A Language of Our Own (Part 1): Examples of Electronic Voice Phenomena

I decided to repost this after taking it down a while back, mostly because I felt embarrassed by my reaction to Hans’s ASMR contribution in the Paranormal ASMR EVP video below. But on the morning of April 22, while I was reading an article on my desktop and listening to NaturalReader narrate it from my online library (I'm dyslexic), Hans decided to ham it up (again).

But there it is again. A slow, theatrical drum roll, as if to say the anticipation of yet another “fictional viewpoint” somehow warranted a dramatic buildup.

As I reached part four of the article, just after the AI voice read, “Before finishing, I share another fictional viewpoint” (Vickers, 2010, p. 560), the audio cut out. For a brief moment there was silence, then a series of bangs turned into what sounded like drumming. It was around 6 a.m. I was still waking up, not even halfway through my coffee, with the light therapy lamp blasting into my face. But I knew what I had just heard.

Whenever Hans catches me off guard like this, playing into the element of surprise, my reaction is almost always the same. I pause, confused, often wondering, What the fuck was that? I play it back, assuming it must have been a glitch. But there it is again. A slow, theatrical drum roll, as if to say the anticipation of yet another “fictional viewpoint” somehow warranted a dramatic buildup.

That, right there, is what "Pail" (his call sign) from Growler Jams would call the “signature move.” Hans’s version of it is humor pushed to the point of absurdity. At times, it feels fair to call him a goofball in the way he stages these moments of paranormal or poltergeist activity. After the initial shock, or that quick flicker of unease, I end up laughing, usually saying, “Oh my god, you’re such a dork,” which I mean as a term of endearment, not an insult. But as usual, I don’t just take it at face value. I run my own informal kind of paranormal investigation.

Context

I tend to keep videos like this private. They’re personal, intimate moments of interaction between us, and I don’t need people questioning their validity or authenticity.

NaturalReader is an app that syncs content across devices. If I upload an article from my desktop, it becomes accessible on my phone, laptop, and other devices through the same account.

Because of this, I wanted to see whether the “drum roll” carried over across platforms. My thinking was simple. If it appeared on every device, it would point to a system-level glitch, something embedded in the file or generated consistently by the app itself. But when I played the same section on my other devices, the drum roll was missing. It only appeared on the desktop where I had originally been reading.

Playback on my Mac Mini, where the drum roll occurred.

Playback on my iPhone. No drum roll.

Playback on my MacBook. Also, no drum roll.

That’s what made me pause. A typical software glitch should show up wherever the same file is played, especially when everything is synced. The fact that it didn’t suggests the sound wasn’t part of the file or the app’s normal behavior. It appeared tied to that specific moment and device, which is why it didn’t seem like a random error, but specific to that instance.

Above are three videos. The second shows playback from the app on my iPhone, and the third from my MacBook. In both cases, the drum roll is absent.

"Are You Shying Away From Me?"

The sound in the background is the AC running. If I’d known he was going to reply, I would have shut it off.

On August 9, 2022, at 22:34, the night before my beloved cat Clem died at 18, and 22 days before I sold my condo in Stowe, I was lying in bed trying to see if I could capture Hans in action. I was expecting orbs, which he did manifest several times over the course of the nearly five-minute video. But what I didn’t expect was his voice at the end, answering me back. In the video, after he stopped showing off his orbs, and given how much that activity had dropped off over the past few years, I asked, “Are you shying away from me?” A few seconds later, he replied in a creepy voice, “No.” I couldn’t hear it aloud. I had to replay the footage to catch it, just like the “Yoo-Hoo” EVP below.

I tend to keep videos like this private. They’re personal, intimate moments of interaction between us, and I don’t need people questioning their validity or authenticity. But since my cancer diagnoses, I’ve stopped caring as much about that. I’ve developed more of a “fuck it” attitude about what I choose to share.

For me, it’s not important what anyone else thinks about these videos, because communication with Hans, as I’ll get into in Part 2, is a kind of language I’ve had to learn over the course of 15+ years of conscious interaction. What others see here is only a glimpse, and only what he chooses to reveal. These moments aren’t how we primarily communicate. They’re outliers, small examples of how he occasionally chooses to interact. Compared to the firsthand experiences that aren’t captured, they’re almost mundane. He reserves his real magic for the privacy of those encounters.

