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30
Apr, 2018
https://ashleyknibb.com/category/psi-theories/

We Need You!!!

The Data Age…

We live in a time where data has never been so important to us, it’s literally a time where everything in our lives has link to some kind of data or algorithms to comprehend what we want.

Think about that for second. I am sure there are examples you could provide that seem like they have no influence from some form of data, but do they?

Its certainly a strange concept to get your head around that a lot of what we do is likely to be because the choices we are most likely to engage with have been presented to us. Conspiracy theorist have a field day with this kind of area and the concept of being constantly watched isn’t a new. The book 1984 suggested a world monitored by CCTV for example many decades ago now. Oddly the UK is dubbed one of the most monitored countries in the world when it comes to CCTV. The recent TV series Hunted shows how hard it is to avoid the CCTV once dropped in the centre of a city. Head out into the country and even though camera coverage is more sparse, ‘big brother’ will still find you!

This disturbing fact is one aspect of information and data that is captured in huge quantities on a daily basis, where you are and what you’re doing. Now if you think it would take thousands of hours for a person to sift through any footage to track your movements individually, then you would be right. However this isn’t the case and also where the data aspect falls into this. There is now excellent software that runs facial recognition and number plate recognition, the authorities can track you through a number of systems using this. In fact the systems do all the work and simply alert when you pop up so to speak.

Wait, what, now…

Lost? Wondering why I am rambling on about CCTV instead of the paranormal? Well it’s simple really, many of us utilise audio and video as a primary tool for attempting to capture probable ‘evidence’ of the paranormal. However these are equally tools which can help us document our environments of investigation more fully. At some point, I couldn’t tell you when I stopped reviewing every piece of footage on my CCTV system post investigation. This wasn’t because I got a tag lazy, but because I soon realised whatever I found would have no meaning without additional sources to support it. So, I allowed those other source to present themselves and to utilise the CCTV to a) back those sources up and b) identify the locations of the team. The latter wasn’t because I didn’t trust my team, but actually because our memories are not quite the best at actually recalling information about an event.We needed to back our own timeline up if we were to become able to present to the academics. More information and data.

The other thing I discovered was that in order to prove what we thought we were experiencing we needed a lot of data to support that. A couple of our favourite cases with a vague comprehension of what happened with no hard evidence would never be enough. This lead me to come to the conclusion that we would need at least a couple of hundred main cases to study and they would need to be geographically and chronologically spread, but what I really wanted to include was an abundance of up to date recent cases too. Especially as these recent cases from investigators out there today doing the work may constitute current activity we could investigate further.

Which is how I came to want to seek so much data or information within the paranormal field.

Hello ‘Big Data’…

The easiest way to comprehend this and to explain how these day in our everyday life we encounter this ‘big data’ and the collection and use of it, is to bring in one thing that often seems to cause issue within the ghost hunter community. I am of course referring to the internet based social media platforms we now use day in day out. These particular system constantly gather information on what we search for, like and become interested in. Then that information is fed through algorithms that likes of Facebook and Google use in order to determine which advertisement would be best suited for us.

I have spoken about this previously, when I mentioned AI and machine learning, but now I am saying let’s take that approach of gather information and using it together to understand more about the field we all love. I totally understand that gather numbers and pieces of information isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and will never be more exciting than navigating a haunted location in the quiet of night, but whilst we do that on occasion we could grab a little information to get us going.

ParaSearch Radio interview on research…

Around this time last night (as I’m writing this post) I was talking to Kerry Greenaway on The Spirit Dimension radio show, one of Paraseach Radio’s many interesting shows about this very subject. In fact we put a call out to the Paranormal Investigators out there for assistance in gathering some of this data/information in order to add into our research and understand the Paranormal better perhaps. Links below:-

The Spirit Dimension – Research Project

ParaSearch Radio’s YouTube Channel – Subscribe for their latest

You can also gather the kind of information I am after using my Paranormal Investigators Journal. I have even created a simple form for capturing Paranormal Activity here too.

Please have a listen to my interview with Kerry as it explains what we are trying to achieve a little better, the link to YouTube is above.

If we are truly going to crack this field or at least made significant steps forward we need to start gathering huge amounts of data and information in one place so we can analyse its contents, search for significant patterns and cross match it for similarities. I hate to say it, but video, photographs and audio are always to a degree come under harsh evaluation. IT shouldn’t be a case of whether someone believes what they see in a picture or hear in an EVP, the evidence should speak for itself.

So, please join me in gathering all this data and information together from your investigations over the upcoming year to begin with and hopefully beyond. It doesn’t matter if you UK, US, German or Australian based, the more we can gather from all over the world the better. It equally doesn’t matter if it was the investigation you did last weekend, last year or a decade ago, if you have it documented I can use it.

The first sweep (as I call it) is simply to gather location details, when the event occurred, what happened and whom. I also need the source if possible, as that can help me return to that case for more details later. Any event passed onto will be logged in the sheet with that person beside it. It also doesn’t matter if four different teams send me the same piece of activity for the same location at different or even the same times. It’s all important data we can use.

So please get in contact, send me some information, use the form on my website, contact Kerry at ParaSearch; it really doesn’t matter how as long as we share this information.

WE NEED YOU!!

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22
Apr, 2018

The Paranormal Activity Form

The Simpler Form

In my quest to gather as much data as possible, I wanted to make things as simple as possible for anyone willing to assist me. So, with this in mind I thought I would create a really simple and straight forward version of the data capture form that I previous shared to gather data.

Firstly, this one doesn’t require your name and email, should you wish to remain anonymous in this attempt to gather information on paranormal activity. However remaining anonymous does mean I will be unable to contact you (should I wish to) in order to gather further details on your experience.

Simply enter the location name and county in the ‘Location of Activity’ field, then enter the date of the day or night the activity occurred on. Then go ahead and check the box next to the type of activity that occurred so we can categorise it. As sometime we can experience multiple types of activity at once, please feel free to check more than one box.

The Paranormal Activity Form

 

 

Again, as ever thank you for your support and assistance in helping me to gather this data. Hopefully it will present some interesting findings.

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19
Feb, 2018

Ghost Hunting with CCTV

Ghost captured on CCTV…

I remember when I got into the overnight Paranormal investigating part of what I do well over ten years ago now, when Ghost Hunters was dominating the paranormal TV show slot, everyone had a CCTV system of some kind or another. At that point in time it seemed very much like we were all scrambling around to set up as many night vision CCTV cameras as we could. All with the intention of capturing that holy grail of evidence ‘a ghost’.

