormal terms run the spectrum from totally ridiculous to surprisingly professional.

Acclaimed film maker (The Shadows of Moundsville) and paranormal researcher David Manganelli finds it hard to define the term “ghost” in one sentence. Dave feels that, to do justice to the term, there are two definitions which fit. 1) an intelligent, communicative, discarnate being, seemingly the surviving essence of a person who is otherwise dead and 2) a kind of “living holographic playback” of people and events that once existed/occurred in the “haunted” location. These definitions are very similar to what Rauber had said previously. However, Manganelli prefers to present this holograph, the equivalent of Rauber's residual haunting, as a “ghost.” Manganelli feels there are other important questions associated with a ghost. For example, “Why is the person having the experience; having it at that particular moment?” Also, “Why are some people more sensitive to the phenomena while others at the same place and at the same time are oblivious to it?” Dave goes on to ask, “What is the motivation of the ghost and why do some hauntings seem to be cyclical?” Interestingly enough, these are some of the same questions that were being asked on that cold winter night way back in 1882 when the first truly organized group dedicated to learning about this type of phenomena, The Society for Psychical Research, was established. Quoting Rauber’s Ghosts, Poltergeists, And The Electronic Voice once more, “...organized psychical research is just over 100 years old. Yet in the last 100 plus years, the study of psychical research has not really come too far. Today, psychical research is still about 80% theoretical; at least in my estimation. And obviously in the opinion of other respected people in the field like Manganelli. Will we ever be able to fully define the term, “ghost”? With the advances in parapsychology, psychology, and even quantum physics, it may take time, but eventually the experience and the term will be defined. We are learning more and more about how the mind and the environment influence and are influenced by paranormal experiences. Through the use of EVP and Video ITC (ghostly images captured on video tape), the evidence of the phenomena is being compiled. Hopefully, we will not have to wait another hundred years for a proper definition of a ghost!

Ghosts Haunt Castle Workmen

Builders carrying out a renovation project at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, claim their laborers are being disturbed by the ghosts of prisoners from the Napoleonic Wars. Photographs of renovation work at the Queen Anne building within the castle have captured hazy mysterious blue orbs floating above the builders’ heads. Many of the workers on the site have now refused to be left alone while working and some have requested a special canopy to shield them from the glare of ghostly eyes gazing down on them. Beneath the room that the builders are working in are the cramped vaults where many prisoners from the Napoleonic Wars died horrible deaths.

From The Scotsman, Scotland’s national newspaper online, Ghosts of prisoners past haunt castle workmen by David Lee

www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=222002003

Disturbing EVP may have saved a Life

Ginny Sawyer had spent the morning mowing the yard in the hot Georgia sun and humidity. She took a short break and then decided to take a hose to the air conditioning unit outside. It had not been running properly and Ginny thought that if she cleared the unit’s interior vent of leaves and debris it might operate more efficiently. She was preparing to do this when she heard the phone ring and went back into the house to get it. It was a frantic phone call from Ginny’s sister, Martha Copeland. (As you may remember, the two get recordings from Cathy, Martha’s daughter, and Ginny’s niece.) Martha had recorded Cathy saying that Ginny was dead. This was very unnerving but it brought to Ginny’s mind that she had failed to shut off the current to the air conditioner unit. She immediately did this and then inspected the air conditioner. Fire ants had eaten the insulation off the wires inside the unit. The upsetting EVP may have saved Ginny’s life.

Haunted Movie Theater

Mike Sullivan has an old, small theater in his area that is rumored to be haunted. When he took his wife to the theater to see a movie, he brought along his Panasonic DR60 and QR80 recorders. He knew that it might be difficult to capture good EVP while so many people were around, so he waited until the movie let out. Alone with his son and his son’s friend, he recorded at the bottom of the staircase, which is supposed to be an area where haunting activity has occurred. Mike asked, “Would anyone like to speak with us,” and recorded the EVP, “Yes,” “Randall,” and “help.”

Mike later returned to the theater and took a few pictures in the same area that he had received the EVP messages. The pictures were taken without a flash. Two of the pictures contained faces. Mike wrote, “My son thought they looked like theater masks. This is interesting because the place was a vaudeville theater in the early 1900s, before becoming a silent movie house and eventually what it is today, a very small movie theater.”

