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Hollywood Discovers EVP

When Universal Studio’s advertising department did their background research for White Noise, a thriller staring Michael Keaton as a man who receives communication from his murdered wife through Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP), they came to the experts: Tom and Lisa Butler, leaders of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP, www.aaevp.com).

Universal sent a camera man, sound man, director, researcher and others (six in all) to attend “Communicating with the Other Side,” hosted by the AA-EVP on June 3-6 in Reno, Nevada. Their task was to collect visuals, interviews and background information for the White Noise ad campaign. During the conference, Universal conducted many sit-down interviews in addition to recording some of the more EVP intensive sessions.

The latest word is that White Noise, due out in November, will make EVP a household word. And in addition to the movie, Universal is making a companion DVD for the video release of the movie that would be about EVP, including how-to directions. The Universal advertising department admitted that they didn’t know much about EVP before getting their assignment for White Noise. The first thing they did after reviewing the movie was to “Google” EVP. That’s how they found the www.aaevp.com web site and the AA-EVP organization.

If you want to know more about EVP, you don’t have to wait for the White Noise movie or DVD. You, too, can go to the World Wide Web and visit the AA-EVP web site. The site is filled with information about the organization and Electronic Voice Phenomenon. Click on “About AA-EVP,” you discover that AA-EVP is an association of people who seek to better understand the nature of unexpected paranormal information that is frequently discovered on recording devices known as EVP or Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC). It was founded in 1982 by Sarah Estep, who was dedicated to providing “objective evidence that we survive death in an individual conscious state.” Tom and Lisa Butler continue that work today.

The site offers techniques, concepts, and examples. The section “Techniques” offers subsections like “General EVP Recording Technique,” “Recording EVP Into a Computer,” and “Editing Sound Files.” The “General EVP Recording Technique” area explains the equipment you need (tape recorder, amplifier, microphone, headphones, tape, and speaker) and the basic details of how to actually make an EVP recording. Those who want to get more in-depth information, can purchase There is No Death and There Are No Dead: Evidence of Survival and Spirit Communication Through the Voices and Images from Those on the Other Side by Tom and Lisa Butler.

Another site that offers a good overview of EVP is Let’s Talk ... paranormal with Tracie Austin-Peters (http://www.tracieaustin.com). The site features background on EVP based on one of Austin-Peters’ TV shows that aired on Channel 20 in Santa Clarita Valley, California. The EVP section of the site explains the beginning of the phenomenon:

Electronic voice phenomena came to light in 1959 when the Swedish filmmaker Friedrich Juergenson unwittingly captured voices on audiotape. After recording birdsong in a forest, Juergenson discovered on playback that there was a distinct male voice remarking about birdsong at night! Listening carefully, Juergenson also heard the voice of his deceased Mother! After his discovery, Juergenson went on to record hundreds of “spirit voices’ during the following four years and consequently published a book in Swedish in 1964 called Voices From The Universe; this book was followed by another called Radio Contact With The Dead.

According to the Let’s Talk ... paranormal site, Juergensons’ book Radio Contact With The Dead was later translated into German and this caught the attention of Dr Konstantin Raudive, a Latvian psychologist. Dr Raudive was at first skeptical of Juergensons’ claims, but after many successful experiments, he, too, recorded hundreds of voices including that of his own deceased mother. It is from Dr Konstantin Raudive that we get the term Raudive Voices.

Today, obtaining of EVP samples has become a common practice, especially among member of the AA-EVP. My own experience with EVP came during a workshop at the October, 2001, convention for the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC). Tom and Lisa Butler played a haunting recording made soon after 9/11 in which a voice says, “We have all the thousands.” More recently, during an EVP recording made by the Butlers shortly after the death of former NSAC Board President Barbara Thurman, a voice said “Barbara Thurman’s happy ... is busy.” During a recording three days later, the Butlers were talking about the “happy ... is busy” EVP. Immediately, a voice recognizable as Thurman’s said, “I’m right here.”

If you are interested in monthly updates on EVP and many other after-life and near-death phenomenon, go to www.nsac.org and subscribe to News from NSAC, the free email newsletter for the National Spiritualist Association of Churches. Each month, the newsletter features a report from the NSAC Department of Phenomenal Evidence, which is also headed up by Tom and Lisa Butler.

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Mary Montgomery-Clifford is a certified web author and developer. Her company, Montgomery Media Enterprises ("Freelancing with Finesse!"), specializes in public relations, events, promotions, writing project and web authoring, development and publicity. Ms. Montgomery-Clifford has a Master's Degree in religious studies from Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) in June 2002 and is working on a Ph.D. with a focus on the new scholarship of Unlimited Love and the Other Regarding Virtues in the Fall of 2002. She is also in the process of completing the Morris Pratt Institute Course on Modern Spiritualism. Contact her via e-mail at Monty764@aol.com, by phone at 773-235-8821 or at her web site at www.montymedia.com.

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