My Top Ten Most Haunted Locations in the UK - Henrick's Hairdressers in Royston

Back then it seemed so easy with our limited gadgetry, rock up to the location with your ten flight cases and spend your first hour and half setting up kit like CCTV. Then you would investigate for around seven hours, moving around your location holding vigils all over the place, as you try to connect with probable entities supposedly haunting the place. Once you finish those vigils, you pack up your kit into your car and drive home on energy drinks. After you’ve caught up on the sleep you lost from a nights investigation, then you set about reviewing your footage. The likes of Ghost Hunters made the review part seem so very simple, but TV does have a way of doing this doesn’t it? In reality reviewing footage from your CCTV alone could take hours and hours; bearing in mind if you watch footage for each individual camera for the entire investigation then you would be looking at around seven times the number of cameras you had been running through the night. Forget the next day, you would be reviewing footage in your spare time for the following week.

After all that the likelihood that you may even catch something paranormal is pretty much slim to none. In fact in all my years investigating haunted locations I don’t think I have ever captured compelling footage on my CCTV systems.

However there did seem a time where CCTV was almost as popular as a black polo shirt with your teams logo on the front.

Don’t get me wrong I have heard of a few capturing some oddities on their systems and there were of course the various TV shows out there using them that often appeared to capture ‘evidence’ !

Rethinking the purpose of CCTV…

Over the years I’ve gradually re-evaluated how and when I utilise a CCTV system within a paranormal investigation. As odd as it sounds trying to focus its use on capturing paranormal activity is actually a complete waste of something that could really help you to understand the structure of your investigation.

I know, I know! You’re probably scratching your heads right now confused at what I’ve just said, right? Surely the CCTV system is perfect for capturing activity! Well of course it is, but there are major issues with this. One video image caught via one camera with little or no other supporting data, just won’t cut it as evidence.

Let me highlight this with a brief example. You set up your CCTV around a location at various ‘hotspots’. In one room where you have a CCTV camera you have a trigger object on a table. The camera monitors what’s on the table, but to do so you loose the whole table. The object moves in shot of the camera. You’ve captured a moving object with one camera. This is where the problem arises; as you’ve got areas out of shot here the validity of the video comes into question and rightly so too. As you can hopefully see with this simple example, the CCTV systems can be flawed when it comes to establishing captured video as ‘evidence’.

With an understanding in the utilisation of my CCTV changed over the years now, I tend to use the system in a different way perhaps these days.

Don’t get me wrong when approaching a new case I still may focus a camera or two on a possibly active location, but this is aimed to analyse that hotspot to see if there is anything to the claim. Pretty much as we always have. The difference is that more often than not I will use other triggers to check the footage at the same time for a cross reference of activity.

However these days I often utilise my CCTV systems more for clarification of things like the Investigators location during an investigation. The movement of the team during an investigation is actually quite an important element of the data we should look to capture. The amount of times I’ve spoken to team members following a particularly interesting part of the investigation and they have provided various pieces of information, which they believe to be correct, but actually their understanding of the time line is not quite right.

This isn’t about Investigators falsifying information to sensationalise them, it’s a simple fact that out memories aren’t quite as reliable as we would hope. This is what is often referred to as false memory. Hence the need for things to help us establish those events correctly.

Hence in any investigation establishing a time line is essential in order to comprehend when things occurred and who may have been present for those events. This is where CCTV can help you immensely, as most systems will run with a running clock giving you that time link.

Granted you may not be able to place a CCTV camera absolutely everywhere, but you can place what you have in key locations to cover your teams movement around that location. Doorways, stairways and hallways are all great locations that cover a teams movement.

Let the tech do the work…

These days CCTV systems are a bit more clever than the systems I first started using all those years ago. They can do all sorts of cool stuff, including recording only if they detect movement or generating a log of movement. Which means we can use them to gather data useful to the construction of our investigation timeline.

My own system does something similar where it creates a clever log of the recording time frame and any movement too. It doesn’t end there though as these systems can also be interconnected with other sensory systems too.

As my good friend Carl Hutchinson would agree get to know your technology and get the most out of it in order to capture good investigation data, which can be used to cross reference other data. It’s in multiple streams of data that support a single anomaly that we will find truly compelling evidence of the paranormal.

In fact when I spoke to Carl about CCTV he told me the following:-

Being a little bit of an equipment geek, sometimes I get asked by people what type of equipment I use and the reasons behind this. Ashley came to me the other day and asked me about CCTV systems, so here goes and I hope this helps.

My CCTV set is based around the Swann 1080 16 Channel DVR system with a 16 camera setup (standard 8 indoor and 8 outdoor cameras), all the cameras have motion and heat active sensors; and night vision up to 40 meters in ambient light. The system has a 2TB hard drive and also can be remotely accessed using a smart phone or tablet, so you can view the camera’s from anywhere that has a wi-fi signal. The system has been upgrade so I can connect both wi-fi and cabled camera’s. The main reason for this was to give me the flexibility, as some location you can’t cable the cameras due to the amount of cable required. The only draw back of wifi cameras is that they have to be contacted to a power supply to be able to work. Which is great when you have a location that has power plugs all over the place, but not very helpful when your in a dungeon or tunnels.

I also have the following additional camera’s that boost my capacity to cover all possible requirements that a location might kick up.

3 x Swabb Pro – 1080 FLD 1080 Micro Dome Cameras with Audio

6 x Swann wifi 1080p security cameras

1 x Swann 1080p pan and tilf zoom dome security camera

All my cameras have a great 80 degree viewing angle, both horizontally and vertically. The cable I use is standard BNC cable and I have roles of cables at different lengths because there is nothing worse than only needing 30 meters and all you have is a 100 meter roll!

There are cheaper or more expensive systems and cameras for sale. However I would suggest to anyone thinking about buying a system; do your research first and work out what you want out of it, plus how your going to use it. Most importantly stick to your budget.

Lastly one other bit of advice is about set up. Make sure this is done first when you get to a location and have it recording as soon as possible. And if you have a reported hot spot of activity then try and cover all angles, but keep in mind the IR glare. And if your setting up an area for trigger object, try and make sure you are covering all the room. So if it’s on a table make sure the camera covers all of the legs. The more camera angles you have the more chance you have of being able to debunk things and the more chance you have of capturing activity.

Thank you Carl, my Paranormal tech guru. It’s always good to obtain other perspectives in how we investigate as we can often fall into a pattern of doing the same old thing over and over again.

If you’re interested in a similar CCTV System to the one mentioned by Carl, follow this link.. 

So, when you next setup your CCTV or even camcorders, don’t just set them up with the hope of capturing activity; utilise them to establish good data of your investigations time line too.

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8
Feb, 2018
www.ashleyknibb.com

The Metetherial Encyclopaedia – Intuitions

What is it?

It’s been called ‘the private voice’, ‘the inner voice’, a gut feeling, a hunch, it has even been related to our potential spiritual guides or protectors, but these days it’s often recognised as our intuition and it could be a fundamental building block in our paranormal experiences.

