The document provides a historical overview of research into paranormal and spectral energies from 3400 BC to the present day. It discusses early documentation of ghosts and spirits in Egyptian manuscripts and the Bible. It outlines key developments like the Fox sisters communicating with spirits in 1848 which launched Spiritualism, the invention of the camera and its application to spirit photography, pioneering researchers like Konstantin Raudive capturing electronic voice phenomena, and the use of modern technology like EMF meters and infrared cameras in paranormal investigations today. The document also includes several examples of recordings and interactions said to provide evidence of paranormal phenomena.

1. Central Ohio Research of
Paranormal and Spectral Energies

2. A Brief History of Researching
Spectral Entities
• 3400 BC – Egyptian
manuscripts mention
ghosts and spirits. This
is the earliest
documentation of a
belief in spectral
energies

3. Old Testament Mentions
Paranormal & Spectral Energies
1450 BC – Since the Bible was written, it has
featured stories of ghosts, spirits and the
paranormal.

4. 753 BC
Romans and Greeks tell of seers conjuring spirits
to assist with helping people and answering
questions.

5. 469 - 399 BC
Greek philosopher Socrates teaches that ghosts might be
harmful, especially those that died violently or
prematurely.

6. 427 – 347 BC
Plato warns against prowling about
tombs, because apparitions of impure
souls may remain.

7. 55 BC
Roman poet, Lucretius believed that ghosts diffused from
the body after death, and lingered in the atmosphere.

8. 100 AD
In a letter to his patron, Pliny the Younger provides what is
believed to be the first written example of a haunting. It tells of a
home in Athens, where loud noises, like that of chains rattling,
were heard, and the apparition of an old man was seen.

9. 1681
Ghost hunting isn't a modern activity; one of the first ghost hunters was
Joseph Glanvill. As the chaplain of English king Charles II in the late 1600s,
Glanvill investigated the paranormal, especially ghostly activity in the
British Isles. His most famous case was the Drummer of Tedworth, and he
published his results in Saducismus Triumphatus in 1681.

10. 1685 – 1826 Development of Photography
The first camera that was small and portable enough to be practical for
photography was built by Johann Zahn, in 1685. It would be 141 years
before such an application was truly possible, because the first practical
photographic process was invented in 1826.

11. 1799
Friedrich Nicolai. His interest in the paranormal began after he suffered
from visions of deceased people. He began to investigate and try to find a
cure for the condition. In 1799, he presented "Memoir on the Appearance of
Spectres or Phantoms Occasioned by Disease," which included various
experiences with the paranormal.

12. 1848 Spirit Communication
Also known as the birth of Spiritualism. The Fox sisters claimed that they had
managed to communicate with a spirit in their house in Hydesville, New York. They
managed this by asking the spirit to rap responses to yes or no questions, and to
knock at certain letters of the alphabet. There was much controversy about this
during their life, one sister claimed to have made it all up, but later she apologized
to her sisters, citing that she felt pressured, by her husband and the Christian
Church, to make such a statement. Still it began a huge movement that is still felt in
our time. Today Spiritualism has over two million followers.

13. 1849 First Documented Public Medium Demonstration
• Showcased in Corinthian Hall in New York. The spirits
accompanied Maggie and Leah (Kate was absent) onto the
stage, providing a consistent background noise of knocks and
raps. After attending two events with the girls, a chosen
committee could find no earthly explanation for the raps,
despite trying to trip up the girls and the spirits.
• The crowd appointed another committee of five men, to try
again. The investigation included the girls being physically
examined by a doctor. The results, reported to a crowd at
Corinthian Hall the next evening, were substantially the
same. Yet a third committee was appointed, with one
wrinkle: It included a Ladies’ Committee, who was tasked
with stripping the girls and searching them. Maggie and Leah
Fox submitted, though both wept through it. Again, no
physical explanation or devices were found that could explain
the sounds
• Later, Maggie fell in love with Arctic explorer Elisha Kent
Kane, who, embarrassed by her sketchy vocation, urged her
to "quit this life of dreary sameness and suspected deceit."
• In 1888, when a world-weary Maggie renounced Spiritualism
as a fraud and a year later recanted her startling declaration,
the faith suffered a blow from which it never recovered.

14. 1857 Allan Kardac Publishes “The Book of the Spirits”
“Spiritism is a science which deals with the nature, origin and destiny of Spirits, as
well as their relationship with the corporeal world.” In The Book of the Spirits,
Allan Kardac explains his beliefs. These were and still are considered subversive by
the Catholic Church.

