Voices on Tape (EVP
or electronic voice phenomena)
For more than 50 years experimenters all
over the world have been tape-recording 'paranormal voices'—voices
which cannot be heard when a tape-recorder is playing but
which can be heard when the tape is played back.
The experimenter turns on the tape recorder and asks a question,
leaving a space for an answer. When the tape is played back
an answer is sometimes heard.
Many of the very short messages claim to be from loved ones
who have died. These voices sometimes use the experimenter's
name and answer specific questions.
The Association
Transcommunication insist that the voices must be studied
scientifically and not treated as a form or amusement or
sensationalism. Led by Tom and Lisa Butler they have undertaken
a number of scientific studies on EVP.
A number of ATransC members
have written moving detailed accounts of their evidential
transcommunication with transitioned loved ones for the
quarterly ATransC NewsJournal and website. Highly recommended
is Martha Copeland's
I'm Still Here. The book tells the story of how Martha
continues to work with her daughter, Cathy, who is on the
other side. Martha is one of the founders of a group within
ATransC known as the ‘Big Circle’. Cathy has
come through with children who are on the other side to
connect with their loved ones who are participating in the
recording circle.
There are thousands of researchers around
the world who have been researching this most fascinating
psychic phenomenon. Two of our subscibers claims that they
been able to use evp to establish long term meaningful communication
with a crossed over spouse.
It is particularly relevant since it can
be studied under strict scientific procedures and experiments
have been duplicated under laboratory conditions by all
kinds of researchers in many different countries.
This is a trailer for a commercial movie
about EVP.
Pioneers of EVP
The scientists who developed radio and television,
Marconi, Edison, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crookes,
John Logie Baird, were all convinced of the reality of spirit
communication and were using their professional skills to
demonstrate it. Marconi, one of the developers of wireless
radio was reportedly working on a system to communicate
electronically with the afterlife at the time of his death.Work on the Voice Phenomena had actually started
in the 1920s with Thomas Edison who believed that there
could be a radio frequency between the long and short waves
which would make possible some form of telepathic contact
with the other world (Stemman 1975:98).
Friedrich Jurgenson began finding voices
on his tapes by chance in 1959 . Dr Konstantin Raudive worked in Germany to explore
the voices. He published a book Breakthrough (1971)
which was based on 72,000 voices he recorded.
Pye experiments
On one occasion EVP experiments were conducted
in soundproof studios to filter out stray broadcasts. In
the space of 27 minutes some 200 voices were received.
ATransC is a teaching/learning organization
and offers support to those interested in working with EVP
and learning to be more objective in understanding the paranormal
voices. Tom and Lisa Butler's book, There
Is No Death and There Are No Dead (2003), is a wonderful
introduction to scientific investigation of the afterlife.
It was written to teach people about these phenomena and
to help them learn how to record paranormal voices. It is
available for purchase on the Association TransCommunication
website.
The Association's website, atransc.org,
also includes personal experiences, research reports, examples
and techniques. For more direct help, the Idea Exchange
is an online discussion board. It is reserved for members
only as a safe place to ask for help, discuss concepts and
share examples.
"Ghost box"
They also do not recommend radio-sweep technology. Units
called a ‘ghost box’ or ‘spirit box’
are being sold for more than $1,200 US. Even though they
are easy to work with and there is always an output, there
are no reliable studies showing that radio-sweep actually
produces EVP. An exception is when noise from very
rapid radio-sweep, without recognizable live voices, is
used as background noise for transform EVP.
Sandra Champlain’s highly recommended new book
We Don’t Die—A Skeptic’s Discovery of
Life After Death (2013) traces how she learned how to
record EVPs after attending a workshop with Tom and Lisa
Butler. She was successful using the noise of rain on the
roof and the noise of a running shower as background noise.
Tom and Lisa Butler warn new practitioners about the human
tendency to try to find meaning in random sounds. It suggests
that experimenters always get honest feedback from friends
or the online community without telling them what they think
is being said. The organization's Ideas Exchange can be
of considerable help in this regard.
