Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) - Communicate with Dead

Séances, Mediums, Ouija boards - is it possible to talk to the dead? Can the dead communicate with us? Many paranormal researchers believe it is possible using a method known as EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomena.

EVP involves recording empty space or white noise on tape recorders or other magnetic devices and subsequently examining those recording looking for discrete messages from spirits. These messages may sound like noise to some but EVP investigators using computer software, can clean up those recordings in order to make the voices easier to hear. Since recorders use magnets to record sound, anything that would disturb this magnetic field, such as paranormal activity, could be recorded on tape.

Nobody knows whether our personalities pass on to another existence or sphere but it is possible to construct an apparatus which will be so delicate that if there are personalities in another existence or sphere who wish to get in touch with us in this existence or sphere, this apparatus will at least give them a better opportunity to express themselves than the tilting tables and raps and Ouija boards and mediums and the other crude methods now purported to be the only means of communication.

How to Record EVP?

One strange characteristic of EVP recordings is the requirement that there be noise in the background. Cheap records work best and if higher quality recorders, which would produce a cleaner sound, are used then "white noise" must be generated. This requirement is why skeptics often claim that EVP is nothing more than radio interference.

To record EVP you first need a recorder - IC recorders have become very popular. A high quality microphone and good headphones are also needed. If the circuitry on your recorder is high quality then you'll get best results by including "white noise" using a white noise generator of by using a AM radio that is tuned off-station. Many claim that any kind of noise can be used including recordings of white noise, nature sounds, or running water.

A typical EVP session involves taking your gear to a location where spirits would be most likely found - a graveyard or an old haunted house. Walk around the area and speak questions into your recorder, then wait for 30 seconds or so (while playing "white noise" if the internal circuitry of your recording device does not produce enough noise on its own) and record the responses (which you most likely won't hear on site). Take your recordings home, transport them to your computer, and then use sound edition software such as Cool Edit (now called Audition) to clean up the resulting recordings.