Oddly this is one thing that we have probably all experienced at some point in our lives, its just often overlooked as being a part of everyday life. However there are the odd occasions we experience something a little bit more than normality and then raises our interest slightly. These have been the kind of things like the inner voice telling you not to get on a plane or into a car, then after making that decision something happening that quantifies your fear makes the intuition all that more real.

So, basically its realising that feeling and allowing it to influence your current decision. I’m not an expert, but from what I do understand intuitions do appear to be there constantly as a part of our daily life decisions. Sometimes we take notice of them and other times, if not most of the time we dont and carry on with our normal day to day.

A Little History

This is a particular part of the Paranormal that is a little like Swiss cheese as it is often something which utilised for life changing decisions or completely passed over as irrelevant.

Sir Lauren’s van der Post (1907) recorded an anecdote about the death of his admired friend, the psychologist C.G. Jung (1875-1961). Van der Post was returning by sea from Africa. He had a kind of waking dream one afternoon of Jung lifting a hand in farewell; the following morning he looked out through the porthole of his cabin:

I saw a great, white, lone albatross gliding by it; the sun on fire on its wings. As it glided by it turned its head and looked straight at me. I had done that voyage countless times before and such a thing had never happened to me, and I had a feeling as if some tremendous ritual had been performed.

A moment later, he heard on the radio the news that Jung had died the previous day – at the precise moment, as far as he could determine, of his “vision.”

Van der Post believed that Jung had communicated with him at the moment of his death, but then taken the form of the albatross in order to reassure him. At least in order to comfort him into the belief of Jung’s continued existence.

You see although this anecdote appears to have been timely in its occurrence and many others would have discounted as simple coincidence it does have relative relation to Jung even as an anecdote. Van der Posts experiences could have been seen as a synchronicity or meaningful coincidence, something which Jung himself had theorised on.

Over the years I have read an abundance of these kind of anecdotes and heard similar stories from people I’ve met. These meaningful coincidences that occur around the time of an individuals death, but the information of said death seems to be unconsciously communicated to close friends or family, sometimes even those that were simple acquaintances too.

I believe that FWH Myers of the SPR even touched on this in his epic piece Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death. Myers even submitted a few examples similar to the one above regarding individuals receiving certain odd information only to discover that someone close had passed away at a similar time.

Whether it’s as simple as a small sense that we should take one option rather than another, a definite feeling that stops you in your tracks saving you from making the wrong decision or even what seems like information transmitted from someone close at the moment of their death; these intuitions have existed for all of time and appear to be part of each of us similar to our fight or flight instinct.

Intuition Today

Although many spiritual approaches have had good knowledge of intuition for what must be centuries if not longer, an understanding of them seems to be making its way into mainstream popularity these days.

Comprehending our own intuitions on a daily basis and consulting them for a part of decision making process is something many out there will offer to teach you these days. Some are obviously after your hard earned cash to line their own pockets, but a few are genuine and there to help.

Becoming mindful, meditation in order to calm the mind and enable more connection with our inner-self is now becoming more accessible to us all. It’s no longer just available in books, you can find it in an app on your phone if you look. Although I do wonder if attempting this through a phone app is really taking it in the right direction.

Personally for me intuition has become a valuable tool I use during investigations. I of course gather data and log occurrences, but it might be my own intuition that leads me to try a certain approach or venture into a particular part of a location.

In the work that I have done with mediums and during the seances; intuition could play a big part and be part of the mechanics that helps sensitives possibly communicate with spirits. It could certainly be an individuals intuition that allow them to accept certain pieces of information as communication. As we are still in the dark to whether or not this information is from spirits, telepathy with others or simply random information we may already know, we must go with what our intuition assesses it as. There are of course ways to determine information source, but even that’s not conclusive in all cases.

If indeed intuitions are instinctive then we perhaps shouldn’t simply rule them out just because on occasion they appear a little, well emotionally driven or perhaps a little crazy.

So, next time you have a decision to make, don’t forget to consult your intuition too. You never know it might just provide a better option for you to take that works out a heck of a lot better.

Click here for more on the Metetherial Encyclopaedia

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11
Nov, 2017

SPR Study Day 74 – Psi in Nature : ESP and PK in the Realm of Biology

A Trip to the Society for Psychical Research

It’s not often that I have the chance to head into London for the Society of Psychical Research (SPR) Study Days, but this was one that I really didn’t want to miss. Especially given that there were some excellent people speaking and that it was this very area that helped me to stop and re-think my own perception of the paranormal at one time. You see it was whilts scanning through YouTube a few years back, that I stumbled upon a TED Talk by Rupert Sheldrake in which he discussed telepathy and the large amount of evidence that supports its existence. What I found particularly facinating about this talk was that it was information delivered by a biologist that had seen similarities in the natural world. It was that talk that inspired me to read up on his theory of Morphic Fields and look into the ‘Sense of Being Starred At’. These helped me to see many similarities in the field I am usually associated with which involves the investigation of ghosts and spirits. Perhaps our very perception of ghosts and spirits were actually telepathic interactions of some kind.

Www.ashleyknibb.com

This all haunted me (pardon the pun) and actually had me re-read Myers work on the survival of personality. Then inspired the creation of my own theory of telepathic interaction with ideograms whilst on holiday in Turkey, a copy of which is available in the SPR library or on my website.

Www.ashleyknibb.com

One of the other speakers at the Study Day was Cal Cooper, who I have also had a few brief conversations with regarding the paranormal and some of his work has also fascinated me too. So, I knew it would be a great opportunity to meet him face to face, rather than behind the social media curtain.

Even though this was the first time I had managed to attend an SPR Study Day, the first thing that struck me was the new SPR premises in Vernon Mews. I know I never had a chance to visit the old premises, but discussions with other SPR members certainly highlighted how much more space the new place has in comparison. This was evident by the excellent lecture room on the ground floor and the library on the top floor. All in all a fantastic space that is great for lectures, but also an amazing place to immerse yourself and work on research.

Charmaine Sonnex – Effects of Healing on Animals, Plants & Cells

The first lecture of the day was by Dr. Charmaine Sonnex, who told us about a meta-analysis she had worked on regarding the healing of animals, plants and cells. A meta-analysis is a method for statistically combining the results of studies that are included in a systematic review, in order to conclude the overall effects of an intervention. In this case the intervention being healing at a distance, if I understood correctly that is!

What I found particularly interesting about the lecture was that in each case there did seem to be some indication that this healing at a distance was having an effect on the animals, plants and cells. Although this wasn’t particularly unknown to me as my more spiritual friends have been telling me this for years and I had certainly read some anecdotal reports to confirm their beliefs. As many that know me know what I am like though, without a more scientific balance to the subject the jury from my point of view would have always remained out. However Charmaine certainly helped to balance that understanding during her lecture placing a much better understanding on the subject.

