Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 08:21, 8 November 2007

Template:Infobox Paranormalterms Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) describes speech or speech-like sounds, which are inaudible during recording but detected on electronic recording media upon playback. These sounds are often believed to be ghosts or spirits, although there are various other explanations for the phenomena. The existence of EVP is not recognized by the fields of electronic and audio engineering The apparent 'voices' are typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase and are sometimes said by researchers to be answers to questions asked during the taping. EVP has been reportedly observed on diverse media, including: radio, television, tape recorders, video recorders, and digital recording devices. Paranormal researchers consider EVP a subset of the broader field of instrumental transcommunication.

The possibility of spirit communication through electronic recording devices has been a subject of interest since at least the 1920s, although concerted investigation began in the 1950s. Originally labeled “Raudive Voices,” named after Dr. Konstantin Raudive, they were later renamed “electronic voice phenomena,” a term introduced by the publishing company Colin Smythe Ltd in the early 1970s. Various individuals have studied the phenomena and believe that the most likely explanation is that they are produced by spirits of the deceased. This explanation was first introduced by American photographer Attila Von Szalay, who believed he recorded the voice of a dead loved one in 1956. This lead to research conducted through the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, notably by psychologists Raymond Bayless and Konstantin Raudive, and film producer Friedrich Jürgenson. In 1980, inventor William O'Neill, backed by industrialist George Meek, built a 'Spiricom' device which was said to facilitate very clear communication with the spirit world.

In addition to deceased spirits, various researchers and their critics have suggested that EVP could be due to: psychic echoes from the past, psychokinesis unconsciously produced by living people, apophenia (finding of significance or connections between insignificant or unrelated phenomena), pareidolia (interpreting random sounds into voices in their own language which might otherwise sound like random noise to a foreign speaker), the thoughts of aliens, misidentification through lack of quality of equipment, or simple hoaxes.

Culturally, EVP has spread into several areas of interest. EVP has become a tool of paranormal investigators, used when attempting to contact the souls of dead loved ones or during ghost hunting activities. References to EVP have appeared in the reality television show Ghost Hunters, the fictional Supernatural and Hollywood films such as White Noise and The Sixth Sense.

History

Following on the Spiritualist movement in the 1840s, there has been a concerted effort to communicate with the otherside. These initial efforts included seances and other non-technological methods. With the creation of the wireless, this concept of communication with the dead expanded to the use of modern technology to achieve contact. Concerted research on technical means of communication grew rapidly in the latter part of the 20th century.

Early interest and research

In the 1920s, Thomas Edison told a reporter with Scientific American that it was possible to construct an apparatus which that could contact the dead. This story spread to numerous newspapers around the world. A few years later, Edison announced that he had been making a joke at the reporter's expense, and that he had not been working on such a device.

American photographer Attila von Szalay was among the first to try recording what he believed to be voices of the dead. He began his attempts in 1941 using a 78 rpm record. It wasn't until 1956, after switching to a reel-to-reel tape recorder, that he believed he was successful. Working with Raymond Bayless, von Szalay conducted a number of recording sessions with a custom-made apparatus, consisting of a microphone in an insulated cabinet connected to an external recording device and speaker. Szalay reported finding many sounds on the tape that could not be heard on the speaker at the time of recording, some of which were recorded when there was no one in the cabinet. He believed these sounds to be the voices of discarnate spirits. Among the first recordings believed to be spirit voices were such messages as "This is G!," "Hot dog, Art!," and "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all." Von Szalay and Bayless' work was published by the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research in 1959. Bayless later went on to co-author the 1979 book, Phone Calls From the Dead.

In 1959, Swedish painter and film producer Friedrich Jürgenson was recording bird songs. Upon playing the tape later, he heard what he interpreted to be his dead father's voice and then the spirit of his deceased wife calling his name. He went on to make several more recordings, including one that he said contained a message from his late mother.