During a separate outing, Mike took this unusual picture at Hills Cemetery in Hudson, NH. If you look very close, you should be able to see what appears to be a swirling funnel directly on top of a large white energy ball. If you have a chance, take a look at http://aaevp.com to get a better look at this unusual picture. You will find a link to Mike’s pictures on the front page.

Ghost Directs Family to Old Letter

From the January issue of The Natal Witness, South Africa, comes an article about a local family who had followed instructions from the ghost of a woman and located a letter in their house that had been written 40 years earlier by a former resident.

The family’s 15-year-old daughter was the first to see an apparition. She said a young woman was visiting her at night and telling her to look for a letter. The young woman was clad in white with blue eyes and long blonde hair. The woman’s feet did not touch the ground and her face looked like a bright light. The mother’s boyfriend later saw the same apparition reflected in a mirror.

In early January the mother had a dream about where the woman had placed the letter. In the dream she saw the woman put the letter in a groove in the oven where bread was baked in the old days and that is exactly where it was found. It was in spotless condition.

The letter was written on December 23, 1961, and was addressed to the woman’s children. The family now living in the house has appealed to whomever lived in the house at that time to come and get the letter.

The outside of the letter read, “You will find when the time is right.” The woman had written that she and her husband had been unhappy for a long time and that they had not meant to hurt their children. She wrote that it had hurt her and the children to see their father with another woman. She also wrote that she did not have long to live. She asked her children to never forget her and said that she would always love them. The letter ends, “Goodbye my angels, your loving Mother.”

The Ghost of Private Rex

In the June issue of the Academy of Religious and Psychical Research Bulletin, editor Michael Tymn, wrote a very interesting article on Hereward Carrington’s book Psychical Phenomena and The War. Tymn listed various stories that Carrington had documented regarding prophecies, premonitions, apparitions, dreams, clairvoyant description of death, and communications from “dead” solders during World War I. One of them was the story of Private Rex.

Private Rex’s unit was being marched to another area by a Lieutenant Smith. Smith noticed that Private Rex was falling behind and asked him if he was hungry. The Private responded, “A little,” and so Smith gave him a malted milk tablet taking note that the private looked pale and that his hand was icy cold.

The officer went off to take care of other matters and when he returned once more to check on Private Rex he could not find him. Lieutenant Smith was then reminded by another officer that Private Rex had been killed three days earlier in battle.

Smith told Carrington that he had temporarily forgotten due to the stress of battle and the deaths of so many others, but he was adamant that he had not only seen and talked to Private Rex, but had also touched him. Smith is quoted as saying, “It takes away all the fear of death, for I know that Private Rex lives, though dead.”  From War and Psychical Phenomena, ARPR Bulletin Volume 12 No. 2, by Michael E. Tymn, editor.

Faces on Turned Off Television

The first picture, which was cropped from the original photograph, appeared on the cover of the October 1995 National Spiritualist Summit. It was taken by a Las Vegas family when the boy had pulled himself up by a chair to stand for the first time. The woman, who can be seen on the television screen, was recognized as the photographer’s sister-in-law, who had transitioned a year and a half earlier. The television was turned off.

 

 

The second picture, which was cropped from the original photograph, appeared in Le Messager No. 37, the journal of the French ITC group, Infinitude. The picture was submitted by Français F. Sabatier & S. Barrez of Marseille. The television was turned off at the time and the face on the screen is thought to be a guardian angle. 

We have collected other such photographs from various sources, as has Jacques Blanc-Garin of Infinitude. Jacques observed that, except for one example, all that he has seen have been associated with a small child. Also, the television is turned off in just about every example.

This is a form of ITC that is quite different from photographic and Video ITC, in that optical noise does not appear to be an important ingredient for image formation. It is generally recognized that “spirit photography” is usually a normal photograph in which a disembodied entity is “caught” in the scene. Photographic ITC is an ordinary photograph that contains the features of a person that has been impressed into the picture by the transfiguration of available optical noise caused by such things as a textured wall or swirling clouds. In the case of these faces on television screens, the “extra” is not a spirit in a photograph, but possibly one that is on the surface of a television screen that is incidentally in the photograph. This seems to require a very different process or treatment of energy.

We need to see more examples of this phenomenon before a reasonable hypothesis can be formulated. So, please keep an eye out for more examples in your photographs. We would like to have the example, permission to use it in a study and possibly include it in a newsletter, on the aaevp.com web site and/or in a book, and details about the circumstances of the photograph; for instance, a family gathering, child’s first steps, type of camera, others in the room and such. We would also be interested in your ideas of how this phenomenon occurs.

