Tom Butler – Page 5

ITC Contacts with Animals?

11/ 202009/ 2016 by Anabela Cardoso

Previously published in the August 2008 ITC Journal: www.itcjournal.org

Since 1998, I have received several Direct Radio Voice (DRV) communications from a little voice that identifies itself as Nisha’s, one of my beloved deceased Doberman dogs.

In 2001, I published in issue 5 of the ITC Journal “La historia de Tuly” (pp. 77- 80) by Maryvonne and Yvon Dray about an ITC contact with their daughter Karine’s deceased dog, Tuly. Like Nisha, Tuly is reported to have spoken with a human voice and to have said in French “Moi, j’comprends tout” (Me, I understand everything). The Drays, who are originally French, have also recorded sounds of horses, birds and cats. I myself, while recording a long DRV communication from Rio do Tempo Station, in March 1999, captured a beautiful bird singing and immediately asked the communicators if they had a little bird with them. Their immediate reply was, also, “Sim” (Yes).

The moving story of Darren and Alex Williams’ communications with their beloved dog Fox was recently published in issues 29 and 30 of the ITC Journal and this was followed by Sonia Rinaldi’s paper “Contatos de Animais – Irrealidade ou uma Possibilidade?” published in issue 31 of the Journal (pp. 38 – 46). This story is about ITC contacts with Claudio Brasil’s deceased parrot, Lorinho, realized through the mediation of Sonia Rinaldi. Before publication of the article, I heard some of the audio files containing the communications that are the basis for it, and I can testify that I could easily understand most of the speech transcriptions that Sonia had sent me, together with the audio clips, pronounced in what sounded like a parrot’s voice speaking in Portuguese. Communications with animals seem to date from the very beginning of ITC contacts, and perhaps Klaus Schreiber was the first to report on them. In his case, the striking EVP recording of a voice that identified itself as belonging to his deceased crow Jakob (Holbe, 1989 p. 126).

In my editorial “Love Stories”, in issue 29 of the ITC Journal, I have described some facts of my life associated with the love for my beautiful dog Surya – to whom I owe, above and beyond many other things, the opening of the door to transcendence – and how I feel about these wonderful contacts. Nevertheless, the fact that we are publishing in this current issue of the Journal the translation into English of Sonia’s paper and Claudio Brasil’s analysis, made me return to a subject that I consider of great importance.

The publication in English of those two texts is a result of the intense interest of some readers of the Journal, who could not follow the original story in Portuguese, and are very keen not to miss any information about ITC contacts with animals. I hereby thank Dr Fernanda Alcântara and Dr. Marília Alcântara Duarte for their translations of the original texts, which made it possible for all the English-language readers to discover Lorinho’s lovely story.

In this scope, the most pertinent remark that comes to my mind is the following – why do we marvel at these apparent contacts with the animals we loved or, as a matter of fact, with any animals? The reply to this question is not an easy one. Is it because they are realized through electronic means, and animals in our world cannot manipulate electronic devices? Or is it simply because those we call animals can communicate at all? The third and most absurd consideration would be based upon the disbelief that animals survive physical death.

I will try to think aloud, so to speak, with my readers about these propositions, all of which are, in my view, absurd. We cannot imagine that the communication between this world and the next dimension of life is based upon the manipulation of electronic devices (which, in our opinion, animals would not comprehend), such as ours. That would be a very naïve and bizarre idea. I am not affirming that there are no devices in the next world that mediate in ITC contacts, because the communicators have stated on several occasions that they do use some form of devices (Alvisi 1976, Jürgenson 1967, Locher and Harsch 1995, Schäfer 1989, among others). Those devices, which at any rate must be very different from our technological means, on their own could not certainly accomplish a contact between dimensions, as our devices, on their own, cannot achieve any contacts from our side, either. This point has also been stressed by the communicators. “The technique does not replace the power of thought”, as the high entity ABX Juno is reported to have said at Peter and Gisela Härting’s home (Schäfer,1994, p. 145), and as we can easily confirm through our knowledge of the history of the subject. In reality in this world electronic devices are indispensable for ITC contacts, but they are not their basis. Unfortunately, and although our understanding of the complexities involved in this marvellous means of communication is still very meagre, it would be equally untrue and very naïve to attribute the success of the communications to the psychic capacities of the experimenter. Undoubtedly, the process seems to be one of synergy between communicators, experimenter and devices, also involving factors unknown to us. But above all it seems to be exclusively directed by the communicators, although perhaps not dependent on them only. References to “permission to speak” are a constant in almost every experimenter’s practice, especially in DRV communications.