Raudive voices

Konstantin Raudive, a Latvian psychologist who had taught at the University of Uppsala, Sweden and who had worked in conjunction with Jürgenson, made over 100,000 recordings which he described as being communications with discarnate people. Some of these recordings were conducted in a RF-screened laboratory and contained identifiable words according to Raudive. In an attempt to confirm the content of his collection of recordings, Raudive invited listeners to hear and interpret them. He believed that the clarity of the voices heard in his recordings implied that they could not be readily explained by normal means. Raudive's research was formally published into his first book, "Breakthrough - An Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication with the Dead" originally released in 1968 and translated into English in 1971.

Spiricom

In 1980, William O'Neil constructed an electronic audio device called "The Spiricom". O'Neil claimed the device was built to specifications which he received psychically from George Mueller, a scientist who had died six years previously. At a Washington, DC, press conference on April 6, 1982, O'Neil stated that he was able to hold two-way conversations with spirits through the Spiricom device, and provided the design specifications to researchers for free. However, nobody is known to have replicated O'Neil's results using their own Spiricom devices. O'Neil's partner, retired industrialist George Meek, attributed O'Neil's success, and the inability of others to replicate it, to O'Neil's psychic abilities forming part of the loop that made the system work.

Modern era (1980s-present)

In 1982, Sarah Estep founded the "American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena" in Severna Park, Maryland, a nonprofit organization with the purpose of increasing awareness of EVP, and of teaching standardized methods for capturing it. Estep began her exploration of EVP in 1976, and says she has made hundreds of recordings of messages from deceased friends, relatives, and other individuals, including Konstantin Raudive, Beethoven, a lamplighter from 18th century Philadelphia, PA, and extraterrestrials whom she speculated originated from other planets or dimensions.

In 1997, Imants Barušs, of the Department of Psychology at the University of Western Ontario, conducted a series of experiments using the methods of EVP investigator Konstantin Raudive, and the work of Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC) researcher Mark Macy, as a guide. A radio was tuned to an empty frequency, and over 81 sessions a total of 60 hours and 11 minutes of recordings were collected. During recordings, a researcher either sat in silence or attempted to make verbal contact with potential sources of EVP. Barušs did record several events that sounded like voices, but they were too few and too random to represent viable data and too open to interpretation to be described definitively as EVP. He concluded: "While we did replicate EVP in the weak sense of finding voices on audio tapes, none of the phenomena found in our study was clearly anomalous, let alone attributable to discarnate beings. Hence we have failed to replicate EVP in the strong sense." The findings were published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration in 2001, and include a literature survey.

In 2005 the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research published a report by paranormal investigator Alexander MacRae. MacRae conducted recording sessions using a device of his own design known as ALPHA. MacRae reported that ALPHA is able to convert electrodermal responses into noise, which is then examined for EVP. In an attempt to demonstrate that different individuals would interpret EVP in the recordings the same way, MacRae asked seven people to compare some selections to a list of five phrases he provided, and to choose the best match. MacRae said his results indicated that the selections were not a form of Rorschach Audio, but were of paranormal origin.

Explaining the phenomena

Various explanations have been put forward for EVP by paranormal experimenters who have attempted to rule out non-paranormal explanations for their origins. Mainstream science has generally ignored EVP, but there are a number of non-paranormal explanations, which account for EVP by such mechanisms as radio interference or the tendency of the human brain to recognize patterns in random stimuli.

Spirits of the deceased

Communications from discarnate entities is one paranormal hypothesis to explain EVP. These spirits, while unable to communicate verbally with humans, are able to imprint information on recording media by an unknown method. According to some EVP experimenters, questions have been asked during EVP recording sessions, and the audio recordings made during those sessions have contained utterances properly answering the questions. EVP experimenters believe these are the voices of deceased persons, because the recorded words are often spoken in a voice and with mannerisms very similar to the characteristic voice and mannerisms remembered of the deceased person thought to be speaking. Many EVP recordings contain messages that identify the speaker as a person known to be deceased. For instance, Margaret Downey made audio recordings heard to include the utterances, “Jo’s Nick’s mommy," “Mom, it’s Nicky" and “Nick O'Neill is talking.” She was recording on behalf of a lady named Joanne who is the mother of a deceased boy named Nick O'Neill. During life, Nick was accustomed to referring to his mother as "Jo" and as "Mommy."

