Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) is the term
traditionally used to describe unexpected sounds or
voices sometimes found on recording media. EVP initially
involved audio tape recorders, but in later years,
virtually any recording medium became a vehicle for
phenomena. The term Instrumental TransCommunication
(ITC) came into being to describe these expanded modes
of audio- and video-format communication. Other acronyms
used in the literature include Electronic Disturbance
Phenomena (EDP) and Trans-Dimensional Communication (TDC).
The Hypothesis: The working hypothesis proposed by the
AA-EVP may be summed up this way: There is an aspect of
reality that is not yet defined by physical science.
This may be termed "nonphysical reality."
There is an energetic difference between physical and
nonphysical reality. Bridging this difference is not a
trivial task. Nonphysical objects, including things,
emotions and ideas, must somehow energetically agree
with the level of reality that they are to occupy.
The EVP experimenter provides the necessary
circumstances with technology and by gathering energy
used by the entity to communicate.
To paraphrase this hypothesis, EVP
experimenters know they are communicating with some form
of intelligence. Different experimenters report contact
with different types of entities. The experimenter uses
technology, yet there is also considerable evidence that
the experimenter is an important part of the "circuit".
In other words, if long-dead Uncle John is to
communicate, he must find a way to bring his thoughts/words into
physical substance. That channel of communication is
provided by the experimenter and his electronic
equipment. Exactly how this is accomplished is not
clear; however, mediumship and the ability to record
have been shown to be learned abilities. The attitude
and desire of the individual is central to this
experience.
We understand that this hypothesis may sound outlandish
to some, but the AA-EVP invites you to learn to record
so that you may experience this phenomena for yourself.
There is ample instruction for recording in the Articles
section of this site. The Association will approach the
who, what, and how of these messages from an analytical
perspective. By maintaining a rational view, it is hoped
that people from a broad range of backgrounds and
divergent views will feel comfortable participating in
the field.
Questions Related to EVP's: Who is causing EVP
messages? The evidence
indicates that the only hypothesis designed to explain EVP messages
that answers all of the observed facts is the Survival Hypothesis.
In this hypothesis, it is argued that we survive physical death and
go on to live in other levels of reality. We believe that most of
the EVP messages are initiated by people who once lived in our
world.
There are some indications that other communicating entities in EVP
are entities who either still live or once lived on other worlds in
our Universe (extraterrestrials), entities who may not have
experienced a physical lifetime and entities who might best be
described as angelic. In some cosmologies, the angelic entities are
thought to be of a different hierarchy of creation and are related
to operation of reality while our hierarchy is more related to the
creation and experiencing of reality. We should remind you that all
of this is speculation and its proof awaits considerably more
evidence.
How are EVP
messages formed?
There is
considerable speculation about this question and much of the past
and present research is designed to provide a definite answer. The
short answer that appears to be emerging from the research is that
there is mind-to-mind communication between the communicating entity and the experimenter.
The experimenter functions as a medium for this exchange in much the
same way that spirit mediums bring messages to the physical. The
message, itself, is then thought to be telekinetically impressed
into the recording media. Even though the evidence seems to support
this view, it is apparent that the experimenter is normally unaware
of his or her part in this transfer of information.
How can you tell
if an EVP is genuine?
It is easy enough
to tell if an EVP is true phenomena. EVP's do tend to have
characteristics that set them apart. For instance, they usually do
not have the fundamental frequency. They will tend to have normal
spaces between syllables but the syllables themselves are often
spoken at odd speeds, even several speeds in a single word.
If you doubt, always record in a metal enclosure such as a paint can
or a metal candy box. That will eliminate stray radio and TV. Some
recorders will record radio from nearby transmission towers, but the
voices are usually obviously not EVP. If you ask a loved one to say hello and you record "Hello" after
that, then you probably have an EVP.
