From Our Viewpoint

The Vigo cultural center was a wonderful facility for a conference. The speakers were top notch, most all of them with PhDs. We were extremely pleased to make further contacts with those who work at ll Laboratorio in Italy. Daniele Gulla, Paolo Presi, Dr. Felice Masi and Dr. Enrico Marabini are conducting research into the nature of ITC that is very important, but their work needs to reach the English speaking world. Some agreements were made and we are very hopeful that future NewsJournals will be carrying more specific news about the findings coming from these important researchers.

Only four weeks after returning from Spain, we had a conference to put on. It seems to have been very well received. We sincerely thank the AA-EVP members that volunteered their time to help make the conference possible. Positive comments and compliments were received on every single presentation and workshop. All workshops and presentations were either video or audio recorded by the very professional Mark Waters of Backcountry Productions. You will find an order form for these included as an insert in this NewsJournal and at aaevp.com.

As people left the room after the closing hours of the conference, we were surprised at the number of people who stopped to tell us that the conference had been more than just great. Several people called it a spiritual experience. One person even said it had changed their life. These comments made all the hard work worth while.

There was another camera crew at the AA-EVP conference. They were hired by Universal Studios to collect material for the upcoming prerelease advertising campaign for White Noise, a film staring Michael Keaton to be released sometime next year.

We had been contacted by Gold Circle Films in January and told about a movie they were working on called White Noise. They told us that EVP played an important part in the plot of the move.

In March, Gold Circle Films producer, Paul Brooks, called us and told us that Universal Studios had agreed to distribute the movie, and that they planned to make the term, “EVP,” as well known as “UFO” and “Crop Circles” are today. Brooks asked if he could fly us down to a meeting in Los Angles with the people from Universal. We agreed and attended a two hour meeting with members of the Marketing and Publicity Departments. In the meeting they talked to us about possible ways to market the film and help the public learn about EVP before the movie even came out. Those in attendance asked many questions about EVP and were intrigued when we played some of the voices for them. By the end of the meeting, almost all of them wanted to try to record the voices.

At one point, Lisa said something about there being just the two of us managing the Association, and the amount of work that had been generated by being on the Coast to Coast radio show. In that instance we had received hundreds of pieces of correspondence and the next week had been a blur of trying to handle it all. The AA-EVP web site nearly crashed with the thousands of hits that were generated. She continued by saying that a thousand such query letters could bury the Association beyond recovery. Lisa looked up to see one of the men smiling. He was smiling because she thought a thousand queries was a lot. In other words, Universal thinks that the AA-EVP web site might get hundreds of thousands of hits and that we might receive thousands of query letters.

Universal sent six people to the AA-EVP conference. They filmed many of the workshops and presentations and conducted several private interviews. The footage may be used in a prerelease media package and/or in a companion disk when the DVD is released.

The movie is a double edged sword. One of the AA-EVP charters is to get information about EVP out to the public and this mission may be accomplished with the release of the movie next year. The other side of the sword is trying to figure out how to accommodate more members and keep it as personal as it is today.

We are trying to make some changes in preparation for this possible tidal wave of questions and new members. The paperwork part of running the Association is lots of work even for the two of us; however, we are preparing to hire a programmer to move the membership information into a database with a single data entry point and the ability to generate the forms we require for such operations as mailing the Journal and updating the cross-country list. Right now we are going through too many steps and spending an inordinate amount of time to just update and change something as simple as an email address. Hopefully, having a better database will enable us to outsource this data input for a short time if we need to.

Due to the amount of email on the Egroup, 75% of the AA-EVP members that were in it have had to resign from it. We hope that these members will be glad to hear that we have purchased a member’s only message board--see the article in this journal called “New Discussion Board” on page 6. Now there will be a way for members to communicate and keep up with what is happening without their email accounts being overloaded.

Numerous people have told us that we are not charging enough for the expanded services of the AA-EVP and larger NewsJournal. After debating this for over a year we have raised membership dues $10 for US members and $5 for International members. We are asking International members who request the NewsJournal be delivered via regular mail for an additional $8. People who were a member as of June 15, 2004 will be grandfathered in at the old rates for their current membership year plus an additional year as Founding Members. We hope that everyone will feel this is fair.

We have also created another membership category for those who can and do provide financial support to the AA-EVP. This membership level will be called a Sustaining Member. The cost will be $100 per year and the persons name will be listed in the NewsJournal along with those who make donations each quarter. We deeply thank our donors as you have kept us going. Your names are listed in this journal and we are going to make a place to express our thanks in the journal, quarterly.

As you can see from the article on the movie White Noise they are actually publicizing it using the term Electronic Voice Phenomena and EVP! We know that the movie is a thriller and unfortunately it might have a horror type ending.  By working with Universal, we will have the opportunity to address the positive side of EVP and have a forum to get the truth about the phenomena out there.

Universal has told us that, when they put up a trailer on the movie at their website, the end of the trailer will have a message that says something like, “For more information on EVP, go to aaevp.com.” Universal advised us that the site this advertisement will be on gets hundreds of thousands of hits a week. It does sound like many more people are going to learn about EVP. Will we be able to handle it?