The question of whether or not audio recordings thought to be EVP are just noise mistaken by an individual listener to be words, or actually form words, has been addressed with the use of listening panels. If EVP really forms words, then a significant percentage of panel participants will be able to agree on what is said. In one online experiment, 32% of the words which the experimenters thought to be in five examples were correctly identified by participants even though there was no indication of what the EVP were thought to say. Protocols used to explore EVP routinely use such a listening panel to rate results. In what is called the 4Cell EVP Demonstration, the results of an experiment are not considered a "hit" unless the response is clearly appropriate to the question asked, and at least three people who are not in the 4Cell are able to agree on what is said. Such experiments have had a success rate of better than 60%. For instance, in an experiment conducted by the 4Cell called "Cease2Dcease", the Receiver recorded an EVP saying "Leans to side." The question, which was not known to the Receiver at the time, was "What was the nickname Mary Jo’s sister Sheila gave her after she got her Harley?" The expected answer was the nickname, "Tilt." because she always leaned to the side while riding her Harley. A system of grading EVP as Class A, Class B and Class C has become widely adopted by EVP experimenters. A Class A example of EVP is a possible utterance that will be heard and understood by the average listener without prompting.

Portable digital voice recorders, which are currently the technology of choice for EVP experimentation, are very susceptible to Radio Frequency (RF) contamination. To account for this, the everyday experimenter depends on previous research conducted under controlled conditions which has established that EVP can be recorded when the recorder is shielded from RF signals. One such test was conducted by Alexander MacRae in the Institute of Noetic Sciences', RF- and sound-screened room. Bill Weisensale, also used a shielded chamber and reported that he successfully recorded EVP. EVP experimenters say that since it is established that EVP can be recorded in screened conditions, the content of the utterance is felt to provide sufficient reason to eliminate RF interference as an explanation. Important to this conclusion are some of the common characteristics of EVP: EVP have a logical beginning and end, are appropriate for the circumstances and questions asked, and are typically only a few words- whereas radio interference would extend for random lengths of time. EVP typically only occur when there is noise in the audio circuits of the device used. Experimenters believe that this noise itself is used to produce the EVP. For this reason, many experimenters use two recorders, such as a digital voice recorder and a video camera. The higher quality audio circuit in a video camera is not as prone to record EVP, and any sound found on both recorders are usually discarded as being mundane.

EVP experimenters say that there are many ways in which technological artefacts can create false positives. For instance, the intake of breath before speaking can sometimes be mistaken as an EVP. As can be seen with an Internet search for EVP, people around the world are experimenting with EVP, representing a wide range of education in the field. Processing errors do happen, but experimenters say that such errors are just that, processing errors and not the explanation for EVP.

EVP are very difficult to understand. Experiments using forensic-quality audio analysis software show that cues in timing, frequency distribution, and emphasis are found to be different in most examples of EVP than in normal human speech (another reason that radio interference is an unlikely explanation). Further, the voices have been shown to have characteristics that could not have been sounds formed in a human mouth. Based on this and similar research, experimenters believe that the difficulty people have in distinguishing the sound of EVP as words is partially due to the unusual way the words are formed. As such, hearing the words in EVP is usually an ability, much like learning a new language.

Since their release, Dr. Konstantin Raudive's interpretations of his recordings have been criticized as being highly subjective, and for the fact that the speech they are said to contain is often unrelated to questions that investigators posed during their recording. Both Jürgenson and Raudive's recordings were said to contain sentences that were made up of several languages.

