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Since the discovery of what has now come to be known as the Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP), we have to give thanks for the efforts of many gifted researchers who, over the years have given their time and commitment in the face of much hostility. Where did it all begin? Probably with the discoveries made in the field of electronic communications by inventers such Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Oliver Lodge and Gueglielmo Marconi. These men of vision all held belief in an afterlife and the possibility of making contact with that world through electronic means. Edison had his first lab at the age of ten and by the time of his death he had patented 1093 of his inventions. He also believed in a 'life after death', as can be determined by the many statements he made during his lifetime. In support of this, what follows is just one of them "I will be going to a world beyond, whereby I shall continue the research where i left off". It is also interesting to note that there was a blueprint found after his death for a machine which he believed could be used for making contact with that very place. As no machine was ever found, we have no means of knowing if he had actually built this. What follows is information of past and present researchers who we owe a debt of gratitude to for the efforts they have given to further our knowledge of this amazing discovery. Before the turn of the last Century: Austrian psychic researcher Baron Hellenbach predicted in his book Birth and Death the evolution of electromechanical means of communication. He foresaw that the content of the earliest contacts might suffer from the inherent difficulties of bridging a gulf between two dimensions and warned against undue optimism. Beginning of the Last Century: Thomas Edison, Gueglielmo Marconi, and Nikola Tesla. These men were inventors and geniuses that had helped to harness electricity and lay the foundations upon which electronic communication has been based, spent the last years of their lives trying to develop devices for communicating with spirit. 1920`s: Hereward Carrington, a respected American psychical researcher notes in his book Psychic Oddities an occasion at which he was present when a 'disembodied' voice asking "Can you hear me?" came out of a microphone in a sealed room in a radio recording studio when the rest of the building was empty. This was in the presence of an un-named medium and was heard by everyone else in the room. No-one could give any explanation. The English writer Thorpe who had developed what he called 'Etheric Vision' (and wrote a book of the same name) whilst a prisoner in Germany, promised his readers details of mechanical means of detecting what he called 'The Voice Phenomenon' in a further book. This never appeared. Late 1920's: Italian aristocrat and medium Count Centurione Scotto make's gramophone recordings at Millesimo Castle of the 'direct voice'. The Count had contracted the gift seemingly by 'psychic contagion' from the controversial Valiantine. 1928: Thomas Edison worked on equipment he hoped would permit communication with the dead, using a chemical apparatus with potassium permanganate. 1930`s: The Scandinavian military pick up what was probably the first ever polygot messages. These were thought to be stray Nazi transmissions and came to their peak in March 1934 then ceased abruptly. But after the war, when archives searched, no evidence of German involvement was found 1936: Attilz Von Szalay started to experiment with a Pack-Bell record-cutter and player, trying to capture paranormal voices on phonograph records. Also a ham radio operator Gordon Cosgrave in London apparently picks up Morse code messages between the 'Titanic' and the 'Carpathia' which would have been sent 24 years earlier in 1912 when the 'Carpathia' was racing to the rescue of the stricken 'Titanic'. 1950: John Otto, patent engineer and radio ham together with a group of local radio amateurs in Chicago, USA detects unusual signals of unknown origin on undisclosed frequencies. Lyrical voices using what we now know as polyglot (a mixture of languages) sing and speak in rapid bursts which the group recognized were unlike anything transmitted by regular sources. Early 1950's: An 'Electronic Communication Society' is formed in Manchester, England where serious attempts are made to amplify by electronic means the pervading energies of the séance room. George Hunt Williamson, author of Other Tongues - Other Flesh published by the Amherst Press logs reports of intrusive voices of unknown origin on tape while another American John Keel, investigating UFO reports world wide, comes up with dozens of reports of voice intrusion culled from military and civilian sources. In his book Our Haunted Planet Keel devotes an entire chapter to these rogue transmissions. 1956: Hollywood, USA photographer and independent voice medium Attila Von Szalay and a writer named Raymond Bayless record voices on magnetic tape that should not have been there. Von Szalay had been experimenting since 1947 with phonograph discs and wire recorders and had succeeded in capturing faint whispers. They named the voices they captured 'aerial' voices and reported their discovery in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. 