Electronic Voice Phenomena

So you've decided to try to record your very own EVP. You think you've found a good location to record, the locals have all claimed it's haunted. Now you're rubbing your hands with glee and you're excited to get started. Well, hold on there. There are a few things you should know first.

While you can use any type of audio recorder it might be best if you could experiment with both analogue and digital. People swear by one or the other so it's often best to make up your own mind. Some researchers also claim you need an external microphone and this is a good bet especially with an analogue recorder. The internal mic can pick up mechanical noise from the moving parts in the recorder. Digital recorders don't have this problem.
When you've chosen your recorder and the place you want to record in you need to invest in a whole lot of patience. Spirits do things on their own time not yours so you will likely not capture anything at all during your first attempt. You'll be lucky if you capture anything at all during your first dozen or so visits. So have a lot of patience.

When you are in the space and ready to record there are a few things you need to remember. Firstly, always ask permission of the spirits to record them. What this does is let the spirits know exactly what you are up to. Also, it's just a polite thing to do and we always want to be polite to the spirits.

Next, have a list of questions ready to ask. This gives you something to say when you need too instead of stumbling and bumbling your way through things. If you know anything about the history of the place you are recording make sure your questions relate to that.

When you are not asking question keep quiet! This seems obvious but sometimes you might shuffle your feet or clear your throat and later you might interpret these as EVP when clearly they are not. To help ensure silence keep your crew to as few people as possible. Make notes of any noise you might make.

When you have completed your recordings you then need to listen and interpret the sounds you have picked up. Keep in mind that most noises are not ghost created but normal sounds that you need to rule out. Determining EVPs is the toughest part of the whole thing. When listening to your recordings always look for natural causes of the sound and once you have eliminated those then think again about the natural causes. If you can eliminate all natural causes for the sounds you have recorded you might still not have an EVP.

The early history of EVP begins with, as will almost all things sound related, Thomas Edison. Edison believed it would be possible to communicate with the deceased. Edison said, "If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect, other faculties, and knowledge that we acquire on this Earth. Therefore %u2026 if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected by our personality as it survives in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, ought to record something." He never did actually manage to build a machine to enable him to do this. Edison made this attempt in the 1920's. There were a couple of experiments prior to Edisons' work in the early 1900's but they seem, to me at least, to be less reliable and less credible than some of the later work.

In the mid - 20's a researcher from Brazil actually recorded some spirit voices over the telephone. According to reports this researcher was able to carry on long and detailed conversations with his buddies from the other side.

In the late '30's an American named Attila von Szalay began his own experiments with a record cutter. Apparently, Szalay had some success recording voices on phonograph records. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to hear these but I certainly wish to. Szalay continued his work into the 40's using a wire recorder. Apparently, he achieved much better results than with the phonograph records.

Italy has a rich history of EVP recording beginning in 1949 with Marcello Bacci. Bacci began recording voices using a vacuum tube radio. Bacci used vacuum tube radios for most of his life to record EVPs. In the early 50's a couple of Catholic Priests had their own EVP experiences. The priests recorded their stuff on a magnetophone. They were apparently shocked by what they heard and reported their findings to the Pope. The Pope reassured them that this was nothing to worry about because it was merely a scientific fact.

In 1959 Friedrich Juergenson accidently recorded what he perceived to be his mothers' voice. He was actually recording birds singing and upon listening back to his tapes was convinced he made an important discovery.

Konstantin Raudive (picture) read of Juergensons' work but was skeptical of what he read. After visiting with Jeurgenson Raudive began his own EVP experiments. Raudive too heard his mother trying to communicate with him. I have heard some of Raudives' work and some of it is extraordinary. If you have any interest in EVP do a quick search for Raudive and listen to some of his recordings yourself, you'll be amazed. Raudive has done some great work.
There have been many other researchers since Raudives' death in 1974 but this article has provided a brief overview of the early years of EVP research.

The internet is crammed with people who have claimed to have recorded their own EVPs but the quality of these is questionable at best. It is my opinion that we have not had a serious researcher into the field for years and we are unlikely to have any soon, I fear.