Psychokinesis

According to this explanation, communications might be imprinted directly on an electronic medium by a living human, through an unknown form of matter/energy manipulation. Some EVP experimenters say they have received messages from a sleeping colleague.

Auditory paredolia

Auditory pareidolia or Rorschach Audio is a condition created when the brain incorrectly interprets random patterns as being familiar patterns. In the case of EVP it could result in an observer interpreting random noise on an audio recording as being the familiar sound of a human voice. The propensity for an apparent voice heard in white noise recordings to be in a language understood well by those researching it, rather than in an unfamiliar language, has been cited as evidence of this, and a broad class of phenomena referred to by author Joe Banks as Rorschach Audio has been described as a global explanation for all manifestations of EVP.

Skeptics such as David Federlein, Chris French, Terrence Hines and Michael Shermer say that some EVP are recorded by raising the "noise floor" - the electrical noise created by all electrical devices - in order to create white noise. When this noise is filtered, it can be made to produce noises which sound like speech. Federlein says that this is no different from using a wah pedal on a guitar, which is a focused sweep filter which moves around the spectrum and creates open vowel sounds. This, according to Federlein, sounds exactly like some EVP. This, in combination with such things as cross modulation of radio stations or faulty ground loops can cause the impression of paranormal voices. The human brain evolved to recognize patterns, and if a person listens to enough noise the brain will detect words, even when there is no intelligent source for them. Expectation also plays an important part in making people believe they are hearing voices in random noise.

Interference

Certain recordings, especially those recorded on devices which contain RLC circuitry, represent radio signals of voices/sounds from broadcast sources. Interference from CB Radio transmissions and wireless baby minders, or anomalies generated though cross modulation from other electronic devices, are all documented phenomena. It is even possible for circuits to resonate without any internal power source by means of radio reception.

Apophenia

Apophenia is related to, but distinct from pareidolia. Apophenia is defined as "the spontaneous finding of connections or meaning in things which are random, unconnected or meaningless", has also been put forward as a possible explanation.

Capture errors

Capture errors are anomalies created by the method used to capture audio signals, such as noise generated through the over-amplification of a signal at the point of recording.

Processing artifacts

Artifacts created during attempts to boost the clarity of an existing recording might explain some EVP. Methods include re-sampling, frequency isolation, and noise reduction/enhancement, which might cause recordings to take on qualities significantly different from those that were present in the original recording.

Extraterrestrial entities

Experimenters such Sarah Estep say that some EVP may be caused by nature energies, beings from other dimensions, or extraterrestrials.

Hoaxes

According to some a percentage of recordings may be hoaxes created by frauds, pranksters, or those looking for attention.

Cultural impact

The concept of EVP has had a wide impact in popular culture. It is popular as an entertaining pursuit, as in ghost hunting, and as a means of dealing with grief. It has influenced literature, radio, film and television.

Paranormal groups and ghost hunting

Investigation of EVP is the subject of hundreds of Internet message boards, regional, and national groups. According to paranormal researcher John Zaffis, "There's been a boom in ghost hunting ever since the Internet took off." Investigators, equipped with electronic gear such as EMF meters, video cameras and audio recorders, scour reportedly haunted venues, trying to uncover visual and audio evidence of hauntings. Many use portable recording devices in an attempt to capture EVP.