Analysis of the Phenomenal Voices

Daniele Gullà, of the Italian Il Laboratorio, gave a lecture at the Vigo ITC conference concerning the analysis of EVP voices. At the heart of this analysis is the determination that forensic voice analysis techniques can help determine the paranormality of voices in some instances. As Gullà stated in his concluding comments in the article, Computer–Based Analysis of Supposed Paranormal Voice, “If in some cases, … the anomalies are clear and would lean toward a high paranormal index of probability. In other cases, the ambiguity of the data does not allow a clear interpretation and differentiation of the event.”

As we understand the issues of analysis, most examples of EVP do not contain the fundamental frequency caused by the human voice box. As the fundamental frequency passes through the mouth, harmonic components are formed and can be displayed as frequency formants, as shown in the above figure. You can see, for instance, this particular person in speaking the letter “J” causes formants in the range of approximately 1.9 to 3.8 KHz.

This and other such technical analysis provides many reference points that help researchers relate one voice to another when the samples contain the same words.

Gullà discusses much more regarding the analysis of the voices in his complete article now posted at aaevp.com

Possible Thermographic Evidence of Haunting

Daniele Gullà also discussed the work he and other members of Il Laboratorio are conducting using thermographic photography. The article describing this is still just in Italian, but we believe that Paolo Presi will be translating it this summer. If so, we will attempt to have the article included on the AA-EVP web site.

The main point we wish to bring you here is that it is possible to photograph the air that surrounds the cool spots often reported during etheric-to-physical phenomenal activity. In the usual Infra Red (IR) method of photography the camera is calibrated to photograph objects in the field of view, such as walls and chairs. Colors are artificially added to the picture, so that different colors represent different ranges of temperature. As a rule, the camera is calibrated to ignore the air.

In Gullà’s work, a thermal camera is used that is calibrated to detect subtle changes in the temperature of the air. As you can see in Figure 2, a person appears to be standing in a room; however, the person has no legs. In fact, there was no physical person standing in the scene. 

If one were to use a temperature probe to make many temperature measurements of a cool spot in a hauntings situation, and were to plot the resulting points on a graph, the above picture may well resemble the resulting graph.

The Raytheon camera used by the lab is expensive and is not readily available for most field investigators, but it might be worth the effort to investigate the surplus and used market. We will report to you as we gain more information about Gullà’s work. In the meantime, keep an eye on http://aaevp.com for the eventual release of the document from which we copied Figure 2.

The Evolving Video ITC of Sonia Rinaldi

We brought you news that Brazilian ITC researcher, Sonia Rinaldi, has begun using a video camera along with her telephone sessions connecting still physical family members with loved ones on the other side. (See Spring and Summer 2003 NewsJournals.) Sonia has now turned the video camera away from the television screen and is directing the camera at one of the members of a grieving family. She uses a Panasonic PV DV 400 video camera in Mirror mode, which produces a video frame that is vertically split in the middle, the left side a mirror image of the right side. We will show you just one side for clarity.

Sonia describes how a couple, who had lost their young son, Allan, came to her home for a session. Before beginning the session, she recorded the father, James’, face in natural light. Sonia described what happened next, “Then, after some 30 frames, James’ face became very young. His wife and I immediately noticed, because we were able to see this in real time on the computer screen. His wife shouted, ‘It is my son! He had such long face ….’ Meaning that James’ face is more round. He is also 57 years old.”

You can see in the picture below from left to right, the image of James as seen in natural light, James again as seen in the mirrored recording, Allan as he appeared in physical life and the transfigured image of James and apparently Allan. Especially note the left eyebrow and thinner face.

In a second example of Sonia Rinaldi’s work, Luiza and Marcelo Hippe visited her with the desire to contact their son, André.

Sonia had Marcelo stand in front of the camera using natural light. “The moment he was in front of the camera,” Sonia wrote us, “and Luiza was beside me, watching the PC screen where we could see in real time the images registered. All of a sudden, Marcelo’s face changed completely into a young boy’s face, and Luiza promptly recognized her son André and started talking to him while we recorded the conversation.”

In the picture, Marcelo’s face is shown as it was seen in the first few frames of the video. The middle three frames show the transfiguration of Marcelo’s face into André’s features. A picture of André while still in the physical is at the right. Especially note the softening of the lines around the mouth and the increased definition under the chin.

Some of you noted the apparent transfiguration of the optical noise around your face when you had your picture taken in the Luminator field by Mark Macy at the AA-EVP conference. There appears to be similar principles involved between the two approaches that produce such transfiguration to reveal a second person.

Sonia Rinaldi is succeeding in combining recorded, sometimes real-time contacts with discarnate loved ones for grieving families, with video that provides families with a powerful proof of survival via recognizable images of loved ones. Perhaps equally as important, Dr. Rinaldi is following careful protocols in an effort to establish scientific proof of her work.

