Messages from the Other Side - Ghosts, EVP, EVP Software and Franks Box

Most of you will have probably heard of ‘white noise’ and the ‘EVP’s’ or ‘electronic voice phenomenon’s’ that it is used to record. White noise has re-entered the mass public consciousness again during the last few years due to several blockbuster movies based upon the idea. White noise when first heard seems insignificant, a fuzzy static sound that does little more than annoy, and send hands reaching for dials and knobs and buttons in order to end it as quickly as possible. But listen closely, at just the right moment, in just the right place, and it’s said that this white noise holds messages, fragments of another dimension, and an intrusion into our own.

The capturing of ghost EVPs is done through the use of tape recorders, camcorders and/or other electronic devices to converse with or to receive messages from the spirit world, and this practise is known as ‘instrumental transcommunication’, ‘to converse with the other-side by means of electronic instrumentation.’

The white noise from which ghost EVPs are recorded gets its name from the fact that it is produced as a combination of sounds from all available frequencies played simultaneously. But white noise itself is not a form of communication with the spirit world; instead it is more like a medium through which the dead are able to contact us, white noise harnesses an energy that seeps through from their world into ours.

Recording EVPs

In order to record ghost EVPs a source of white noise is needed, this could be white noise from an out-tuned TV or radio, or from a PC based white noise generator used by EVP recording software. The white noise can then either simply be recorded for later analysis, particularly useful at supposedly haunted locations, or questions can be asked of the white noise, whilst being recorded, and then the footage played back and listened to for answers that were not previously audible to the naked ear.

Recorded ghost EVPs may take the form of seemingly random snippets of conversation or ‘echoes’ associated with a specific place or item, EVPs could come in the form of messages meant for a specific person from passed loved ones or otherwise, and in their worst form ghost EVPs have been recorded that contain warnings issued in a threatening manner, messages such as ‘keep out’ or ‘leave now’ screaming out from within the white noise.

EVP Software

There is a variety of EVP software available to those with an interest in recording electronic voice phenomena, this software uses acoustic raw material and random segments of audio data to create white noise that can be affected by a variety of in-built options and recorded directly onto your computer.  The speed of audio samples can be slowed down or sped up with ease to help with the deciphering of unclear ghost EVPs, ‘reverse’, direct recording via microphone and a whole bunch of other things to play around with make EVP software a valuable tool for the serious EVP collector.

Franks Box and Ghost Boxes

Created by Frank Sumption as a tool through which to further his interest in EVP research, Franks ‘spirit receiving box’ uses a standard white noise generator and feeds it through a ‘random voltage circuit’ of his own design.

‘Franks Box’ otherwise known as the ‘ghost box’ is a device that is used for on-the-spot live EVP listening. With traditional EVP recording equipment samples are recorded and then taken away for analysis, with Frank’s ghost box (it is said) messages from the other side can be heard in real-time.

Known also as the ‘telephone to the dead’ Franks box scans continuously through all available frequencies creating a random mix of white noise, and verbal and audio fragments, it is through this that the ‘live’ EVPs are heard. Essentially a customized pocket radio or media player modern franks ghost boxes are light and easy to operate, and are said to produce some extremely interesting results, when taken on a ghost hunt or paranormal investigation.

"Nobody knows whether our personalities pass on to another existence or
sphere, but if we can evolve an instrument so delicate to be manipulated by
our personality as it survives in the next life such an instrument ought to
record something..." Thomas Edison 1928