Anne Rzechowicz and Renata Daniel of Frightfully Good, return to the podcast to give us all a much needed humor break from the pandemic. They share some of the paranormal experiences from their travels, including experiences with the spirit box, and a night at the Ostrich Inn. And did you know Anne and Renata have matching tattoos?!
Your host, Patrick Keller, shares his recent library presentation, which includes some of his favorite EVPs and paranormal experiences. Plus, get your voice in an upcoming episode!
A haunted weekend full of spirit communication experiments with Patrick and Karen A. Dahlman for Part Two of a special road trip to the Haunted Castle House in Brumley, Missouri. Experiments include the Estes Method, spirit box, Ouija, and the SLS camera.
After a paranormal weekend at the Haunted America Conference, Karen A. Dahlman joins Patrick for an overnight Ouija session and a creepy exploration through the dark corridors of the haunted Lemp Mansion in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Patrick travels one day into the future to talk to Australia’s Anne Rzechowicz and Renata Daniel about ghost tours, seances, table tipping, gadgets, and some of the hottest paranormal spots in Australia, including the Maitland Gaol and Q Station, Manly!
Author and Paranormal Investigator, Joni Mayhan, shares what it’s like to grow up as a sensitive, and her favorite stories from her Haunted New Harmony Ghost Walk and Investigations! Plus hear four great EVP samples from Joni’s collection!
An interview with Karl Pfeiffer, the multitalented photographer, novelist, and ghost hunter. We cover his time on Syfy’s Ghost Hunters Academy, as well as his thoughts on paranormal TV. We bravely tackle the polarizing topic of orbs! Plus his experiences from leading ghost tours at the Stanley Hotel, and the inspiration for his photography!
Amy Bruni and Adam Berry, America’s favorite TV Ghost Hunters, talk with Patrick Keller about their new project, Kindred Spirits on TLC. Plus their favorite paranormal tools, what makes them nerds, and putting a conspiracy theory to rest!
Are you fascinated by the EVP examples you hear on your favorite paranormal television shows? Have you ever wanted to learn just how to conduct an EVP session? Or maybe you’re already actively involved in an area of spirit communication, but you’d like to learn about someone else’s process and hear a new perspective on EVP. In this episode, I share the techniques that I’ve learned and use in my research on Electronic Voice Phenomena.
There are many many ways of recording for and capturing EVP. For decades, people all over the world have successfully recorded spirit voices in their own individual way. There are basic techniques and there are techniques that are rather complicated, some requiring more equipment and more explanation. There are also techniques that due to times changing and new technology, are just outdated.
My experiences with EVP began as a paranormal investigator, but more recently it comes from research and conducting various experiments and seances, mostly in my home.
I want to make it clear that my intention for this episode is to share how I typically go about recording for EVP during experiments in my own home, specifically. The process might be a bit different during a paranormal investigation, especially if you are investigating with a group.
And before I really get into my process, I have to give some credit to the following researchers/authors who have influenced me in recent years: the late Sarah Estep, one of America’s great EVP pioneers; Tom and Lisa Butler, directors of Association TransCommunication; and Randall Keller, a wise and experienced researcher who has been a great mentor. And he’s also a former guest of the podcast, fromEpisode #8 from August 14, 2014. A lot of what I know and the “how to” came directly from these folks in one way or another.
My technique for recording EVP
Determine your location/recording environment
Quiet and comfortable
Avoid bad energy/pick a feel good place
Be familiar with your surroundings (noises and sounds)
Ideally, you will want to record when you are alone in the house or location
Document the location and details of others in the house if you’re not alone.
Pick a time of day where the neighborhood (if that is an issue for you) is at its quietest.
Document specific equipment you’re using (if it’s out of the ordinary).
Document anything you may be trying or changing as far as technique goes.
Document anything odd in your surroundings for a session.
Recorders and their placement
Use a digital audio recorder with USB capabilities
I use the Sony ICD PX-820 and Sony ICD PX-720, and they’re nearly identical. They’re also old models, so don’t go looking for them on Amazon, unless you’re wanting a used one. I also use a nicer and techier Tascam DR-07 with an external Tascam microphone.
In my opinion, it is important to use two recorders at the same time for sessions. These recorders should be different models or brands. This may help you to rule out questionable sounds that could be picked up or more easily explained in another recorder.
EVP are not often recorded in multiple recorders at one time. If I hear something or a voice out-of-place in one recorder, but not in the other, I’m more likely to believe it is truly paranormal and possibly an EVP.
Place your recorders near you, probably on opposite sides of the room, but far enough away where you won’t hear your every breath.