There were some interesting points that she made though during this presentation too. The first being that in some cases, I think regarding the mice used for some of the experiments. I believe the experimenters or perhaps healers looked in on the control mice and this concern for their wellbeing was enough to improve their health too. Obviously from a scientific view point this may be seen as contaminating the control subjects (again I’m no expert), but it also highlights to me something fundamental. Something which Charmaine also eluded to I believe. Although the method of healing was important, the intent to heal or concern for wellbeing can equally give the desired results. Thus the process in which we go about the healing simply needs to be believed by those taking part as correct, as long as their intent is real then the desired results maybe maintained. For me, that makes the whole scenario less spiritual or religious and more about what our minds are capable of! Perhaps we could even think someone better? Saying that though, the spiritual or religious approach does bind the intent with a process or ritual, which in turn brings the belief that it will be successful.

Thank you Charmaine for a wonderfully thought provoking lecture that ties into some of my own personal research, giving it the more of a science balance.

John Poynton – Assumptions of Zoologists

Next up to talk was the SPR President Prof. John C. Poynton, who knows a little bit about biology himself. What I found interesting about what John Poynton had to say was that it was contrasting in relation to why we were there I guess. John raised some very excellent points regarding how zoologists may look at the natural world defining it by the very physical signs that they measure. Taking this viewpoint alone as those measurable physical signs are enough to help us understand the natural world. This approach of course doesn’t particularly leave room for a concept like Psi in the framework.

Of course this very view point is something that has been something that has caused a flashpoint of discussion. The arguments for an involvement of Psi constantly countered by arguments against.

However John did mention two key areas of the natural world that could certainly present good cases for the apparent presence of Psi in nature; 1) the flocking of birds, and 2) tracking over long distances. The flocking of birds has always been a fascinating part of nature, how can birds like Swallows in large flocks change direction and maintain their formation without crashing into each other at high speeds. There certainly doesn’t appear to be audible or visual cues helping the formation. The aspect of tracking is something we have all encountered somewhere along the lines. Whether its the stories of domestic pets travelling long distances across country to be with their family, or homing pigeons finding their way home, these aspects seem to suggest some kind of supernormal ability. Perhaps Psi related.

Rupert Sheldrake – The Sense of Direction

As I previously mentioned Rupert Sheldrake was one of those people in the Paranormal that I kind of stumbled upon. Often this kind of discovery can be more then just informative, it can be inspiring too.

Sheldrakes talk on the sense of direction presented some excellent points that suggest the apparent existence of psi within nature.

The first was back to the cases that surround animal migration. It is fascinating how these many animals manage to navigate the planet to arrive at locations that are familiar to them. The very concept to us could be alien, as most of us rely heavily on sat nav etc. What is more significant is how some return to the same location even when they start from unfamiliar ground or are young and have never been before.

This migration occurs in various types of animals too, not just birds.

Sheldrake then went on to mention homing pigeons, the extensive research with them and the arguments they have sparked too. After all how the pigeons always manage to get home is still a relative mystery, even though everything from their smell to the sun has been suggested and tested.

In fact the interesting research that Sheldrake performed was involving the moving of their actual home. This was to test if the location itself was important or the home that was familiar and often containing family members was the pull.

Turns out that in Sheldrakes original tests the pigeons found their home in its new location, but were not so keen on going inside. Well would you if you arrived home to find your house re-located to another street?

This same experiment was expanded somewhat later in Sheldrakes life when he used ships at sea too. That way the pigeons home could be moved great distances, but still the pigeons would find it and come home.

Sheldrake suggested I believe that these animals may be using some kind of field in order to navigate the planet.

Personally I believe it’s possible that both people and places can have a specific pull to them allowing others to gravitate towards them. Perhaps this is something similar with animals having it hardwired into their DNA for example allowing them to return to breeding grounds which have successfully sustained their species in the past. That could in a way fit with what Darwin tells us about evolution, although I’m no expert in biology .

Lunch and the SPR Library

As many took their break for lunch at the local pub I presume, I decided to spend mine in good company. So, I headed to the top floor of the SPR building and sat in the library for an hour or so, lost in its books and journals.

The SPR library is kind of the picture of the library I want to build myself, if I could of course. So, the one at the SPR will be a wonderful substitute.

Www.ashleyknibb.com

After a little while I got talking to the librarian who was very helpful and reminded me of the additional manuscripts and works held at Cambridge University too. Another place I must visit soon.

The library is a fantastic place to study and work, and I really look forward to visiting it again soon.

Rupert Sheldrake – Animal Premonition

After lunch Sheldrake took the floor again this time to discuss premonition in relation to animals. A subject which sounds pretty crazy until you put some context around it.

This section was kicked off by discussing how the behaviour observed for groups of animals could potentially be significant in warning of upcoming natural disasters. Disasters like earthquakes for example.

Once again more explanations have been placed on this like; perhaps animals sense the seismic activity before we do, maybe it’s coincidence and many more. Suffice to say how animals know this is unknown, but they do and it’s beneficial to their survival, so back to Darwin right ?

It would seem that this activity isn’t restricted to natural disasters either as Sheldrake stated cases from World War II too. In these dogs alerted their owners to incoming V2 rockets before they hit.

The modern application of all this are dogs that are used to alert their owners to the possibility they may soon have a seizure. That’s a real world application of something possibly related to Psi, which for me as a researcher and epileptic, but I don’t have seizures, is fantastic.

Sheldrake ended this particular section on a more funny note. This was in the form of how cats know that their owners are going to take them to the vets. It’s apparent to many Cat owners that as soon as the intention from the owner is there in place, the Cat disappears and can not be found! Sheldrake even looked into this to the point where he rang the vets to understand if many Cat owners cancelled appointments. Which they confirmed to the point where some had even stopped appointments for cats as they kept cancelling.

Cal Cooper – Animal Psi

Cal Cooper delivered an excellent overview of animal Psi and plenty of probable examples to boot. Cal’s presentation was packed full of references which I hope I managed to make notes of as I listened.

I was particularly happy to hear him start with the story of Gef the Mongoose too, Gef has been quite prominent recently hasn’t he.

Www.ashleyknibb.com

A lot of the lecture discussed various stories and examples of probable animal psi that had been found on Fate Magazine, which were interesting.

However Cal did also mention the work of D. Scott Rogo too; from ‘ESP and your Pet’ and throughout the lecture. Someone I will need to look up and read more on. The Rhine’s even got a mention too.

Of course once again there was a little humour amongst the cases too; whether it was a homing cow or Paul the Psychic Octopus, although I’m not sure they were supposed to be funny. Sometimes life just is a little funny.