15. 1860 First Spirit Photo Taken
W. Campbell took a picture of an empty chair, to test for lighting. In the photograph a little
boy appeared to be sitting in the chair. Since he was unable to produce any other spirit
photos, his name has all but fallen into obscurity. This is just a photo of a cool throne. I
could not find the actual W. Campbell Ghost Boy Photo.

16. 1861 William Mumler becomes known for his
Spirit Photographs
William Mumler helped to
promote the idea of taking
pictures of spirits, although
his were taken by fraudulent
means.
Admittedly there have been
some who would produce
false photos, beginning with
William Mumler in 1861, and
still happening today, thanks
in large part to software
programs such as Photoshop.

17. 1882 The Society for Psychical Research is Founded
This was the first organized effort to gather scientists and
scholars together for critical and sustained investigations
of paranormal phenomena.

18. 1891 Photo of Lord Combermere’s Ghost
The figure of a man can faintly be seen sitting in the chair on the left. His head, collar
and right arm on the armrest can be clearly made out. While Sybell Corbet was taking
the above photograph, lord Combermere's funeral was taking place over four miles
away. Lord Combermere died four days prior, and all of his staff were attending his
funeral.

19. 1911 James Coates publishes “Photographing The Invisible”
In the book he examines numerous cases of spirit photography. The
book helped propel paranormal photography into the mainstream. It
caught the attention of many and brought about a number of new
researchers to the field of paranormal exploration.

20. 1918 Tesla Notes Unexplained Voices
The sounds I am listening to every night at first appear to be human voices
conversing back and forth in a language I cannot understand. I find it
difficult to imagine that I am actually hearing real voices from people not
of this planet. There must be a more simple explanation that has so far
eluded me. – Nicola Tesla

21. 1920 Thomas Alva Edison shows interest in Spirit Communication
Edison, who publicly mocked Tesla and his
experiments, privately believed that Tesla had
managed to find the correct frequency to enable
communication with spirits of the dead. Edison
was determined to discover Tesla's secret, and be
the first to get the "Spirit Phone" on the market.
In his diary, Dr. Miller Hutchinson wrote:
"Edison and I are convinced that in the fields of
psychic research will yet be discovered facts that
will prove of greater significance to the thinking of
the human race than all the inventions we have
ever made in the field of electricity.“
Edison failed to live long enough to succeed with
his ill-gotten idea to best Tesla. Tesla simply noted
in his journal that Edison was trying to use his
patents to talk with specters. Edison thought that
Tesla could listen to spirits, Tesla considered that
he was hearing people from other planets - the
voices could have been the same, they may have
just changed their stories to fit the belief system
of the listener.

22. 1925 Tesla Further Confused by Voices
Tesla noted, “I am hearing more phrases in these transmissions that are definitely in
English, French and German. If it were not for the fact that the frequencies I am
monitoring are unusable for terrestrial radio stations, I would think that I am listening to
people somewhere in the world talking to each other.”
Considering the lack of powerful sending stations at the time, none of these early,
mysterious signals have ever been explained!

23. 1932
J.B. Rhine began experiments in the first parapsychology
institute at Duke University, established in 1932. The ESP
cards were developed in 1937, by Dr. J. B. Rhine and his
colleague Dr. K. E. Zener to test for extrasensory
perception in laboratory settings.

24. 1941 – 1960
Attila Von Szalay was among the first to try
recording what he believed to be the
voices of the dead.
He was a world renowned psychic and he
could often audibly hear the voices
speaking to him.
He was hoping to capture voices, because his
venture into spirit photography had not
yielded astounding results.
At first he failed at recording spirit voices too.
Along with psychologist Raymond Bayless, he began researching ways
to record the phenomena. They began their attempts using a 78 RPM
Pack-Bell record cutter. This proved to be a disappointment. Next,
they constructed a box-like device consisting of a microphone set
inside a speaking trumpet, placed inside a wooden cabinet. Almost
immediately they began recording strange voices.

25. 1959
Friedrich Jürgensen, a Swedish filmmaker,
was alone in a forest recording bird song
with a reel to reel recorder for an upcoming
movie.
After returning home to playback what he
had recorded, he noticed two very faint
but, distinct voices in the background of the
recording. One was that of a man speaking
of the bird song at night. The other was his
own mother calling out to him . Of course
this amazed and startled Jürgensen
because he had been skeptical of life after
death. After this he became obsessed with
EVP and went on to record thousands of
these ghostly voices until his death on
October 21, 1987.