Using headphones or ear buds? Maybe. Maybe not.
Advice for saving time and frustration later
Starting both recorders at the same time (or close to it) will be very helpful when comparing time stamps during analysis.
Get in the habit of “tagging” while investigating or during an EVP session.
Just before the session
Brief meditation or prayer.
State intentions. I invite spirits/guides/loved ones to help in sending or inviting appropriate spirits to help with research and to learn about life on the other side.
Sometimes before a session I’ll simply play relaxation or meditation music lightly in the background to help me chill out.
Be in a good place or frame of mind when practicing any form of spirit communication.
The Actual EVP Session
Click record and allow for at least 30 seconds of silence.
Re-state verbal request for protection/invitation
State the date and time
Briefly describe the equipment used and where it is placed
Document anything unusual in the environment
Once again state intentions
Begin by asking some basic identifying questions.
Give 100% respect
Don’t interrogate.
Don’t assume you’re smarter because you’re alive.
Don’t assume they want or need your help.
Don’t assume they’re miserable.
Don’t assume they’re “earthbound”, troubled, or in need of help.
Do not jump to the conclusion that because you’ve captured an EVP, your home is haunted. Some very impressive and historic examples of spirit communication have come from spirits reporting to be communicating from a kind of station used for communicating from the other side.
Further questions might be more specific, possibly relate to a specific spirit, or be no different than elements of a conversation you’d have with a living person.
Allow plenty of time (20 to 30 seconds) in between questions.
If you have a complicated or deep question in mind, consider breaking it up into smaller chunks.
If you experience activity during the session
I don’t always instigate it, but as you may know from a previous episode of the podcast, often I get spirits who like to let me know of their presence by knocks or “rapping”. I guess it’s just the best way for some spirits to communicate with me. When this happens, I roll with it, and I try to continue the communication through the rapping. In my opinion, this kind of communication is just as fascinating and noteworthy as EVP.
Sometimes at the end of a session I’ll ask for some kind of validation through touch or the moving of an object. If you’re comfortable with it, why not ask? I know that when I get two or three loud knocks or raps when I ask for it, or if I ever capture a recorder being moved across the table, I’ll be way more likely to be confident about any EVP captured in that session.
To hear examples from my sessions where I communicate with spirits through rapping and knocking, be sure to listen toEpisode #6 from July 30, 2014.
Before ending a session
Give any spirits present the opportunity to give feedback or suggestions to make the research, or the communication in general, more successful.
Thank those present for their energy and presence and invite them to return for future sessions.
I think my sessions are longer than most people prefer. A typical session for me is 15 to 20 minutes. Just remember that depending on how thorough you are during the analysis of your audio recordings, it will take at the very least twice as long to listen and analyze as it took to record. Some of my more complicated and longer sessions can take a day or more to get through. And that’s just with one recorder. You get the picture.
Other techniques and tools that you can combine with your EVP session
The use of background noise, such as “white” or “pink noise”, or even taking advantage of explainable noises in the environment. Many believe, and some are convinced, that using background noise during EVP sessions may help entities to communicate.
I will sometimes use a “spirit box” or any device that will help me practice the “radio sweep” method of capturing what is an example of “opportunistic EVP”. Avoid falling for pareidolia.
One last tool that I tend to use now, won’t surprise most of you at all. But I will also spend some time in my session, often by myself, but sometimes with a partner, using the Ouija board. As of this date, after around 3 years of occasional use of the Ouija, I’ve yet to experience or capture movement on the board. With that being said, I have captured a possible EVP that I’ve shared with listeners in a past episode. This communication seems to say “Ouijee… board” after I asked “what am I touching” during a Ouija session. Pretty cool, if you ask me. That was inEpisode #5 from July 23rd, 2014, and was my first interview with Karen A. Dahlman.
So as you can see… there are so many things you can do with an EVP session. You can have a very basic session, or you can be very detailed, go crazy with it, and pretty much make a full-time study of it. But as I always say, as long as you’re being respectful and have good positive intentions, there’s nothing wrong with it. Just be smart and have fun.
Perhaps in a future episode, I’ll get into how you can listen to and analyze your recordings, in search of those possible spirit voices.
Sneak Peak at next week’s episode with returning guest, Karen A. Dahlman!
The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe, submit a rating, or share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!
You may be familiar with my Annual Thanksgiving Ouija sessions. This year Karen A. Dahlman encouraged me to have one on Halloween, and so I did. I decided to call this one a Ouija Séance, because well… it sounds cooler.
My planchette partner was my mother. I was so very lucky to have them visiting us over the Halloween weekend. It was really nice, and I wish we could have extended it for several more days.