Radio, film and television

• The Sixth Sense, a 1999 film starring Bruce Willis. The main character, a psychologist, realizes that audiotapes of his former patient interviews include the voices of dead people, who have been haunting the patient.
• Ghost Whisperer, 2005 TV series. In the episode "Voices", a dead woman tries to reach her son using EVP.
• Supernatural, a TV series launched in 2005 which draws from many legends and paranormal phenomena, frequently uses EVP as a plot device.
• White Noise, a 2005 film starring Michael Keaton, focuses exclusively on the phenomenon of EVP and the main character's attempts to contact his recently deceased wife through it. The filmmakers assert at the end of the film that 1 in 12 EVP messages received is threatening in nature, a figure disputed by many in the field.
• Coast To Coast AM hosts George Noory and Art Bell have explored the topic of EVP with featured guests such as Brendan Cook and Barbara McBeath of the Ghost Investigators Society, and paranormal investigator and demonologist Lou Gentile.
• The SciFi Channel's Ghost Hunters TV series often features EVP as part of investigations conducted by Atlantic Paranormal Society members.
• The Spirit of John Lennon, a pay-per-view seance broadcast in 2006, in which TV crew members, a psychic, and an "expert in paranormal activity" claim the spirit of former Beatle John Lennon made contact with them through what was described as "an Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP)".

Literature

• Legion, a 1983 novel by William Peter Blatty. Written as a sequel to his 1971 novel The Exorcist, Legion contains a subplot where Dr. Vincent Amfortas, a terminally-ill neurologist, leaves a "to-be-opened-upon-my-death" letter for Lt. Kinderman detailing his accounts of contact with the dead, including the Dr's recently deceased wife, Ann, through EVP recordings. Amfortas' character and the EVP subplot do not appear in the film version of the novel, Exorcist III.
• Pattern Recognition, 2003 novel by William Gibson. The main character's mother tries to convince her that her father is communicating with her from recordings after his death/disappearance in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Organizations

There are a number of organizations dedicated to studying EVP and Instrumental TransCommunication. Individuals within these organizations may participate in investigations, author books or journal articles, deliver presentations, and hold conferences where they share experiences. In addition organizations exist which dispute the validity of the phenomena on scientific grounds.

The American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP) The AA-EVP averages around 500 members in 47 USA states and 22 countries including the USA (current: 2007)." and the International Ghost Hunters Society, conduct ongoing research work into EVP and ITC including collecting examples of purported EVP available over the internet.. The Rorschach AudioProject, initiated by sound artist Joe Banks, which presents EVP as a product of radio interference combined with auditory pareidolia and the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Biopsychocybernetics Research, a non-profit organization dedicated studying anomalous psi phenomena related to neurophysiological conditions. According to the AA-EVP, it is "the only organized group of researchers we know of specializing in the study of ITC.".

Spiritualists, as well as others who believe in Survivalism, have an ongoing interest in EVP. Many Spiritualists believe that communication with the dead is a scientifically proven fact, and experiment with a variety of techniques for spirit communication which they believe provide evidence of the continuation of life. According to the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, "An important modern day development in mediumship is spirit communications via an electronic device. This is most commonly known as Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP)". An informal survey by the organization's Department Of Phenomenal Evidence cites that 1/3 of churches conduct sessions in which participants seek to communicate with spirit entities using EVP.

Instrumental transcommunication (ITC)

Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) is a more general term than EVP and refers to communication between spirits or other discarnate entities and the living, through any sort of electronic device such as tape recorders, fax machines, television sets or computers. ITC include visual and other anomalies, rather than only auditory effects. The term was coined by physicist Professor Ernst Senkowski, of the Faculty of Engineering in University of Mainz, Germany.

For example, according to Claus Schreiber an instance of ITC occurred at 1:22 p.m. on October 21, 1987 in which the image of EVP researcher Friedrich Jürgenson (whose funeral was held that day) is appeared on a television in the home of a colleague, which had been purposefully tuned to a vacant channel. . It is claimed that similar effects can be achieved using a TV and video camera via the Droste effect. This involves aiming a video camera at the television and feeding the output of the camera back into the TV, in order to achieve a feedback loop.

ITC is highly controversial, and skeptics say that there is not enough evidence to conclude scientifically that ITC is of paranormal origin.

