ParanormalStudy.com MetascienceFoundation.com ITCvoices.org TimWoolworth.
com
PIVC 2020 Conference Reference Sheet
05/02/2020
EVP: ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENON
Voices from the other side – a historical perspective
By:
Tim Woolworth
1
ParanormalStudy.com MetascienceFoundation.com ITCvoices.org TimWoolworth.com
EVP is an acronym for Electronic Voice Phenomenon
Anomalous voices imprint themselves upon recording media (traditional)
Anomalous voice communication that derives from technology such as
software, applications and ghost box technology (modern)
A form of Instrumental Transcommunicaton (ITC)
Disembodied voices (heard in real‐time with your ears without equipment)
are not EVP
First recorded Waldermar Borgoras in 1901
Russian anthropologist who was recording Chuckchee Shaman in a tent
During ritual drumming, both human and spirits appeared in tent and spoke
into the horn of an Edison Phonograph
Published in 1904 about experience
The Work of Thomas Edison
Edison was a famous inventor and noted spiritualist
He attempted to create devices to communicate with the spirit world
o I am proceeding on the theory that in the very nature of things, the
degree of material or physical power possessed by those in the next
life must be extremely slight; and that, therefore, any instrument
designed to be used to communicate with us must be super‐delicate –
as fine and responsive as human ingenuity can make it. For my part, I
am inclined to believe that our personality hereafter will be to affect
matter. If this reasoning be correct, then, if we can evolve an
instrument so delicate as to be affected, or moved, or manipulated –
whichever term you want to use – by our personality as it survives in
2
ParanormalStudy.com MetascienceFoundation.com ITCvoices.org TimWoolworth.com
the next life, such an instrument, when made available, ought to
record something.
o If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical and scientific to
assume that it retains memory, intellect, and other faculties and
knowledge that we acquire on this earth. Therefore, if personality
exists, after what we call death, it is reasonable to conclude that
those who leave this earth would like to communicate with those
they have left here. Accordingly, the thing to do is to furnish the best
conceivable means to make it easy for them to open up
communication with us, and then see what happens.
o I have been at work for some time building an apparatus (valve) to
see if it is possible for personalities which have left this earth to
communicate with us…and I hope to be able to finish it before many
months pass.
Edison demonstrated one of his devices in 1920 for a group of scientists
and spiritualists; there was a write‐up on the experiment in Modern
Mechanix in 1933 – two years after his death.
Attila von Szalay & Raymond Bayless in 1957
Attila was a clairaudient medium; Raymond was a parapsychologist with
the American Society of Psychical Research
Sought to record spirit voices and were the first to have done so
intentionally
EVP only heard upon playback
Published about EVP in 1959 in the Journal of the ASPR
3
ParanormalStudy.com MetascienceFoundation.com ITCvoices.org TimWoolworth.com
“This is G.” was the first intentionally recorded EVP
Freidrich Jürgenson in 1959
Ukrainian born filmmaker who was trying to record bird songs at his cabin
in Sweden on his reel‐to‐reel
Recorded a male voice talking about the difference between nocturnal and
daytime bird songs in Norwegian
Attempted to record again several times, wound up recording the voice of
his deceased mother
Called the communications “Voices from space”
First to utilize radio static to help foster communication (1445‐1500kHz)
Published the first book on EVP and techniques for recording them in 1963
Roesterna Fraen Rymden (Voices From Space)
Konstantin Raudive in 1973
Latvian born psychologist who read Jürgenson’s book; traveled to Sweden
to learn the techniques from Jürgenson
Brought techniques back to Germany and demonstrated EVP
communication for numerous friends and scholars
Recorded EVP in a controlled environment
Published “Breakthrough!” in 1973 which was the first book on EVP
published in English
Observed certain traits of EVP:
o The voice‐entities speak very rapidly, in a mixture of languages,
sometimes as many as five or six in one sentence.
4
ParanormalStudy.com MetascienceFoundation.com ITCvoices.org TimWoolworth.com
o They speak in a definite rhythm, which seems to be forced upon
them by the means of communication they employ
o The rhythmic mode of speech imposes a shortened, telegram‐style
phrase or sentence
o Presumably arising from these restrictions, grammatical rules are
frequently abandoned and neologisms abound
Was the first to classify “Microphone Voices”
o Group A: Consists of voices that can be heard and identified by
anyone with normal hearing and knowledge of the language spoken;
no special training of the ear is needed to detect them.
o Group B: Consists of voices that speak more rapidly and more softly,
but are still quite plainly audible to a trained and attentive ear.
o Group C: Unfortunately, these can be heard only in fragments, even
by a trained ear, but with improved technical aids, it may eventually
become possible to hear and demonstrate these voices, which lie
beyond our range of hearing, without trouble.
Sarah Estep in 1976
Read about Raudive’s work and began experimenting in the United States
Achieved results almost immediately
Founded the American Association of EVP in 1982 which became the
largest EVP organization in the world; she ran it until 2000 when it
transferred ownership and became ATransC
Organized first EVP/ITC conferences in the world
Created the EVP Classification Scale we still use today:
5
ParanormalStudy.com MetascienceFoundation.com ITCvoices.org TimWoolworth.com
o Class A: Voices can be heard and understood over a speaker by most
people. The average listener will hear what you expect them to hear
without prompting. Loud does not equal Class A.
o Class B: Voices can be heard over a speaker, but not everyone will
agree as to what is said. The average person will hear what you
expect them to hear with prompting.
o Class C: Voices must usually be heard with headphones and are
difficult to understand therefor it is usually a vain effort to present
these types of EVP as evidence to anyone other than the researcher.
Three Theories on EVP Creation
The Psychokinesis Theory observes that consciousness from living or dead
persons affect recording media & radios and this discarnate consciousness
can imprint itself in both the sleeping and wake states
Transformation Hypothesis states that background noise can be converted
into EVP via stochastic resonance
Random Selection Hypothesis postulates that psi imprints from the
communicator to digital devices by imprinting onto digital bits
6