Reflections of an Unseen Man?

Erland Babcock recently posted a most unusual photograph to the AA-EVP Egroup. He was sitting in a chair in front of a television set, and while holding his camera up to his eye, took a picture of the television set. The resulting photograph is shown here with all but the center of the television screen cropped out. You can see that there is a man standing in the middle of the scene. The right half of the picture is the same as the left, but the rest of the room has been erased.

In the right rendition of the photograph, the bottom set of arrows point to Erland’s legs at about his hips. The next set up point to what appears to be the standing man’s left hand on the side of the chair. The third set of arrows point to what appears to be the man’s right hand and about where Erland’s elbow should be. The last set of arrows on the left point to where we believe Erland’s head is located.

That means the top set of arrows point to the standing man’s head—a man who was not physically in the room! Assuming we are seeing what we believe we are seeing, this picture should serve as a reminder that our (usually) unseen etheric friends are always nearby.

Considerations for Improving the Quality of EVP Contacts

by Stefan Bion

Published in VTF Post No. 10 1/2003, page 28/29, translated by George Wynne. The VTF Post is a Quarterly publication of the VTF, which is a German EVP Association. Stefan is a computer expert, the VTF webmaster and developer of the EVPMaker software program (www.stefanbion.de/evpmaker).

***

Ever since the discovery of EVP phenomenon with the publication of the books of Friedrich Jürgenson and Konstantin Raudive, the world has anticipated the “breakthrough” that will finally bring us better, louder, more intelligible and more extensive voice transmissions. The fact remains that, over a period of decades, countless experimenters, singly or cooperatively, have tried out and developed the most varied kinds of methods but the hoped for breakthrough has eluded us (even though in the 1980s we had the impression that we had reached our goal).

While in the early days of my work with this phenomenon I was also very optimistic, I soon came to the realization that substantial progress can hardly be made solely by means of technical improvements, but that other “rules of the game” prevail. No matter how optimal the technical conditions or how sterling the intentions for the improvement of contacts, no matter how strong the longing of a grieving survivor for the voice of a child or a partner, nor how sincere the promise of the predeceased to make contact from the other side, we still do not have the capability of ensuring that this contact is actually achieved. And if we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that we know next to nothing about the laws that allow for stable communications with the inhabitants of the spirit world.

Consider the concept that there are “levels” or “layers” (like an onion) that connect the spirit to the material world. With the material world representing the outermost layer, every [interior] layer automatically comprises all of its adjoining interior layers. [With this cosmology,] the “lowest common denominator” for communications with the spirit level is the layer that is common to both levels.

The “waking” consciousness of the inhabitants of each level normally occurs on the surface of their respective layer of the “onion,” the deeper levels are generally subconscious. If we, as the inhabitants of the seventh (or material) layer, want to communicate with the inhabitants of the sixth layer, this sixth layer, also known as the astral level, will serve as the lowest common denominator. If we want to communicate with the inhabitants of the fifth level, it will be this level that is common to both communicators, and so on. It is the partner in the more exterior layer who needs to adjust his or her consciousness to the more interior layer and not the other way around.

People who have the natural talent to do this are known as mediums. But even for those human beings not naturally endowed with special paranormal sensitivities, a psychic harmonization before and during the recording session with the level to be contacted, could possibly bring improvements in the quality of the contact. Certain rituals or ceremonies designed to quiet the emotions and the roaming mind could be suitable for this purpose. How this is to be translated into practice has to be worked out by each individual or group.

Of course it would be useful to request from “the other side,” pertinent suggestions for the improvement of contact, both as regards recording procedures and technical pointers. One needs to be open in this respect to what might initially seem to be unusual suggestions. What are important in my view are a serious engagement and a positive basic attitude. Assuming that the person is working with a group of experimenters, the least discomfort experienced by a member of the group needs to be talked about. The group needs to consider whether it is on the right track with their contact efforts because, with all due respect for the spirit world, we should not allow ourselves to be made fools of by trickster spirits on the other side.

