What E.V.P. Is

Electronic Voice Phenomenon (E.V.P.): Anomalous voices, often believed to be of supernatural origin, reportedly heard on audio recordings.

Most of you reading this already know all about it as it’s probably the most common, and most popular method of “Instrumental Transcommunication”(ITC). For those of you that don’t, I’ll put it layman’s terms. You make a recording with a cassette, or digital recorder. When you play it back to hear what you recorded, you’ll hear voices, or noises that you did not hear while recording. Many paranormal investigators believe that the voices, or noises are an attempt by ghosts to communicate with us.

 

What E.V.P. Is Not

E.V.P. is NOT proof of the paranormal. I hate to say it, but it’s not even solid evidence. I know that sucks to say, but hear me out. If I make a legitimate recording that is clear and sounds like a great E.V.P, there’s always gonna be some guy that says that I faked it, or that I was picking up a signal from a C.B. radio or something. What do I say to that? I can’t prove that the guy’s wrong. There’s always going to be that lingering doubt.

That sucks, but it’s a hard truth that we all need to recognize.

 

So, Why Bother?

What do we do? Give up because some loser tells us that we’re wrong? I don’t think so. We have to keep trying to understand what we’re dealing with. Not only that, but just because it’s not considered proof, doesn’t mean that recording these things can’t help people. If you’re investigating a home and you get a recording, the family who’s mind you’re setting at ease doesn’t care what’s technically proof, or not. They just want to feel better.

 

Equipment

First off you want to make sure that you have the right equipment for recording. Take a look at our Audio Equipment Page. You don’t need ALL of that stuff, but you WILL need a recorder and a microphone. You may also want a program to use to clean your recording up on your computer.

 

Location

Outside locations aren’t impossible, but they’re VERY problematic when recording E.V.P. There are too many uncontrollable noises. Wind, traffic, and other people, will constantly play havoc with your recordings. It can be so bad that if you should, by chance catch something on your recorder, there’s no way that you can claim it to be paranormal. There are far too many other possibilities. Indoors are best, but understandably, they’re not always possible. If you’re going to record, make sure that it’s in a location where you can account for EVERY sound.

 

Methods & Techniques

There are many different techniques people use to get a spirit to make some noise for the recorder, these are the most popular.

Your Normal Voice: I’m not sure that I would even call this a method, but it could qualify as a technique. Your own normal speaking voice is a powerful tool when listening to your recordings. NEVER whisper while recording, as it could make playback confusing.

Nothing: It’s true. A lot of people do absolutely nothing. They turn on their recorder and just set it down and leave it to record whatever it records. Some people get good results this way.

White Noise: Many investigators believe that spirits need an outside noise source to harness so that they can manifest their own voice. I’ve tried it. It hasn’t worked for me yet, but others have reported progress. Some think that this technique is useless. No convincing evidence has been presented to me that will support either opinion, so my mind remains open on the subject.

Q & A: Have a list of questions to ask the spirit. It’s a technique used by most ghost hunters. You ask a question, and pause and give the spirit a chance to answer on the recorder. Many investigators report strong results with this one. Here’s Our List of questions!

Provoking: Some try to be insulting & mean to the ghosts to get them to retaliate. This is a very controversial method, and some may not like this technique, but it can bring results. For more information, check out our Provoking Page!

 

Hopefully, this short page has given you an idea what E.V.P. is, and how to go about capturing some recordings for yourself. We have a lot more detailed information here on The Beyond if you’re interested in going deeper. To the left in the sidebar under our Navigation Menu, you will see links to our other E.V.P. related pages, or you can scroll down, and click the banner links below!