Lucid Dreams

Two members contacted us only four days apart with reports of meaningful lucid dreams. Steven Beresford sent a note on June 3 saying that he had an extraordinary lucid dream. “I was in a room with my late Grandfather (who died 30 years ago) when I suddenly realized I was dreaming. At the moment of lucidity, his appearance changed and he became blissfully radiant and intensely real and luminous. He silently sat there in an armchair, so I went over to him and kissed him on the cheek, then said how happy I was that he had come to visit me in a lucid dream.”

On June 7, after returning from the AA-EVP conference, George Wynne wrote, “The last night of the conference, a vibrant and healthy Maya finally appeared in my dream, a very vivid impression, a real visitation I would say. She came out of a forest, over an incredibly verdant meadow in a line of people. I could not believe my eyes. She seemed entirely alive, younger and radiant, we embraced, I exclaimed, ‘I can’t believe you are back.’ The dream was a lucid one, because I was aware that she had died. After a few moments of great joy I woke with a start, but with the image of a very much alive Maya whom I had just held in my arms fresh in my mind, certain it had really been her, not the usual jumbled, irrational dream images.”

International Gathering of ITC Researchers

The International Conference on “Current Research into Survival of Physical Death, with Special Reference to ITC,” was held in Vigo, Spain, April 2004. The conference was hosted by Dr. Anabela Cardoso who is the director and editor of the ITC Journal and Professor David Fontana, past president of the Society for Psychical Research. We attended the conference and made a presentation describing some of the work being done in EVP and ITC by ourselves and other AA-EVP members. 

The ITC Journal is the only publication in the field of EVP and ITC that provides an international forum for collaboration amongst researchers who are studying these phenomena. The conference was a reflection of this goal, in that researchers from Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, France and the USA presented and exchanged information about their research. An example of the level of cooperation found at the conference is the agreement between members of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Biopsychocybernetics Research in Italian and us, in which we will proofread publications translated from Italian to English by Paolo Presi. Please see “Analysis of the Phenomenal Voices” on Page 2 of this issue of the NewsJournal for information about one such document.

As did the AA-EVP conference, the ITC Journal conference addressed other forms of communication across the veil as well. Dr. Peter Fenwick told us that his Near Death Experience research indicates that we do, indeed, experience a life review when we transition out of the physical, and that we will see our actions from the perspective of those with whom we interacted. For instance, if you hurt the feelings of someone you will experience that hurt.

Paolo Presi showed a video describing “The ITC Work of Marcello Bacci.” Like Anabela Cardoso, Bacci is able to bring forth voices from the other side via an old tube radio. He invites grieving families to his home for regular sessions that often begin with angelic singing and include two-way discussions between the physical and etheric family members.

Dr. Felice Masi, also of the Italian Il Laboratorio, gave an interesting talk on finding “extras” in all sorts of media. Examples included people in movie scenes who were not really there and evidence of phenomena in historical art. He also discussed a theory concerning the electromagnetic injection of EVP.

There were many other presentations, and from our perspective, the conference was a complete success. The “official” languages were Spanish and English and headsets and interpreters were provided for everyone, enabling us to understand every presentation. Assuming the conference is held again next year, we highly recommend that you consider attending, especially if you have not had the opportunity to visit Spain.

Giraffe Talk

From the Encyclopedia Britannica comes this information on the giraffe. “The voice of the giraffe has so rarely been heard that the animal is popularly supposed to be voiceless, but it is capable of producing low call notes and moans.” We are now learning that this is not the case at all.

Denise Forester wrote about a program that she had been watching regarding a researcher who was recording in the field for an unrelated project when she accidentally picked up the sounds made by a herd of giraffes. She later recognized a pattern of language in the noises that they made. Their voices are in-audible to the human ear but they do speak.

Interestingly, Denise said that this same program briefly touched on the fact that Thomas Edison was working on a way to communicate with those who had passed over. Is it possible that people will learn that just like the giraffe the dead can also speak?  (Picture from www.galenfrysinger.com/giraffe.htm)

Good and Evil

By Stacy Rawlings

This letter was written in response to another member who had become frightened from her EVP contacts and paranormal things taking place in her house. (editor)

Imagine all the different personalities within your community. Some resonate with you, but many more do not. We all have different value and belief systems—our worldview. The way people, living or dead, express themselves is largely due to their worldview. While it can be unsettling to hear them remark with potty mouth language, it isn’t necessarily evil or demonic.

My own family could be considered trash mouths in how they express themselves and as in life so in death. I’ve gotten the same from some of them on the other side, and it actually comforts me to some degree to hear that they are still themselves.

I believe those of us who do EVP are somehow illuminated to those in the other realm. I believe we are easy to find, and of course, we are “asking for it” aren’t we? None of us really knows how it is that they come to find us recording and respond as we ask questions. Is it a light that shines in the darkness? Are we heard asking our questions more clearly than anything else they can hear? Is our intent alone summoning them? I surely don’t know. You do however have to adjust to taking the good with the bad and not let it stop you. How do we know it isn’t a test of sorts? Get through the nasties to get to the goodies? Is your desire to find success with EVP strong enough? Maybe they need it to be before you can continue and this is a way to find out just what your intent is.