Johannes Greber mentions in his book, Communication with the Spirit World, some challenges posed to séance participants from time to time by mischievous spirits on the other side. The participants in such a séance must develop a feeling over time whether or not a contact is positive and constructive and serves a common objective. They must then decide for themselves what needs to be done, such as ending the contact if necessary. It is probably helpful to request a guiding spirit on the other side to arrange contacts with other beings and to guide the communications. Perhaps there is even a “team” on the other side that is as interested, as we are, in the improvement of EVP contacts and that is just waiting to work with the terrestrial team.

Unless there are already present among the group, persons with a degree of psychic capabilities, or who develop these in the course of the sittings, it would be advantageous in the beginning to invite a medium to the recording sessions, or to independently visit a medium to seek advice on ways to proceed or to ask help in obtaining a spirit contact. Whether this medium is of the trance, automatic writing or pendulum variety should not matter in principle.… In the ideal case, the medium would be personally interested in the expansion of knowledge and improvement of transcommunication and volunteer to work with the research group. It would not be essential for the medium to participate in the meetings of the group, but he or she could be visited from time to time to obtain information and suggestions from the other side for the improvement of recordings or further research work.

It is important that all the results obtained, and knowledge gained, is made available to the general public. There are to be no “company secrets,” no patents, no copyrights, no sealed instruments; everything is to be in the public domain! After all, the knowledge concerning the possibility of initiating contacts with other dimensions belongs to all of humanity, not to anyone in particular.

Video ITC Progress Report

The Video ITC experiments we are conducting using a video feedback loop continue to produce interesting results. With the work on the book, conference planning and operation of the Association, we do not experiment nearly as often as we would like. Perhaps the infrequent experiments help to explain why the phenomenal features we are finding in the video frames continue to hover at the verge of being outstanding. As you should be able to see, even in the poor reproduction of the printed versions, the images are tantalizing. It is as if all we need do is adjust the focus a little more and we will be able to see such detail that it will finally be possible to decisively identify loved ones. As our experiments continue, we have every expectation that our helpers on the other side will work with us to achieve that clarity.

The picture at the top is of a little girl or boy facing to your left. Even with the video distortion around the child’s chin, it is obvious that he or she is very young.

The second picture is of a woman facing to your right. It is clear that she is wearing a dress and hat that might have been popular in the 1940s. We are impressed with this image because of the sense of “demure” we feel in the three dimensional feature.

The bottom picture is apparently of a girl facing to your right and possibly wearing a black hat or shawl. You can see her blond bangs protruding from the shawl.

Support from the Vatican

Victor Zammit wrote this for his weekly Victor’s Friday Report several months ago. “It may surprise a number of people that the Vatican actually has a psychic department and has priests who make contact with spirits. The Vatican has a department that deals with the Electronic Voice Phenomenon and is getting spirit voices from the ‘spirit world.’ It must not be forgotten that for many years it was the Vatican which urged people NOT to meddle in any aspect of psychic phenomena; indeed it prohibited Catholics from doing so - unless specifically exempted. Now it is NOT a 'sin' to conduct EVP experiments.

Historically, in the first centuries of Christianity, psychic mediums were given the same prestige as the priests in temples and churches. But eventually the priests lobbied to get rid of the mediums because the mediums were getting information which conflicted with what the priests were allowed to accept.” For more information about the Vatican's view on EVP, read Chapter 3 of Victor’s book A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife, Irrefutable Objective Evidence available online for free at www.victorzammit.com/book/index.html .

Raymond Cass Communicates

By Jack Pleasant

I consider Raymond Cass to have been Britain's most successful EVP researcher. As a journalist, I met him in the 1970s when taped messages from the dead was an unknown subject to me. His remarkable tapes of voices in various languages, some in polyglot and some, movingly singing, were extremely convincing. And it seemed as if spirits were constantly around to react to his tape-recording. On one occasion, as he was sipping a whisky as a cold cure, he received a message, “I’ll have a Schapps.”

Raymond's tapes are a wonderful legacy from a remarkable man. When, in later years, his results became frustratingly infrequent, he told me that he felt older mediums lacked the energy needed by the spirits to come through. To my pleasure, Raymond, who passed away on October 3^rd last year, has recently spoken on my recorder, only his name when asked for, but enough for me to know that he has already adjusted to the Other Side. His wife, Edith, recently formed the Raymond Cass Foundation in their home town of Hull to keep his memory and his EVP work alive. Its first meeting, she tells me, was a great success.