In this post, I will share with you a brief report along with some audio artifacts from the séance.
But first… Trick-or-Treaters…
It was such an unseasonably windy and cold night for trick-or-treating, but along with the neighbors, we did our usual “schtick” out on the front sidewalk. I was sure that we’d have a much bigger turnout this year with it being Friday and all, but I think the cold kept many of the kiddies in… or it at least kept them from being out too late, unless your costume involved a winter coat, ski mask, and gloves. But my hot apple cider was a bigger hit than ever. I always offer it to the “big people” who accompany most of the little costumed goblins. (I even had one family show up and say “We remember your hot apple cider from last year! We were hoping you’d be out here again!”) Thanks to the neighbors’ fire pit, we managed to stay warm and enjoy ourselves for most of the evening!
Oh yeah… and my Halloween window dressings were a big hit this year too! I think we’ll use them again next year!
I was very tired from an incredibly crazy week and busy night, and my mom was tired from being on the road, but once we were sure the trick-or-treaters had given up, and after we had the chance to watch the original 1978 version of Halloween, we began our séance shortly after midnight.
The Ouija Séance… just call me the Spirit Rapper Whisperer…
Our séance began after the rest of the house was asleep and bundled in their beds upstairs. All the candles on the Halloween Altar were lit, and we sat with the board, which was surrounded by many of the vintage Halloween cards and photos. I recorded our session with a digital audio recorder, and was also prepared with the spirit box that I got from Stephen Hill.
We opened the séance by clearly stating our intentions and having a moment of silence for prayer/meditation. We discovered fairly quickly that we’d have to cut the silence short to keep from falling asleep. (Seriously… I was nodding off.)
Within the first 5 minutes, we were hearing many knocks and pops. I acknowledged that the water line to the fridge (for the ice maker) was making a few noises, and it was clearly our first really cold and windy night of the year. But the heat was not on, and other than it being Halloween and having two extra guests in the house, nothing else was out of the ordinary in our immediate surroundings. I have never before noticed or heard so many loud knocks and pops in the lower level of our home in such a short time. I really want to be able to explain them, but the curious timing of the knocks (almost every one happened after a question, as if in response) combined with how loud they were, makes them really hard to ignore. I don’t know why I always seem to be the Spirit Rapping Whisperer, but I’ll let you be the judge on what exactly this is.
A few audio artifacts of the knocking/rapping:
4 minutes and 24 seconds into the séance
11 minutes into the séance
13 minutes and 5 seconds into the séance
Then we turned on the Spirit Box
I don’t know that I can make a guess as to what any of these possible messages say. All I know is that I don’t typically flag too many interesting spirit box artifacts, especially those recorded in my own home. Most of the voices in the audio artifacts below seem to be the same voice that crosses over several to many frequencies or stations. That makes it significant in my book. I was sweeping the AM frequencies.
A few Spirit Box audio artifacts:
17 minutes and 55 seconds into the séance Original Audio with no enhancements Slowed down
19 minutes and 3 seconds into the séance Original Audio with no enhancements Noise removal and amplification
20 minutes and 27 seconds into the séance
I had just asked, “What is today?” Original Audio with no enhancements Noise removal and amplification Noise removal, amplification, and slowed down
20 minutes and 49 seconds into the séance
I had just asked, “Do I know you?” Original Audio with no enhancements Noise removal and amplification
21 minutes and 43 seconds into the séance
I had just asked, “What am I touching right now?” (Hands were on the planchette/Ouija board.) Original Audio with no enhancements Noise removal and amplification Noise removal, amplification, and slowed down
One other interesting detail is that at 20 minutes and 27 seconds into the séance, the little skeleton man that was sitting up in the center of the buffet/Halloween Altar, fell over. I was sitting in a chair directly in front of him with my back facing him. My mom watched it fall. Paranormal? I’m not sure. It was probably a couple of inches away from the back of my chair, but I wasn’t doing much moving around.
When we stopped after 28 minutes, it was because I was falling asleep. Once again, I must point out that we experienced no movement or activity coming directly from the Ouija board. This has been the case for every Ouija session I’ve had in the last three years or so.
Did you find this post interesting? You may want to check out some of my other Ouija posts.
One other interesting detail is that at 20 minutes and 27 seconds into the séance, the little skeleton man that was sitting up in the center of the buffet/Halloween Altar, fell over. I was sitting in a chair directly in front of him with my back facing him. My mom watched it fall. Paranormal? I’m not sure. It was probably a couple of inches away from the back of my chair, but I wasn’t doing much moving around. 