I’m a single mom, living alone with two of my kids and my many animals. I have given myself the most hideous case of Willie’s late at night when I get a response I wasn’t expecting, which seemed malicious and threatening. The dogs are invited to sleep in the bed on those occasions, LOL! I’d say my loss ends up being the dog’s gain when that happens. Proving once again, it’s all relative. The dogs don’t appear to know what has shaken me up, but I’m sure they’d like it to happen frequently. I do my best to shake it off and continue to record, to spite their rude comments. I certainly won’t let them stir me up and I hope you won’t either.

The world isn’t all love and light, and I don’t believe the afterlife is either. We don’t become shaken or threatened when someone is rude or profane in the physical realm, so don’t let it bother you any more than that in this instance. Blow it off emotionally. Tell them to cut it out! That too has worked for me.

One of the first voices I got was in response to my question, “how many of you are here with me as I tape,” a man answered loudly, 27. It paralyzed me to think there were 27 people in the room with me and I couldn’t see them, hear them, touch them or screen them before they entered. I was doing this blindly! And, I had no idea what I was getting myself into!

Wow, what a dose of reality that was! It made me think hard about continuing. It really gave way to a lot of thinking on my part and a re-evaluation of my interest, intent and expectations for EVP and my involvement. I really had to decide whether or not I was capable of facing the fear (or rush) of the unknown that it presents. In the end my thrill seeking side won that one.

But I still become rattled at times. Just the other day I was listening to one of my sessions and one of my dogs, lying under my desk, began to make weird sleeping/dreaming noises. Through the earphones, it sounded absolutely hideous and sent my heart to beating out of my chest! Silly isn't it? But I bet we all have those experiences doing this. It does make me laugh at myself.

Because of my interest in past life, life after death and related subjects, I became a certified hypnotherapist about 7 years ago. I’ve learned a great deal about using creative visualization to obtain goals. We are far more powerful than we can comprehend I believe. We don’t give our thoughts, our creative imagination or our intent the credit or the daily use it deserves. I’ve done a great deal of work with this and learned some amazing things about me and about us as beings.

I’m a firm believer in the white light scenario used in creative visualization as a tool to gather and organize your strength. (I prefer this term rather than calling it protection). I also firmly believe that thought creates reality and my intent can be felt in this realm untold miles away, not to mention where it theoretically may reach into other realms. Clear, unadulterated intent is everything. No matter what any of us says, we do this for selfish reasons to some extent. Whether it is out of grief, recognition, curiosity.... We aren’t doing it purely to better the world, or for purely selfless reasons. Motivations differ with us all. I have my reasons, and partially they are selfish, but I also do it for selfless reasons as well.

I’ve come to care a great deal for those who speak to me, and I feel they count on me to be here doing this for reasons I don’t understand, so I try to do that for them. Try to keep your intent just before you tape as clear and selfless as you can. Take a few minutes to gather soul strength, think about why it is you do this and what your expectations are. Be thoughtful of those who you wish to contact as well as those who contact you out of the blue. If you’re asking for specific people for instance, those who do not know you may be expressing their disappointment in not being addressed. Try addressing those you don’t know specifically. I did and they became friendly in short order. I strive to never ignore anyone, if they address me; I try to address them in return in the next taping.

If you wouldn’t believe everything you hear in the physical realm, why believe everything you hear in EVP. Sticks and Stones ... remember. I believe Lisa and Tom mentioned discernment, what a great word. Try to develop a sense of love and well being for all involved, no matter what it is they say to you.

You should never have to worry about harm coming to you from doing this. Off hand, I haven’t heard of anyone who has had anything nightmarish develop because of a grouchy voice they have attracted. Has anyone else? Raising your vibration will help and I suspect if you know that your vibration can be raised, you also know how to do it.

Hang in there. While you’ll occasionally get voices you don’t desire, you can learn from them as well as the voices you do desire to hear. Good and evil are subjective after all. They can only rattle you if you choose to allow them to. Fear of the unknown dwells within us all instinctively. We deal with it more than others do because we have chosen to bring the unknown into our lives daily with this experimentation. Some days it does tend to get the best of us. So much of it is left up to speculation that our imaginations just have a field day.

New Discussion Board

When we assumed leadership of the AA-EVP, we set out to utilize the power of the Internet as a way to create a virtual community of likeminded people. We knew discussion boards were too limited in capability, and so, we opened a Yahoo email sharing group, or Egroup. Instead of having to go to the discussion board, information came to members via emails. In our mind, the Egroup was a complete success, in that a community did form, stitched together by the flow of emails. In many other people’s mind, we created a monster and one person after another bailed out of the group because of the excessive flow of emails. Last April, there were 1241 emails. Also, Yahoo stopped archiving attachments, making it necessary for AA-EVP member, James Jones, to establish an EVP and picture archive on his web site. [Now managed by Martha Copeland for the AA-EVP at http://bigcircle.aaevp.com/] The Egroup serves a small percentage of members today and many of them are complaining about the volume of emails.

