Looking for Skeptics

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What are the characteristics of an "open minded person" and how do they differ from those of a sceptic (one whose opinion is determined by the evidence)?

For the record I am retired and willing to travel to Chester at my own expense any time that doesn't clash with my holidays. I would, however, only be prepared to do so for a proper scientific test, the protocol and success criteria for which would have to be agreed in advance.

I will also ask my own SitP group (Cheltenham) if they'd be interested in inviting you as a guest speaker at one of our monthly meetings. If we did, we would pay your petrol and overnight accommodation costs.

Try the latter Pixel, but, if your willing to travel I'll stick few gallon in your tank. I'll offer a welcomed cuppa and a chat with the spirits. Pixel, call me tomorrow, hear them out, it's best to do that, then decide, is it worth a more relaxed setting? than your rigidity. The big test will come, but ring me tomorrow, will look forward to that.
 
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Try the latter Pixel, but, if your willing to travel I'll stick few gallon in your tank. I'll offer a welcomed cuppa and a chat with the spirits. Pixel, call me tomorrow, hear them out, it's best to do that, then decide, is it worth a more relaxed setting? than your rigidity. The big test will come, but ring me tomorrow, will look forward to that.

Ref to open minded people, good point.
 
Ref to open minded people, good point.

I'll save you a file I just did, it's interesting. I'm thinking "I hope these people don't get nervous like the rest of the pussycats" The spirit has just said " Alderbank and Pixel, they won't be nervous" That's a relief.
 
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No. But it says a lot.

It says I compare notes. Just, give it time, Pixel and Alderbank, and the spirits, are cooperating. Please allow them to intervene more directly, before you continue to shoot yourself in the foot over and over. I got your message clearly thanks.
 
I'll save you a file I just did, it's interesting. I'm thinking "I hope these people don't get nervous like the rest of the pussycats" The spirit has just said " Alderbank and Pixel, they won't be nervous" That's a relief.

This is a good potential test. The spirits seem to know something about Alderbank and Pixel42. Can they tell you their real names?

Ward
 
This is a good potential test. The spirits seem to know something about Alderbank and Pixel42. Can they tell you their real names?

Ward
That's a good suggestion.

Flaccon: listening to random noise and telling people what words you think you can hear in it won't prove anything, any more than telling us what pictures you imagine you can see in those stains proves anything. Even hearing words in random noise ourselves won't prove anything, this happens to us all the time, because we also have imaginations. The kind of tests we're proposing are not 'big' tests, they're simple little tests - the simplest and littlest which are adequate to demonstrate that you can get information from the spirits which you couldn't otherwise obtain. And that's the minimum you need to do to convince anyone - including yourself - that there's more going on than be explained by pareidolia and interference.
 
I've set Audacity to "Normalise" this amplifies the volume very well.

If there's any noise to normalise, then you've done it wrong. The point is to record absolute silence. If you normalise what you've recorded and end up with anything other than a completely flat line, then you've done it wrong.

Edit; Double-click brings up a basic "Raeltek" card with no option to mute. Going through "Control panel" and "Sound" brings up a card with no option to mute. I understand what you are getting at though, maybe someone more computer-minded will be able to set this.

Try this. Rather than double clicking, right-click. Select "Adjust Audio Properties". Navigate to the "Audio" tab. Look at the section marked "Sound Recording" and hit the button marked "Volume". Check "Mute" in every box or, if there isn't a "Mute" button, bring every slider right to the bottom.
 
This is very important:

When playing your sound files for other people, do not tell them first what they are supposed to hear. This is so important, I'll say it again. When playing your sound files for other people, do not tell them what you hear before playing them. Play the file first, and see what they hear. It is critical to do all this before you tell them what you hear.

This explains the reason why. I recommend listening to the whole episode rather than just reading the transcript. It's only 10 minutes long.
 
They say "We don't belong in a circus" (that was raw EVP, electronic rather than with tone) One suggested I make flash cards for sceptics. Yes they really do express hurt, thanks for asking."


It's revealing that the spirits regard proper testing as being "in a circus" but are happy to be hawked to the general public on your website. It appears that, contrary to what Zaphod Beeblebrox IV said, being dead doesn't give one much of a sense of perspective.
 
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Straycat, please send email, I know how to send via there,I'll send thru within minutes.
Please don't take this the wrong way Flaccon, but for reasons of my own privacy and security, I'm not comfortable with giving out my personal contact details to strangers on the internet. Which is why I originally suggested you upload the files to Soundcloud and PM me a link, that way both our privacy is kept intact.