1959: In July of this year Russian born Sir Friedrich Jurgenson, an artist and film producer records his mother's voice using a reel-to-reel tape recorder at his estate in Mölnbo, Sweden. She had been dead four years. He went on to record thousands of discarnate voices and is regarded as the 'father' of the EVP. The noted parapsychologist Professor Dr. Hans Bender who headed a team of researchers at the Institute for Border Areas of Psychology and Mental Health at the University of Freiburg, Germany makes a thorough study of the Jurgenson tapes even using voice print tests. 1964: Jurgenson after 5 years of research publishes his findings in his book Roesterna Fraen Rymden (Voices from the Universe). Attilz Von Szalay gets voices of his deceased relatives on tape for the first time. 1965: A well-known Latvian Philosopher and Psychologist, author of six books Dr. Konstantin Raudive, hears of Jurgenson's work. He had long been interested in the direct voice physical type of mediumship which may have begun in his early post-graduate days at Edinburgh University in 1934. He meets Jurgenson and sets up his own research project in Germany initially using an ordinary crystal set, the 'cat's whisker' of earlier radio days. Later he enlists the help of Friedberg Karger, a research physicist at the Max Planck Institute in Munich and other electronic engineers. Theodor Rudolph a high-frequency electronics engineer of the well-known firm Telefunken designs an instrument called a 'goniometer' for him. Dr. Raudive eventually records over 100,000 discarnate voices. 1967: Thomas Edison spoke through West German clairvoyant Sigrun Seuterman, in trance, about his earlier efforts in 1928 to develop equipment for recording voices from the beyond. Edison also made suggestions as to how to modify TV sets and tune them to 740 megahertz to get paranormal effects. (Session recorded on tape by Paul Affolter, Liestal, Switzerland). Franz Seidi, Vienna, developed the "sychophone". Theodore Rudolph developed a goniometer for Raudive's experiments. 1968: Father Leo Schmid, Oeschgen, Switzerland, was assigned a small parish to give him time to experiment with taping voices. His book, Wen Die Toten Reden (When the Dead Speak) was published in 1976, shortly after his death. Raudive published his book Unhoerbares Wird Hoerbar (The Inaudible Becomes Audible), based on 72,000 voices he recorded. Dr. Konstantin Raudive, hears of Jurgenson's work. He had long been interested in the direct voice physical type of mediumship which may have begun in his early post-graduate days at Edinburgh University in 1934. He meets Jurgenson and sets up his own research project in Germany initially using an ordinary crystal set, the 'cat's whisker' of earlier radio days. 1970: Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless publish 'Phone Calls from the Dead'. Raymond Cass begins experimenting. 1971: Colin Smythe, Ltd. England, published explained English translations of Raudive's book: Breakthrough, an Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication with the Dead. Marcello Bacci and his co-workers in Grosseto, Italy made weekly contact with 'spirit' communicators, which still continued in 1988. William Adams Welch publishes his findings 'Talks with the Dead'. Paul Jones, George W Meek and Hans Heckman, Americans, opened a laboratory. First serious research to create a two-way voice communication system far more sophisticated than the equipment used in EVP approach. 1972: George Gilbert Bonner from England, a psychologist and artist, using a reel-to-reel recorder and battery radio tuned to 'mush' or 'white noise' to act as a carrier for discarnate voices begins to experiment after reading Dr. Raudive's book. He asks into his microphone: 'Can anyone hear me and would anyone like to speak to me?' not expecting any response. He receives the answer in a hiss and rush of sound 'Yes'. Bonner went on to record more than 50,000 spirit voices over the next 22 years. At about the same time Raymond Cass, a hearing-aid practitioner in England begins research into the EVP using a small battery-operated radio tuned in to 'white noise'. He recorded thousands of clear discarnate voices over the years, speaking and singing, and theorizes that his proximity to a Mass X-Ray unit only 30 yards away produced an emanation which was 'beating' with the selected air band frequency and producing a transient condition enabling the voices to manifest. 1973: Joseph and Michael Lamoreaux, Washington State, had success with recording paranormal voices after reading Raudive's book. 1975: Formation of V.T.F German research group. William Addams Welch, Hollywood script writer and playwright, authored Talks With the Dead. 1978: William O'Neil working for George Meek, using a modified side-band radio, had brief, but evidential contact with an American medical doctor said to have died five years earlier. 1981: Manfred Boden has unsolicited contact with communicators of non-human evolution via telephone and computer. 