Maybe love, an intense desire to communicate and a lot of work are from their side, as much as they are from ours, factors that facilitate the contact together with the necessary permission to speak. Moreover, it seems apparent that the more advanced contacts of DRV, computer texts, etc. need not only the supervision but also the help of high entities in order to render them possible. As to whom those high entities might be is a pure speculative exercise that should be avoided, because obviously we are not in a position to find out anything else other than what those higher beings themselves have told us (Locher and Harsch ibid, Schäfer 1989 ibid, Senkowski 1995, among others).

The remark about the possibility as to whether animals can communicate is not very relevant because anybody with a superficial contact with animals will easily acknowledge the fact that animals can and do communicate, but most of the times it is their human friends or companions who cannot understand them. In the May 2008 issue of Mensa magazine, there was a very interesting article that speculated about the possibilities that more advanced, subtle technologies may offer effective communication between humans and other animals in the not so distant future. Mensa also said that it remains to be seen if the accomplishment of such a possibility will increase animal exploitation by humans, or if it will make humans realize the existence of similar feelings and emotions of their fellow animals, and therefore make them more compassionate toward them. Indeed, that remains to be seen, but let us pray that the latter becomes true one day, no matter how difficult it may seem in view of the present terrible abuse we perform on animals.

The third objection regarding animals’ survival of physical death. It is still commonplace to see references in the parapsychological literature, and elsewhere, to the “survival of human spirit or human mind”, or to the “spiritual nature of man”, etc. We should, I think, start by acknowledging that the ‘spiritual nature of man’ has practically destroyed the planet and made it uninhabitable for his own and all other species! If we do so, we cannot, of course, take such statements seriously. Religions, very especially monotheist religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – are greatly responsible for this anthropomorphic, narrow view of the world that has molded human thought and human mental patterns so prejudicially, throughout the centuries.

Distinct ITC communicators in different parts of the world have mentioned the expansion of consciousness achieved in the next world. As I have mentioned elsewhere, Friedrich Jürgenson considered that the extraordinary capacities that the communicators seem to possess are also the result of the particular, most advanced conditions of their world (Jürgenson ibid). Interestingly, Rio do Tempo communicators confirmed this point years ago, when I once asked if their extraordinary capabilities – of being able to be in two places at the same time, to communicate telepathically with the animals and the plants, to travel with thought, etc. – were the result of the death process or if they pertained to their world and, therefore, were available to everybody. They said that the latter proposition was true. It seems that little Tuly’s sentence “Moi, j’comprends tout” avails this hypothesis, and reflects, furthermore, a tremendous expansion of consciousness. I believe that full consciousness – be it of little Tuly or of a highly developed human – is always there inside each one of us but our world, our senses, and our mental patterns confine it.

Going back to our issue i.e., why would we marvel at animal ITC communications and not at human ones, I would say that in addition to the above mentioned ideas, human arrogance, an attitude that is chiefly based upon the human mental constructs of superior and inferior, also plays a part in it. If we consider animals as ‘inferior’ we will be surprised that they even survive death and certainly that they could communicate from another dimension. However, if we ponder on the concepts of superior and inferior, we have to realize that they are also erroneous. In Nature, and Nature is all there is, there is no inferior or superior. In Nature everything is different and complementary but never superior or inferior. If not, how could it be that the beings we humans consider to be inferior, e. g. plants, bacteria, micro-organisms, minerals, are the foundation proper of life? How can they be inferior if, without them, life is not possible for any ‘superior’ being? Completeness, achieved through the active contribution of different but complementary parts, is one of the basic laws of Nature, and one which, in itself, invalidates the concepts of inferior and superior.

At the very beginning of systematic ITC communications, Dr Konstantin Raudive recorded a voice that said “Kant does not have any importance here” (Breakthrough, 1971, page 30) while Rio do Tempo has said: “Aqui no Rio do Tempo somos todos iguais” (Here in Rio do Tempo we are all equal). On one particular occasion, after one of Nisha’s communications, when the communicators had also told me “We are in contact with Nisha and she wants to speak with you” (translation), I asked them if animals in their world had the autonomy to want to speak with me, and they replied with: “It is more or less so”. When on another occasion I consulted the communicators on how animals progressed in their world, they answered with “They also try to know more”.

Expansion of consciousness seems indeed to be a purpose of life in any form and in any stage. My dear deceased friend Pierre Théry, somebody with whom I had only occasional contacts but who I came to appreciate very much, reported on a recognizably authentic telephone conversation from Konstantin Raudive in the next world to a French lady, Mme. Aline Piget, during which he said: “I would like you to know, dear Aline, that the object of an earthly life is not just the goodness. The object is to be conscious…”. (Théry, 2000). Hence, it seems that the expansion of consciousness will attain a notable development in next world but it should definitely start in our world. Let us work for it.