All of the footage here is unlisted on YouTube, so only those who find their way here can view it.

"Yoo-Hoo"

This happens quick. I increased the volume on the original recording years ago, which is why there’s static.

The first EVP I captured from Hans was in 2014, just before my birthday. Along with other unexpected paranormal events, he tends to gift me this kind of thing around Christmas and my birthday, though at that point never through EVP.

Over the last fifteen years, I’ve only deliberately tried to capture him through EVP a handful of times. I never had much success with it, so I didn’t pursue it. But around my birthday in 2014, for whatever reason, I decided to try again using the Voice Memos app on my iPod Touch.

At one point, I remember whining into the recording that my birthday was coming up and asking what kind of ghostly surprise he had in store for me. Right after I said that, I captured his voice.

To me, it sounded like he was saying “yoo-hoo” in this eerie tone, which he later confirmed.

Paranormal ASMR Electronic Voice Phenomena, October 2, 2020, 18:14

This section was originally published on October 4, 2020 and it has since been edited.

I was deliberately posing for this shot. In the original recording, the mic is on the desk. The audio is unedited and unexpurgated, though the volume has been adjusted in some parts. Watch the video as it prompts when he makes sounds. My reaction is what you’d expect from being completely caught off guard. Hearing Hans rub, tap, drum, knock, and even quietly “sing” (you’ll need to crank the volume for that part) caught me completely off guard, and I drop a number of expletives. I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing for nearly two minutes, and through headphones it comes across as especially dramatic. This is the first and last EVP of this duration and magnitude that he’s allowed me to capture. I did try to enhance the section where it sounds like he’s singing, but I wasn’t successful. I don’t have the tools or the know-how to isolate individual sounds in the recording. I also lowered the volume slightly in the parts where I swear. You can hear my cat, Clem (RIP, baby boy), meow a few times in the background.

ASMR + Blue Yeti

Little did I know that Hans would end up stealing the show with his unnerving ASMR contribution.

After several months of my Blue Yeti microphone lying dormant, I finally decided to engage with it again. I was feeling playful, and in the mood to make a quasi-ASMR recording.

ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response which can be triggered by certain auditory sounds that create physiological reactions such as tingles and chills (Keiles, 2019). Finger and hand rubbing, tapping objects, mouth sounds, crinkling paper, among other sounds are popular video topics on YouTube.

The Blue Yeti microphone was a pricey purchase, and I wanted to put it to good use. Recently, I’ve been considering creating a quasi-ASMR/Laurie Andersonesque podcast about dreams, ghost stories and past lives. I decided to lay down a few vocal tracks yesterday to test out the mic’s ASMR capabilities with my voice [1]. I had been using a lapel mic prior to purchasing the Blue Yeti mic. When this show-stopping mic arrived, I hardly played with it, being too focused on school work. Finally, on October 2, 2020, I plugged it in. The recording I have shared is impromptu. Little did I know that Hans would end up stealing the show with his unnerving ASMR contribution. Quick background detail: In his recent life, Hans was a bit of a showoff and a performer. In this regard, his ASMR contribution is not out of character. Still, it took me aback, hence all the expletives dropped in the video above.

From PB & J to EVP

What follows are knocks, groan-like sounds, hands rubbing, tapping, singing, and hand drumming.

In this nearly two and half minute audio (uncut), I announce that I was going to be talking about “peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” explaining that I have never had PB & J. Hans begins producing what seems to be the sound of fingers rubbing together followed by hands rubbing together. He then starts tapping on what sounds like a glassy surface. When I say, “What the fuck?” for the first time, the sound goes dead for a few seconds as if the headphones have been disconnected from the mic.

