You Never See It Coming

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched one of the ghost hunting shows and chuckled quietly to myself as some investigator claimed to have “just been touched.” That always tickles me for some reason. You know, they jump in place a little, clutch some part of their body, or touch their hair – “something just touched me.”

I’m never convinced. Poppycock, I think to myself – nothing touched them. How utterly silly. Why would a spirit reach out and brush some stranger’s hair or grab some guy on the love handles? Doesn’t make a lick of sense to me, and their reaction to this violation just amuses me. But I’m entitled. I pay the satellite bill on time.

Miraculously, I am so busy snickering at someone’s discomfort, that I forget about being touched myself while doing the exact same thing. During investigations it has happened to me more frequently than you might think. But I still forget all about that, and opt instead to shake my head in disbelief at the television. But it does happen! Not to everyone, and not all the time, but sometimes it’s rather dramatic. I don’t recall reacting quite as vociferously as the tv investigators often do, but it wasn’t especially welcomed either.

On one investigation, in an old abandoned building, I was tapped on the forearm 4 different times. I moved my arm and walked to a different spot each time, but just as soon as I got comfortable – there it was – someone touched me again. No cobwebs or attack bugs, nothing hanging off my shirt, no camera straps – whatever or whoever it was just kept on doing it. And sure, it was disconcerting – even after the fourth time. I don’t know who it was or what could have happened to make me hallucinate such a thing.

I think I have been touched a total of 9 times on five different investigations. Seems like a lot to me. Doesn’t it? I mean, I really wholeheartedly believe that a spirit would have to go through all kinds of stuff to be able to touch someone. I’m one of those people who actually thinks he’s safe while walking around in the dark, photographing and talking to strangers who aren’t actually there. If one of those invisible people can just reach out and touch me, what’s next?! And do I want to stick around to find out?

Well, actually, I do. But you know what I mean, right? If they can actually touch me, what else can they do? And why don’t they do it more often, dammit? No, I think in my case there must be some weirdly unpretentious explanation for each of those little incidents that I’m simply overlooking. Besides, I can’t get but so worked up over such a thing. There’s no way to prove it, and frankly, unless there are three scratches somewhere cutting into my flesh, no one really cares.

The first time I was touched was early on in my so-called paranormal career – long before I’d ever thought of joining a team; before I knew what paranormal investigators actually did. I was listening to EVP recorded earlier in the day, and I was alone on the top floor of the house. Everyone else was fast asleep downstairs, it was very early in the morning, and with my headphones still securely on top of my head, I decided to stop, check my email, and go to bed. As I leaned back in the chair, opened Yahoo and went for the email, I found myself staring at a piece of spam full of undressed young women who made some rather spectacular promises. I clicked. Honestly, I almost never give in to such shameful temptation – I know better. Honest! But I clicked anyway, and the website began to come into view.

Out of absolutely nowhere, someone smacked me across the face about as hard as I have ever been hit. Ever! That slap snapped the arm of the headphones in two and sent the whole mangled thing flying across the room and into the wall. I was assaulted! I jumped up from my chair expecting to find my wife standing there, but even before I could firmly plant my feet on the floor, I knew that whoever hit me wasn’t going to be visible.  I guess someone didn’t appreciate my choice of late night reading material. Well, you don’t have to hit me over the head to make a point. I got it. Message received, and I went right to bed.

It took awhile to get over that, let me tell you, but I bet if I saw that on one of those tv shows I’d laugh myself silly. But… shit happens, and you almost never see it coming.

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Welcome to the Blog

Welcome to The Voices Blog! I plan on just writing whatever comes to mind and whatever I feel driven to get off my chest. I may post something every day for a month, or I might not post a single word for a week. However, my entries will be limited to the paranormal, and they’ll probably be heavily weighted toward EVP. I will probably write about investigations, specific EVP projects, personal experiences, and anything from equipment to computer software. So if you’re interested in those kinds of topics, I hope you’ll stick around and contribute.

The Voices Blog is also meant to be a companion, of sorts, for my podcast – The Voices Podcast. There will be times when I will blur the lines between them by showing video clips on the blog that relate to specific podcasts. And hopefully, podcast episodes will be inspired by your comments here. I really do want to hear what you have to say!

I am a believer in the paranormal. There, I’ve said it – I am one of those. But I believe in evidence too, and that’s where I look for reassurance. I’m not ruling anything out – that would be stupid, but I’m also not interested in accepting feelings or the hair standing straight up on someone’s arm as proof of anything. And as much as I believe in the existence of spirits, I am not interested in declaring a location haunted. In my opinion, every location contains representatives of the spirit world, which pretty much qualifies every location as haunted. It’s all a better of degree.

If there are topics you would like to discuss, bring them up! As some of you may already know, I’ll talk about anything – willingly. And sometimes, I’m just plain wrong. Feel free to tell me.

The White Shadow

Suffice it to say that there’s a video clip of a white shadow attached to this entry. I don’t know what the hell it is, but I know what it’s not. It’s not either of the two investigators in the building. I know it’s not someone who was hiding, or sneaked inside – the space is incredibly small and very intimate. Both investigators were less than 10 feet from the spot at which this static camera was aimed. I know that this white shadow made no noise while traveling over a debris-riddled floor full of standing water. And I know that this thing has somehow managed to travel approximately 60 mph.

Now! Take a look at the clip with original soundtrack in place. Take a look twice.

I’m not usually one to claim something is paranormal just because I can’t figure out what it is, and there’s nothing different about this video clip. I refer to it as a white shadow because thats what it looks like – not because that’s what it really is. I have absolutely no idea what that might be. But I also don’t know that it’s paranormal. I think the odds are pretty good that it is. I think the odds are very good that it’s a spirit manifestation of some kind. But what I think doesn’t matter, does it? What matters is what I know, and I don’t know where it was before it entered the frame or where it went when it left. In fact, it traveled about 6 feet in only 2 frames, and two frames of anything is not grounds for a paranormal label.

Then what could it be? It’s not a bug or an animal, so don’t try to tell me its a raccoon, cat or dog. The camera was more than five feet off the ground, so what appears to be the head of this shadow is also about 5 feet high. Don’t know any raccoons that big, do you? At least not really sneaky ones who don’t make a sound.  So what is it?

I’m sure you can imagine how badly I want to call this paranormal evidence. It drives me crazy because I truly think I’ve covered all the bases in trying to explain it. And yes, there were EVP recorded just prior to the video, but not a single one even hinted at the fast exit made by this white shadow.

I think paranormal investigators are better off simply offering their evidence and leaving the labels alone. Not so others can make their own determination necessarily, but to prevent the making of claims.

This is evidence – gathered at a professional investigation. And this clip just is what it is – something that happened and was captured on video. There’s no explanation, no rhyme, and no reason, but there it is just the same. Something moved past a camera – something that shouldn’t have been there, and defies our ability to understand. There is no reasonable explanation.

Still… What do you think?