The EVP Experiment

We listened to three EVPS collected by Ghost Hounds to see whether everyone would hear the same thing.

We started off the evening listening to three EVPs (EVP stands for "Electronic Voice Phenomenon, which is a term for the supposed ability to record the voices of the dead). Forty-one participants were asked to write down what they heard when listening to three separate EVPs to see if what you hear is all about perception and priming. Skeptics posit that people who hear EVPs are actually just making sense out of nonsense - random noise. We put this to the test by seeing whether EVPs were absolute or not - would everyone give the same responses?

Read the SAPS Article on Electronic Voice Phenomenon

Our three EVPs were taken from the web site of Ghost Hounds Paranormal Investigators Network with the permission of Patrick Burns, founder of the group. Visit them at: http://www.ghosthounds.com

• EVP One
• EVP Two
• EVP Three

(The third EVP is after the voice that says "No more fire ant mounds.")

The participants were asked to write down what they heard for each EVP without discussing it. The EVPs, in order, are labelled on the site as "Get out of my graveyard," "I must go back," and "Be nice."

The third EVP, which says "Be nice," was chosen by Patrick as he believes the voice to be indisputable. After SAPS listened to the EVP, Patrick asked that we give our skeptical opinion. Read our conversation with Patrick concerning EVP Three.

EVP Conversation with Patrick Burns

After listening, everyone who participated turned in their papers with their EVP translations and Amy, a DFW Ghost Hunters member and the organizer of the event, opened a sealed envelope with the official translations of the EVPs from the Ghost Hounds site.

The Results

Of the forty one respondents:

• For EVP One: Two responded with variants of "Get out of my graveyard". Sixteen responded using the word "graveyard" somehow. Nine heard "good" instead of "graveyard". There were fourteen responses that had nothing to do with anything the EVP was supposed to say. Highlights from these include "Bend it like a credit card," "Bet I look good in the dark," and "That's not very normal."
• For EVP Two: Five respondents thought the first words were "I like." There were no other common elements. Highlights of responses included, "I like this song," "Good boy," and "Get off the phone."
• For EVP Three, which had the best "correct" responses: Nine people responded with "Be nice," four responded with "Cement," eight responded with "Be men," "Free men," or "Three men," two responded with "Free mints." The eighteen remaining responses included "We miss," "Pretty much," and "Peanuts."

Onward to the Dowsing Experiment.

Back to the reports.