I may start to feel different about it if/when any contact is made by other people who have offered and proven to not be problematic for them, but at present you are a potential internet nut and I'd no more want to give you my contact details then I'd want to give them to a crazy cat lady who shouts at lamposts. :)

Having said all that, my offer to listen to and examine your files on my studio equipment still stands if you wish to upload them to Soundcloud or a similar site and just send me a link via PM. Soundcloud is completely free of charge and isn't complicated as it accepts many different file types and converts them to mp3 for you.
https://soundcloud.com/
 
FWIW, I've also got pro audio equipment at home. At work I've got access to up to 52,000W tour-grade sound systems, so amplification of the signals won't be any problem at all, if volume is truly a requirement, and nor will clarity of signal. At work I've also got access to tour-grade mixing desks, EQs, spectrum analysers, and all manner of inboard and outboard effects. I feel fairly confident I've got access to enough high-grade equipment to assess any sound in any way that's required, although I'm sure that my home set up will be good enough for this particular conundrum, especially if the file is going to be a compressed format like an mp3.

PM me the Soundcloud link, too. And, most importantly, don't tell anybody what you hear in the noise, and ensure that the file itself is named something ambiguous (like "voice1", rather than "voice saying 'ooh, Vicar, my trousers have fallen down'"). That's the only way this can be valid.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
I've set Audacity to "Normalise" this amplifies the volume very well.

If there's any noise to normalise, then you've done it wrong. The point is to record absolute silence. If you normalise what you've recorded and end up with anything other than a completely flat line, then you've done it wrong.

Edit; Double-click brings up a basic "Raeltek" card with no option to mute. Going through "Control panel" and "Sound" brings up a card with no option to mute. I understand what you are getting at though, maybe someone more computer-minded will be able to set this.

Try this. Rather than double clicking, right-click. Select "Adjust Audio Properties". Navigate to the "Audio" tab. Look at the section marked "Sound Recording" and hit the button marked "Volume". Check "Mute" in every box or, if there isn't a "Mute" button, bring every slider right to the bottom.


Better yet, once you open Audacity, click on the Generate tab and in the drop down box click on "Silence". A box will open up that lets you set the duration. After you set the duration, click on "OK". You will now notice a long straight line of nothing. Save this as a file or project.
 
FWIW, I've also got pro audio equipment at home. At work I've got access to up to 52,000W tour-grade sound systems, so amplification of the signals won't be any problem at all, if volume is truly a requirement, and nor will clarity of signal. At work I've also got access to tour-grade mixing desks, EQs, spectrum analysers, and all manner of inboard and outboard effects. I feel fairly confident I've got access to enough high-grade equipment to assess any sound in any way that's required, although I'm sure that my home set up will be good enough for this particular conundrum, especially if the file is going to be a compressed format like an mp3.

PM me the Soundcloud link, too. And, most importantly, don't tell anybody what you hear in the noise, and ensure that the file itself is named something ambiguous (like "voice1", rather than "voice saying 'ooh, Vicar, my trousers have fallen down'"). That's the only way this can be valid.

That's exactly what I heard too!
 
... And, most importantly, don't tell anybody what you hear in the noise, and ensure that the file itself is named something ambiguous (like "voice1", rather than "voice saying 'ooh, Vicar, my trousers have fallen down'"). That's the only way this can be valid.
This is important Flaccon.
With the addition of maybe sending just one file too with a written transcript so we can examine it to get a feel for what we are listening for on the unprompted files.
 
flaccon, a question for you.

What happens if you just record nothing, and then you play it back without asking any questions? Do you still hear voices in the recording?


I just generated 30 seconds of silence and asked the spirits a question, I then hit the play button and got ...silence. So that did not work for me. I did save the file as a .WAV.
 
This is a good potential test. The spirits seem to know something about Alderbank and Pixel42. Can they tell you their real names?

Ward

Yes .. that would be a good tester, I do already have Alderbank's name however. They read everything on the net, so I don't see why they shouldn't know this. I'll ask this today.
 
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flaccon, a question for you.

What happens if you just record nothing, and then you play it back without asking any questions? Do you still hear voices in the recording?


I just generated 30 seconds of silence and asked the spirits a question, I then hit the play button and got ...silence. So that did not work for me. I did save the file as a .WAV.

They talk on every recording yes. You using external speakers on max volume? Why did you attempt this? Is your house haunted or were you just experimenting? I didn't realise that the spirits could get thru to my machine for 13 years.
 
This is important Flaccon.
With the addition of maybe sending just one file too with a written transcript so we can examine it to get a feel for what we are listening for on the unprompted files.

Straycat, when Alderbank and Pixel hear/speak with the spirits, and if they both agree that an investigation is worthy, I'll send out file after file a lot more comfortable than I would feel now. These spirit's genuinely express hurt, at sarcasm towards them. I'm not keen on the sarcasm either, and a couple of witnesses watching & reading this thread, constantly tell me to leave the site, but what they are not realising is, you are just as important as the witnesses (inc Maurice)
 
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