Distinguishing EVP from Random Sounds

The developer of EVPMaker, Stefan Bion, recently explained how he differentiates between fortuitous concatenation of bits of sound that seem like words and genuine EVP found in EVPMaker sound tracks. “Well, since EVPmaker is actually a rather stupid program, and only generates ‘random noise,’ you will of course always hear something. But, not everything which is heard is an actual EVP. To decide what is a candidate for an EVP, the experimenter has to use his own criteria. Mine are: If I can hear a meaningful statement or an answer which immediately follows a question, without having to repeat the same sequence over and over, or if an EVP addresses me by name, etc., then this sequence has a good chance to be accepted as an EVP. Another very strong criteria would be paranormal changes of the raw material - but these are absolutely rare, unfortunately.

Family Recognizes ITC Picture

Jacques Blanc-Garin of the French ITC group, Infinitude, recently notified us that an acquaintance had recognized the face of her recently transitioned husband in one of our Video ITC images on the AA-EVP web site. The image in question is shown above-right, beside a photograph of the husband. A color version is at the web site: http://aaevp.com/examples/butler_gallery1.htm .

Even after our suggestion that it was difficult to recognize anyone, given the poor quality of the ITC images, the family insisted that it was their loved one. Indeed, several members of the family were very insistent. 

It is natural for a person to look at the image in question and assume that the family might be over anxious to have proof of a loved one’s survival. It is natural, that is, until that person has worked with EVP and other forms of these phenomena. As it turns out, a great deal of information we gather from a Video ITC feature or an EVP example, is dependent on the observer. We see that the phenomenal utterances and images have something of a holographic nature that seems to cause them to exist in more than our three dimensional universe. Thus, we apparently hear or see the physical aspect of these examples with physical senses … and their etheric aspects with inner senses.

Jacques told us that the family asked for a sign that their loved one survived beyond physical death, and that they believe the Video ITC image is the answer they sought.

 

Volunteers Needed for

AA-EVP Conference

Martha Copeland has agreed to be the Chairperson for the AA-EVP 2004 conference. She will be coordinating the volunteers. Several people have already agreed to help but more are needed to help with such things as registration and monitoring the doors to the conference room and workshops. Volunteers will also be needed in the haunted room as monitors while it is open for attendees to investigate and try to record EVP. If you would like to help, please Email Martha at [address withheld]

EVP Corrects Errors in Date of Death

Tina Laurent told us that ever since she was very little she knew that her father had died during the war while on a destroyer. “I have all the records even the letter that the War Office sent to my mother saying that he had been on the Vortigern when it was torpedoed on Mar 13, 1942. Later on I learned that his name had been put on a plaque on Portsmouth Naval Memorial in Hampshire.”

On March 14, Tina recorded the name Thackeray. This is the last name of her father and her maiden name. On March 15, Tina was looking up something on the Internet and suddenly got the idea to look up the Portsmouth Naval Memorial to verify that her father’s name was on it. She found it easily and printed it out. As she read it, she realized that there was a small discrepancy. The date of his death, as stated on the memorial, was March 15, not the 13^th as she had always believed from the letter sent to the family by the War Office.

Tina wrote, “You can understand how strange I felt as I suddenly realized that that very day was March 15, and all of this had come about because I had recorded his surname on March 14. You can’t say that my subconscious had made me manifest his name because I’d always believed that his death was on March 13. I have to presume that the War Office letter written 61 years ago was incorrect. There must have been a lot of confusion at that time, understandably.

I do believe that my father, William Makepeace Thackeray, was able to get me to record his name the day before the anniversary of his death so that this misunderstanding could be corrected.”

Lynda Noel wrote that she had lost many loved ones and had read many books about death. However, it was Sarah Estep’s book Voices of Eternity that she calls a gift from God. It took her two years to try recording and the first question that she asked was if her son Danny had died October 7. She recorded,“No, on 6^th of October.”

Lynda told her husband what she had recorded and he told her something that he had not told her before. The Doctor had spoken to her husband on October 6 and told him that Danny was brain dead. The doctor said they should let Danny go and turn off the life support equipment. Her husband asked the doctor for one more day and did not tell Lynda.

Donations

This is the last NewsJournal before the end of the tax year. When you are planning your 2004 tax return, please remember that the AA-EVP is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, and that your donations are tax deductible. Membership benefits, such as the June 2004 conference, have continued to improve without an increase in membership dues. But operating costs have increased. For instance, we have recently had to replace a computer and laser printer. So if you can, please help keep the AA-EVP going with a tax deductible donation. We need your help!

