002 - My First EVP - Fort Adams

​When you spend your life experiencing the paranormal and then end up living in a haunted house, there's really only one thing you can do. Become a paranormal investigator. It was a TV show that first showed me that there were people out there just like me who had personal experiences and knowledge that could possibly help other people better understand what was happening around them. I quickly learned that being a paranormal investigator wasn't as fun as it looked on TV.  It's dark, cold, and boring most nights. And it's rare when you catch any kind of real evidence. You spend hours upon hours watching video and listening to audio, but then one day you find it; a voice on a tape recorder. A voice that shouldn't be there... communicating with you. When you hear that voice for the first time. A funny thing happens, it scares the shit out of you. And coming up, you're going to hear that voice too.

I'm Tom Stewart and this is my paranormal story.

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I've been experiencing things of a paranormal nature ever since I can remember. A lot of the events from my childhood I didn't even realize were paranormal until I was an adult. I spent a good part of my teens and 20s curious about the strange things that go on around us. The bumps in the night, the strange sounds, the mysterious occurrences. In a way, I was a paranormal investigator before I even knew what that was. I was always the kid who wanted to sneak into the cemetery or break into the abandoned building. When something in the basement was making noise, I wanted to go down and see what it was, not run the other way. It wasn't that I wasn't scared, it was that I was more curious than I was frightened.

After living in a haunted house for about 2 years as an adult, I started actively learning as much as I could about the paranormal field. I read books, watched documentaries, and gathered as much knowledge as I could. And then I felt the need to do something with this knowledge and experience. That's when I discovered a TV show called Ghost Hunters about an organized group of guys from my home state using their experiences and curiosity to help other people understand what was happening in their homes. They were using lots of technical equipment and using terms I didn't understand. I knew I'd have a lot of learning to do, but I wanted to be a ghost hunter. I wanted to be a paranormal investigator so that I could learn more and help others. I did an Internet search for paranormal groups in Rhode Island, and discovered there were a few. I checked out their websites and there was one that stood out to me, RISEUO Paranormal, The Rhode Island Society for the Examination of Unusual Phenomena. Their website was pretty simple. They didn't have a TV show, but they seemed like they took what they were doing seriously. They seemed to be objective, even skeptical of most paranormal claims, and they leaned towards science and history for their investigations. They seemed like a good fit for me. But would I be the right fit for them? I sent them an e-mail introducing myself and expressing an interest in being a part of the group. A few days later I got an e-mail back from Ken DeCosta. He formed the group several years earlier with his son David. We talked on the phone for a bit. And set up a meeting. Most of the group members showed up and I could tell they had already formed a bond together. Many of them were already family or close friends. But they were all nerds just like me who loved to tell their stories. And we shared many that night. But they each seemed to have certain skills or knowledge that complemented the group's approach. I wasn't sure what I could possibly bring to the team, but for some reason they liked me and they invited me to join the group. My first few investigations with RISEUP were like on the job training sessions. Basically learning how to set up the equipment, operate the electronics, and learning which tools were best for certain jobs. I learned a lot of different procedures and protocols and basically picked up all the lingo. I quickly learned there was a lot more to paranormal investigation than I had seen on any of the TV shows.

Most of my past experiences with paranormal was just me taking notes sometimes on paper, but mostly just mental notes. I usually found myself just being a curious observer at things like seances or Ouija board sessions and mostly just physically experiencing places that were supposedly haunted or spiritual. Besides all the technical stuff that comes with paranormal investigation, I also learned that it's pretty boring. Most of your time is spent setting up and breaking down equipment, cameras and recorders, and lots and lots of wires. You end up spending your Saturday nights in dark musty basements for hours with nothing happening. I mean nothing. You just sit there trying to be quiet, hoping one of your devices will pick up a sound or a movement. And then you spend the next few days listening to hours, upon hours, of recorded audio and video, hoping to find that one piece of evidence that makes it all worth your while. But it rarely ever happens. But I stuck with it. For the next few months, I would show up for every investigation, set up recorders and cameras and wires. And I would painstakingly review the evidence, never finding anything that would be considered paranormal. I'd hear the occasional door squeak here, or someone's stomach growling there. But no ghosts. No spirits, no voices, nothing. Until one night it happened. I had captured my first EVP. EVP is an acronym used by just about all paranormal investigators. It's short for 'electronic voice phenomena'. It basically means a sound or a voice that is picked up by an electronic audio or video recorder that shouldn't be there. It's believed to have been imprinted on the device by a spirit or some unknown entity nearby. The messages are usually short in nature, a word or short sentence. Sometimes the voice will sound distorted or muffled, many times it's hard to even make out what it's saying. Paranormal investigators will conduct EVP sessions in hopes of capturing these voices. They gather in locations with a recording device and ask questions to the spirits in the room, hoping a response will show up on the recorder. And then when the audio gets reviewed over the next few days, you listen for these EVP answers. I went through many hours from dozens of investigations and never once heard an EVP. For a while I thought maybe I was doing it wrong. The TV shows made it seem like it happens all the time, but in real life it's rare. But I kept trying. Recording and listening almost every weekend. I'd heard other EVP's, but I really wanted to capture my own and then one night as I was listening to audio, I heard a voice. And I want you to hear this voice too. But first let me set it up.