Meanwhile, discussion board technology has greatly improved. The board that the AA-EVP has purchased includes spell check, the ability to attach files, an excellent search capability and numerous other features that make it easy to manage and to use. And yes, you can still have emails if you elect to have notification that a watched forum has new material.

The new board is called the Idea Exchange. The address is http://aaevp.com/ideaexchange. Every member who has given us an email address has been added to the board. You need never visit, but if you do, log in with the first and last name we have in our records for you and use 12evp34 as a beginning password. Once in, go to MY ACCOUNT and PASSWORD to change your password. If we have husband and wife names, then both are in the database as individual members.

Another important capability is that you can select one of nine languages with which to view the board. This capability should make the Idea Exchange more inclusive for our International members.

Yes, the board is more complex to use than the Egroup; however, the HELP feature is excellent. If it does not answer your question, ask on the board in the “Useful information about how to use the board” forum. Be sure to read the “Rules” forum as well.

Let us know if you see a need for additional categories on the board, but remember that we are likely to ask you to be a moderator. Because the board is capable of becoming such a large place, we will depend on moderators to help us help you. This means that the moderators will be like community leaders with authority and experience to match. Keep in mind that a moderator of, let us say, a metaphysics forum need not be an EVP expert.

AA-EVP Conference a Success

Well, we had a conference … and it went well! So well, as a matter of fact, that we are determined to have a conference next year. Because of the upcoming White Noise release, we feel that it would be best to time a conference between theater and the video releases. We will let you know where and when as soon as we know.

Another reason for having a conference next year is the response we received from attending members. You might say that popular acclaim has convinced us that conferences are an effective tool for teaching people about EVP/ITC and for building a sense of community amongst members. As you will see in the accompanying pictures, there was a lot of community building in Reno that week.

All of the presenters and workshop leaders were well received. We are so thankful for the level of preparedness shown by the presenters and workshop leaders. Erland Babcock’s presentation was really astonishing in the pictures of phenomena and stories he presented. Martha Copeland and Karen Mossey came prepared with handouts and even a CD for their Grief Management Using EVP workshop. Mike Sullivan tackled the technical aspect of EVP with a comprehensive survey of sound analyzing software and techniques. He has already followed up his workshop with a list of editing software on the Idea Exchange.

Space does not permit a discussion about all of the presentations and workshops here, but as we said, we heard high praise for each from one person or another. With two camera crews, just about everything was recorded at the conference. Universal and Backcountry exchanged material, assuring that the videos and cassettes of the sessions from Backcountry Productions will be valuable tools for teaching others about EVP and ITC.

We thank all of you who attended for the opportunity to meet you face to face. Now we look to 2005.

Video and Audio Tapes of the Conference

Mark Waters, of Backcountry Productions, video taped all presentations of the conference. All workshops were audio taped and many were also video taped. Audio tapes are $10, CD’s are $13 and video tapes are $23. Shipping of audio tapes and CD’s are $2 for the first CD or tape and then .50 cents for each additional one. The shipping costs on the Video tapes are $4 first video and $1.00 each additional. Please see the order form that came in this News Journal. Backcountry Productions [No longer available here]. Ask for the AA-EVP Conference material.

EVP Reports from the Conference

One of the messages that was recorded at the conference that we all like hearing about is an EVP received by a new member from a relative. (Because of this person’s work situation and other factors, names have been changed.) Mike Sullivan was working with the new member and helping her listen to her recording. Mike told her that he heard “This is Jan Janes. I miss you” on her recording. The new member was quite shocked and said that her cousin Jan James was on the other side. In listening again to the recording they could hear the last name as James. When the new member returned home after the conference, much to her surprise, she found an answering machine message from her cousin Jan’s son. The message said, “This is Don, I’ve been thinking about you.” The son had not called her in two years!

New member Shellie Hawkins recorded some names while in the haunted Nevadan Hotel. Two names that she recorded were of interest to conference presenter, historian and author of Haunted Nevada, Janice Oberding. A woman is heard saying the name “Charles” and another woman gives the name “Emma.” Janice wrote that Charles Mapes owned property around the Nevadan Hotel at one time and his family built the famous Mapes Hotel, which sat just kiddy corner to the Nevadan before it was removed several years ago. Emma Nevada was a famous singer from Nevada in the 19^th century. We, of course, can not say for sure that these are the people that Shellie recorded but it is intriguing.

Shellie also reported recording a couple of dogs barking. Interestingly, Wanda Carson-Irwin wrote that she recorded two dog barks during the conference. She even asked the clerk in the lobby if someone in the hotel had a dog. Pets are not allowed in the hotel. Wanda also recorded a man saying, in a very deep voice that sounded like he was two inches from her face, “It's here.”

Cheri Kussavage was staying in room 1611 which has had known sightings of an apparition dressed in top hat and tails. She recorded a male voice in her room saying, “I’m fixed to the whole, whole floor.”

