EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) is really intriguing, but I’ve included the following shared experiences because they clearly illustrate something else that has always fascinated me, too: when more than one witness can describe the same shared paranormal event but with entirely different sensory perceptions and reactions. One person may see but not hear an apparition. Another may only hear but not see anything. While someone else may not hear or see anything but feel a physical touch or detect a sudden strong scent. But some are oblivious to any stimuli at all. All within the same time and space. Everyone receives and responds to paranormal phenomena however they are best capable of processing them. Some people will never perceive anything through their senses, while others quickly detect a phenomenon when least expected. Here is a father and son’s description of their experiences at an Island museum that shows how diverse different people’s paranormal perceptions can be.
Dad:
“We have always spent time with my in-laws on Manitoulin Island every summer. Being a history buff or fanatic, as my family might say, I’ve always enjoyed exploring all the great museums on the Island. I usually went alone when my sons were little, but I wanted to share my interest in the local history when I thought they might be old enough one summer and hoped they would be keen to learn about this too. Well, it could have been the lure of the lake on a sweltering summer day, or at their young ages, they weren’t mature enough yet to appreciate all the information on offer when we stopped in for “a quick” tour of an Island museum over two decades ago.
“I bribed them with the promise of ice cream after we completed the tour if they behaved and stopped whining, but it was hard to enjoy the exhibits myself when they were so restless and eager to leave. All the boys, that was, except for my youngest, who was about six at the time. He usually tried to keep up with his older brothers, but not on that particular day. He seemed to ignore them entirely in hindsight, but I was too focused on maintaining proper museum decorum with my older sons to give that too much thought then. I was just grateful he seemed so absorbed in all he saw and evidently enjoyed being there, unlike his siblings.
“Finally, I gave up trying to instill historical interest in preteen boys and decided to leave that for a future time. As we exited the building, my youngest kept glancing behind him and asked me if I would take a video of him with his “new friend” to show his mother. I looked around and saw no one else inside the building besides the curator. I had not seen anyone else in the museum the whole time we were there, so I had no idea who he was talking about.
“But he was unusually insistent, so I started filming him as requested, as he chatted away with his “new friend.” I could see and hear only him in front of the camcorder as his older brothers were horsing around at a distance. I thought I’d just filmed a few moments of him alone, in front of the museum, to show his mom — until we got back to the lake house and had a look at what had actually been captured in that clip…
“He was eager to show his mother the video when we returned, and we all watched together as the clip showed our little boy giggling and talking to what seemed like thin air. He was the only visible person near the camcorder. But another little child’s voice was undeniably heard talking and laughing too. Two little boys were talking and laughing together in that video, but only my son could be seen on the tape. We all watched and listened in utter amazement, repeatedly rewinding it, trying to figure out what or who we were hearing.
“A very young boy can be heard giggling throughout the clip as our son chats away and giggles too. The voice clearly says, “I’m James,” when my son introduces him to the camcorder as “his friend.” And after a few moments, when I said it was time to leave, the friendly little voice said, “Goodbye then.” As the video showed, my older boys were not nearby, so it couldn’t have been any of them. And no one else was outside on the museum grounds but us. I was sure of that. My son wanted me to film him and his new friend on our camcorder, which is precisely what I unknowingly managed to do. The camera did not pick up another child’s image, but it definitely did capture his voice. I wanted to share this with you because it gave us a real sense of wonder, and I thought others might enjoy hearing about it too.
“I can’t explain why this child’s spirit, as we were convinced it was, would have been lingering at that museum. Maybe he felt connected to a particular artifact there? No way to ever know, I suppose. I have returned to that museum many times over the years but have never filmed anything supernatural there again.
“My youngest son is an adult now, with a little son of his own, but he has retained the memory of that day with consistent clarity, of seeing this child as well as hearing him. When I mentioned that I wanted to share this experience with you, he suggested including his perspective on what he experienced that day too.”
Son:
“That long-ago trip to the museum all happened as my dad has described, so I won’t repeat the same details. My own account will just start from entering the museum, after being warned, as always by our dad, to “look with our eyes and not with our hands” in an attempt to keep four boisterous young boys on their best behaviour in that kind of setting.
“Once we had entered, I saw this other little boy, about my size, leaning against a wall, looking straight at me. One of the best parts of this memory was how he smiled when we made eye contact. His expression was pure joy. My dad and brothers walked past him like they didn’t realize he was there. My dad is a very friendly guy, so it did seem to me at the time that it was out of character for him not to acknowledge a small child as he passed him just a few feet away. But I likely assumed he was preoccupied with keeping my brothers from fooling around and accidentally wrecking the place as he led everyone into the next display area.
“I remember feeling so happy to see this boy there, even though I was usually a shy, almost introverted, little kid. We immediately clicked. He didn’t say much, but neither did I. I mainly remember how we spent that brief time together, making each other laugh. One of us would point at something on display, and we both found that hilarious for some reason.”
“Nothing about meeting him seemed incredible then because I didn’t realize the little boy was a ghost that only I could see. I assumed he was with his family, too, even though I didn’t see anyone else there. He just looked like any other little kid to me. The only thing that initially confused me was that he wore layers of hot clothes, with a cap and a scarf, while my brothers and I were cooly dressed in shorts and t-shirts on that summer day. But he didn’t seem bothered by it, so I wasn’t either. He was a funny, friendly little boy, and I was glad I met him. I was excited I had made a new friend because my extreme shyness usually held me back from interacting with other kids I didn’t know. I asked my dad to film us together because my mom always encouraged me to engage with other kids my age. I thought she’d be happy to see I had made a “new friend.”
“When we returned to our relatives’ place and showed my mom the video, I didn’t understand why I was the only boy standing there as my dad filmed when I knew my new friend had been at my side that whole time. But at least you can hear him, beside me, on that tape. We all can attest to that. I have never witnessed any kind of paranormal event since that day, and that brief video clip is a keepsake I value of perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
In these days of ever-advancing technology, devices can often capture mystical phenomena one’s own senses may miss. However, perhaps young children’s open hearts and minds are the best detectors of all.
Do you also have a mystical tale to tell? Whether you’ve experienced a haunting, a mysterious cryptid sighting, or a brush with the inexplicable, share it with Canadian author Dorah L. Williams at dorahlwilliams@gmail.com
Your story, too, could be featured in an upcoming column of Mystical Manitoulin!