26. 1965
Dr. Konstantīns Raudive was a Latvian psychologist who
taught at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, before
devoting the last ten years of his life to electronic voice
phenomenon (EVP). He read Friedrich Jurgensen's book,
Voices from Space, and was so impressed by it that he
arranged to meet Jorgensen in 1965.
With the help of a physicist and an electronics expert,
he captured over 100,000 of spirit recordings on
audiotape, most under strict laboratory conditions,
which he published in his book Breakthrough.
Raudive developed several different approaches to
recording EVP:
•Microphone voices: one simply leaves the tape
recorder running, with no one talking; he indicated that
one can even disconnect the microphone.
•Radio voices: one records the white noise from a radio
that is not tuned to any station.
•Diode voices: one records from what is essentially a
crystal set not tuned to a station.

27. 1985 Instrumental Transcommunication Begins
Klaus Schreiber began to receive spirit images on his TV set, including the faces of
scientist Albert Einstein, Austrian actress Romy Schneider, and various departed
family members, especially his two deceased wives and daughter Karin, with whom
he was particularly close. His technique, set up by his colleague Martin Wenzel,
involved aiming a video camera at the television and feeding the output of the
camera back into the TV, in order to achieve a feedback loop.

28. 1980’s
We see the emergence of EMF meters being used in
paranormal investigations.
2000’s
We see the emergence of infrared, and full
spectrum camera’s being used in
paranormal investigations.

29. 2012
Central Ohio Research of Paranormal and Spectral Energies
plays EVP for people at Pagan Pride held in Bedford, Ohio!

30. Independence Day
This one was collected on the 4th of July, in the daytime, at
a cemetery. I was near the grave of a Vietnam Veteran. I
mentioned all of the sound of explosions used to mark our
independence. Here’s what he had to say.

31. Regular Speed Slower
Heard During a Funeral
This next EVP was taken at a cemetery, during a funeral. If it makes you feel any better, her
stepson said to me, “You should have brought your recorders.” I answered, I’m glad you said
that, because I did.” This is played at regular speed. (Look at those people). Here it is slowed
down slightly (play second clip of it). Sometimes spirit voices seem to speak slightly faster than
us, there are some theories out there as to why this is, maybe some people are just fast talkers
or excited and emotive. Either way, we tend to be able to hear this kind of EVP better if we
slow them down just a little.

32. Ahhh, but can they see you?
Here’s one that was captured at Edwin Shaw. It used to be known as the
Sanitarium. Through the years it was also tuberculosis hospital, hospital for
terminally ill children, an orphanage, an insane asylum, a drug and alcohol
rehabilitation center, and finally a hospital for orthopedic rehabilitation.
I began to get vocal responses the minute I turned on my recorder. This one
was captured just after stepping onto the grounds.
It goes by fast, let’s hear it again!

33. I Want Candy!
Sometimes we get unique responses when
we try new ideas. This is what we heard
when we brought candy as a trigger
object. Trigger objects are items that
might trigger a response from the spirits.
They can be objects from history, or as we
found out here, they can be food items
too. We had more than these comments
about candy, but these are the ones that
are the easiest to hear.
In the first example the spirit talks fast through part of it. He says
“Hey! I’m Hungry, come over here. I want some candy.” In the next 2
1 one you can hear another spirit clearly respond about candy. These
are unique because often it is hard to tell if they are not just random
words, but the spirits at Edwin Shaw seem to be responding to our
offer of candy and not just speaking about events which may have
happened to them at some time, which is considered residual. This
goes a long way to show spirit intelligence as well as their ability to
interact with those of us living in this realm.

34. Edwin Shaw: Balcony of the Original Tuberculosis Ward
One of our group was near a broken window, with much broken
glass on the ground. The disembodied voice seems to be warning
him of the danger. The person near the glass was named “Mason”.

35. More EVP from Edwin Shaw
•I invite the spirits to “come talk to us”.
You can hear their response.
•Did someone need a doctor?

36. Class A EVP
This class A EVP was captured
at a Hartville cemetery. Give
it a listen. I’ll play it again for
you.
Class A EVP is that which can
be heard without
amplification, and all people
agree to what’s being said.
The interesting thing is that
the name on the grave was
“M-a-r-k-l-e-y”. Let’s hear
that one more time.

37. My Name Is Heather
My Name Is 31 July
My friend
Heather
Mommy
These last few, on our list today, were all collected at a home in Uniontown,
Ohio. I’ll play them first, and then tell you a little bit of background.
There were no children currently living in the home, although there were
reports by the residents that the spirit of a little girl was seen, and a psychic
picked up on a little girl with long blonde hair in a yellow nightgown. The
residents confirmed the psychic’s description. Let’s play that one again for you.

38. Thank You!
Enjoy the rest of the
workshops at Pagan Pride.