Seminar 5 ITC "THE DANGER OF PAREIDOLIA"

[Karyn]

In this short video Anabela demonstrates how easily random sounds may be interpreted as words or even sentences with meaning when recording for EVP or ITC contacts. The video clip was recorded near the sea in a very calm, solitary corner with soft, almost imperceptibly sounding waves. Anabela explains how she heard the sentence “sou a tuaavó, portuguesa” (in English: I am your grandmother, Portuguese) the first time she listened to the recording after coming home. She plays the original audio and a slightly edited version of it, in which the supposed sentence is more audible. She advises her viewers and prospectiveITC/EVP operators, to pay much attention to the possibility of linguistic delusion (or pareidolia) when listening to their recordings. She avows, nevertheless, that the message “sou a tuaavó, portuguesa” might indeed be contained in the random sound of the waves but also that it might not… Thus, she advises EVP operators that, unless the voices are totally clear, recordings like the present one should be discarded and the work should proceed on a firmer ground always aiming at more precise messages that nobody would question. References: Pareidolia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia Cardoso, A. (2021). Glimpses of Another World, Impressions and Reflections of an EVP Operator, A Handbook of EVP pp., 147-214. England, White Crow Books.