Session Four – 7th October 2007
We had spent most of the day and early evening touring some of the well known haunted locations on the Essex / Suffolk border and decided to finish the evening with a short EVP session at Location A as we hadn’t been back to visit in over a month.
We arrived at around 7:30pm to find the site already shrouded in darkness, as we got out of the car to set up the equipment we were again met by the same gentleman that we’d met on our last visit. Having recognised us from before we exchanged pleasantries and he left us to get on with the task in hand.
For this visit we had decided to keep it simple and restrict ourselves to just the single mini disc and the camcorder.
We set the mini disc recording on the now familiar bench, using the camcorder as the device to record our actions as we made our way around the site.
Laura had been apprehensive on the drive to the location and this was obvious in her body language, she felt her stomach churning as we made our way there and this hadn’t subsided when we were actually on site.
After about five minutes we discussed whether or not, in view of what Laura was feeling, if it was worth continuing with the session, but Laura was positive that she wanted to press on. In the circumstances we agreed to keep the session to a maximum of 60 minutes, depending on how Laura was feeling.
As the session progressed Laura picked up on two surnames, which we’ll research further in due course.
Nothing else of notice really occurred during the time we were there and we wound up the session and left the location after an hour as intended.
Upon analysing the audio from the evening the next day, we obtained two EVP captures from the mini disc, one sample occurring after only a minute of switching on the recorder, the second after 8 minutes.
The first capture from the session:
The first capture once again, with volume increased by 10db and background noise removed:
However, whilst the captures were clearly audible upon playback, what we captured is not that clear, as usual and open to interpretation. Therefore we’ll be labelling these as Class B examples.
The second capture from the session:
The second capture once again, with volume increased by 10db and background noise removed:
As always, due to the nature of EVP, use of headphones whilst listening to the clips would make easier listening.
L&M.
Session Three - 24th August 2007:
Our third visit found ourselves back at the site once again on a Friday evening. This time we were met on our arrival by a local person who looked after the site.
Sadly, we were informed that, in recent weeks, groups of people had been visiting the site who had not been displaying the best of behaviour. We exchanged pleasantries and wished the gentleman a good evening and got on with our work.
Disappointingly, we are finding that this type of behaviour is becoming more common place these days and is one of the reasons why we will not disclose the majority of locations that we investigate as not to encourage random visits.
Setting up our equipment, the darkening evenings were now becoming more noticeable – we were arriving at the same time but now it was almost night time when only a month earlier we would have been in daylight.
 | In view of the success that we had enjoyed on our last visit, this time we used three recording devices – two mini disc recorders and a Marantz PMD222 audio cassette recorder. These were supported by three data loggers to record the humidity and temperature at the point of recording to record any fluctuations that we perceived during the last visit. Finally, for the first time at the site, we also used a camcorder that would document our evening at the location. |
One mini disc recorder was placed on the bench where we have managed to capture EVP from our previous visit, the second against the wall on the east side of the property, where we had perceived a temperature fluctuation during our last visit. The Marantz was placed in the open porch where Laura had sensed the wedding dress moving to and fro’ during our previous visit (please refer to the notes from our visit on the 12th August 2007 below). All devices were accompanied by a data logger.
Unlike our previous visit, the air was still and everything appeared quiet. We toured the site asking the usual questions for the now standard 90 minutes with little of note occurring. At the end of the evening, as we were driving away from the location, we both mentioned to each other that the evening felt ‘flat’. However, upon examining our recordings over the next couple of days, it was clear that the evening was nothing of the sort. We had actually managed to record two samples of EVP from our time there, one that would be considered Class A, the other Class C. |  |
Class A EVP Capture:
The data loggers had not recorded any unusual fluctuations (not that we’d perceived any that evening) and no visual anomalies were picked up on the camcorder or the digital stills camera used.
In retrospect, the most interesting evening so far of our visits to the location.
L&M
Session Two - 12th August 2007:
Although the first session drew a blank from an EVP perspective, we both thought that a repeat visit would be worthwhile, especially as Laura appeared to be able to pick up some information on our first session.
For our second session we chose a quiet Sunday evening, arriving on site just before 9pm. This time the location appeared even darker and forbidden than last time due to the new moon that night.
Once again, we kept the equipment simple and restricted ourselves to a mini disc recorder each for the audio, Laura placing hers against the outside wall on the west side of the church, whilst Mark carrying his with him as they walked the site.
Laura immediately picked up on something upon leaving the car and whilst we were walking around the location, some that could be related to our earlier visit.
We recorded approximately 90 minutes audio each to keep the amount of time we need to spend on analysis to a reasonable level.
Upon reviewing the audio a couple of days later we were pleasantly surprised to discover that we had, this time, managed to record a sample of EVP. However, even more interesting was the circumstances in which it was recorded.
The sample had been recorded towards the end of the evening, when we were winding down the session. We were sitting down on a bench discussing how the session had gone and what Laura had picked up there that evening. 
After a couple of minutes chatting Laura mentioned that she could ‘see’ what she felt was a trailing wedding dress, white, leading into the porch area and back out again, as if someone was pacing back and forth.
Mark could see nothing, so he simply listened to Laura’s description of events as they unfolded. It was at this point, whilst we were both talking, that we picked up another voice saying something over the top of Laura’s voice and, more interestingly, when Mark replied to Laura, his single word reply was immediately repeated.
Click the audio player twice to hear the EVP capture:
The first bit of the sample is not clear, but you can clearly hear another voice saying a sentence. However, the repeated word is clear and distinct. Both parts can be heard without any amplification.
In the circumstances, we would label it as a Class B sample at this point.
Looking towards the porch, complete with faint 'orb'.
| The only other interesting thing of note is that Mark also took a photograph of the area being described by Laura (where the trailing dress was), when Laura was talking. In the direction of the area being described by Laura there was a faint orb. The camera Mark used was a Digital SLR, a Canon 400D that was not prone to capturing orbs due to its flash arrangement. Indeed, Mark had never captured an Orb before on the camera, despite many hundreds of pictures and six months of ownership. Whilst we make no claims for the paranormal provenance of orbs, we feel that in the interests of being neutral, we needed to note this fact also. |  |
Close up of the 'orb'.
Overall, two interesting sessions to date and we are both looking forward to another visit there soon.
L&M
Session One - 27th July 2007:
This location consists of an isolated Essex Church dating back to the 14th Century. The site was selected partially due to it’s seclusion and partially due to it’s long history and focal point in the local community.
This was our first visit to the location as Paranormal Reason, although Laura had been there previously.
 | As we were unfamiliar with the location at this point we decided to travel light, just using two mini disc players for the audio recording. It was initially a pleasant evening, although the weather took a turn for the worse later and cut short our recording session. |
Despite this, we were still able to record over 3 hours of audio between us from the evening.
Unfortunately, for the EVP at least, the evening drew a blank.
We had managed to record an odd little noise on Mark’s mini disc, at the 23 minute mark. But, as it was recorded around the time that Mark was preparing to take a picture, it is probable that the noise is related to this and nothing more.
However, more interestingly, Laura was able to pick up a bit from the location, so we have written about this separately under the investigation area.
L&M