References

Alvisi, G. (1976). As Vozes dos Vivos de Ontem. Mem Martins, Portugal: Publicações Europa-América.
Holbe, R. (1989). Immagini dal Regno dei Morti. Roma: Edizioni Mediterranee. (German original 1987).
Jürgenson, F. (1967). Sprechfunk mit Verstorbenen (Freiburg im Br. : Herman Bauer. Republished 1981 by Goldmann Verlag (München).
Locher, T. and Harsch, M. (1989). Les Contacts vers l’Au-delà à l’aide de moyens techniques existent ! Association Suisse de Parapsychologie et Cercle d’Etudes sur la Transcommunication du Luxembourg. (1995, édition française, Agnières: Parasciences)
Raudive, K. (1971). Breakthrough: An Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication with the Dead. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe.
Schäfer, H. (1989). Original ed. Brücke Zwischen Diesseits und Jenseits. Freiburg: Verlag Hermann Bauer KG.
Schäfer, H. (1994). Ponte entre o Aqui e o Além, Teoria e Prática da Transcomunicação. São Paulo: Ed. Pensamento Ltda.
Senkowski, E. (1995). Instrumentelle Transkommunikation (first ed. 1989) Frankfurt: R. G. Fischer.
Théry, P. (2000). The first telephone contact in France by Konstantin Raudive. ITC Journal, 2, 42-43.

Eliminating Radio Frequency Contamination for EVP

12/ 202009/ 2016 by Bill Weisensale

The most common explanation for the source of the voices in EVP that is offered by people who have not studied the evidence is that they are caused by the audio recorder picking up stray radio or television signals. In fact, a number of well-designed experiments have been conducted over the years by very qualified people, to prove that such stray radio frequency signals are not the cause. Reports of two such experiments are provided below.

There is also an experiment shown below that was suggested by one such scientist as a prerequisite to his accepting that EVP are not stray electromagnetic (EM) signals. We believe that nested metal containers, such as the variety found in hobby stores, separated one from another by foam rubber or Styrofoam, would satisfy the requirement while helping to rule out stray sounds.

From the AA-EVP Archive

Here is longtime researcher Bill Weisensale’s response to concerns expressed by Dr Karlis Osis, with the American Society for Psychical Research, about eliminating mundane causes for EVP. From Bill Weisensale’s article in the May 1981 Spirit Voices:

In early 1975 … the controversy was still raging as to whether EVP voices arrived via acoustical or electromagnetic means. (It is generally accepted now that neither is the case.) At the time this was most perplexing. It seemed reasonable to believe that if EVP arrived by electromagnetic signal, a radio receiver would be required in all cases, and yet some methods did not involve any form of radio receiver. Conversely, if they were of an acoustic nature, then all methods would, of necessity, require the use of a microphone, and yet there were some methods that do not involve a microphone.

I reasoned either the voices had to be both acoustic and electromagnetic, depending upon the method of recording, which seemed very unlikely, or they had to arrive by some other kind of energy, which was of neither electromagnetic nor acoustic in nature. (We have come to call this PK energy, for lack of a better explanation.) In order to find out which was the case, I used a (steel) 50-gallon drum with a removable lid …

I brought the drum into the house, laid it on its side on a wooden pallet, and blocked the sides to prevent it from rolling. Next, very small holes were drilled in the drum and lid. A piece of heavy wire, with a solder terminal, was then bolted to the drum and run out through a window where another solder terminal and bolt were used to attach the wire to a steel stake driven into the ground. A second wire and solder terminal were attached to the lid and soldered to the first wire. All connections, drum to wire, lid to wire, wire to wire, and stake to wire, were checked with an ohmmeter to ensure there was no resistance and everything was properly grounded. Before doing the experiments, water was poured around the steel stake to ensure proper grounding.

In the initial experiment, which was to check the efficiency of the shield, a battery-powered radio receiver was tuned to a strong station, the volume set rather high, and placed inside the drum. A battery-powered tape recorder was then connected via patch cord to the radio, also placed inside the drum and the lid bolted into place for several minutes.

Upon removing the recorder and reviewing the tape, it was found that the station was quite clear with the lid off, but when the lid was bolted into place, the station totally disappeared and its presence could no longer be discerned even with the closest listening. We then adjusted the radio to between station static, listening carefully to be sure there were no distant stations present, placed the radio in the drum with the recorder and made several recordings with the lid bolted in place each time.