Ginny Sawyer and Martha Copeland were recording on the haunted 16^th floor. Ginny was using Martha’s recorder and picked up a voice saying, “Get me out of here!” Martha asked the spirit to move on to the light and received what sounded like an angelic voice saying, “Go to the light,” that was followed by music.

Reports are still coming in, so we will include a compilation of what we hear from you in the next NewsJournal.

Donations

The AA-EVP sincerely thanks these members for their support. (This will become a quarterly report.)

White Noise

Here are some of the things being said on the Internet about the movie, White Noise, staring Michael Keaton. The movie is to be released sometime in 2005.

From Box Office Prophets comes this. “The next time your radio or television station turns fuzzy and full of static, you might not want to turn it off. According to the premise of the Michael Keaton movie, White Noise, it might mean someone’s trying to get in touch with you.”

The piece goes on to explain EVP and even talks a little about Dr. Konstantin Raudive. There are inaccuracies in the information but the fact that this information is being used to promote the movie is exciting. Again from Box Office Prophets, “In the film, the white noise in question is coming from the voice of the Keaton character’s murdered wife. Is she a kind ghost or an angry ghost? And will she help the people she left behind solve the mystery of her death? (From: www.boxofficeprophets.com)

From the Internet Movie Database comes this. “The ‘White Noise’ of the title refers to a phenomenon known as EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena). Listen carefully, believers will tell you, and in amidst the white noise of a detuned radio, you might hear voices ... and in amidst the white noise of a detuned television, you might see faces. These, they’ll tell you, are the voices and faces of the dead.” From: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0375210/plotsummary

The main cast of White Noise includes Michael Keaton, Deborah Kara Unger and Ian McNeice. It was written by Niall Johnson and directed by Geoffrey Sax. The distributor is Universal Studios.

Confirmations

·   Karen Mossey wrote us to tell us thank you for using an EVP from her father that said, “I love you,” on the Tracy Austin show, “Lets Talk Paranormal.” The web site for the show is www.tracieaustin.com. On it, there is a promo clip of the show that we did with her. Near the end of the promo clip, Karen’s recording is played. Karen first wrote to her brother-in-law’s sister, Lori, and her husband who knew Karen’s father, Stanley, and asked them to listen to the clip. Lori wrote back, “Wow! Karen that’s awesome! I think the voice sounds exactly like your Dad’s. I got major chills.” Ten minutes later she mailed again saying, “I just played the clip for Jon and he couldn’t believe it! He also got chills and said he couldn’t believe that it sounded just like Stanley!”

·   We know from talking with Martha Copeland that the crash site where Cathy was killed has always been a concern to her. The tree that the car hit became a memorial site where Cathy’s friends would leave gifts, flowers, stuffed animals and Lady Bug items. Martha used to go to the make-shift memorial site the 23^rd of every month and on all holidays. Then quite a while back, on a visit to the memorial, Martha and her sister Ginny recorded Cathy saying, “Mom you don’t need to come here anymore?”

Recently, Martha was driving home from her sister Donna’s house and heard Cathy’s voice in her head. Cathy told Martha to go the crash site. Martha did not want to do this, as she knew that it would cause her to be depressed, but she heard Cathy’s voice again and forced herself to go. Much to her amazement she saw that the tree that the car had crashed into had been cut down. There was construction going on to straighten the road and remove the dangerous curve on which Cathy had been killed. Martha wrote, “I felt Cathy wanted me to see that this road will not be the cause of anymore deaths. Some of our messages from our loved ones are not always from EVP.”

How They Appear to Us

There is quite a lot of “revealed” information about what we look like on the other side. In most instances, we are told that we have the option as to what age we assume, or even if we assume the appearance of a physical body. Intuitively, you would expect a person to assume a body comparable to when that person was in the prime of his or her life. However, we know that our etheric friends will show themselves to us as they believe we will recognize them; in some cases gray hair and all.

Children in the etheric reportedly seek to “grow up,” once again aiming to what would be their prime, but evidence indicates that they will also show themselves as we might recognize them. After all, this is communication and appearance is part of the communication.

Vicki Talbott had lucid dreams of her father after he died. He looked and behaved exactly the same as he did in life. He warned Vicki of brake problems with her little brother’s car the night that he died. He was dressed in clothes that she had previously seen him wear and he acted just like the concerned dad that he was.

Vicki’s father appeared differently to her son Braden. When Braden was about two years old, Vicki showed him some old pictures while they were visiting her mother’s house. She showed him a picture of her father when he was 21 years old. Braden got excited and said “Gampa!” He had died before Braden had been born and Vicki had never shown Braden any pictures of him and had never referred to him as Grandpa.

Faces in a Bottle

Arthur Soesman of the Netherlands recently contacted us with news that he has been recording phenomenal images in the reflection of water held in a bottle. Soesman refers to this technique as his psychomanteum. In effect, he is using light reflected by water and distorted by glass to create optical noise suitable for photographic ITC. There are examples at www.evp-voices.com. Click on the Dutch flag, then pick EXTRA on the left side of the page and then pick

Psychomanteum. You will see hyperlinks at the bottom to view example videos.