Frequency and Other Ideas

By Stacy Rawlings

I was once offered the hypothesis of existences made up of different frequencies overlaid over one another like layered scarves or veils. At some points these worlds intercept, having to do with magnetic fields or some such idea (and a thinning of the veils theory as well). Could EVP and other similar phenomenon be a result of these portals of sorts? I read an account once of a gentleman who heard voices in his son’s room. He would go in nightly, and almost as if he were eavesdropping on the speakers, he would hear their conversation, which was mundane and unimportant in content. Interestingly, he began to notice that the spot in which he could best hear the voices moved further toward a particular direction each night, (I don't remember which direction that was). He invited others to listen and they too heard the voices. The voices continued to move each night until he was in the street ... slowly they moved on and he lost track of where they had gone. (Could have been through another home or something for all I know.) I just remember the account; it had an odd feeling of truth and fortified my own personal beliefs about what EVP might be.

Since I have spoken to people I know are dead, or at least they represented themselves as such, I do believe some voices may be from that dimension or frequency, but I also believe others are from alternate dimensions or layers of the veils. Most of my EVP are mundane and pointless in content to me personally, interesting as they are just for being on the tape, they strike no personal chord for me. Occasionally, as though to peak my interest and lure me back to rigorous taping (usually when I’m bored to my death of taping for lack of interesting results), I get a doozie that does hit home, which is an interesting point too, I think. “Who are they,” is the million dollar question I believe, and I’m far from prepared to commit to any one particular source. Unfortunately when I ask that question, I get no definitive answer. “I’m the dead,” “I’m in another dimension,” “I’m an alien,” “I’m you....” I’d appreciate any answer to that question.

Dead Skeptics: all dressed up and nowhere to go.

(Thanks also goes to Victor Zammit’s Friday Report for this funny one liner.)

Photographic ITC

We had previously brought you examples of the Photographic ITC being collected by Jutta Liebmann of the German VTF. As you may remember, Jutta photographs scenes from regular programming that are displayed on her television screen. She then closely examines the resulting photographs, and often finds features that are very reminiscent of human faces.

This techniques is essentially the same as the video loopback technique we use in Video ITC. In both approaches, the “background noise” used in the formation of the paranormal images is optically noisy pictures on the television screen.

The first frame is a photograph of the television set that has been cropped to leave only the screen. A video-taped program was paused for the picture. Look closely at the feature in the center. The second image is an enlargement of that feature.

The Donner Party Investigation

In 1846, a group of settlers trying to make it to California broke away from a larger wagon train to take what they thought was a short cut. The short cut turned out to be a mistake and cost the settlers precious time. Knowing that time was critical, they hurried across Nevada and toward the Sierra mountains which had to be crossed into California. By the time they reached the Sierras it was October and early snows had already blocked the high passes. It was a horrible and tragic event for this group of pioneers who found themselves stranded in the unforgiving Sierra Mountains. They ate their live stock and then were forced into the cannibalism of those who had died. Of the eighty-two people in the party, forty-seven survived the starvation and cannibalism to be rescued by parties coming east from Sutter's Fort in February and March, 1847. Thirty-five perished in the snow and cold of the Sierras, while five died before they reached the mountains. Two Indians also lost their lives in the rescue attempts.

The memorial to this group of pioneers is a short thirty minute drive from our home in Reno. Author, historian and paranormal investigator, Janice Oberding (http://hauntednevada.com), who has been carrying out a series of investigations in and around the area of the Donner monument and Alder Creek, asked us to go on one of the investigations with her and also show her how to record for EVP.

There is much controversy regarding the death of Tamsen Donner and many people believe a man named Lewis Keseburg murdered her and then cannibalized her. Keseburg admitted to cannibalizing the body of Mrs. Donner but said that she had died on her own.

Tom, Janice and I all recorded at the same time. The recorders were a Panasonic DR60, QR80 and QR200. At our first stop we recorded while Janice told us the story of the mystery of Tamsen Donner’s death. Janice was saying that Tamsen had walked seven miles from the Alder creek site to the Donner summit area after the death of her husband. She was saying, “She was very tired, he (Lewis Keseburg) offered her what he had but (Janice pauses and takes a breath) she said no she couldn’t eat.” A woman’s voice urgently saying “Food Human” was recorded during the time Janice paused.