The problem is knowing who is talking. We know some entities are
jokesters and will tell you anything. It is a lot like listening to
a conversation in another room of a library. You have trouble
hearing and understanding the words and you really do not know who
is talking. Do they know what they are talking about? Are they
telling stories to one another?
You would not want to rely on what is said in an EVP by itself. Is
the comment appropriate for the circumstance and the person you
think is speaking? Were you trying to contact that person? Is the
information positive or helpful? These are people you are speaking
with and if a loved one would not tell you to go rob a bank in life,
they certainly would not tell you to do so in the etheric. You must
use discernment with EVP messages just as you must when talking to
people in the flesh.
Is there any
danger in EVP?
There have been no
documented instances of lasting problems experienced by EVP and ITC
experimenters of which we are aware. The only danger we can see is
in the possibility that a person who has mental health issues might
mistake the meaning and intention of the messages. We advise that
people who have a history of emotional instability or who are
experiencing mental health issues should not work in this field. It
is always important that the experimenter is able to use discernment
by recognizing that the communicating entities are people and that
they have the same ability to mislead as do people still in the
flesh.
In the Autumn 1989 AA-EVP Newsletter, Sarah Estep wrote, “Obviously,
no one starts taping, automatic writing, or playing with the Ouija
board, thinking he will become possessed or obsessed. But it can
happen. As I wrote on page 196 of Voices of Eternity, The difficulty
is in ascertaining who is susceptible…I am not trying to frighten
people who are thinking about beginning to tape….Working in the
field can bring some of the most rewarding, enriching experiences of
your life. It would be amiss of me, however, not to caution you
about the darker side of psi. Experienced tapers will tell you not
to believe everything that comes through. You have your liars on the
other side, as you have here. The more they realize they are getting
you upset, the more they will continue. Human nature being what it
is, we may imagine certain messages are there, when in fact, there
is nothing. The important thing though is, if a person believes a
message is on tape, he will respond to it for better or worse.
“If anyone at any time thinks he is in contact with low-level
entities, leave your tape recorder. Remain in control at all times.
Anyone can sit down to tape. It takes much more inner strength to
pull the plug and walk away.” The evidence found through EVP has
shown that the description of “evil” or “demonic” entities is
probably inaccurate. It is true
that some communicating entities reveal themselves to be of
relatively low spiritual maturity, but it is a reach to argue that
they are evil or demonic in any sense. These entities are typically
referred to as “low levels” because of the nature of the messages
they give us. For instance, it is possible for an entity to
masquerade as someone you are seeking to make contact with—even a
loved one. It is also possible that a “low-level” entity might tell
you something that is not true, but that is something that they
believe you want to hear. This is probably why many of the prophetic
EVP have not come to pass.
A prolonged period of carefully listening to EVP samples has been
shown to increase the experimenter’s sensitivity to sounds and
flickers out of the corner of their eyes. In this way, experimenters
report an apparent increase in their clairvoyant ability. Since we
feel that everyone is inherently clairvoyant, and that the ability
can be improved through practice and training, it seems reasonable
that working with EVP might increase clairaudience or clairvoyance.
The attitude that we maintain toward a bothersome entity is that it
is a person and that it is not natural for the entity to remain
close to the physical locale. We are in charge of our personal space
and we will ask a bothersome entity to move on. In fact, an
important aspect of EVP is the “rescue” work some experimenters
conduct in trying to tell an apparently “stuck” entity that it
should “go to the light.”
In the final analysis, there is no obvious danger that an
experimenter will ‘bring home” an entity that will bother the
family. If an entity does become bothersome, there simply are too
few reports of any danger due to such a situation to warrant
considering it a threat to the experimenter’s welfare. The best
safeguard against any possible problem is your Self-education of the
involved concepts. You will find that the Spiritualists provide such
information. (See http://nsac.org/)
What should I do
in preparation for experimenting with EVP?