Soesman told us that he uses a brown bottle and a web cam that has a zoom lens. He also told us that the water needs to remain agitated while recording the video and he does this by slowly rotating the bottle, and in other ways moving it around while recording with the camera. Conducting experiments in an otherwise dark room is important as well.

In a later email, Soesman offered these words of caution, “… this phenomena can be very scary. You must do this when you are mentally strong and not using drugs or liquor. Do it no longer then one hour!”

Once recorded, review the video one frame at a time. Actually, we see no reason why a digital camera would not work, except that you may need to take many pictures before catching the light necessary for image formation.

A face is visible in the picture above that appears to be of a man with beard and mustache. He is looking at your right ear, has a big grin and a well-illuminated nose. He may be wearing a fur hat. (Disregard the writing in both examples.)

In the second example, you can see the curvature of the bottle with two men’s heads and upper torso. These pictures were provided to us by Arthur Soesman.

We know that Erland Babcock is planning to give this technique a try. Please let us know if you try it as well.

Donating

Please don’t forget to give to the nonprofit AA-EVP. Your donations are tax deductible and have continued to keep the Association going. It is hoped that there will be a rush of interest in EVP with the release of the movie White Noise. We are considering outsourcing some of the routine work of the Association just to be able to deal with the correspondence and your donations will help us do this.

The Visitor

In late March, Lisa was watering a large Ficus Tree. The tree takes three refills from her watering can. As she was loading the water can in the kitchen sink, she was startled by someone standing several feet behind her in the Living room, but when she turned around, no one was there. While filling the water can the second time, the figure again appeared and startled her enough that she gasped, bringing the incident to Tom's attention. She was seeing a very solid figure with her peripheral vision, but when she turned to get a good look, it was gone. The figure was of average build, neither large nor tall. It again appeared while she was at the sink the third time and was solid enough to startle her once more! She felt that it might not have feet and she really could not say if it was male or female. It was solid energy in the shape of a body and head - no color - like a solid shadow.

When we went to the post office later that day, there was a lovely card from Martha Copeland with a Ladybug on it. Inside the card was a check from the group that gets together to record at her house. She collects a Love Offering each time they meet. We were both very touched by this donation to the AA-EVP from the group and even more so when we read the bottom of the check. It said, “In memory of: Cathy, Lance, Jamie, Justin and Jessica, Big Circle.” We immediately wondered if the person that Lisa had seen that morning was one of the children, as they would have known the letter was there at the Post Office.

That evening, Lisa was writing Martha an Email telling her thank you. She had gotten the thank you part written and had hit the return, and was about to hit the first keystroke telling Martha about the apparition she had seen earlier. Before she hit the first letter the two lights in the top of her desk blinked off and then back on. Nothing else went off and on. The computer stayed on. It was a very definite and decisive blink. The lights in the desk had never done this in the three years that she has used the desk. We knew when it happened that we were being told that it was one of the children.

Open Letter to Ham Operators

We recently received this letter from AA-EVP member, Dr. Ali Fant. We offer it here as an open letter to all Ham radio operators.

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I am a life member of the American Amateur Radio League and am compiling a list of “silent keys.” SKs are amateur radio operators who have died. Currently, there is no listing of such SK hams, anywhere.

Please ask AA-EVP members if they are hams. And if they are, please ask them to publish their call sign with me. Thank you for making such research contacts possible.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ali Fant,      WB5WAF        a.fant@iee.org

11700 Starview Trail Station

Austin TX 78750-1339

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Dr. Fant has proven to be an aggressive researcher and has conceived several interesting avenues of study. For instance, she suggests that there would be a temperature change in the electronic circuitry when an EVP is injected into the sound track. This would be similar to the experience of a temperature drop in hauntings situations when an etheric entity is present

Preferred Recorders

Edwina Bennett wrote that she is receiving clearer EVP every since she began using a recorded that was recommended by Cheri Kussavage. The recorder is an Olympus DW-90. Edwina wrote, “It’s easy to use, has a much better mic, and the software that came packaged with it is good.” It is factory reconditioned and cost only $40. “It is excellent! Three years and four recorders later … finally!”

Many members have been trying the Sony ICD-B7 digital recorder introduced to the Egroup by Harry Flagle, and have been having good success with it in recording EVP. The recorder costs around $50 and refurbished ones are as low as $20 on the Internet.

It is important that we find other digital recorders that we know work well in the recording of EVP to replace the Panasonics that are no longer manufactured. Please let us know if you are using a digital recorder that has not been mentioned in the newsletter, and are having good success with it recording EVP.

We should also note that the $30 Acoustica MP3 Audio Mixer is available with a free. It allows the user to mix mp3 and wave files at www.mp3-to-wav.com/mp3mixers.htm.

News About Members

·   In March, Jürgen Nett, the president of the German ITC group known as the VTF, appeared on a television show and had the opportunity to present information about EVP. Jutta Liebmann wrote that his introduction went very well and he was able to convey a lot of information about EVP in the relative short time of the program. Jürgen Nett also drew the public’s attention to the worldwide knowledge and associations concerning EVP. Jutta wrote back in May to tell us that  Jürgen Nett’s presentation was well received by the public and some newspapers were also rather positive.