Still plenty of references as ever from Cooper, which I will have to look into at some point. Once again there seems to be plenty of available information out there which supports the understanding that there is a possible presence of Psi in animals.

Rupert Sheldrake – Telepathic Animals

Sheldrake’s last lecture of the day was to focus more on telepathic animals and some just seem to know stuff they surely couldn’t do. This began with the information that Rupert had gathered on domesticated animals such as Cats and Dogs. This was also something I had read about previously and found interesting, especially as whilst growing up I am sure I had witnessed this myself with our pets too.

Sheldrake presented some data to support this and told of how he created an experiment to test the fact too. This was based on monitoring the behaviour of dogs at home prior to their owners coming home. It would seem that once the owner had the intention in place to return home, then the dogs behaviour would then change in relation. Sheldrake tested this by sending the owners home at times which were not associated with a schedule and even the owners didn’t know until the last minute.

Sure enough these experiments provided some interesting results, which certainly suggest a likelihood of a telepathic link between dog and owner.

In fact Sheldrake looked into this in such detail that he even ensured that this behaviour change wasn’t related to the dog picking up its owners scent by checking the distance blood hounds could work at, which is roughly a half mile. In Sheldrake’s research this wasn’t the case as many owners worked well over this distance away from their home.

Sheldrake concluded this lecture by introducing us to a rather wonderful African Grey Parrot, which was extremely close to its owner. What was fascinating about this particular parrot wasn’t just its rather extensive vocabulary, but its ability to speak the thoughts of its owner. Surely an amazing example of telepathic interaction that was bolstered by the bonds between a pet and its owner. In fact Sheldrake tested the parrots ability by placing the owner upstairs in separate room out of sight of the parrot, then showed the owner several pictures which were linked to words the parrot knew. Astonishingly the parrot would get many right or similar.

One other thing that was apparent was the strong loving bond that the owner and parrot had, something which was equally apparent in some of the cases with dogs. Personally I think Psi is present in all of nature in varying forms and for different reasons. However that singular connection is more apparent in those with very dominant emotional ties, whether it is one human to another, animal to animal or animal to human.

Heading Home with Thoughts of Animal Psi

Whilst heading home on the train I had plenty to think about and realised that days like the one I had at the SPR were fantastic for arousing the creative thinking. Although animal psi was something that I have thought about in the past and has certainly helped me to realise a great many things regarding the Paranormal, the SPR Study Day pretty much pushed the boundaries on that in one day. What I have written about in this blog post has literally only scratched the surface of what was discussed throughout the day. Which is why I urge anyone that may find this aspect interesting to join the SPR in order to benefit from the wealth of information available.

The concept of Psi in nature is in my opinion something that is vastly obvious, and we should take time to observe in order to learn more about it too. It is most certainly an area that requires greater research, its certainly not all about the afterlife, survival, ghosts and spirits.

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25
Sep, 2017

Sage Paracon 2017 – Warwick Castle Investigation

Some Thanks First

I want to first say a massive thank you to Jo Woolley for inviting me along with her to investigate Warwick Castle as a part of the kick off for this years Sage Paracon. Jo was lucky enough to win two tickets to the overnight investigation of Warwick Castle about a week before the event.

Due to my personal commitments I couldn’t make the entire weekend this year and in all honesty I was probably in a slight para-sulk because I was going to miss out. For me it wasn’t just the chance to stay at Warwick Castle all weekend, meet and talk to a number of big names in the paranormal field, but also that I wouldn’t have my annual catch up with some great friends that I have met over the years.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank MJ Dickson, as ever she has worked really hard to deliver a fantastic event. Overcoming many challenges along the way.

Enough of all that emotional hugging, let’s get knee-deep into this awesome investigation.

Gathering in the Undercroft

Our evening began with us all meeting up in the Undercroft Restaurant area of Warwick Castle, as this would be our base for the night. Most of the group were staying in the near by Knights Village, which is a beautiful spot in the woods along the river. A mixture of beautiful wood cabins and medieval glamping tents makes the Knights Village an excellent place to stay. Especially if you happen to find yourself investigating the historic Warwick Castle too.

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As the gathering of paranormal investigators grew, we were joined by many of the guest speakers too. During the investigation the guest speakers were in various locations around the Castle and in groups we would move between these in order to experience the varying locations and different styles that they each had in regards to the paranormal.

This was also an excellent time to catch up with old friends, make new ones and this time  round say hello to a couple of my actual family. My cousin, Medium Clare Hinks was a guest speaker at this years Sage Paracon UK 2017. It was amazing to catch up briefly with her and her husband Richard whilst we waited to begin our investigation.

After a short wait MJ placed the investigators in groups and started to send us off to our first location with our first guest speaker. As my cousin headed off to the Kenilworth Room with Robert Murch to play with Ouija Boards, I took my place in a group with Richard. After all this was Richards first ever overnight investigation and what a way to start.

The Stonemasons Den with Brian J Cano

The first area that my group headed to was an area of the Castle called the Kingmaker Area and our for this area we would be with Haunted Collectors Brian J Cano. Brian is a fantastic investigator, that I first met back in 2014 and I soon realised there was more to him than what you see on the TV. Actually a hell of a lot more. I really enjoy Brian’s approach to investigation too.

We kicked things off by walking around the area to find anything that may pick up our focus. Straight off, Paula and Wayne believed they saw a light anomaly float towards the stairs near the map of the UK. I have a feeling that they may have caught it on film, but I’m not sure.

After a little while the whole team gathered in the Stonemasons Den with Brian to work as a group together. Brian had us stand in a circle so that we could give a group EVP session a go. Now what I found fantastic here is that Brian took the time to explain the EVP concept for people new to investigations, like Richard. He also told us better ways to perform the session rather than a clinical approach, which just isn’t a natural conversation.

Brian began to record and we each asked a question in turn around the circle. As we did so we tagged any noises too, including the chiming church bells towards the end. Once completed Brian plugged in a handy speaker and we reviewed the audio for possible oddities.

First up was a slightly breathy voice, but this was a little bit of a stretch and if in doubt ‘chuck it out’ right.

However it wasn’t long before we realised that we had captured something odd. Just before Amelia asked her question, there was quite a clear ‘two’ that could be heard. After further review this did sound a little like a sequence of numbers too, possibly like ‘4 3 2..’.

We followed up our EVP session with a little bit of pendulum work. Now I am going to just put this out there, as I have a funny feeling that the launch of the new Apple iPhone may have influenced our possible communication with spirits. Brian decided to use his Apple earphones as a pendulum on this occasion, which was interesting. That said the session did yield some interesting responses. We established a ‘yes’ and ‘no’ before proceeding to ask a few simple questions.

