The New IT Thing for Ghosthunters - The Spirit Box

CMPS recently acquired a new piece of equipment.  It's one you often see when watching all those ghost hunter shows on television.  Commonly known as a "Spirit Box", it sweeps the airwaves, going through channel after channel searching for a frequency.  When it does, words can be picked up through the static.

It is believed that, for the most part, ghosts speak on a level the human ear cannot hear.  Sometimes we may hear a word or what we believe is a sentence.  But it happens so quickly we're not always certain we heard it clearly.  We also have to try and debunk the sound - is it coming from outside? from team members on another floor of the building? etc.

It's why we use Digital Recorders to catch Electronic Voice Recordings.  If ghosts speak on a different level, then the Digital Recorders do pick it up.  The most memorable EVP I heard was from one of our first investigations.  The recorder distinctly picked up the words "Shhh, Nancy's coming".  Yikes!  It was a male voice and the investigators in the room were female so we knew it wasn't any member of our team.  Hearing it actually gave me the chills.  I thought "Oh, great now I have a reputation in the world of the dead as well as the living!" 

But what about these spirit boxes?  We used ours on a recent investigation and I'm still not certain it worked.   We also had a digital recorder running at the same time and the static from the box made it difficult to hear the recording when it was played back.  My investigators were able to pick up four different names.  Unusual that in all the static, on all the channels, what came through so clearly were these four names.  We ran the names by our client and she didn't associate them with anyone she knew or anyone who had recently passed away. We're still completing research on the location.  Perhaps these names correlate with past owners or occupants of the house.  That remains to be seen.

Spirit boxes can pick up alot of chatter.  The only time what comes across may be revelant is if what is heard appears to be in answer to a specific question.  We need more experience with it before we decide if this equipment is useful or not.

What do you think?  Can spirits/ghosts speak through the boxes?  I mean, after all, we do pick up their voices on Digital Recorders.  What's to say they can't communicate through these boxes?  I'll keep you updated on our success or lack thereof with our spirit box.  In the meantime, we hope you'll join the discussion and let us know your thoughts.