·   The Finnish Spiritualistic Association will arrange a summer seminar, from August 27 to 29, 2004. The meeting will take place at Päivölä institute in Valkeakoski, south-western Finland (see www.paivola.net). The official language of the meeting is Finnish, with interpretations if required.

The theme of the conference will be different types of communication between the spirit world and the physical world. The main speaker is the highly respected German ITC researcher, Hans Otto König who will lecture and present data about his research. A workshop on the topic will also take place. Contacts of physical mediums are described by AA-EVP member Georg Lindström, in a lecture with slides and sound samples.

Report on Conference Group Recording

On Thursday night June 3, we led a group recording circle at the AA-EVP Conference. We were not as successful as we had hoped but a few EVP were recorded. At the beginning of the session we recorded “She right, fact,” and “This is John … hear me.”

Lisa then went around the room asking for people to speak the names of the loved ones that they wished to come through. The first person in the circle was Jeanette Zanghi. After she speaks a voice says, “I help” and “Who had the key.” The next EVP comes after Vicky Talbott asked for Braden. We can’t really understand the first word but we hear the next word, “… Pet.” The next EVP comes when Judy Quillen asks for Jamie. Lisa says, “OK chatter box please try to speak to us” and a female voice replies, “We’re happy.” When Kathy Malone asks for Lance, we hear a voice (we can’t make out the first word) “…  was on the back.”

We are sorry that we did not get more and we hope that some of these messages that make no sense to us make sense to someone else. An interesting side note about the “This is John … hear me” voice. During the conference Debbie Constantino reported recording “Are you listening? Talk to us” and Shellie Hawkins recorded “Listen to me, listen to me.” It is obvious that the spirits were trying to reach us too!

A Friend and Mentor Crosses Over

Members who attended the AA-EVP conference will remember Barbara Thurman, the lady who taught spoon bending Thursday night.

Barbara (left in picture) is the Reverend Barbara Thurman, past President of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) and our mentor. She was an AA-EVP Board member and a staunch supporter of the Association.  She was also a tireless teacher who helped many people develop their mediumship and healing gifts.

There is no doubt that we survive physical death. Death is not the problem. It is leaving that hurts so much. It is we who are still in the physical who must find ways to face daily challenges without the support and guidance of our confidants. Because of our knowledge about survival, we can say that it is also we who must learn to listen to our confidants who are now on the other side.

Barbara, we wish you well on your new journey. We know that the line of people who came to greet you was long and we know that you will continue your work from the other side. 

Researchers Report

·   Lolyd Bradshaw wrote, “I asked the ‘unseen’ their preference in being referred to as spirit, ghost or spook. There’s no harm in trying to please somebody who walks through walls at odd hours.” Using his Panasonic 454 portable tape recorder and after several tries, he got this three word answer, “You a spook!”

·   Sandy Colegrove hears, “I love you” a lot when she records and she feels that it is her husband. She reports that she has asked specific questions about her family and has received the correct answers. Recently she asked her husband now on the other side if he was happy. She wrote, “I received very, very clearly ‘I am happily dead and alive.”

·   Cheri Kussavage is using an Olympus DW-90 digital recorder and says that she picks up EVP just about everywhere. She sent the group an EVP from one of her first recordings using the DW-90 that says, “Oh miracle, talk to me.”

·   Alexander MacRae told us that he has been in communication with Rabbi Kushner. Rabbi Kushner gave a reading at President Regan’s funeral. Alec had recorded during a research session, a conversation: Woman’s voice, “Go to the river.” Young man, “Wha?” Woman, “Go to the River of Light.” When Alec did a search on “River of Light” he found that it was the title of a book by Kushner.

·   Siobhan McBride likes the voice activation feature on the Panasonic DR-60 and mentioned that she had been at the cemetery and recorded a woman saying, “Foona’s here.” This was Siobhan’s son Tony’s nickname.

·   Martin Pearl wrote to us about the heart breaking task of having to put his dog to sleep. Three days later he tried to contact his dog Rambo. “I told him I hoped he was in a better place, and asked him to give me a few barks if he got my message. Sure enough I recorded his barks. I kept the tape, as the barking really amazed me.

·   Judy Quillen’s fat cat, Buddy, was walking around singing so Judy grabbed her recorder and started recording in her daughter, Jamie’s, corner area. On playback she heard “What’d Carolyn fax you?” Judy had gotten an Email from her older sister Carolyn regarding the details of the families Mother’s Day dinner.  Judy wrote, “Jamie had sent an EVP about Mother’s Day a few weeks ago!”

·   Mike Sullivan’s father used to sing on local radio stations back in the 1940s. Mike had been restoring the recordings of his music as well as his recordings of family events.  In the process of restoring the recordings he has gotten EVP’s from many of his relatives.  Recently he received the EVP “Hello Michael.” Mike was able to confirm that it was his grandfather’s voice after listening to his voice on his father’s old recordings.