Whatever was communicating through this setup seemed to associate itself with he numbers captured in the EVP. We then tried to establish the location of our communicator and oddly this was confirmed to be with John Zaffis. Brian then decided to try and send the word ‘stab’ back to John as he would most likely be using the Echovox.

As we came towards the end of our session with Brian we decided to give the Psychic Projection Experiment a try. Once again Brian explained this experiment in good detail for those new to it. We actually tried this twice. On the first pass, we focused on the recording device using the word ‘stab’ and on the second pass we used the word ‘believe’. Unfortunately on these occasions the words didn’t appear on the device. This is an excellent little experiment, which is so quick that I think we should be trying it more and documenting it too. At least the circumstances in order to understand why it may work and why it doesn’t.

After a fantastic start to our nights investigation, we headed back to the base room for some refreshments, before moving on.

The Music Room with John Zaffis

Next up we headed to the Music room with the ‘Godfather’ of the paranormal, John Zaffis. John has forty plus years experience in the paranormal field and has studied under his aunt and uncle; Ed and Lorraine Warren.

We setup in the Music room by sitting pretty much in a circle near the piano. John kicked things off with an Echovox (I think, I didn’t get a great look at the app) session, but what I found quite interesting was the way in which John communicated with this ITC app. I have seen many use various ITC apps in the field used, but often investigators will pose more clinical questions. However John pretty much spoke to the app as you would a normal person, responding to its answers and attempting to keep the flow of the conversation going.

A few times whilst using this the name ‘Ed’ could be heard too, which was very interesting. Especially as John would respond by asking him to let others come through.

However it wasn’t long before the focus of this session was gained. Richard picked up on the name ‘Robert’, which John confirmed as being picked up by a previous group too. As we asked questions, we seemed to establish that possibly Robert may have been gay, but had to hide this from everyone. It was possible that he was a member of the family that resided at Warwick Castle, but this was a little vague to be fair. We did establish perhaps that Robert was stood in the corner of the room behind Richard and I.

We done our best as a group with John’s assistance to continue communication with Robert and other spirits by using classic knocks for positive and negative response.

I time with John passed at speed and before we knew it we were heading back to the base room wondering where we would be heading next.

The Bear Tower with Greg Lawson

Our next location was the Bear Tower with Greg Lawson, which was going to be an odd one of course. Simply because the Bear Tower is one small room above a large pit. Plus I also knew we would be in for a treat as Greg’s approach is a little different.

After a brief discussion outside the tower, Greg lead us inside and advised us to read the three pieces of information on the walls. As I stood there I found myself wondering about more than paranormal aspects, but the historical back stories that related to them; just like Greg had mentioned.

Then Greg took the rest of the group outside for a few minutes and left three of us in there alone in the dark. Oddly Danny, Amelia and I seemed quite at home in there, so I decided to ask them both what they were feeling. Which was interesting. Some relating to the probable history of the location, but otherwise certainly not too scary.

When Greg returned with the rest of the group I communicated that I was finding myself questioning what we were presented with, the evidence so to speak wasn’t quite right. Greg continued to tell us of how he had spoken with Frank Cinelli about various things which had lead to his own re-evaluations of how he looked at the paranormal. Something which places us as probable important elements within the paranormal experience. An approach which I totally agree with, as without an observer we must question if the activity ever occurred in the first place. Its the old; if a tree fell in the woods without anyone around would it make a sound analogy.

This questioning of the facts lead us to grab a torch and peer into the pit below us to at least quantify that it was bigger enough to house bears. Which it was, but it was evident from all this that where we stood was more like a gallery area with the bears below. Still I wanted to understand more about this area in order to tie in any probable paranormal elements.

Closure of the Bear Tower vigil came around far too quickly for me as I was getting into research analysis mode. So, I would just like to stop here and thank Greg for reminding me of the importance of following the facts.

Debunking a Strange Light with Carl Hutchinson

When I returned to the base room I bumped into Carl Hutchinson, who asked me to take a look at a couple of pictures he had taken in the courtyard of the castle. In these pictures there was a odd looking little light and in the Live Photos the light danced around like it was alive.

Carl instantly knew that it was something to do with the Apple iPhone (seriously this post isn’t sponsored by Apple) that was causing the oddity, but wondered if I had ever seen something like it.

Weirdly I actually had looked into recently as I had been sent a picture by someone that featured this very strange light. It’s a blue colour around the middle of the picture below.

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Also seen in this picture too.

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After receiving these I too like Carl thought they were a technical issue and soon concluded it to be so. This was proven though when Francesca Chiorando (Access All Areas) posted a beautiful picture on Facebook of the sun breaking through into the dark wood. Sure enough in the picture was that little blue light again.

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However this wasn’t quite enough for Carl and I we had to go through the recreate process to ensure that this was a phone fault and that we weren’t seeing some kind of weird supernatural animal. So, I headed back out into the Castle courtyard to see if I could create a little blue light of my own.

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Turns out that whilst you take a photo in low light scenarios like this and when the phone is slightly angled the small little light appears. It also seems that once the little light falls into the focus box this becomes more prominent. Tech issue for sure, debunked!

It’s fantastic to catch up and chat about stuff like this with Carl again.

 

The Chapel with Jeff Belanger

My groups next location was to be the Chapel with Ghost Adventures and prolific paranormal author Jeff Belanger. We began by discussing a little of this areas history and sharing some of Jeff’s candy corn. I’m still not sure whether accepting candy from Jeff was a good idea, especially given that it was a little addictive and full of sugar. Still thank you Jeff for the candy. Yes I am aware we call them sweets in the UK, but when in Rome.

The actual front of the Chapel wasn’t accessible, but Jeff explained how the motion sensors had triggered the alarms earlier even though there was no one there. As we all discussed this we theorised the possibility that the IR lights from the teams cameras may have set off the motion detectors. Shame we couldn’t test the theory.

Oddly or not so oddly the Chapel was relatively calming for me, well up until Wayne started using a FLIR device. As he scanned the device around the room identifying the various temperatures he discovered something a little odd. There appeared to be a warm patch on the floor registering around 22 degrees. What was particularly interesting is that this warm patch on the floor just wouldn’t dissipate. We tried comparisons by having one of the group sit near by to the patch. After they moved their heat signature soon dissipated. There also didn’t appear to be any light shining into the room that could cause it. It was certainly odd and we struggled to define an explanation.

Now unfortunately we don’t know if this appeared whilst we were there or if it was always there. So, understanding more about it is difficult. Still very interesting though.

Over the weekend this played on my mind a little and one possibility could be that this particular patch of flooring was more shiny than the rest. Thus the FLIR was bouncing back creating a false reading. I seem to recall reading about such a thing previously where during an investigation a false reading was picked up from a mirror, which in the dark wasn’t identified as such.

We all headed back to the base ready for our final location of the night.