See also

• Parapsychology
• Mediumship
• Backward message
• Ghost hunting
• Reverse speech

Notes

This article has an unclear citation style. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation and footnoting. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

1. http://books.google.com/books?id=bbNfr_bwUXwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=audio+recording&sig=PpN9Zv_76UC8q9AhFegnuO3aTaw#PPP1,M1 The Audio Recording Handbook, Alan P. Kefauver
2. The Authoritative Dictionary of IEEE Standard Terms, Seventh Edition, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers / 01-Jan-2000 /ISBN: 9780738126012
3. http://www.rane.com/digi-dic.html Rane, Audio Reference glossary
4. Mizrach, Steve. "Voices from Cyberspace". Retrieved 2007-09-23.
5. ^ Fontana, David (2005). Is There an Afterlife: A Comprehensive Review of the Evidence. Hants, UK: O Books. pp. 352–381. ISBN 1903816904. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) Cite error: The named reference "fontana1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
6. "Don't believe everything you read in a textbook!". Edison National Historic Site. National Parks Service. 2004-11-05. Retrieved 2006-12-01. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
7. Clark, Ronald W. (1977). Edison - The Man Who Made the Future. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
8. Butler (2004). There is No Death and There are No Dead. AA-EVP Publishing. ISBN 0-9727493-0-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
9. ^ "EVP". Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2006-12-01. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
10. ^ Sconce, Jeffrey (2000). Haunted Media. Duke University Press. p. 84. ISBN 0822325721. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
11. Bayless, R (1959), Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 53#1, 35 – 38
12. Bjorling, Joel (1998). Consulting Spirits: A Bibliography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 68. ISBN 0313302847. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
13. Raudive, Konstantin (1971). Breakthrough: An Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication With the Dead (Original title: The Inaudible Becomes Audible). Taplinger Publishing Co. ISBN 0800809653. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
14. ^ Senkowski, Ernst (1995). "Analysis of Anomalous Audio and Video Recordings, presented before the "Society For Scientific Exploration" USA – June 1995". Retrieved 2007-09-18.
15. Brune, Francois (1988). The Dead Speak To Us. Philippe Lebaud. ISBN ISBN 2253051233. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
16. Cardoso, Anabela (2003). ITC Voices: Contact with Another Reality?. ParaDocs. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
17. Bander, Peter (1973). Voices from the tapes: Recordings from the other world. Drake Publishers. ISBN ASIN: B0006CCBAE. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
18. http://worlditc.org/ Under researchers results - Konstantin Raudive.
19. ^ Baruss, Imants (2001), Failure to Replicate Electronic Voice Phenomenon, Journal of Scientific Exploration, V15#3, 0892-3310/01
20. "Electronic Voice Phenomena". Winter Steel. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
21. Meek, George W. "An electromagnetic-etheric systems approach to communications with other levels of human consciousness". Retrieved 2007-09-20.
22. Meek, George W (1988). "Report from Europe: Earthside instrumental communications with higher planes of existence via telephone and computer are now a reality". Unlimited Horizons, Metascience Foundation Inc. 6 (1): 1–11. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
23. MacRae, Alexander. "A Bio-electromagnetic Device of Unusual Properties". www.skyelab.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-03-27. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
24. MacRae, Alexander (October 2005). "Report of an Electronic Voice Phenomenon Experiment inside a Double-Screened Room". Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. Society for Psychical Research. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
25. Feola, José (2000-07-01). "The Alpha Mystery". FATE Magazine. Retrieved 2007-09-22. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
26. Butler, Tom. "A Brief Discussion on the Origin of EVP Messages". Retrieved 2007-09-21.Website of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena
27. "About the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena: What is the Survival Hypothesis?". American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP). Retrieved 2006-12-01. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
