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Spirit boxes have long been used in the ghost hunting expedition. I use them on my Stories in the Cemetery Ghost Hunting Experiences with my guests as well as on my personal ghost hunting endeavors. Let’s get into what they do, where you can get them and how to listen for clues to the unknown question of the afterlife.
How They Work
Spirit boxes are, in a nutshell, radio scanners. The unique feature is that you can set how fast or slow to “sweep” the stations. Through the sweeping of the stations, an investigator can hear DJ’s, song lyrics, or disembodied voices over static.
If the sweep rate is fast enough to not allow anything to be heard other than a clicking static, then words from anyone are going to be difficult to hear or comprehend. I tell my guest using the spirit box on my tours to shout out anything they hear from either a DJ, song lyric or any disembodied voices over the static. I believe that due to the fast sweep rate of the radio frequencies, that if something comes through, even from a DJ, that we as the investigators were meant to hear that word or phrase. It takes a solid second or two to say a 1-2 syllable word and if the sweeping stops for that amount of time, I take that as a clue or a spirit wishing to communicate.
Types
Currently, I’m using an SB-7 device. I like the sweeping range of both AM and FM frequencies and it has proven a useful tool for my tours. The only unfortunate component on this device is that the external speaker is weak and requires an external speaker to listen while hunting outdoors.
I will say that for the sake of my tours, without the attached speaker, the hunter who gets this device on my tours plays an important role. They have to literally hold to their own ear and tell the rest of us what they hear. It gives a unique perspective of what they hear.
I’m looking into purchasing the S-Box for a few reasons. It comes with a loudspeaker already built into the device. Also, it has a recording feature for recording EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) with an SD card. This would give another perspective from a different device other than the voice recorder I’m already using. Two different recordings of the same tour might give more evidence into the paranormal realm.
Spirit Box Apps
Along with two manual spirit boxes running, you’ve all heard me talk about the spirit box apps that I use. They’re corny, but I love them to death, no pun intended.
“Ghost Detector” is the main app that I’ll leave running through the duration of the tour. I also use “Ghost Detector” when I’m the guest on a historical tour or on a personal investigation.
The app works like a game or hoax for college kids or a drinking game. Once you turn it on, the app will give green bars and a hissing effect for spookiness. Corny as hell. But the great feature is that the app will give words in the middle of the screen, an interpretation of what the app thinks a spirit might have said. Granted, this game-like app can randomly spit out words at will. I will say about 40-75% of the words that come across the screen are completely random. But the 25-60% that aren’t random are actual clues and communication to the situation at hand.
I’m a believer that spirits from another realm can adjust and manipulate electronic devices at will to communicate. This is why I believe that the communication I receive through apps like “Ghost Detector” is working at least 25% of the time when there is paranormal activity occurring. I use EMF detectors and other gadgets to ensure that there is indeed communication from the spirit realm. This is my belief and until you see it or experience this phenomenon for yourself, you will be a skeptic of such devices or applications.
Another app that I use with activity from other devices is “Paranormal Hauntings” by Brian Holloway. This app acts as a reverse spirit box. In other words, it takes radio frequencies, scans them, but plays back the words from DJs, songs and other programs in reverse. First off, it sounds amazingly creepy and cool. But mostly, it allows the listener to make sense of the gibberish that comes through. Here’s an example of the reverse spirit box activity I captured one night with two guests. I asked the spirit to tell us her name.
As we left the site, I told her goodbye. She responded in the same voice as when she told us her name.
Non-Believers
There are plenty of studies that oppose that spirit boxes and EVP’s actually work. So what’s the difference between an EVP and a voice from a spirit box?
An EVP is a voice or sound recorded on a voice recorder. Some voice recorders have even been created with multiple channels to distinguish sounds heard. (New blog post on this topic later). But the science behind EVP is that it is a voice or spiritual entity that cannot be heard through naked hearing or rather, without a special device like a voice recorder.
Voices heard through a spirit box are sometimes heard over white noise. This is where the skeptics begin analyzing our data and why we hear these voices. I’m not going to quote or even give the details of these studies, but I will point you in the direction of one in particular that I found very interesting. I’m sure you will too. Check out the skeptics and non-believers here.
Conclusion
I love spirit boxes. They are indeed a useful tool when I’m investigating a new location or taking guests ghost hunting on my tours. I love when two spirit boxes (app and manual) sync up and give me two relevant or similar clues without the other hunter knowing what happened. I often find this in the audio later or after we’ve moved on from a location. You’ll have to hear these for yourself since I record every tour. Check out my tour audio here.
As for now, I’m looking to add the S-Box to my Ghost Hunting toolkit. I’ll probably do an unboxing video or show it off during a private investigation soon. Be sure to follow me on social media to see how this device works.
More than just a Blog
This is episode 30 of the Stories in the Cemetery podcast.
E46: Halloween Special. An Interview with Psychic Medium Carl Ray – Stories in the Cemetery
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Stories in the Cemetery Tours
Whether you’re a local or someone on vacation, you can take an Interactive Ghost Hunting Experience tour with me through downtown Charleston. We’ll visit many haunted locations using real ghost hunting equipment and possibly discover new activity! What will you discover on your tour?
References Used to Inspire this Post
Nees, Michael. “Hearing ghost voices relies on pseudoscience and fallibility of human perception.” 30 October 2015. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/hearing-ghost-voices-relies-on-pseudoscience-and-fallibility-of-human-perception-48160. 16 April 2020.
Nicholson Ph.D, Carol. “Difference Between Spirit Boxes and EVPs.” 2020. Imagine Spirit. https://imaginespirit.com/evps-and-spirit-boxes/. 16 April 2020.
—. “Spirit Box Ghost Responses.” 2020. Imagine Spirit. https://imaginespirit.com/spirit-box-ghost-responses/. 16 April 2020.
Villar, Ashley and Alex McCarthy. “The Statistics of Spirit Boxes.” 4 November 2017. Medium. https://medium.com/@astrovav/the-statistics-of-spirit-boxes-2cf021bf6c3. 16 April 2020.