We were investigating Fort Adams in Newport, RI. A very large and very old retired military base. It was built in 1799 and then rebuilt and expanded in 1857. It was named after President John Adams. The Fort served as a functioning army post until the 1950's or so. And was active for five different wars, but it never saw any combat. In 1965, the Fort was no longer needed and was given to the state of Rhode Island to be used as a State Park. So to say that this Fort has some history would be an understatement, despite it having never been in a battle. The Fort did house many soldiers and families over the years and there were no shortage of tragic accidents, wounded people, and deaths. Today the Fort still stands, but much of it needs repairs. It's mainly used for outdoor functions like the Newport Jazz Festival or expensive wedding receptions and galas. It's also a fun Boy Scout sleepover retreat too. But over the many decades, visitors, caretakers and overnight guests have reported strange phenomenon in and around the Fort. Everything from voices in the dark, to shadows and apparitions. Many people claim to have seen a soldier walking his patrol on the catwalk atop the Fort. None of the claims had ever been documented though. For years, the caretakers of the Fort would never allow paranormal investigators to do their thing, not even the TV show ones. Then one day they reached out to RISEUP Paranormal. They were interested in organizing some ghost walks through the Fort at Halloween to raise some money. They figured a local paranormal group would be perfect for that. Naturally we were interested. But Ken made a deal with them. We would host their ghost walks for free if they let us investigate the Fort on our own for a few nights with no outsiders, no general public. Just us. And to our surprise, they agreed. It was an amazing opportunity and one we didn't take lately.

The Fort was huge so it was all hands on deck. We laid out every inch of wire, every camera, every recorder and every investigator we had for three straight nights. There were many rooms and tunnels for us to explore and we all took turns in all of them. It was when we were investigating the captain's quarters that I finally caught my first EVP. It was a decent sized room made of concrete and stone. Most of the fixtures and decorations were either missing or damaged over time. The paint on the walls had mostly faded or flaked off into dust. It was cold and dark except for a bit of moonlight creeping in through the shuttered windows. There were five of us in the room conducting an EVP session. Most everyone was standing around the middle of the room, but for some reason I found myself on the opposite side of the room, away from everyone else. I'm not sure what drew me there, but I chose to sit on an old wooden bench with my digital audio recorder beside me. As they started the EVP session I was still a little shy so I just sat there and did what I always do. Observe. We were all quiet and still as Ken took charge of the questions being asked. "What is your name?" "Are you a male or a female?" "What year did you serve in the military?" He asked many questions, always pausing after each one to allow time for an answer. We spent about 45 minutes in that room as I was getting colder and more and more tired. But I did my best to stay focused and alert. Aside from Ken having a one-way conversation with the darkness, nothing eventful had happened. So we thought. Several days went by before I started reviewing my audio from the Fort Adams investigation. I had several hours to listen to and I was procrastinating because like I said, it's boring. But on this one night it was about to get very interesting.

I was sitting in my dark living room with no lights on except for the glowing screen from my laptop. No TV, no radio, just me with a pair of headphones listening for ghosts. After about an hour and a half I was getting bored listening to question after question after question with no response, no voices. And then I got to the audio from the Captain's Quarters. I could remember exactly where I was. Sitting on that bench. Ken had asked so many questions with no answers it almost seemed like a wasted session. But then towards the end he asked one question that did get a response. "Do you want us to leave you alone?" He asked. "Do you want us to leave?" And that's when a voice on my recorder answered. When I heard it, I immediately threw off my headphones and jumped up looking around my living room as if I was going to see someone there whispering in my ear. But it was just me and my laptop. I sat back down and put the headphones on and listened again. And again and again. With goosebumps every time. Trying to figure out if what I was hearing was real. I was picturing myself in that dark room again in the Fort, sitting alone on that bench. And the more I listened, the more it felt like the voice I was hearing had been sitting right next to me. Talking directly into my recorder. We didn't know it then, but someone or something was in that room with us. And it did want us to leave.

When Ken asked that question, the spirit answered with one simple word. [audio clip] That's the actual recording from the Fort. I assure you, none of us in the room heard this response and my recorder was the only one that picked it up. This was my very first EVP, a direct message to us all.

My Paranormal Story is written, produced and narrated by me, Tom Stewart. Music from this episode, courtesy of Kevin MacLeod of incompetech.com. You can visit my friends from RISEUP Paranormal online at riseupparanormal.com. Please do not trespass or illegally enter any locations for the sake of investigating the paranormal. Always seek out the proper permissions first. My Paranormal Story is based on real events experienced by me. I put out new stories every Wednesday so please subscribe or follow me for updates on Facebook or Instagram. Search for My Paranormal Story Podcast. And please feel free to leave me feedback, comments or if you want, tell me your own paranormal story. You can also e-mail me at [email protected]. I'm Tom Stewart and this is My Paranormal Story.