The short answer
is that you need only turn on the recorder to record an EVP. The
long answer is that we recommend that you prepare yourself by
learning to focus your attention on the subject at hand. You need
not meditate, but we would like you to learn to relax a few minutes,
steady your breathing and think about what you are about to do, as
opposed to something like whether or not you have time to make a
recording before dinner, or if you remembered to let the dog out.
We like to see people speaking out loud as if you are speaking to
someone in the room and ask for protection and that only the highest
good come to you, your family and your home. Ask that a friend on
the Other Side stand by you and protect your communication channel
from any negative influences. Then make your recording, confident
that you are standing in the white light of protection.
The above may seem a little melodramatic or a little too religious
for you, so look at it this way: By practicing a ritual something
like the above, you are focusing your attention on the outcome you
desire. By asking for protection, you are telling the world that you
intend to be safe and do not want any negative contact. Remember,
your words are heard by many people on the Other Side, so declare
your intention.
Don’t those on the
Other Side have to be near for me to record their voices?
None of us really
understands how they communicate. We can only gather up all of the
hints and try new ways based on those hints.
Experimenters/researchers have found that people on the "Other Side"
seem to be better able to communicate in locations that have had
long-term human occupancy, the expression of strong emotion (love,
fear, anything that is strongly felt), and a "place" to contain it,
such as a building or a landmark. These places seem to have
accumulated energy of the type that is useful to support etheric to
physical influence. That is why they become known as haunted---not
so much because there are resident ghosts, but because etheric
entities can more easily make their presence known when they visit.
With that said, we know that people can also establish a contact
individual or group on the Other Side. This is usually accomplished by experimenting over a long period of time, and in
effect, getting those on the Other Side used to communicating with you. In this way, they learn to communicate
wherever the experimenter is. That is why we recommend that you
begin by using the same room and time of day.
Anyone may record a voice anywhere; however you can increase your
chances by following the hints described above. More information on
EVP recording technique is available in this article.
Why was I unable
to contact a loved one?
We do not know all
of the reasons why someone communicates or does not. We suspect
that, when or if a person reincarnates, they have much more difficulty "checking in." This is
also apparently true for those who "move on", "out of range" for
communication, such as in going to a "higher realm of awareness."
When a person firsts transitions, they are usually able to
communicate with us because there is a lot of energy from emotions
that helps the transfer of information across the veil. The person
is also still familiar with the physical and is apparently more able
to project his or her attention into the physical. Once they have
been across for a while, they do seem to have more difficulty, but
they also have more experience that may help.
If a person was very sick in the last days, then they may not
communicate for a time while they learn to be "well." As for communicating with someone else, someone else may be the path
of least resistance. If you try, be clear in your mind about how you
feel doing so. Also, develop a clear image of the person by
reviewing your memory. Have a strong and focused desire and follow a
routine of attempts in the same location. Speak to them as if they
are in the room.
How can I know,
and convince others, that the entities speaking in a EVP I record
aren't demons?
That is a good
question. First, if a person is offended by EVP on religious
grounds, then you are probably not going to convince them one way or
another. Even some people, who believe in all sorts of New Age
phenomena, become defensive when you try to tell them that the
existence of EVP might mean that there is such a thing as survival
of the Self after physical death. As such, we avoid discussing EVP
with people who might be offended. (By the way, we know that there
are many “stuck” or “earthbound” communicators, and that what they
learned from their religion while in the physical is usually the
reason they have been unable or afraid to “go to the light.” It is
so important that we know what to expect when we cross over.)
It could be said that the first contacts across the veil were made
by “dead people” reaching out to us. That is how most contacts are initiated today, and we believe that a lot of the
instances of a ghost in someone’s home are actually a loved one
trying to say hello. We like to point out that people around the
world have been studying EVP for over fifty years, and to our
knowledge, none of them have been harmed. Yes, there is the
occasional angry person who yells at us, even cusses, but we can
experience the same thing with people still in the flesh.
