What is E.V.P (electronic voice phenomena)?
EVP or electronic voice phenomena are mysterious "voice" recordings heard only upon playback. They are human-sounding voices from an unknown source that are not heard at present time. It is only upon playback on electronic equipment and devices such as reel to reel players, tape recorders, digital recorders and tape or digital video recorders. The frequencies may vary from audible to be slightly inaudible. Sometimes amplification and noise filtering is required to hear these strange sounds/voices. Some EVP are more easily heard and understood than others. A grading system has been developed labeling them A-C grade. A - Clear, best and easily interpreted. B - Somewhat clear, heard, and interpreted by some and misinterpreted by others. C - Heard, but not as clear and because of this there may be some uncertainty to what is being said. Nevertheless, still worthy of being documented for it still remains a phenomenon that the sound is not recognized nor spoken by anyone else present. These voices are highly believed by researchers and investigators in the paranormal field as voices from souls either still earthbound (Ghosts), entities, spirits (crossed over), PK from people present (telepathic messages recorded), and/or place audio (Similar to place memory - the past trapped in present).
The EVP voices themselves vary in gender (men or women), age (women and children), tone and emotion. They usually speak in single-words, phrases and short sentences. Sometimes they are just grunts, groans, growling and other vocal noises. EVP has also been recorded speaking in various languages. Sometimes music can also be heard as well as multiple voices speaking at the same time over one another. In some instances the different voices are saying the same thing. In rare occasions, the mysterious statements can be played backwards and have the same or similar message.
My History with EVP
E.V.P. has always been a huge fascination of mine and for 35 years I have been experimenting with this phenomenon. You may be wondering, how did you get started? I recorded my first EVP when my dad brought home a Reel To Reel player for me back in 1976. Yes, I was only 9 years old. It was all because late one night my mom let me stay up so we could watch a TV show about ghosts, called "Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena". On the show there was a segment about Spirit Voices. Having recently seen ghosts in our house and trying to find out who they were and why, well the Ouija board I felt could only prove so much. On the show we took note of some people who recorded ghost voices at a cemetery. ( You can watch the clip here - the segment starts 7 minutes into it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8d2lMWYpgs. The second link it starts right away- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USUzaJ-6FII ) I was so excited to see this that I felt this was the tool I needed to prove that there were ghosts in the house as well as possibly hear what they had to say. Now kids at school would believe me. Thanks to my dad, my wish came true. During my 4th attempt, while I placed a Ouija board in front of me, I asked "Can you feel when I put my fingers on here?" (as I was placing my hand on the planchette) Upon playback I was shocked to hear someone else's voice say, "Touch is me" clear as the sunny day outside. Holy cow I thought, having been the only one in the room, it didn't take Einstein to eliminate all variables. I captured my first ghost voice!!! A month later my father got tired of me talking about the voice and having a series of nightmares that he decided to take the recorder away and lock it up. Many years later I made the mistake of selling it at a garage sale. What happened to the evp I captured? Well I copied it to a tape cassette recorder and years later in high school (after a new years eve party) a bottle of Cold duck champagne burst all over the box of cassette tapes I had and I ended up having to throw many of them away. Sadly one of them had the evp on it.
There was one tape (thank god) that did survive. A few years later in 1977 while visiting Montreal, Canada. I took my cassette "boom box" with me to my great grandmas grave. Bobchi was her name. She passed away at the young ole age of "91". Setting the large recorder alongside her grave I left it there and recorded an awe-inspiring older women's voice, "What did you say?" Now my grandma only spoke polish, so I have no way of knowing if it was her voice or not, but what I do know is that there was no one around the box during the recording, because I sat and watched it from half a dozen tombstones away. Plus when you listen to it, you can hear (from years of analyzing evps) that it has the resonance associated with this type of phenomena.
It wasn't until years later that I got back into EVP research. In the 1990's I began recording EVP again with local ghost hunting groups in Chicago and captured some impressive EVP's at Bachelors Grove Cemetery in Midlothian, IL. As well as during interviews and phone conversations while I was publishing Unknown Magazine.
In 2003-2006 during my investigating with the TV show "Dead Famous" I recorded over 1,500 hours of audio (not including video which captured some impressive evps as well). I pain stakenly analyzed and documented 1,000's of EVPs ranging from A to C grade. This was a very frustrating time period, where there was so much audio to go through and so little time. Even though I was only one person I enjoyed every minute of it.
Over the years I have backed myself up with hundreds of hours of audio and video recordings from events, investigations, college ghost tours, and experiments that I have yet to
complete and fully analyze. I hope to post these on my site in the future as some of them that I have listened to are, well lets just say.... amazing.
I have used many different types of equipment to record EVP (see my equipment page), and worked with some of the top pioneers and researchers in this field. Tom and Lisa Butler from the AAEVP, Mark and Debi Constantino, and Garret Husveth.
There is no doubt in my mind that EVP cannot be denied. There is a form of communication going on and not only do I believe that the majority of evps being captured are from ghosts (spirits) both local and non-local but I have come to the conclusion that these recordings can be captured almost anywhere.
For those that don't believe, well you have no idea what you are missing. If you would spend more time listening, instead of talking you just might get a message from someone you know that has been wanting to tell you something for a very long, long time.
-Chris Fleming