The Kenilworth Room with Robert Murch, Nikki Folsom and Clare Hinks

The Kenilworth Room is best known and mentioned several times by me on this very website. Especially due to its connections Aleister Crowley and that very strange photo that MJ took in the room too. Its a part of Warwick Castle that has never really let us down activity wise and holds a certain fascination for me.

As ever our journey to the room was lead by one of the guest speakers, Robert Murch. We walked up stairs, along a corridor, into one of the bedrooms, past a few manikins and then along a long small passageway above the banquet hall to the room. As I stepped into the dark wood panelled room I noticed that my cousin Medium Clare Hinks was playing with a Ouija Board.

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Robert quickly filled us in on some what had already occurred and then a little about the board. Then he invited some of us to join him and Clare on the board. I jumped at the chance of course.

As we played on the board listening to Roberts instructions, some information came through. A little perhaps related to Crowley, a little perhaps related to the resurrection ritual which is reported to have taken place there and other information related to those in the room.

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Many of us including Robert, MJ, Clare, others in the room, on the board and I asked questions and the board appeared to respond. Obviously there are a whole lot of probable reasons why Ouija Boards work, but in situations like this I often find it best to go with it and simply see what happens. I often see divination tools such as this as a kind of link to the unconscious.

After a short while many of the large group that had gathered in the room decided to head down to the dungeons. However on this occasion I decided to remain and work with my cousin on the board a little more. We were also joined by Nikki Folsom and on occasion Robert too.

There was some interesting information coming through board associated possibly to the location. However all of a sudden communication just a appeared to stop! We tried a few things, but still the connection remained absent. Then weirdly we began to receive a little information. I think it was fair to say that at this point both Clare and I may have recognised our spirit communicator. This was confirmed shortly when the board spelt out ‘H W Knibb’. This was our grandfather and in all fairness not the first time he’s turned up during an investigation.

Obviously there’s a distinct possibility that as we were both on the board our unconscious minds directed the planchet towards someone that has passed and connects us both. In all honesty, however it worked it was a really nice way to finish the night. If it was truly his spirit letting us know he is about, then that in itself is good to know.

In a flash it was over…

As many investigations for me, Warwick Castle flew by, but for all the right reasons. The location is undoubtedly haunted in some way, a location like it that houses so much history and still today has an abundance of visitors, really has to have something paranormal about it.

It was great to visit a few different locations from my last investigation of the castle, but also fantastic to return my very favourite room; the Kenilworth Room. As ever Mj’s setup of the investigation giving us access to the various guest speakers during the night, was spot on and enjoyed by all that attended.

This year saw pretty much completely different approaches from all the guest speakers too in the various locations. There was EVP, Psychic Projection, Pendulum Work, ITC, classical knock communication, analysing what you do and don’t know, adding yourself into the equation, looking at the history, debunking, looking at all possibilities and communicating through the Ouija Board.

To be quite frank there are not many investigation events out there that give you this many paranormal celebrities, techniques, approaches and all in a fantastic location such as Warwick Castle.

As far as paranormal events go, in my opinion this was a ten out of ten.

A Little Thanks

I would just like to say a massive thank you to MJ Dickson for putting the whole thing together, great job. I would also like to thank all the guest speakers that helped make this night a fantastic experience all the way through. So, in no particular order Brian J Cano, John Zaffis, Greg Lawson, Jeff Belanger, Robert Murch, Nikki Folsom and Clare Hinks; thank you all and great job guys.

Lastly, thank you to everyone that attended, what a great bunch of people you are. I believe MJ calls you all the Sage Tribe.

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17
Sep, 2017

Who Put Bella in the Wych-Elm? – The Untold Secrets

The Original Tale of Bella

The story of Bella begins back in April 1943 during early evening time at Hagley Woods in Stourbridge. Four boys in search of bird nests found a striking elm tree that caught their eye. One of the four climbed up to take a closer look only to peer into the hollow and discover a human skull.

As the boys were not supposed to be in Hagley Woods, they decided to head home and keep this to themselves through fear of getting themselves in trouble. However one of them decided to tell his father, who in turn rang the police and the story of Bella in the Wych-Elm was born.

Okay granted, that is likely to be a very short version of the tale, but you get the idea. Jayne Harris covers it much better in her documentary, which is what this post is about of course.  I recently watched Jayne’s film and to be honest I was pleasantly surprised. So, I thought I would post a little review of it for you all.

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Looking At A Few Theories Surrounding Bella!

Jayne isn’t shy about looking at several of the prominent theories regarding Bella, which is one of the reasons I really enjoyed the film.

One of the most spoken about theories is that the events that lead to Bella’s demise were related to Witchcraft in some way and thats why she was placed in the elm tree. Jayne tackles this theory head on, gathering the related information attributed to this line of enquiry and then follows it up with a smart approach. After all when the stories of Bella seem to be related to Witchcraft, who better to talk to about this possibility than a Witch of course. In this case Jayne speaks to Ashley Mortimer, a friend of mine and someone whom I consider very knowledgeable in all things to do with Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism and the very interesting Doreen Valiente. This all presents very well in the film and gives us an interesting perspective on this theory.

Next up was the espionage theory which I found equally interesting as the witchcraft theory. Jayne done a fantastic job at looking into this theory in detail, chasing up quite a few leads to ensure that the evidence supported what was believed. Not to mention dismissing a few parts of this theory that were more fiction than fact. However the trail for this theory was well followed and documented in film.

The final theory that was looked at in the film was that of either unfortunate events or good old fashion murder. Jayne looked at the possibility that Bella had either walked through Hagley Woods and someone had either robbed and murdered her or her body had been hidden there following her unfortunate demise.

Who Was Bella?

However Jayne didn’t just leave the case here looking at those three probable theories, she continued to look at some aspects of the case that may have been overlooked in the past. This was something that really made the film for me, as Jayne took a look at who Bella might have been, which may also help to explain why she ended up in the Wych-Elm.

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Drawing from the facts in the police reports Jayne makes comparisons in order to discuss some of the possible candidates for Bella. I like the way that the candidates are logically assessed by Jayne and found myself nodding in agreement with her conclusions of this.

Although I am not familiar with the case of Bella it certainly seemed as if ‘no stone was left unturned’ by Jayne and this approach shone through in her film. I could see that the evidence and details of the case had been followed. This was made evident in how the film presented Jayne’s findings, remaining true to the case and its facts. Rather than seeking a supernatural answer.

Not Entirely Without Supernatural Links!

However at a couple of points during the film Jayne interviewed and utilised what could be said to be more psychical resources, with the interview of a Psychic Medium and also a Remote Viewer. Given the rest of the films approach, this should have been the bit where I felt a little disappointed and possibly rolled my eyes a little. Not because I dismiss these approaches, but because the film may not have seemed like these approaches would fit the format. This I am happy to say was not the case though. Both individuals were interviewed well and utilised in conjunction with matters relating to the case, presenting them as valid rather than a supernatural inclusion.

