In the paranormal field, you will encounter people with varying levels of “belief” in paranormal phenomena and various ideas about what causes said phenomena. Granted, the largest contingent of people strongly believe that we are communicating with the dead. To the frustration of my teammates, I can’t 100% commit to this idea. So, what do I think is happening when you try to “talk to the spirits”? I consider a lot of different factors before I get to the conclusion of “I don’t know”. Here are some of the things I take into consideration. 

Let’s start with the simple processes that make communication possible. For human speech sounds, air flowing from our lungs passes through vocal folds producing sound at the larynx.The sound is then filtered, or shaped, by our tongue, lips, teeth and jaw. Without air flow and the contracting of muscles in the larynx we would be unable to  manipulate our vocal cords and therefore could not speak. From a simple human body mechanics lens, it seems that it would be impossible for a dead person to purposely create vocalizations. Yet we often record  vocalizations from people we cannot see.

Researchers estimate that 5% to 28% of people in the United States experience auditory hallucinations making them the most common type of hallucination. Auditory hallucinations just as you’re falling asleep (hypnogogic hallucinations) or waking up (hypnopompic hallucinations), are considered normal and usually are not a cause for concern. Up to 70% of people experience these types of hallucinations at least once in their life. But why might we hear voices when we are fully awake? 

Humans have a very strong survival instinct. Our brains have developed many systems to help keep us going (mentally and physically). Through studies of trauma patients, it has been observed that the brain will develop coping mechanisms to decrease the stress associated with trauma triggers. The most researched form of these mechanisms is dissociation, the ability for the brain to protect a person from mental and physical harm. But the brain can also produce hallucinations in order to reduce stress. An example would be “hearing” the voice of a loved one after they have passed. Because you have heard this voice many times over your lifetime, your brain has stored the sound of this person’s voice and can produce a vivid memory of this voice as needed. When you are distressed due to the loss of someone, your brain may produce a hallucination of this person’s voice saying something reassuring in order to reduce the stress level in your body. But why would we hear voices from people we don’t know?

We know that sometimes sounds travel in locations in unexpected ways. Spaces with multiple stairways, fireplaces, dumbwaiters, old windows, or little insulation may influence the way we interpret sounds occurring around us. It is necessary to always test how sound travels in a location with various members of your team in order to rule out any contamination. In addition, we need to recognize that as technology advances, our recording devices may be hearing more sounds than we do at the moment. Every team member should be reordered in various settings in the location so their voice can be compared to “anomalous” voices captured as potential evidence. But what if it wasn’t a team member speaking? 

Another possibility that is often floated by skeptics is that we are capturing a radio broadcast. This concern is mostly related to sounds recorded on our devices and has been used as a way to debunk spirit voices for as long as people have been trying to communicate with the unseen. This concern has increased with the popularity of spirit box devices. There are real reasons to worry about interference from radio broadcasts and that is why many have been working to change the way we work with electrical recording devices, including ways to completely eliminate the radio signal itself. Until we find a way to do this, skeptics will continue to use the radio as a plausible explanation. 

With all of this said, I have collected some strange voices on multiple different recording devices over the years. I understand the various ways that these can be debunked but still feel motivated to continue the search because the more I learn, the more questions I have. I want to learn more about frequencies and how different brains interact with the frequencies they are exposed to. I also want to understand consciousness and I continue to review literature that indicates it is possible that consciousness exists outside of our body. (Which is just a wild idea and I’ll admit to being very skeptical but open to engaging in the conversation.) Does consciousness exist on a frequency that we “tune” into? Does it exist on different planes that change the way it is perceived? These are big questions that will take smarter people than me to figure out but they are worth asking. 

There is so much more to learn about the world we exist within and how we interact with that world. When I tell my team “I don’t know” it is an honest assessment of the situation. I really don’t think anyone “knows” the full reality of existence and anyone who claims to know is confusing “knowing” with belief. All paranormal investigators are on a journey of exploration into the unknown and while we don’t expect to find all of the answers, we hope to find clues to better understand who we are in the grand scheme of things. 

Until next time, Happy Hunting!