Real Paranormal Evidence: EVP Recordings, Spirit Box Sessions & Shadow People Caught on Camera

Shadow people, or shadow figures, are dark, human-shaped silhouettes that people report seeing, often at the edge of their vision, in a doorway or on a staircase, and usually only for a moment. Some witnesses describe a tall figure or one wearing a hat; others see only movement. Many sightings have ordinary explanations, including tired eyes, sleep paralysis, passing headlights or an investigator’s own shadow, so we review the footage frame by frame and say so when another explanation fits.

See for yourself: the stairway shadow at Haunted Hill House, the figure-like shadows at the Welles House, or browse all 118 shadow figure moments.

The Hat Man is one of the most commonly reported types of shadow person: a tall, dark figure wearing a wide-brimmed or old-fashioned hat, often seen standing in a bedroom doorway or at the foot of the bed. Many sightings happen at night, while someone is falling asleep or waking up, which is why researchers often link them to sleep paralysis and the vivid images that can come with it. Others report seeing him while fully awake.

Compare the reports: viewers’ tall black figure sightings, the Welles House basement shadows, and our other shadow figure moments.

There is no scientific proof that shadow people exist as entities, but thousands of people describe strikingly similar experiences. The explanations researchers point to include sleep paralysis, the brain’s habit of seeing figures and faces in shadows (visual pareidolia), movement at the edge of vision, fatigue and some medications. When a shadow shows up on our cameras, we show the full clip, check the light sources and where everyone was standing, and say when an ordinary explanation fits, like the possible investigator shadow on the Haunted Hill House stairs.

A spirit box, also called a ghost box, is a device paranormal investigators use to try to talk with spirits in real time. Most are modified radios, either handheld units or apps, that produce a constant stream of static and broken-up radio sound. Investigators ask questions out loud and listen for words, names or phrases that seem to answer. Unlike an EVP, which is only heard on playback, a spirit box response is heard live, in the moment.

Watch the Sallie House ghost box session or browse all 506 spirit box moments.

A spirit box scans rapidly through AM or FM radio stations, stopping on each frequency for only a fraction of a second before moving on. Because it never stays on one station long enough to play a full word, what you hear is a choppy mix of static and tiny fragments of broadcast audio. Many devices let you set the sweep speed and direction. The idea behind it is that a spirit could use the white noise and fragments as raw material to form words in reply to a question.

Skeptics point out that sweeping radio does pick up real broadcasts, and that listeners tend to hear the words they expect, especially right after asking a question. That’s why we record every session, play it back, and mark spirit box results as interpretations in our chapter notes.

Watch a full session at Haunted Hill House and decide what you hear.

ZoZo is a name that many Ouija board users say the planchette spells out again and again, often followed by fast figure-eight or rainbow-shaped movements, and that some describe as a malevolent entity or demon. Stories about ZoZo spread online in the late 2000s, especially through Darren Evans’s accounts. LiveSciFi has investigated the claims for years, including three nights at the ZoZo Demon House in Oklahoma City with Darren Evans and 78 recorded ZoZo and Ouija sessions.

Read ZoZo Ouija Demon Stories, watch the Devil’s Night ZoZo session, or explore the full ZoZo investigation archive.

There is no scientific evidence that a Ouija board can physically harm anyone. Researchers explain the planchette’s movement with the ideomotor effect: small, unconscious muscle movements by the people touching it. Many investigators and religious traditions still warn against using one, saying it can open a door to negative entities, and some users report frightening experiences afterward. Common advice among investigators is to set clear intentions, stay in control of the session, and always close it by moving the planchette to “Goodbye.”

Judge for yourself: watch a Sallie House Ouija session gone wrong or browse all 889 Ouija moments.

An EVP, short for electronic voice phenomenon, is a sound on an audio recording that some listeners hear as a voice, even though nobody heard it in the room when it was recorded. Investigators ask questions out loud, leave a pause for an answer, then play the recording back and listen closely. Because the brain is quick to find words in random noise (a tendency called auditory pareidolia), we always play the original audio, note other interpretations, and check for ordinary sources like traffic, wind or the team’s own voices.

Hear examples: the “help me up” playback from our Halloween cemetery investigation, recorder sessions at the Old Washoe Club and Goatman’s Bridge, or browse all 1,642 EVP moments.

In paranormal investigation, “demonic scratches” are unexplained scratches, welts or red marks that appear on a person’s skin during or after an investigation, often on the back, arms or neck. Some investigators believe marks in sets of three are a sign of a demonic presence mocking the Holy Trinity. Other reported “attacks” include being pushed, a burning sensation, pressure on the chest or the feeling of being grabbed, usually during an Ouija, spirit box or provoking session.

Scratches and sensations can also come from clothing, equipment straps, insect bites, stress or a person scratching without noticing, so we photograph and examine marks on camera and record exactly when they were found, rather than assume a cause.

Watch the back marks examined at the Sallie House, the Haunted Hill House scratch stories, the reported attack at Sedamsville Rectory in The Demon Files, read Sallie House Dark Secret Exposed, or browse all 620 demonic attack moments.

A REM-Pod is a ghost hunting device with a small telescoping antenna that gives off its own weak electromagnetic field. When something conductive, like a hand, comes close and disturbs that field, the REM-Pod lights up and beeps; some models also alert to sudden temperature changes. Investigators place one where activity is reported and ask for it to be touched. Because people, phones, radios and other electronics can also set it off, we note who was nearby and which devices were on.

Watch it in use: the Demon House solo investigation, the REM-Pod readings and magnetic-field explanation in our Halloween cemetery hunt, or browse all 125 EMF and REM-Pod moments.

No recording, photo or mark can prove a supernatural cause on its own. What we can do is show exactly what happened: the full, original footage, the moment the team reacted, and the ordinary explanations we considered. Our chapter notes say “reported,” “interpreted” or “possible” for that reason. Watch the moment in context and decide what you believe.

Take a screenshot, note the episode and the timestamp, and post it in the episode’s viewer evidence discussion or on the LiveSciFi forums. During live shows, you can also flag moments in the live chat.