If you look at the messages people record, it is difficult to
attribute anything sinister about them. If the communicators were
demons, then would they be able to be so consistently loving and
supportive, as we see in some cases? Look at bigcircle.aaevp.com, or
read Children Together on the Other Side. If the communicators are
really demons, then your religious leaders need to rethink what a
demon is, because many people are learning to continue their
relationship with loved ones who are now on the Other Side. This is
an important form of grief management.
Some of the communicators may be nature spirits that have never
“lived” in the physical. You could call these “Angels” or
“guides” if you wish, but we have come to realize that none of the
communicators fit the description of “demons.” On the other hand,
people generally maintain their personalities when they cross over.
If they were jerks here, they are probably going to be jerks there.
The communicators in EVP are just people being themselves.
Finally, we try to explain to people that EVP is potentially a very
important tool for studying the relationship of the physical to
etheric border of reality. There simply are no other tools that are
as reliable or readily available to researchers. When AA-EVP members
conduct an EVP recording session, they are also conducting an
experiment that, added to all of the other experiments, help us
understand the nature of reality. Many AA-EVP members do not tell
their coworkers, friends and neighbors that they work with EVP. The
idea of talking to "dead people" and getting answers in recorders is
simply too far past the "boggle point" for some, and in some
communities, it is best to stay quiet about it. You will have to
make such judgments yourself, for your own circumstances.
Someone ‘cleaned
up’ an EVP and it doesn't sound the same as the original; isn’t this
a problem?
The
problem is that these voices are not formed the same way your voice
is formed. Your voice begins with the organic vibration of your vocal cord. The resulting sound is then channeled
through your mouth, and on the way, frequency components are formed, enhanced or suppressed by the changing shape
of your mouth and then spewed out into the world as a word. Voice
researchers call the vocal cord frequency "Formant 0," and the
subsequent harmonics , "Formant 1," "2" and so on.
A spoken word is recognized because we have learned since childhood
to look for particular relationships of formants to detect the word. Training is a cultural thing, and some do not do as
well detecting the same word when it is spoken by someone from a different culture because the formants are arranged
in slightly different ways.
In EVP, research has shown that the voice is formed of a fortuitous
collection of available sounds and that there is seldom a Formant 0.
In effect, the words are being pronounced by someone from an
unfamiliar culture. This is true even if it is a loved one because
that person is obliged to use whatever sounds are available. That is
why we talk about people needing to train themselves to hear the
words in EVP, and why a perfectly clear Class A to you might sound
like loud noise to someone else. However, once you tell the listener
what to look for, that noise will often become obviously the words
you said they were. Then later, you or that other listener listen to
the EVP again and do not hear the same utterance. It has not
changed, but your reference has.
Now, if the words in EVP are being formed of available frequencies,
then a word might have been formed with a few relatively low
frequency bits of sound and a few relatively high bits, compared to
how you would form the word with your mouth. When a word spoken by
you is "cleaned up", its meaning remains unchanged because the
frequencies are all grouped as harmonics of F 0. However, when the
same word spoken in EVP is cleaned up, it is possible to remove the
relatively low frequency components, while the remaining high
frequency components are not sufficient by themselves to form the
word. We always caution against too much processing of the EVP for
this reason. A second problem you might run into is how different
sound reproduction systems (i.e. different computers) will affect
the reproduction of a word in EVP.
I am hearing music
in the noise coming from my box fan. How is this possible?
We cannot give you
a definitive reason why you hear the music, only a hypothesis. The
sound of a fan is often used by EVP experimenters to record the
phenomenal utterances. We think the sound, as physical energy, is
transfigured into voice in electronic equipment in much the same way
that ectoplasm, which seems to be a "near-physical" form of energy,
is transfigured in a Spiritualist séance to form faces over the
medium. We also think similar principles are involved.
As people strain to hear EVP, they often report that their
clairvoyant senses are sharpened and that they begin to hear
voices---even music---in the sounds in their environment. This
ability tends to fade when the person stops trying so hard to hear
EVP.
