"FAQ"

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Especially a person who has just begun with EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) research, may be uncertain in some points and would need information, that may not be obtainable anywhere else. Some of the questions have been addressed in the following pages.

Can you only address one particular deceased person, or can you address the spirits collectively?
You can do both. For example, there are questions where you just don't know which deceased person would be able to answer it. Then it is advisable to generally address "the friends" (spirits). One can also turn to groups of the deceased, such as physicians, if one has an appropriate question for them. There is no "must" in our research. Everyone can employ their own thoughts, how one will come to an early success, and then can conduct their own experiments.

Has it been observed that a particular spirit would aid in the contact?
Yes and no. There are colleagues that have a mediator, which does not necessarily have to be a relative; as for instance Friedrich Jürgenson has his Lena. Others however receive their contact without a recognizable mediator.

Do the occurring noises suggest a "transmission room"?
There are voices that sound like coming from a hall or have a quite special "sound" to it, which can vary. There are also clearly on and off switching sounds. To conclude from this that there is a transmission room, is reaching perhaps a bit to far. But one could suggest that technical means seem to be in play over there too.

Or are the deceased able to transmit on their part?
This question cannot be answered conclusively. Sometimes there is the impression that someone has been helpful to the speaker, however in most cases the speaking was quite spontaneous.

Are there encoded responses?
Yes! It happens very often actually. To make sense of the statement you must practice astuteness. Many of the encoded responses really contain wisdom.

Can the spirits see us?
Apparently they can, because there are many recorded voices that have stated that they can see us.

Has it been observed that the spirits are addressable around the clock?
Yes, they usually are. If you try to contact someone, where the last time seems to be a while ago, you may wait in vain for it to happen. If a voice states, "Tomorrow evening, before too tired", this may be also meant for the experimenter.

What should I rather not ask?
Foremost, we should not abuse the friends by using them as oracles and require from them to forecast the future. This doesn't usually work out to well. Some colleagues gave up on the research because of disappointments since they regarded this as a substitute for future telling, which this is not about.

Can one even suspect where the spirits are?
A quite practical hypothesis is that the soul is at a higher dimension than our three dimensional world. It does not have any space or time problems as we do, and penetrates our time and space as desired. Consequently the deceased can speak onto the tape spontaneously and without time delay.

How far back are the spirits attainable, and/or is there a generation boundary?
There are probably no temporal boundaries. One should try everything, and if there is genuine interest, ask for a person that has lived some centuries ago.

Does the success of a recording depend on some technical or environmental condition (e.g. time, place, or the recording devices used)?
Based on experience, there are no certain outside conditions or any predictable tendency that may influence the success of a recording, nor does it depend on recording devices or place and time of the recording session. Of course, the basic technical conditions must be given such as a working cassette recorder. Very good results are often obtained even with the simplest cassette recorder.

EVP cannot be forced. Most important for the success of recording the voices is patience, with no exaggerated expectations. If special, possibly technical or mental factors play a roll is unfortunately still unexplored.

As technicians, you would actually know that the recording of the audible voices have most likely varied conventional causes. Much that is heard is in some manner indistinguishable, overlaid with disturbances of all kinds, so that you might interpret the result arbitrarily and you may succumb to a deceiving perception. (You might hear what your subconscious wants you to hear.)
Of course we are aware that possible mistakes with technical and psychological sources may interfere with the evaluation of the tapes authenticity. Nevertheless many experimenters have concerned themselves for a long time with this phenomenon, which would have been dropped by now, if their practical attempts had come to the same conclusion. EVP voices are not suitable for theorizing over, rather everyone can convince themselves of their authenticity or possible deception by conducting their own properly executed experiments of this phenomenon. The VTF would like to give necessary information and assistance to prospective interested persons.

Do the recorded voices really originate from another world?
Since the emergence of the tape voice phenomenon the VTF proceeds with the "spiritual theory", this means it is assumed that the voices are from the souls of the deceased. There are of course other scientific theories about this, e.g. the "animist theory", which charges that the whole phenomenon is contributed by the subconscious of the experimenter, also "perception deceptions", ("One hears what one wants to hear"). The experiences of people who are involved with EVP recordings point to the spiritual direction. But in the long run everyone must and should find out for himself or herself.

Why are we occupying ourselves with the spirits? Shouldn't we be more concerned with communication amongst humans living today? Is this subject taking shameless advantage of people in grieve and with longing, to take a swim on the "esoteric wave"?
Besides the pure technical aspect of the Electronic Voice Phenomenon, there is also importance with the world perspective. EVP recordings, if correctly understood and used, could contribute substantially to a more humanitarian world worth living in. Not by regarding the communication with the spirits as a means of life assistance to get advise at each opportunity, because you would be evading responsibilities for decisions. Rather, recognize with realization or notion the fact, that nevertheless, there could perhaps be something beyond the purely material existence, that we are not short-lived and that life does not end with death, but merges regardless into something larger.

Of course the recorded voices can help the mourning survivors with their grief in a death case. But here a sense of responsibility and sensitivity are very much in demand, and only people with experience in grievance counseling should get involved. EVP voices on tape are a an offering to all humans that are searching for answers to questions like from where do they come from, where are we going with this, and why? They should stimulate your thinking, yet they are not a religion. A possible consequence for the occupation with tape voices is that they seem to contradict our conception of the world, or at the least, it doesn't seem to fit in the arrangement correctly. Either you take this for what it is and forget about it, or it takes a hold of you and you start to give this some thought. To what conclusion this comes is for everyone to decide for themselves. Since this is not about religion, there are no "faith contents" to be obtained. All that is needed is independent thinking.

Is it dangerous to record EVP voices? I would not like any spirits to be hanging around me.
Contrary to the well known "spiritual practices" like mediumism, channeling or e.g. experiments with moving glasses or "writing table sessions" such as the "Ouija-board", recording voices on tape is principally harmless, since humans do not function as mediums and the voices simply manifest themselves onto tape. Experiments have resulted that voices can develop with our without the presence of a human during the recording.

However, concerns would occur with people who are psychologically unstable, who exaggerate with experimenting and that become obsessed and take everything that is said by the spirits at face value. Cases of obsession are actually not known in connection with the Electronic Voice Phenomenon. However one should always approach this subject with a certain degree of sincerity, not as a pastime or for a joke. Also you will hardly get the "lotto numbers" from the other side either.

(Source: VTF-Post P 43, issue 2/86)