GHOST WHISPERINGS - Part I - The Skeptic's Outlook

By Skarlet Rae

This article will be presented as a three part series, as follows:

Ghost Whisperings - Part I - The Skeptic's Outlook

Ghost Whisperings - Part II - Who Or What Is Talking

Ghost Whisperings - Part III - What Are They Saying


Have you ever heard a ghost speak? Do you really know who or what is talking? Can you understand exactly what they say?

I'd like to begin by saying that I am somewhat of a skeptic at heart. Although having an unshakable belief in God, our Creator, I'm not one to readily just jump and believe. Not science. Not the paranormal. Not many things. Many times science declares loud and clear one 'reality', only to change it later in time, when other factors and evidence become available. So things can change. In one age being in disagreement, only to find, with later technology and findings that things are in sync.

Take a look, at one time men were in agreement that the world was flat. Later they knew better. New evidence presented itself and 'scientific reality' changed. Hundreds of years ago doctors of that time used leaches to bleed people, believing that it would cure their illnesses. They believed that letting of blood, as it was called, cured the sick. We now know how obsurd that is.

Along those lines, therefore, I think to myself, ok, they've figured some of it out so far. We have some amazing information and discoveries. Take a look at how paranormal investigators and ghost hunters have interesting equipment to catch and document things. Things that cannot be seen by human eyes or heard by human ears. But maybe that knowledge and technology will, in the future, change. It can, can't it? Not only can it, but it most probably will. So for now, I'll remain with a healthy dose of skepticism, as things most assuredly will change.

I remember back in the late 1970's or early 1980's, a new weight loss diet was put on the market that consisted of high protein shakes. While on that diet one wasn't supposed to drink or eat anythning else. Just the shake. One more rule of that diet was to not drink much water, if any, or as little as possible. (Yikes!) Unfortunately, a few people died while on that diet, of dehydration. It was awful! It, as you can imagine, was immediately taken off the market. We clearly know that the human body cannot go without it's adequate amount of daily water. Drinking larger portions of water is now even encouraged, especially if one is on a weight loss diet. People dying of lack of water (thirst) has been known as a reality and fact for centuries if not longer. Yet a large segments of the population believe what they were told. They thought it correct. (I, personally, think that they weren't using their intellect and thinking for themselves, because following that type of instruction goes against basic good sense, but that belongs in another blog.) So, a doctor recommended the diet, a scientifically learned man, and they believed it.

So what we believe to be correct, can and does sometimes change.

That leads me back to understanding paranormal audio evidence. What are these entities that are captured on evp's and other modern equipment, saying? And who are they?

Even after spending many years looking at all kinds of paranormal documentation, to date I'm not immediately convinced that the evidence presented to me is really what I'm being told it is. There have been several times in my youth when others tried to show me things. Things which now I know to be realities, but which, at that time I would not accept until, I, myself experienced them. I guess that is one of the marks of being human ... 'unless I see it with my own eyes I don't believe it ... and even then maybe not' ... lol. We all want to see, feel, smell, taste and experience things of the supernatural and paranormal ourselves, otherwise we have a hard time wraping our minds around such things.

We are taught early on that there is no boogie man. We are shown time and time again by our parents that no, there is nothing in the closet, as they open it for us and we peer in suspiciously. We are reassured that what we heard was just the floorboards of the old house creaking. Reassured that it was only a knocking coming from the old heating system. After many repetitions of being shown that there is nothing there, our minds adjust and we exlcude any possibility of such a thing. We ignore it all. We auditorily block it out and go on with our daily lives. Not only that, but now, we, as adults, are the ones who show 'our' little ones that there is nothing in the closet. Nothing there to be afraid of. Just nothing there. So how could 'we' believe in it now, ourselves? Isn't it hypocritical to do so? Therefore, most of us will remain skeptics, until we, ourselves, without any doubt whatsoever, experience it.

Still to date, after hearing and listening to hundreds of documented pieces of evidence, I, personally, am still of the opinion that most of what is claimed to be 'said' cannot be understood. I will admit that many of them, as I hear them, do sound like someone is saying something. But what that 'something' is, isn't clear to me. There are those rare ones where I along with anyone else, can distinctly and clearly hear the words. They are as clear as if someone was standing alongside, talking. But those are quite rare, as I find. Quite rare, indeed. Most of the time it sounds to me like garbled, whispering, unintelligible sounds that might be words. At times they'll just sound like grunting or growling, but I don't hear words in it.

Many times the documentation is labeled with what the gatherer of that information thinks that he or she heard. Therefore, for me, or anyone listening, there is already a preconceived idea as to what will be heard. Ergo, the listener believes they hear it, including myself. This type of documentation I, personally, do not trust. How can I? I don't know what it was exactly that I heard. It's like seeing something out of the corner of my eyes and not knowing if it was a reflection, a ray of sunshine glinting in a certain way, a car passing by outside whose headlights shone through my window. I can't get a solid handle on it, therefore I'm unsure.

In previous articles and blogs, even on this site, many have written about how the human mind will interpret noises they hear into words. That many evps' and such that are documented are attributable to nothing more than natural phenomenon and creaky buildings. That wind that flows in a certian way will create sounds that we, as humans, interpret as words and comments. When those types of evidences are presented, I'm not sure what exactly it is either. Is it, like those other bloggers and writer say, just natural phenomenon? I can't tell, therefore I will leave those to the side for now. Here, I'm only going to talk about those documented voices that are clearly audible. The ones you can hear clearly and exaclty what is being said. Those are the ones and the possibility of who or what is saying it, that will be my focus in Ghost Whisperings - Part II - Who Or What Is Talking, and Ghost Whisperings - Part III - What Are They Saying.