Sarah Estep EVP

The following examples have been recorded by Sara Estep, the founder of AA-EVP (now the ATransC).  She usually used an audio tape recorder and external sound source; however, she also has had great success recording in the field with little more than a simple hand-held cassette recorder.

• Sarah asked, “Were you aware that I was on the porch last evening when I went out there?”  Answer,     “I found you there.”  This is a singing voice.
  

• As Sarah begins recording, someone said, “That is your girl.”  This is taken from the reverse side of the tape–you can hear Sarah’s voice in reverse followed by a singing voice.

• An entity said, “Death no more a casket.”

• Sarah had been setting in her office reading the night before this recording was made.  She noticed a black and silver object spinning about a foot off the floor, several feet from her.  It was in view for about two seconds.  The following morning, she asked what the object was.  On the reverse side of the tape, a voice replied, “We’re down beside ya.”  You can hear Sarah’s voice in reverse followed by a male voice.

• Sarah has taped in many places that would be considered to have ghosts.  This voice was recorded at Point Lookout, a haunted lighthouse in Maryland.  It was used during the Civil War as a prison camp.      “I was seeing the war.”

Please read before emailing us about this EVP: It is interesting that we have had several messages from visitors to this site that have wanted us to know that they hear the EVP we call, “I was seeing the war,” in other ways. For instance, “I was seeing the water” or “I will see you no more.” We can understand how these alternative interpretations are possible. Sarah was in a lighthouse that was used as a Civil War hospital, and it is natural for her to have been looking for a Civil War related interpretation. Someone listening to the EVP in a different setting could very easily hear the utterance in a different way. Sarah has given her permission for Universal to use this example with the interpretation that better supports the story in White Noise. We do not know who the person is to which Universal attributes the voice.

The Butler’s were on-site for a television program and standing in front of the video camera for an interview. On cue, the “I was seeing the war” example was played over a pair of very large studio speakers that were on the floor directly behind them. There was no doubt that there was a “ter” sound at the end of the utterance. This might be a good example of how EVP are not made like normal voice, and how they are listened to has a lot to do with how they are understood. See the online listening trials report for a discussion about this.

• Sarah asked entities how they can locate her when she is sitting at her tape recorder.  Answer, “I found the link.”

Please see the FAQ: Beethoven did not speak English, so why would his ghost be able to?

• Sarah was apparently in contact with the great composer, Beethoven for many of her experiments.  Here is one saying “Ludwig.”  You first hear Sarah introducing the example. This is a Class C example and would not normally be exhibited except for its historical value.
• In this example, you hear Sarah introduce the EVP and then the EVP: “You have the famous Beethoven.” It is repeated after about a half second of silence. Some of the noise has been removed in the repeat. This is a Class C example and would not normally be exhibited except for its historical value.
• Sarah recorded an EVP stating that Beethoven would play music for her that evening. Even though there was a thunderstorm underway, she recorded and you will hear the resulting music. You also hear Sarah speaking over the music at one point, and also the sound of thunder. Remember that she could not hear the EVP as she recorded it.

  The complete Beethoven EVP

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Did Sarah Estep invent the Class A. B and C classification system?

We originally understood Sarah to say that she “invented” the system when we read her book, Voices of Eternity where she wrote:

It is astounding to receive any communication from another dimension. Even hearing raps, which many people who sit in séance circles have reported, boggles the mind. How much more startling if the unseen can come through with even one word on recording tape! Most messages, I discovered, are faint, whispery voices I call Class C. Headphones must be worn to hear them, and rarely can all the words be interpreted.

Class B messages are louder and clearer and can often be heard without headphones.

Class A voices are the most gratifying. Loud and clear, they can be duplicated onto other tapes. No headphones are required.

It has been recently pointed out to us by a friend in the UK that Konstantin Raudive wrote about the Class system in his book, Breakthrough, which we attribute as the book that brought EVP to the English-speaking world. Raudive wrote:

The microphone voices fall into three classes of audibility:  Class “A” voices can be heard and identified by anyone with normal hearing and knowledge of the language spoken; no special training of the ear is needed to detect them.  There are several hundred microphone-voices amongst my recordings that fall into this group. It is easy to make tape copies of “A” voices, and they can be repeated as often as desired. Thus, I have analysed roughly 25,000 voices according to speech content, language and rhythm. By this method of repetition, the acoustic reality of the voices can be established beyond doubt, and hallucinations of the ear are excluded. 

Class “B” voices speak more rapidly and more softly, but are still quite plainly audible to a trained and attentive ear. The ability to differentiate increases with practice, but this is a slow and wearisome process. For this reason it is difficult to use non-regular participants for experimental purposes with class “B” voices.

Class “C” consists of the most interesting voices; voices that give us a great deal of information and much paranormal data. Unfortunately, these can be heard only in fragments, even by a trained ear, but with improved technical aids, it may eventually become possible to hear and demonstrate these voices, which lie beyond our range of hearing, without trouble.

This grading and my comments are but a rough guide in the present stage of our approach to the psycho-acoustic aspect of the investigation.  We do not know if that was the first use of the A, B and C classification system but we know that Sarah was at least the second person to use it and it has become a very popular system.