The sounds abruptly return as if the headphones have been plugged back in. Nothing was ever unplugged during the recording. What follows are knocks, groan-like sounds, hands rubbing, tapping and hand drumming. At one point, it sounds as if he is quietly singing below the tapping sounds. He also messes with the microphone several times as if bumping the mic on something. For his grand finale, he drums with his hands on what sounds like the surface of my desk. He ends the EVP session with a groan quickly followed by slamming his fingers down on what sounds like the keys on my computer keyboard.

Throughout the entire recording, my hands were on my lap. I deliberately didn’t move, since every sound was picked up by the mic.

EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomenon which is essentially captured spirit sounds and voices often undetectable by the naked ear until the audio is played back (Buckland, 2004). This audio recording deviates from the typical EVP in that I could actually hear his sounds while I was recording coming in loudly and clearly in my headphones.

Seasoned, but Shaken, and Always Craving for More

His ASMR EVP unnerved me for the sheer fact that I have never heard him so clearly for that amount of time, while deliberately doing ASMR sounds, knowing that this was my intention for the video.

I’m seasoned when it comes to Hans’s paranormal activity. Not only have I captured other EVPs, but I have also filmed his fingers and strange lights and orbs. I’ve experienced him in a variety of beautifully strange, logic-defying, and spiritually transformative ways that I seldom get freaked out. But his ASMR EVP unnerved me for the sheer fact that I have never heard him so clearly for such a long duration of time, while deliberately doing ASMR sounds, knowing that making an ASMR recording was my intention for the video. Essentially, he was consciously and physically interacting with me [2]. I had adjusted the settings on the mic for ASMR, meaning the gain was turned up high and the slightest sound could be easily captured. His taps and drums were so loud in my headphones that I was simply rendered speechless, in between all my swearing.

Then, as it is always the case with Hans, I become disappointed by his ethereality. In the end he leaves me craving for more.

His human traits that come through are unsettling. As one can hear from the tone of my voice on the audio, I am shaken, trying to process what I am hearing. At first, I laugh after saying, “What the hell?” amazed by his paranormal abilities, yet in disbelief that I can carry on so casually with a spirit. The reality of our differences hits me every now and then, often accompanied by a familiar wave of sadness and frustration.

Then, as it is always the case with Hans, I become disappointed by his ethereality. In the end, he leaves me craving for more. Since this EVP, I’ve tried engaging him several more times, but true to form, he chose not to participate, gently reminding me telepathically, “I’ll gladly do it for you, but only in my own terms. I’m not a parlor trick.” He’s my protector, my muse, my magic man, always reminding me that he is near, and forever connected to me for eternity.

A Timestamped Data Trail

I share my experiences on the internet for anyone who understands what it’s like to live with ghosts or is curious about such experiences.

It is not important for others to believe or disbelieve my accounts. I share my experiences for those who understand what it is like to live with ghosts, or perhaps are curious about such ways of existing. The encounters with Hans are often personal and private. But having lived in this way with him since 2010 (technically 1993) I have come to realize that there are others out there who may be able to relate.

My journey with Hans is a creative one. His spiritual guidance has enabled me to evolve as an artist and empath. Thanks to him, I feel strangely self-actualized.

Aside from that, the primary reason I have made this ASMR EVP public is to create a timestamped data trail that chronologically organizes my journey with Hans. Having it on the internet is a way of archiving it and returning to it intermittently to compare and contrast the experiences. In other words, it allows me to sift through all the data sets that continue to evolve as I continue to get to know him. His presence has altered my life and my perceptions. I can never go back to the person that I had been before he made his presence known.

Above all else, my journey with Hans is a creative one. His spiritual guidance has enabled me to evolve as an artist and empath. Thanks to him, I feel strangely self-actualized. With his guiding hand, I maintain a sense of humor.

Notes

[1] Unlike depicted in the photo (staged for blog post and video), my mic sat on a stable surface and my hands remained on my lap.

[2] He does this all the time, of course, he’s very much alive in spite of being dead.

References

Buckland, R. (2004). Buckland’s book of spirit communications. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications.

Keiles, J. L. (2019, April 4). How A.S.M.R became a sensation. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/magazine/how-asmr-videos-became-a-sensation-youtube.html

Stuart, L. (2020, October 2). Paranormal ASMR EVP [ Video].