Research at night compared to during the day

Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind. - Henry James (1843-1916) American-born British novelist

[Philip Osborne]

I read a Blog by Doug Kelly "Responsible Research: Separating Paranormal Fact from Fiction Part 2 
Written by Doug Kelley on September 28, 2009, 11:03:34."  Below is a copy of my comment, and I thought it would be a good forum topic to get the opinions of others.


I work night shift, and I do most of my research in the mornings. There is the same amount of activity during the day as at night time.
Most of the time we are to busy during daylight, to notice alot of things going on around us.

Most people notice things at night, because there is less activity going on, and people are more aware of things going on around them.  Also, we have an ingrained and ancient superstition, that at night time undead or evil things are on the prowl. In ancient times, this was a way of people trying to explain what was going on around them, and if they did not understand something they related to it by fear and superstition. Also, alot of predators (Racoon, snakes, owls, etc)hunt at night time.

Philip Osborne
Menifee Research Society

[Gregory P. Kent]

Philip

I have certainly enjoyed your postings.

As stated, the evening investigations allow one to hone in on what is going on around them without the interference of the business of the daytime activities. I have no superstitions of the dark and find I can pickup easier on what is going on without the distractions and noises that accompany the day. But if needed, I could investigate just as easy during the day, it just takes more discipline to tune out the business around you. Having said that, the night can actually be deafening at times.

The night investigations are more exciting because of the unknown of what's lurking in the vast darkness and your senses are more alert to all that goes bump in it.


Gregory

[Ingrid Irwin]

Hi Philip,

I have not noticed a difference between day and night per say when recording for EVP.

Interesting you bring this up Phil as I have noticed a difference in what I would term the 'conscious attention level' of an individual recording, for example, sleep trials of recording at various times of night yield next to nothing in any voice captures.

Unattended recordings, where the recorder is placed in another room for set periods of time daily, seem to yield very high pitched 'snap' or 'tap' sounds but extremely low voice responses.

When it comes to recording in close proximity to an individual, voice capture yields are higher and what is intriguing is the higher interaction within the immediate environment, or the higher attention level the individual has at the time, the higher voice capture yields so there seems to be a very close connection between Us and the phenomena itself?

Night or day doesn't seem to be a deciding factor as much as the conscious energy level at the time, we need to do more research in this area for sure. I agree the 'night factor' probably enhances & raises the energize level as attention is very narrowly focused on the investigation itself thus this concentrated energy may be an precursor for many phenomena manifestations.

Funny you bring this up Philip as I only just sat down the other day and drafted experimental trials to run for 2010 & this is the basic theme I are going to focus on, in order to evaluate different levels of individual conscious attention on a particular phenomena. 

[Philip Osborne]

Hi Ingrid,

In researching during the Day compared to at night, as far as documentable data, and/or EVP, I have not noticed much difference.  I have noted that at certain times, there is more activity than others, and this varies from case to case.  For instance, I have worked a case where activity peaks around 2PM (1400), and I have had cases were activity peaks around 1AM (0100), and I have had cases where the activity was steady through the day and night.

Due to my schedule, most of my work is done during the day, but I also try to collect data at all hours of the day and night.  I leave a voice recorder,  and a cam corder run for 24 hours, in the area of noted activity, to try to catch any activity. and/or narrow down any certain times or points of activity.  I have found that there is not any certain time is better than any other, it just depends on each individual case.

I have noticed that alot of times, activity has been noted to increase when there is a human presence around, or increased human activity in the area, but, this varies from case to case, so it makes the data inconclusive.  It would appear that alot of times things are aware of a human presence, and respond to this presence, but, again this is inconclusive, and just a personal thought.

Phil

[Ingrid Irwin]

Hey Phillip,

This is interesting information and I am thinking you keep pretty good logs of these investigations as you have noted various differences from one investigation to another, which is great as this makes us ponder and think up all sorts of possible ways data could be gathered and correlated.

For instance, you note no difference between day and night, this I have found is the same for most serious investigators and researchers. Times, we have also noted 'peak times' between us even though many I work and converse with are all over the world between Australia, the US and Europe. Geographic location makes no difference and we note high and low times also but this varies as you have also observed.

Increased human presence, activity or conscious energy levels all seem to be another point on our list that we agree on. Interestingly, quite a few researchers I converse with have also noted increased activity and comments when our dogs are present ? Comments as "she barked" and "come over here" have been recorded and they seem more curious of an animals presence.

Its very intriguing and I am sure we could work towards correlating a lot of data like this as observation is the first step, couple that with repeatability as we are discussing here, and we have some good basic hypothesis that could be tested further.

Thanks for sharing your observations Philip as your knowledge and experience helps us all !!
   

[Philip Osborne]

Hi Ingrid,

 Thank you for your response.  When you said,  "Interestingly, quite a few researchers I converse with have also noted increased activity and comments when our dogs are present ? Comments as "she barked" and "come over here" have been recorded and they seem more curious of an animals presence.", it got me thinking.  I have taken my dog "Bella" on investigation once, when I was investigating a couple of very old and overgrown cemeteries.

She walked around for awhile sniffing everything, and she laid down infront of a grave marker, with her ears up as if listening to something.  I did not pick up anything with the EMF meter.  My compass wondered slightly, and I picked up what sounded like, electrical crackling, almost like a voice, but I could not clean it up enough.  I always place a stationary voice recorder in the area I am walking around for a second opinion, and time reference, and I run different types of microphones, to see if it picks up any better or worse at different frequencies.  The sationary recorder was about 11 feet away, and it picked iup the same sound at the same time, and it sounded a little clearer.  I was running an Olympus stereo mike on the stationary, and the factory mono microphone on my handheld recorder. I also had a third recorder, that I placed on a tomb stone about 30 feet away, by my vehicle.  It just picked up myself, the other team member and Bella at that time frame.

I also reflected back on some other cases I investigated, that had animals present during the investigation, and I started thinking I have an under used resource.  Alot of times the animals appeared to hear something, or responding to something, I documented it but I did not follow through and I have overlooked this. Bella and I  have a research project for 2010.  This could also be a good project for ParaNexus if enough people were interested. I also love to research!  We all gain, when we work together!!

[Ingrid Irwin]

Hi Phillip,

Yes, I have noted many times that a voice capture has commented to or about my dog & a fellow colleague has had some extraordinary references to his dogs when recording.

Your experience with your dog Bella at the cemetery is interesting, the electrical crackling that is similar to voice, I have heard others talk about this, I haven't experienced it myself but, I have experienced what seems to be extraordinary high frequency 'snap' and 'pop' sounds that we cannot explain.

Interesting to note, our hearing range is up to the 20,000Hz mark but dogs is up around the 40-50,000 Hz thus they hear acoustically what we cannot. Really, our hearing threshold is quite poor in comparison to dogs, cats, bats and other animals, they all have much higher hearing ranges, some exceeding this range also, so it is no wonder we note a dog seeming to perceive acoustic sound we do not. Take into account most recorders have a frequency response of about 10,000Hz, some higher some lower, but one can't help to wonder what we may miss entirely from an investigation scene. The canine whistle is a good example of this as it is inaudible to humans but very audible to our canine friends, for dogs the sound exists but for us it is simply beyond our awareness.

You may very well have a under used resource willing to help out and the possible observations gained from this would be very interesting. I bet Bella would be happy to venture out with you too !! Its great doing these types of posts as it definitely makes Us think outside the square together, as you have made me also ponder some possible ideas for 2010 too !!