28. Josh Bosack, Josh (Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2004). "Group analyzes paranormal activity". The Collegian. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
29. Butler, Tom. "EVP Characteristics". Retrieved 2007-09-21. Etheric Studies Best Practices Development website, retrieved August 30, 2007
30. "I'm Still Here". Retrieved 2007-09-21. Examples of Martha Copeland's discarnate daughter Cathy speaking in EVP
31. O’NeiIl, Joanne (Summer 2007). "Mommy". AA-EVP NewsJournal. Retrieved 2007-09-21. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
32. ^ Chisholm, Judith (2000). "A Short History of EVP". Psychic World. Retrieved 2006-12-03.
33. "EVP Listening Experiment". Retrieved 2007-09-21. Website of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena
34. "4Cell EVP Demonstration". Website of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena. Retrieved 2007-09-21. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) Based on a Summer 2005 AA-EVP NewsJournal article
35. Bates, Todd (6/12/2006). "Classifying Your Evp". Paranormal News. Retrieved 2007-09-21. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
36. Weisensale, Bill. "Eliminating Radio Frequency Contamination for EVP". Website of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
37. Butler (2004). There is No Death and There are No Dead. AA-EVP Publishing. ISBN 0-9727493-0-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
38. Presi, Paolo, "The Work at Il Laboratorio", The Work at Il Laboratorio, retrieved 2007-09-21 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coeditors= and |coauthors= (help)
39. Butler, Tom. "Example Proposed Best Practice Using a Second or Control Audio Recorder as a Means of Identifying Mundane Sounds". Website of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
40. Gullà, Daniele. "Computer–Based Analysis of Supposed Paranormal Voice: The Question of Anomalies Detected and Speaker Identification". Website of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena. Retrieved 2007-09-21. Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Biopsychocybernetics Research Bologna, Italy
41. Konstantinos (2001-02-01). "You can Hear Dead People". Fate. Retrieved 2007-09-21. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
42. Smith, E. L (1974), "The Raudive voices – Objective or subjective? A discussion" Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 68, 91 – 100
43. ^ Poysden, Mark. "This is EVP:A Look Behind the "The Ghost Orchid" CD". THE ANOMALIST. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
44. Jahn, Robert G. (1987). Margins of Reality: The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World. San Diego, California: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0151571481. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
45. Tom, Butler. "About the AA-EVP". Retrieved 2007-03-08. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
46. Wiggins Arthur W. Wynn Charles M. (2001), "Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends �and Pseudoscience Begins", National Academies Press, ISBN 0-309-07309-X
47. Zusne, Leonard (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 78. ISBN 0805805087. Retrieved 2007-04-06. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
48. Joe Banks "Rorschach Audio", the "Ghost Orchid" CD sleevenotes, PARC / Ash International, 1999
49. Joe Banks "Rorschach Audio: A Lecture at The Royal Society of British Sculptors", Diffusion 8, pp. 2-6, Sonic Arts Network, 2000
50. Joe Banks "Rorschach Audio: Ghost Voices and Perceptual Creativity", Leonardo Music Journal 11, pp. 77-83, The MIT Press, 2001
51. Joe Banks "Rorschach Audio: Art and Illusion for Sound", Strange Attractor Journal 1, pp. 124-159, Strange Attractor Press, 2004
52. Carroll, Robert Todd, The Skeptic's Dictionary 2003, Wiley Publishing Company, ISBN-10: 0471272426
53. Shermer, Michael (2005). "Turn Me On, Dead Man". Scientific American. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
54. Williams, Huw (2005-01-06). "'Ghostly' chatter - fact or fiction?". BBC News.com. Retrieved 2007-09-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
55. Hines, Terrence, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal: A Critical Examination of the Evidence, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY, 1988. ISBN 0-87975-419-2. Thagard (1978) op cit 223 ff