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Personally I especially liked the use of a Remote Viewer, as this particular approach is something that has been heavily documented over the years, but often dismissed. However many law enforcement departments (certainly in the States) have utilised them on active cases productively. The use of a Remote Viewer also resulted in some fascinating responses, no spoilers, but keep an eye out for them.

Recommendations

If you’re like me and find yourself looking into the facts behind cases that often have supernatural links, then ‘Who Put Bella in the Wych-Elm – The Untold Secrets‘ is a must for you without a doubt!

Jayne Harris has produced an excellent film covering the case excellently and in a way that captivated me throughout. The documentary was at a good pace too and didn’t just deliver the facts or analyse the possibilities, it told the story!

I have to be honest I went into this with an open mind, but was prepared for a film that wasn’t going to be let’s say of TV professional standards. Perhaps because I didn’t want to set my expectations too high and then be disappointed. However I have to admit, I was wrong to do so. Jayne Harris has delivered a fantastic film, which in my opinion is every bit professional as many of the paranormal shows I have seen on TV, if not better. It’s certainly up there as a good documentary, which would not be out of place on TV.

Great job Jayne I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Who Put Bella in the Wych-Elm – The Untold Secret‘ and I look forward to your next film.

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If you’ve not seen the film, please do and also check out more of Jayne Harris’s work at www.jayne-harris.com.

A DVD of Who Put Bella in the Wych-Elm – The Untold Secrets is available here www.hdparanormal.com/product-page

Jayne also has a Halloween screening of the film coming up, tickets are available here at www.boroughhalls.co.uk/who-put-bella-in-the-wych-elm.html

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2
Sep, 2017
https://ashleyknibb.com/category/research/the-metetherial-project/the-metetherial-encyclopaedia/the-metetherial-encyclopaedia-contents/

The Metetherial Encyclopaedia – Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP)

What is it?

For many that have been in the paranormal field a while or even a moment the term EVP   (Electronic Voice Phenomena) has become common place. If you’ve taken the time to watch a paranormal TV show or two, then it’s likely that at some point you would have heard the investigators throw the term about whilst playing around with a Digital Voice Recorder.

When I first started overnight investigation I’m pretty sure it was one of the first pieces of paranormal jargon that I came to know. Especially as it would seem that the attempt to capture an EVP, is something that many investigators do on every investigation.

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EVP’s are considered to be the voices of spirits recorded on media either intentionally or in some cases unintentionally. In reality they are sounds that are discovered within electronic recordings. These sounds can often then be interpreted to be similar to simple responses to questions or indeed random phrases.

Although EVP’s have reached great popularity over the years with additional promotion from the many TV shows, they remain a phenomena that holds a lot of question among parapsychologists. The reason being is that they argue that EVP’s are often recorded with significant background or static noise, this then generates a certain misunderstanding in interpreting these sounds. That is if you listen hard enough you’ll hear the answer to your question or if someone suggests what they believe it to be, then you’ll often hear that word to phrase yourself. This is what our parapsychology friends may refer to as auditory pareidolia. More on pareidolia in a future post.

Suffice to say there does still remain significant interest in EVP’s and I have in the past recorded a relatively ‘crystal clear’ one of my own which keeps the subject open for me too. Check out that EVP here.

Oddly for me these days the question of EVP’s doesn’t necessarily link to them being auditory pareidolia or not, but if they are genuine EVP’s then their source is more important. I’ll explain a little on that later.

A Little History

I won’t go into excessive detail regarding the history of Electronic Voice Phenomena as it’s likely to be enough to write a book on. Now there’s an idea for the future!

So, here’s my quick tour of EVP history.

Whilst the spiritualist movement dominated potential communication with spirits in the late 1800’s, as technology became more available so did the idea of incorporating it into paranormal investigation. Thomas Edison was once asked to during an interview with Scientific America, I believe, of the possibility of his inventions being able to communicate with the dead for example. Interestingly enough, during the 1990’s the Scole Experimental Team believe they received the design for such a device from Edison himself, which can be seen below.

As sound recording became more widespread the idea of attempting to record spirit communication developed and the concept of EVP began.

Over the years many picked up the idea and experimented with it. Attila von Szalay worked with Raymond Bayless and published their work in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research in 1959. Bayless also co-wrote a book called ‘Phone Calls from the Dead’ in 1979.

In the 1960’s and 70’s Konstantin Raudive, who was a Latvian psychologist conducted numerous experiments in EVP. He made over 100,000 recordings with Jürgenson and even used RF-screened laboratory’s during their work. Raudive believed these to be discarnate voices and invited people to listen to the recordings and interpret them. Raudive’s work continues to be quoted in the field today.

In the 1980’s William O’Neil brought us a device called ‘Spiritcom’, which he claimed originated from a design he received psychically. This in my opinion began a new era for EVP, which related to ITC directly and took us on a new journey. These devices would lay claim to allow ‘two way communication’, but whether that was true or not is still something that remains as mysterious as the filed itself.

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Around 2002 Frank Sumption gave the paranormal world ‘Franks Box’ , which has also been known as ‘Ghost Box’ and ‘Spirit Box’ too. Fundamentally the device uses a mix of a white noise generator and a circuit which sweeps through radio bands. Again this has received criticism for the results being rather subjective and again possibly based back on auditory pareidolia.

EVP Today

These days EVP work ranges from using the old fashion approaches all the way through to the use of ITC via the many Apps available on various mobile technology and laptops. However it’s not all high-tech, many that are passionate about EVP claim that older media types like tapes or even reel-to-reel give far better results.

For me EVP still holds a valid interest within my own paranormal research and investigation. However I am not sure entirely whether I could lay claim that it provides proof of spirit communication. Although I have captured that crystal clear EVP I mentioned earlier, which without doubt for me came from somewhere other than those present. Well, when I say it didn’t come from us, I mean none of us spoke the phrase out loud. More recent experiments that I have tried like the Psychic Projection Experiment have presented results exactly the same as EVP ones. The difference here though is that in those experiments the phrase was projected psychically by the group and heard as a recording. Which raises the very important question to me; are EVP’s of probable spirit communication actually projected psychically onto the devices by those investigating? Something that is most definitely worth further investigation and indeed experimental research too.

EVP remains a prominent part of paranormal research and investigation today, which is something that doesn’t appear to be likely to change any time soon.

Moving forward I think we all do need to take EVP out of the box it’s ended up in and begin to experiment with it in as many ways possible. There’s a couple of examples below to get you started.

The Psychic Projection Experiment

The Triple Approach EVP Experiment

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