Janice went on with the story saying “He made her comfortable (pause) she laid down and the next morning he said she was dead.” At the pause in this sentence, again a woman urgently said in an EVP, “Fought first.”

Both of these EVP were loud Class A. We did not really understand the “food human” EVP until we reported it to Janice and she told us that this is what he would have had to offer her; food that came from a human.

The EVP “fought first” suggests that the spirit that recorded the EVP believes that Tamsen Donner and Lewis Keseburg fought. We ask three times if there was anything that they (the spirits) would like to set straight. Three times we got the response “He killed her.” We feel that we should say that Tamsen Donner’s daughter met Lewis Keseburg in her adult years and said that she did not believe that he had killed her mother.

Adobe Purchased Cool Edit

Adobe Systems Incorporated has purchased the rights to the Cool Edit line of software from Syntrillium Software Incorporated. We have also learned that Adobe has discontinued the Cool Edit 2000 product.

Adobe has rebranded Cool Edit Pro as Adobe Audition and is selling the product for $299. A $99 upgrade for owners of Cool Edit 2000 and Cool Edit Pro is available; however, we do not know if there is any value in purchasing the upgrade, other than to maintain a current license. See: www.adobe.com/products/audition/main.html

A letter has been sent to Adobe asking for assistance in making an Adobe version of Cool Edit 2000 available. Time will tell if Adobe responds. In the meantime, AA-EVP members are looking at alternatives. Cool Edit Pro has many features that EVP experimenters do not require, so Cool Edit 2000 has become something of a standard around the world for EVP. The task for EVP experimenters now is to find a new standard that satisfies our needs, is easy to us and reasonably priced.

If you are looking for affordable, sound editing software, take a look at the $99 Sonic Forge Studio 6.0 (www.sonicfoundry.com) or the $40 GoldWave (www.goldwave.com). Mike Sullivan reminded the Egroup that Loretta Woodward found a $15 alternative called Acoustica (www.aconas.com). Also, James Jones located a free program that looks useful called Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net). All of these are MS Windows programs. We will report to you via the next newsletter and the Internet if we find a more satisfactory alternative. Please let us know if you have a suggestion. Our objective is to find a sound editor that we can recommend as a standard that all of us can use for EVP. Having such a standard enables sharing of techniques.

Airman Comes back in Séance

On October 5, 1930, the British dirigible R101 went down during a thunderstorm in France on its maiden flight from England to India. Everyone felt that lightening had caused the crash in which all aboard perished.

Two days after the tragedy in a séance at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, Flight Lieutenant H. C. Irwin, Captain of the airship, suddenly possessed the entranced medium Eileen Garret. The Captain gave a highly technical account of how the airship crashed. The narrative was taken down and later submitted to the Air Ministry. Some of the data was classified as top secret and the information attracted the attention of the RAF Intelligence and Scotland Yard. At the Court of Inquiry, 6 months later, many of the technical details that came through Eileen Garret’s séances were confirmed.

AA-EVP member George Wynne wrote, “Information on the R101 air crew ‘drop-in’ into a séance by Eileen Garret two days after the crash in 1930 is the strongest indirect confirmation of the survival hypothesis I have encountered in my life.”

A fascinating 300 page book to read on this event is The Airmen Who Would Not Die by John Fuller (1979 Putnam Publishing). The book is now out of print but can be found at AddAll Used and Out of Print Books at http://used.addall.com/ .

News about Members

·   Original founder of the AA-EVP pioneer researcher Sarah Estep’s book, Voices of Eternity in now available to read online or by download from http://aaevp.com/voices_of_eternity_web.pdf. This is a PDF file, so to save the book to your computer, you should use the PDF reader “Save” function.

·   An International Conference on, “Current Research into Survival of Physical Death, with Special Reference to ITC,” will be held at the cultural Centre in Vigo, Spain, on 23^rd-25^th April 2004. Anabela Cardoso’s non-profit ITC Journal is hosting the conference. There is a large list of imminent presenters. For more information write [Address Changed]. You can see complete information on the Conference at [Changed].

Thoughts from Members

·   Karen Mossey wrote, “When I first started EVP, I was so into it that it almost preoccupied my life. When I could not get to my editing and recording, it would stress me out so I had to back off and put everything into its proper perspective and by doing that I enjoy my research so much more and get much more out of it.”