56. ^ Paul Tipler (2004). Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Electricity, Magnetism, Light, and Elementary Modern Physics (5th ed.). W. H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-0810-8.
57. "Definition of Apophenia". MedicineNet.com. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
58. Phaedra (2006). "Believing is seeing". The Skeptic Express. Retrieved 2007-03-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
59. Smith, Steven W. (2002) Digital Signal Processing - A Practical Guide for Engineers and Scientists, Newnes, ISBN 0-7506-7444-X
60. Randi, James (2006-06-09), Just Where is Lou Gentile?,
61. Estep, Sarah, "Voices Of Eternity," page 144,
62. Schlesinger, Victoria (2005-03-10). "Ghost hunters in search of the paranormal". AZCentral.com. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
63. Appleton, Roy (2006-10-28). "Paranormal investigators not afraid to scare up some ghosts". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
64. Schlesinger, Victoria (2005-03-10). "Ghost hunters in search of the paranormal". Azcentral.com. Retrieved 2007-09-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
65. "Long awaited movie White Noise - A major disappointment". Lone Star Spirits.com. Spring 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
66. Noory, George (2006-04-02). "Demonology & EVPs". Coast to Coast AM. Retrieved 2007-09-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
67. Bell, Art (2006-04-15). "Recorded Spirit Communications". Coast to Coast AM. Retrieved 2007-09-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
68. "Ghost Hunters Episodes". SciFi.com. Retrieved 2007-09-19. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
69. "TV psychics claim Lennon contact". BBC News. 2006-04-25. Retrieved 2007-09-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
70. "Report on the 2006 AA-EVP Conference". Retrieved 2007-09-22.
71. "AA-EVP:Electronic Voice Phenomena and Instrumental TransCommunication". Retrieved 2007-09-22.
72. "More About AA-EVP". Retrieved 2007-09-22.
73. "International Ghost Hunters Society". Retrieved 2007-09-22. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
74. Joe Banks "Rorschach Audio", the "Ghost Orchid" CD sleevenotes, PARC / Ash International, 1999
75. Joe Banks "Rorschach Audio: A Lecture at The Royal Society of British Sculptors", Diffusion 8, pp. 2-6, Sonic Arts Network, 2000
76. Banks, Joe (2001). "Rorschach Audio: Ghost Voices and Perceptual Creativity". Leonardo Music Journal. 11: 77–83. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
77. Banks, Joe (2004). "Rorschach Audio: Art and Illusion for Sound". Strange Attractor Journal 1: 124–159. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
78. "INTERDISCIPLINARY LABORATORY FOR BIOPSYCHOCYBERNETICS RESEARCH Who we are". Retrieved 2007-09-22.
79. "EVP/ITC Organizations & Websites Around the World". Retrieved 2007-09-22.
80. "About The Campaign for Philosophical Freedom". Retrieved 2007-09-22.
81. "NSAC - Spiritualism". Retrieved 2007-09-22.
82. "Phenomenal Evidence Department of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches Concepts Involved in Spiritualism". Retrieved 2007-09-22.
83. "About the NSAC Churches". National Spiritualist Association of Churches. 2005-11-29. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
84. Dr. Cardoso,Anabela (2003) "ITC Voices: Contact with Another Reality?"
85. "Claus Schreiber, Germany". World ITC. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
86. Carroll, Robert Todd. "Skeptic's Dictionary on instrumental transcommunication (ITC)". Retrieved 2007-09-22.

Further reading

• Is There an Afterlife: A Comprehensive Review of the Evidence, David Fontana, (2005) ISBN 1903816904
• Voices of Eternity, Sarah Estep, Fawcett (1988)
• EVP, Cinderella Science, by Gerry Connelly, Domra Pub. (2001)
• There is No Death And There are No Dead, by Tom & Lisa Butler, AA-EVP Pub. (2003)
• Roads to Eternity, by Sarah Estep, Fawcett (2005)
• Experimenting With "EVP" - The Skeptic Express

External links

• American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AAEVP) - Dedicated to EVP research.
• Electronic Voice Phenomenon at The Open Directory Project - Dedicated EVP phenomena.
• World ITC - Dedicated to ITC research.
• ITC Journal - Research, opinion and background articles about ITC available in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
• ITC research site. - Website dedicated to showing ITC in video.
• VTF, the German Association for Transcommunication Research - German organization dedicated to study of ITC and EVP.

• Ghosts
• Paranormal
• Recording
• Spiritualism