1982: George Meek (developer of Spiricom) publishes his results and continues his research with a battery of radio oscillators. Electronics engineer Hans-Otto Koenig helps Radio Luxembourg broadcast live what was claimed to be a two-way conversation with a 'dead' person. Koenig uses an ultrasound device after closely following Meek's work. The equipment is set up under the supervision of the radio station's engineers, connected to a set of speakers, and switched on. After a few second a clear voice is heard to say "Otto Koenig makes wireless with the dead". George Meek also made a trip around the world to distribute tape recordings of 16 excerpts of communications between William O'Neil and an American scientist who died 14 years earlier. He also distributed a 100-page technical report giving wiring diagrams, photos, technical data and guidelines for research by others. Hans Otto Koenig, West Germany, develops sophisticated electronic equipment, using extremely low beat frequency oscillators, ultra-violet and infra-red lights, etc. Sarah Estep begins the American Association of EVP (AA-EVP) 1984: Kenneth Webster, England, receives (via several different computers) 250 communications from a person who lived in the 16th century. Most print-outs are in English text consistent with speech at that point in history, and personal details fully supported by library research. Communications are often concurrent with poltergeist-type phenomena. Webster writes book, The Vertical Plane, with extensive photo documentation in 1989. 1985: Klaus Schreiber, West Germany, with technical assistance from Martin Wenzel, begins to get images of dead persons on TV picture tubes, using opto-electronic feedback systems. There is positive identification in many cases by accompanying audio communications, including audio-video contact with Schreiber's two deceased wives. This work is the subject of a documentary TV film and a book by Rainer Hobbe of Radio Luxembourg. 1986: Jules and Maggie Harsh-Fischbach, Luxembourg, develop and operate two electronic systems superior to that of any of the EVP equipment up to this time. Swiss electronics engineer Klaus Schreiber gets pictures of the dead on TV. by means of an apparatus he calls 'Vidicom' which consists of a specially adapted TV switched on but not attached to an aerial with a video camera in front of it to capture images that appear on the screen. The word ITC is coined (Instrumental TransCommunication). 1987: The C.E.T.L group formed, Luxembourg. 1989: Samuel Alsop publishes his book Whispers of Immortality. 1994: onwards Hans Otto Koenig manufactures a Field Generator to communicate with the dead who he claims oscillate on a width frequency of 5 KHz. 1995: INIT formed (International Network for Instrumental TransCommunication, ITC) 2003: Scottish researcher Alexander MacRae made a number of attempts to capture EVP in a specially designed laboratory belonging to the Institute of Noetic Science, Petaluma, California. The laboratory was described as being "double-screened"; shielded against electromagnetic radiation; to prevent interference from radio transmissions or near by electronic devices, and insulated against sound; to prevent contamination of recordings by external noise sources. Over the course of the experiment, MacRae reported capturing a number of anomalies which were subsequently isolated and analyzed. Based on this analysis, and the level of screening against outside interference, MacRae concluded that the anomalies represented distinct speech from a source that could not be explained through conventional means. At the present time there are thousands of individuals and organizations from all over the world actively engaged in their own research. Hopefully in time through the efforts of these groups and individuals we shall truly make that important "Breakthrough". Konstantin Raudive: In June 1965, Latvian Psychologist Dr Konstantin Raudive embarked on series of spirit communication experiments that were to change the lives of many. It was through reading a book by Swedish author Friedrich Jurgenson that Raudive's interest was captured. Jurgenson claimed that whilst out recording bird noises, he had recorded the voice of his deceased mother relaying a message to him. For the next 6 years after reading Jurgenson's book, Raudive took up the search and began experimenting and recording voices successfully through his own recording methods, which he claimed were the voices of the dead. Many of the messages that Raudive recorded were received in polyglot (a mixture of different languages). It has to be noted that Raudive was fluent in four different languages and he was able to understand each message received in this way. Konstantin Raudive's book 'Breakthrough' published by Colin Smythe Ltd in 1971 is the catalyst for many of today's researchers. EVP Today : EVP in the year 2007 has moved on somewhat from the image of a researcher sitting in front of a reel to reel tape recorder for hours on end waiting for a disembodied voice to break through. The digital age is upon us and technology is providing us with many more options by which to conduct our experiments. Many current researchers still prefer the use of analogue recorders to further their research, believing that the voices are imprinted on the tape electromagnetically instead of being an acoustic noise. The use of analogue recorder seems to provide us with clear voices, but not as often as we would like. The introduction of digital recorders has definitely widened our scope for research with voices being picked up far more often, but the voice quality has suffered with many of the digital voices being somewhat distorted. It is important however, to research both analogue and digital methods in the quest to advance EVP recording to new levels. Various types of microphones can be used when researching both analogue and digital methods with particular emphasis on low frequency microphones. EVP is believed to be occurring at very low frequencies, in the levels of infrasound, well below that which the human ear is capable of hearing. To date, EVP experiments the world over have produced far more evidence of an afterlife than any other aspect of paranormal research |
Electronic Voice Phenomena - A History |