We found the voices appeared inside of the shield just as they did with no shielding. Also, since the radio and recorder were connected via patch cord and there was, therefore, no microphone involved, this experiment eliminated (to at least my own satisfaction) both the acoustic and the electromagnetic hypotheses.

[Editor: The May 1981 Spirit Voices and other newsletters are being added to the AA-EVP online document archive as time allows. We are currently up to Spring 1987 with the AA-EVP newsletters. Remember that access to the Archive is a benefit of membership. We highly recommend that you take advantage of this growing library of historical EVP and ITC documents.]

A Suggested Experiment

Initially published in the Fall 2004 AA-EVP NewsJournal

Parapsychologist, Professor Charles Tart, was interviewed by The Psychic Times (apparently defunct), a new British publication that is already proving itself antagonistic to EVP. In the article, Tart was quoted to argue that EVP is stray radio, and that we who study in this field have not demonstrated the necessary research discipline to produce the kind of credible evidence that he can take to other scientists.

The diagram is of a shielded recording compartment, EVP from which would answer Tart’s objections. It provides more shielding than a metal can or microwave, but it is not as readily available. We would like to talk to someone who might be able to make one, or who might have one. If possible, we would like to send one to a number of different experimenters in serial fashion, so that many examples can be collected in the compartment. Please let us know if you can help.

MacRae has a Second Article in the JSPR

Initially published in the Winter 2006 AA-EVP NewsJournal
©Alexander MacRae – All Rights Reserved

The October 2005 issue of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research included a second article by Alexander MacRae. In this one, Alec details the EVP experiments he conducted in the Institute of Noetic Sciences screen room. Remember that the JSPR is a refereed, peer-review journal and that the article necessarily meets the SPR’s high standard for thoroughness and documentation. Here is the abstract:

Report of an Electronic Voice Phenomenon Experiment
inside a Double-Screened Room

By Alexander MacRae

Abstract

An Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) experiment is described which took place in a laboratory screened against e.m. radiation and also acoustically isolated. The subsequent treatment of the results through sound-processing is outlined, and the final analysis of the results through the use of a unique multiple-choice system is described. Comparative spectrograms of one EVP utterance and the same thing spoken in normal speech are provided to assess the physical basis of the results. The conclusion is drawn that voices of no natural origin were received in the screened laboratory.

ITC and its Role in Survival Research

01/ 202109/ 2016 by Professor David Fontana

Interest in Survival

I can never remember a time in my life when I was not interested in the question whether or not we survive physical death. It seemed to me, even as a very young boy, that this question was relevant not only to what happened when we die, but to the way in which we live our lives while on this Earth. If death was the end of everything, then life here and now was meaningless, a cosmic accident that led to nothing. On the other hand, if we survived, it meant we were part of a greater scheme of things, with this life only a stage on our journey, a stage in which our behavior determines what happens to us when we move on to the next stage. It surprised me that most people seemed not t o share this interest. At the church I attended everyone seemed to believe in an afterlife, yet to have little idea of what it was like. We were supposed to take everything on trust, and to look forward to a kind of vague afterlife in which (presumably if our voices were good enough) we joined a heavenly choir.

David Fontana with Anabela Cardoso at the 2006 ITC Journal conference in Vigo, Spain.

Although this seemed to satisfy most churchgoers I doubted if God really wanted us to stand (or sit) around simply praising him. Surely he would have far better things to do with his time than listen to us, and surely he would expect us to contribute more to the next world than just hymn singing. God would not have created us just to tell him how wonderful he is, since surely he must know this already. So although one could take the existence of an afterlife on trust it seemed to me as a boy that there could be no harm in wanting to know more about it and to find out what evidence had accumulated for it over the years. When I grew older and discovered psychical research I found that indeed a very great deal of evidence had accumulated, and once I became involved in this research I was fortunate to be able to come across similar evidence for myself.

Much of this evidence, both from the literature and from my personal experience, is summarized in my most recent book, Is There an Afterlife? Which brings me onto a further question, why isn’t this evidence more widely known and accepted? Let us take ITC as our example. The evidence for ITC has been growing steadily since Jürgenson’s pioneering work over half a century ago. As evidence, it has three unprecedented advantages which we can look at in turn.

The First Advantage of ITC

ITC evidence is evidence that anyone can try to obtain for oneself, directly and in the privacy of one’s own home. The equipment involved is easy to obtain and relatively cheap – a tape recorder, a microphone and a source of white noise – for convenience usually a radio tuned between two stations. A computer is also necessary if one prefers to record onto the hard disc instead of onto tape. One can work at one’s own speed and in one’s own time, devoting as little as a few minutes once or twice a week to the work. There is no need for a medium or for any previous experience. The only personal qualities that are needed are patience, commitment (it may be weeks or months or even longer before the first results are obtained) and an open mind. Working with one or two like-minded friends or family members helps to maintain interest and may produce quicker results, but this is by no means essential. Many people get on very well on their own.

