In January, 2007, the Central New York Ghost Hunters, based in Syracuse, New York, were invited to investigate an old hotel in upstate New York. The investigation proved to be one of the most intensely active the group has ever encountered, and produced an EVP – an electronic voice phenomena recording – that is remarkable not only for its length, but also for its terrifying content. It may well be the most intense, frightening EVP ever recorded.
–Stephen Wagner, from his article, The Most Horrific EVP Ever Recorded, About.com, Paranormal Phenomena
On October 14, Stephen Wagner posted an article and audio file entitled The Most Horrific EVP Ever Recorded, on his enormously popular website. The nearly ten minute long EVP generated much attention and intrigue quickly; Wagner received more blog comments than on any of his other articles, and it created quite a sensation in his forum. The EVP gained even more attention at Coast-to-Coast AM, the #1 late night talk show; the night after Wagner’s article was published, Stacey Jones, head of the Central New York Ghost Hunters, was interviewed live by George Noory about the EVP.
The EVP is striking in that it is long–over ten minutes–and contains a strange and unique “layered” effect. I have no history or talents in deciphering EVPs, and find many of them to be rather dubious and mundane. Upon first listening to the Horrific EVP, I figured out that what had been associated with ‘screams’ was in fact a door closing, or a window shutting, as confirmed by Stacey Jones in her introduction to the EVP. I then picked out a couple strange sounds-something sounding like a little girl saying “mommy” and a man saying “Look a’ it. I sold my gun.” But, that was about it.
However, in listening more carefully to it, I picked up on a strange phenomenon. As Jones describes, there are ‘known’ speakers, that is, people who were present at the taping, and holding a conversation. There is somewhat of an echo effect present alongside the known speaker’s voices. But, unlike a normal one, the echo at times seems to waver off the words being spoken, and into a separate dialogue. At other times, the echo seems normal, but then will kind of speed up, and appear before the regular voice. It is very strange and somewhat creepy.
In a telephone conversation with Stephen Wagner, I expressed my hope that someone else would notice this weirdness, which had not yet been mentioned, and hopefully be able to make some sense out of it. Soon, he forwarded an email he’d received from a reader, which contained a lengthy, second-by-second transcription of the EVP. I listened again to it once more, reading this time along with the translation, and was immediately intrigued-I felt it opened up so much I wasn’t able to hear previously. Was it the power of suggestion? Perhaps, but much of it is fairly clear, at least as far as EVPs go.
I ended up contacting the woman responsible for the translation, Lisa Simon, to find out if she was interested in making the translation public. Indeed, she was happy to be able to share the EVP publicly, and was working on completing the full 9 minutes. In an email conversation, I asked Lisa some questions about her motivations and experiences with EVP. Lisa describes her EVP experience below.
“I have been doing EVP work for around 16 months now, but I received my first EVP back in the early 90’s, at my childhood home. At the time I had not even known what it was called. I had called it my “Spirit Tape.” 16 months ago, I decided to search the net for information…at the paranormal part of About.com, I thought I’d look up “ghost voices on tape,” and came across EVP.
I read and researched as much as I could about it, and I then decided I would like to try and record for EVP. The funny thing about it was, all I had available as way of a tape recorder was my grandson’s Fisher Price kiddie tape recorder. I had blank tapes, so I went ahead and used what was available. I figured I might as well try and record in my home. Much to my surprise, I got an “EVP”, right off the bat!! I was scared and excited all at the same time. I think that anyone who does this type of work will always remember their first EVP.”
I asked Lisa how she is able to hear so many details within EVPs, such as in the Horrific EVP. She writes:
“…your guess is as good as mine. I do not know if it can be attributed to extremely keen hearing. I have a weird theory, so please don’t laugh. Two years ago in June, I was standing on my front porch with my husband watching a particularly vicious thunderstorm. I love storms, and I would always go out and sit on my covered porch to watch. Well, this time there was a lot of lightning going on, and all of a sudden, ‘BOOOM!!!’ Lightning hit the tree, not more than 15 feet from us.
I watched as my husband’s hair stood up for a second, and both of us ran for cover! Unfortunately as a result of the lightning strike, I lost the hearing completely in my left ear, and in my right only partially. I saw a doctor for this, and he said I may or may not recover my hearing completely. For about six months I wasn’t able to hear out of my left ear at all. Then gradually it came back, and it seemed I could hear better than before. So I may be full of beans, but I think that is maybe why I can hear so well, when it should be the opposite.
[That, and] the fact that I think I have literally ‘trained’ myself to listen really closely. I go into the ‘zone’ when I review; nothing else exists but what I am listening to. I had few people say it is more than just me listening; that maybe I am able to channel these spirits I am listening to. I think the term Clairaudient is what a couple of people have said it might be. I just don’t know.
I know it is extremely difficult at times to hear some of these EVPs, and I become somewhat obsessive about deciphering. But I would rather pass on an EVP than make up what I think I might have heard. I was accused once of this, and this is so far from the case. I became really mad! So truthfully, I just don’t know why, but I just can, bottom line.”
Next, Lisa explains a bit about her reading and impression of the Horrific EVP:
“…this was such an unusual EVP. It was if someone had set down a tape recorder in someone’s apartment, and let it go. When most people listened to it, from what I have heard, they viewed it as something really evil. From my interpretation, it does have a criminal element to it, but is sounds like…hard lives, living in the inner city. And, that some of the speech is being spoken in ‘layers’ made it a real challenge to listen to and decipher. From what I can make of it, there seems to be a young female, an middle aged sounding female, and a middle aged sounding man, and a young child/man. They are scattered throughout the recording. I am hoping that someone will eventually follow through with this EVP; it is indeed profound.”
As for “following through”, one of the most striking things within Lisa’s EVP reading is that it contains place names, and proper names. There’s a reference to ‘Ohio’, which obviously is a state, but it is also a very small village near where the EVP took place. A coincidence, perhaps, but interesting nonetheless. All the proper names within may warrant at least a modest bit of further investigation by those knowing (or obtaining) the exact location of the hotel at which the investigation took place.
To read the translation, go to Part 2.
Sources:
Stephen Wagner, The Most Horrific EVP Ever Recorded, About.com, Paranormal Phenomena
Personal email correspondence with Lisa Simon