We believe that the sounds are always there, and that when we begin
to pay more attention to our world, we more often notice them. Thus,
it is an ability that you can develop, should you wish.
What is the
difference in having a haunted house and just having entities?
Fair question. You
may as well assume that you have etheric entities in your home at
all times. One AA-EVP member asked, during a recording session in
her home, how many people were in the room with her. The EVP she
found on that recording answered, "Twenty-three."
As a rule, a haunted location is so because: 1. The geological
conditions support etheric to physical communication, and so the
entities do cause physical effects that people can sense--a
"haunting." This one is pretty speculative.
2. There is sufficient energy, of the kind required for etheric to
physical influences, accumulated in the location to permit a
haunting. This may be because of longtime human occupancy, an
expression of extreme emotion (fear, love, hate) and/or because of
meditation.
3. There is an earthbound entity that is in some way "attached" to
that location.
4. There is a physical person living in the location who is able to
bring the necessary energy for a haunting. We would describe this
ability as mediumship, even though the person may be unaware of this
ability.
There can be other
reasons, but these are the most common.
As you can see from the above reasons, we are pretty sure that there
is a requirement for a specific form of energy to enable a haunting.
That is why we recommend that a person dedicate a location in the
home for EVP. We feel that the energy associated with communication
will accumulate to facilitate phenomena. If you have no reason to
think that you have accumulated such energy, if you do not have a
history of being a strong medium and if your home is relatively new
with no tragic history, then there is probably not sufficient energy
for haunting activity. Also, it is likely that you have
unconsciously withheld permission for them to bother you.
With all of that said, you should look for influence in your life
from the entities around you. Usually, it is more subtle than
anything you would think of as a haunting. We feel pretty sure that
all of us have what amounts to a team of friends on the Other Side
that, in effect, helps us gain the experiences we set out to have
when we entered this lifetime.
With all of that said, a haunting in your home is usually a
cooperative effort between you and the entity. In some way, you have
probably invited communication.
In our mind, there is a definite distinction. We should conclude
with a reminder that, even in a haunted location, the entity you may
experience is not necessarily earthbound or stuck in that location.
It could be a loved one who is taking advantage of the situation to
say hello. At the same time, the entity haunting your home, if any,
may also be a loved one trying to say hello. Treat them with
respect.
An Alternative View: Commentary From a Skeptic
By James E. Alcock, PhD - Concluding comment from article, Electronic Voice Phenomena: Voices of the
Dead?, at www.csicop.org/specialarticles/evp.html
“What the Raudive voices teach
us is that intelligent people – for Raudive was no doubt an
intelligent man - can come to believe fervently in phenomena which
in all likelihood do not exist. There is a lesson in this for all of
us, for we just as surely may be mistaken in some of our own deeply
held convictions. This is why we must rely on science as the avenue
to truth rather than personal experience or other people’s anecdotal
reports. Science, with its reliance on data and its insistence on
looking for sources of error and for alternative explanations,
provides the best method that humans have produced for protecting
against error and self-delusion. Electronic Voice Phenomena are the
products of hope and expectation; the claims wither away under the
light of scientific scrutiny.”
What Dr. Alcock’s comments teach us
is that intelligent people – for Alcock is no doubt an intelligent
man - can come to believe fervently in explanations that, in all
likelihood, are not supported by the evidence. There is a lesson in
this for all of us, for we just as surely may be mistaken in some of
our own deeply held convictions. This is why we must rely on science
as the avenue to truth rather than personal experience or other
people’s anecdotal reports. Science, with its reliance on data and
its insistence on looking for sources of error and for alternative
explanations, provides the best method that humans have produced for
protecting against error and self-delusion. Electronic Voice
Phenomena are the products of forces that are not currently
explained using known physical principles, and are therefore
discounted by scientists, even though they may not have the
necessary training to make such judgments. Nevertheless, their
claims that EVP's are the product of hope and expectation wither away under the light of scientific scrutiny.
