Is this recording a ghost’s voice?
AUDIO: Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators say they have a recording of a ghost saying “scared” to a visitor during a Parramatta Gaol night tour. And they say it is not the first evidence of poltergeists there. Listen and decide: is it a ghost or people’s minds working overtime?
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A RECORDING device at Parramatta Gaol has captured the moment the Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators (APPI) team say a ghost said “scared” to one of the visitors.
They think the comment was directed at Sue Hutchings who was spooked in 6 wing at the old prison during one of the monthly night tours earlier this month.
The APPI team headed up a level of 6 wing to explore why some of its members were feeling uneasy when they first entered the historic building.
“When entering the wing, myself and another group member didn’t feel quite right,” Ms Hitchings said.
“It was hard to explain but I felt uncomfortable.”
When the group wandered up a level about 3am on May 12, Ms Hutchings said the feeling got worse.
“I stayed near the stairwell and, honestly, I didn’t want to move,” she said.
APPI’s lead investigator Peet Banks came up to Ms Hutchings and suggested they head to the other end of the level to explore.
Ms Hutchings choked up and said she wanted to go downstairs. This is when Ms Bank’s recording device picked up what they believe is a ghost saying “scared”, what is known in their circles as an electronic voice phenomenon (EVP).
“I didn’t hear the voice with my own ears,” Ms Hutchings said. Reliving the experience, she said she felt dizzy and anxious inside the building.
“I’ve had a few experiences throughout my life that I cannot explain. That is why I am an investigator. I want to seek out those spirits and get proof,” she said.
“I’m glad the voice captured on the recorder validated how I was feeling at the time. It’s great when this kind of evidence happens when you are investigating.”
EVP are sounds found on electronic recordings that are interpreted as spirit voices.
The concept became popular in the 1970s. While enthusiasts see them as a form of paranormal phenomenon, scientists believe they’re a form of auditory pareidolia and a pseudoscience.
That night was not idle for other ghost tour participants. Visitors said they heard whistling and voices and, during a sensory deprivation experiment, a few guests said they were “touched”.
Guests are placed in a cell, they are blindfolded and listen to white noise through headphones. The idea is with senses taken away, it makes a person’s other senses work overtime.
Some of that night’s guests said they felt someone or something touch them during the experiment.
No matter what you believe, Ms Hutchings was spooked that night.
“Everyone has their own opinion. Some people have never had an experience,” she said.
“If you want to find out you should come on an APPI tour, especially at the jail.”
RECENT ENCOUNTER
ADDING to the spooky encounters, another investigator said they heard what they said could only be described as a ghost while turning the lights out in 5 wing at the jail on the weekend.
At the most recent encounter, two investigators were in the guard’s station in 5 wing turning off the lights at the main breaker. Four other investigators replied “yeah” when the lights had successfully turned off.
They took a step towards exiting the guard’s room when, what they thought was Suze (one of the four investigators), said “down here they’re not”.
Asking “where” they got no reply so walked out to the group and they all said they’d told the pair the lights were all out.
“I said to Suze ‘but you just said they’re not’,” Jacks said. Confusion ensued and all four denied having said “down here they’re not”.
“I have zero doubt in my mind that I heard Suze’s voice say ‘down here they’re not’.”
The group of four were located 10m away from the wing’s entrance and the voice the pair heard was much closer.
The interesting part is that below 5 wing is a sub level filled with junk.
The group has been “down there” before and think that’s where the voice was suggesting.
So they went to investigate.
The group opened the gate to the basement level and commented on how warm it was in there.
The investigator said “the lights are off, what are you talking about?” to the empty basement.
Chatting among themselves, one of the investigators then said “is this a trap?” and while there was no response, when listening back to the recording they say a voice says “it is”.
“When someone asks a question, presumably to spirit/phenomena/energy/whatever they’re dealing with, we know damn well not to answer even jokingly,” one investigator said.
This adds to the claimed experiences at 5 wing over the last few years:
● An investigator laughing in the quad outside 4, 5 and 6 wing then hearing it come again seconds later but from inside 5 wing.
● An investigator doing the “ghost whistle” and having it mimicked back multiple times.
● Hearing what was thought to be the sound of two investigators unlocking gates, that were already locked, but they were on the other side of the gatehouse building.
● Hearing guests laugh loudly during a vigil in a neighbouring building but only to find they’d not made any noise the entire time.
My perspective
Peet Banks, Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators
THE ghost hunt at Parramatta Gaol on May 12 blew my mind!
We had so many different things happen. A door in the clinic was opening and closing on its own, on command, and we received several disembodied voices on recording.
This one particular situation stands out in my mind.
We were in 6 wing, and one of my staff, who is normally very cool, calm and collected, was feeling absolutely petrified. She felt very unwelcome and like she had to leave.
We all ventured up to the second floor, and Sue’s feelings of unease only increased.
It got to the point when I didn’t want to subject her to her terror anymore, so I suggested we leave.
Before I’d even finished the sentence, Sue was walking down the stairs.
Her behaviour was so unusual that I commented that I would like to dissect her feelings (with a scalpel).
Another team member was recording this conversation on a digital voice recorder, and as I was speaking, a clear voice comes through which says “scared”.
It’s because of results like this that I continue to do what I do!