by Karen Frazier, Managing Editor
Paranormal Underground

After reviewing a ton (but not all) of the audio evidence from Wellington, which can be found in the EVP gallery, I’ve realized something. A lot of things can sound like a whisper.

Whispers are the most common EVP evidence captured, just like orbs are extremely common in photographs. They are frustrating – because when you hear a whisper, it is pretty difficult to make it out. And so many things can sound like a whisper. The wind. An exhalation. Someone unconsciously whispering under their breath. A sniff. Accidentally running your finger along the microphone component of your digital voice recorder.

Go back and listen to all of the anomalies I posted. How many are whispers? And how easily could those be explained away as any of the above – or about a thousand other things? Even when the whisper is a recognizable “word” or phrase; even when the recognizable word or phrase fits neatly into the situation and conversation, you really have to wonder about whispers, don’t you?

I posted all of my whispers because I want people to listen and evaluate. I posted a lot of non-whispers, too. In my Wellington audio evidence, there are all sorts of sounds. Some of them are recognizable. Some of them are just sort of strange. A lot of them are whispery. Does that mean that I believe each of these to be true EVP? No. Not really.

It’s why EVPs are difficult to present as evidence of the paranormal. There’s always some kind of an explanation that one could come up with to explain it. Even more so with whispers, I think.

Still, just because there are all sorts of logical explanations, does it mean that whispers aren’t genuine electronic voice phenomenon? Not necessarily. But in evaluating audio evidence, one must keep in mind that whispers are difficult evidence to present. I don’t think that, if all you have are barely audible whispers, it could ever, under the best of circumstances, be considered conclusive evidence of haunting. Just like orbs can’t ever be considered conclusive evidence of hauntings.

What do you think? Is the whisper/orb analogy a good one?

There will always be critics and skeptics. I am certainly a highly skeptical person. I approach every piece of evidence that I come across with a skeptical mind. It’s why I can see all of the explanations for those whispers. Still, I think if I came across something on audio that I truly couldn’t explain, it would certainly lead me to wonder. I actually did, in my Wellington audio, come across one of the clips that I presented that has left me scratching my head and a few others that have raised my eyebrows. I won’t tell you which. I’ll let you listen and evaluate and come up with your own logical explanations. I hope that you’ll share your thoughts with me and let me know if any have left you really wondering just what it was that I captured on my recorder.