·   New member, Marie Yates, says that she began taping for the same reason that many have; the loss of a loved one. She wrote, “…I am thankful for whatever I get. I wonder sometimes if they [those on the other side] learn as we go along, or get stronger the harder we try. Steven, my ex-husband, seems to be with his cousin Mallory when he visits. I believe they work together to get a stronger message to us. Both of their lives were interrupted suddenly at young ages and I wonder if this also plays a part in the need to come across to us.”

·   Paul Sitar wrote, “It's been known for decades … that our interpretations of the content of EVP tend to be very subjective—different listeners hear something different in the same sample, even when everyone agrees the voice is loud and apparently clear. Formal studies of EVP comprehension conducted by Hans Bender, Theo Locher and David Ellis in the 1960s and 70s have established this robust effect very convincingly.”

Loretta Woodward replied, “… even in everyday conversation people depend heavily on context to interpret what they are hearing. If someone came up to you out of the blue and stated a few words, you might be hard pressed to decode what it is they said or meant.”

·   Alexander MacRae wrote about background sound for EVP, “The late G. Gilbert Bonner of the UK, who was well advanced in EVP before I heard of it, had thousands of cassettes filled with recordings. He was the first one to use a voice-mixture as the sound source—he had three tapes running simultaneously in French.

He had a little wine and fell asleep on the couch with all tapes running. When he awoke somewhere on the tape was probably the best EVP ever recorded. A very light very clear woman's voice saying, ‘Doesn't Bonner look ridiculous.’”

·   Susan Bové gives a tip to think about when doing a hauntings investigation. She says that it is imperative to keep accurate times on pictures and events during an investigation. Susan writes, “If your camera does not have a time stamp, you need to have a pen and paper to record each time that you take a picture. With an audio recorder, you can just voice the times into the recorder and document them after the investigation.”

When everyone’s evidence is in, Susan coordinates the times and often finds that when one person is getting a positive picture, another person may have recorded a voice. Investigator may feel like someone has touched them at the same time an EVP is recorded or a paranormal picture is taken.

AA-EVP Conference 2004

It has been exciting to make arrangements for the EVP conference that the AA-EVP will sponsor in Reno, Nevada June 3-6, 2004. Our friends on the other side seem to be finding ways to help, as well. For instance, we called many hotels in Reno and received bids that were too high for hotel and meeting rooms. The hotel that did want to work with us, may well turn out to be the most haunted building in the Downtown Reno area.

While planning the conference, we found the people at the Club Cal-Neva not only open minded but very interested in what the AA-EVP is doing. The convention sales rep turned out to be fun to work with and very excited and interested in the paranormal voices. On our first visit to the Club Cal-Neva, after finding out a little about the AA-EVP, the sales rep told us stories about the ghosts in the Nevadan Hotel. She made us feel welcome, and by the time we went back for a second look at the facilities, she had actually set up meetings with four employees who had seen and had various interactions with the ghosts.

We were very involved with our interviews of the employees, and although we were hearing stories about the ghost, we were not actively seeking them at the time, nor were we recording or trying to tune into them. We had not even brought the recorders or a camera. Lisa was very surprised when one of the ghosts found her. “We were interviewing two of the young men at the front desk in the lobby. All of a sudden I felt this energy come rushing up

to my back. It was as if someone had run up behind me and was now inches from my back, looking over my shoulder and listening to what was being said about the ghosts. I actually turned around, just to check, but I knew that I would physically see no one. I know that this entity was a man. Because of the situation, I did not want to make a scene in front of the two employees and did not say anything to anyone until Tom and I were alone. I figured that we would have plenty of time to get to know these spirits in June. But I can say without a doubt that the place is haunted! One of the entities wanted to make sure that I knew that he was around and interested in hearing us talk about the invisibles who have made the hotel home. Can you imagine what it is going to be like when they see a recorder and come to know that we can hear them?” The hotel has the makings for a very intriguing time when the conference is not in session.

We now have good information and background, not only from interviews, but from historical research. It will be very interesting to compare the information and experiences our members get while attending the conference. While it is true that there is much more to EVP than ghost hunting, recording in haunted locations does provide important opportunities for people to collect good examples of the phenomenal voices under field conditions. We believe that the Nevadan will prove to be an excellent place to record, and from what we have learned, the three or four known ghosts can be expected to happily participate.