The Second Advantage of ITC

The second advantage of ITC is that, as the communications come through electronic media rather than through the mind of a medium, they are unlikely to be influenced in any way by human thought. It is true that some critics suggest that psycho-kinesis (PK) from the living – the supposed ability of the mind to affect matter directly – may be responsible for impressing the communications on tape or onto the radio waves, but we have no evidence that PK can produce anything approaching the extensive messages that have been received by ITC researchers. In addition, some of these messages contain material that was unknown to the researcher at the time, rendering it doubly unlikely that the latter was in any way responsible for the phenomena. Thus the belief that the human mind is not responsible for ITC communications seems well founded. In addition, since it is clear that electronic media can hardly obtain material telepathically from the researcher or clairvoyantly from the environment in the way that the medium can, it is fair to say that ITC effectively disposes of the SuperESP (or SuperPSI) hypothesis, the idea that all survival-related messages come psychically (albeit unconsciously) from the living rather than from the deceased.

The Third Advantage of ITC

The third unprecedented advantage of ITC is that when results are obtained a permanent record of them is created. Psychical researchers have long sought for what are called PPOs (‘Permanent Paranormal Objects’), objects that are obtained paranormally and that remain in existence as good evidence for anyone to see and examine. ITC presents us with just such objects in the form of recorded communications apparently from the deceased. Of course, it has to be provable that these recordings are paranormal if they are to qualify as PPOs. Anyone who is sufficiently dishonest or foolish can fake voices on tape or through the radio and claim they were obtained paranormally. It has to be demonstrated beyond doubt that the recorded voices cannot be explained by normal means. There are two methods for doing this, the first of which applies only to the Direct Radio Voice (DRV) and the second of which applies both to DRV and to EVP.

In the first method the voices are either received under conditions that rule out any possibility of fraud (the experimenter receiving the voices knows fraud is not involved, but it is not easy to convince a skeptical scientist of this!) and in the second method the voices themselves are acoustically analyzed to see if they show characteristics that differ significantly from the human voice and that cannot be imitated correctly by faking. Neither of these methods is particularly easy to implement. To achieve the first, one needs to have independent witnesses who ideally provide their own equipment (tape recorder, tapes, radio, microphone etc.) and have full control of it throughout. Furthermore the possibility that transmitting devices are hidden nearby for the purposes of faking voices needs be ruled out by holding the experiments in a neutral venue – which raises a problem in that successful ITC results appear to depend upon a special relationship between the communicators the experimenter, the equipment and the location, and moving to a neutral venue may thus disrupt this special relationship and prevent good results. Consequently a better procedure is to use one of the highly sophisticated devices currently available that tests for the presence of spurious radio signals while the ITC experiment is taking place (although even here it is important that such tests are carried out and recorded by the independent witnesses). If financial concerns rule out the possibility of obtaining such devices, an alternative way of guarding against spurious radio transmissions is to provide two radios, both tuned to the same frequency, on the grounds that if communications are received through one radio and not through the other then this supports the claim that no such transmissions are being received. As a further precaution both radios can be tuned to frequencies forbidden by law to amateur radio operators (see September 2005 ITC Journal, pages 38 to 56, and April 2006 ITC Journal, pages 68 to 69 for details of these frequencies). Again independent witnesses would need to be present to confirm everything is done correctly.

Failure to provide all these elaborate and expensive precautions allows hardened skeptics to claim triumphantly that they have discovered how the ‘trick’ is done. The absurdity of such a claim is all too obvious, but hardened skeptics are far more interested in discrediting ITC than in absurdity. The difficulty involved in providing these precautions means it is virtually impossible for most people to set up skeptic-proof experiments. In consequence – and rightly – they are far more interested in convincing themselves than in convincing skeptics. Nevertheless such experiments are vital and will be set up in due course; the expertise exists, it is only the funding that is lacking. In the meanwhile, all those working on ITC can use the simple experiment that I have tried in two of Anabela Cardoso’s DRV recording sessions, i.e. to ask the communicators to repeat phrases after me. Anabela had no idea on the first occasions that I had even thought up such an experiment, so our successful results ruled out any possibility of subterfuge. Obviously an independent witness should ideally again be involved, and an experiment of this kind can even be tried with the tape recorder (EVP) method. When using this method the request for repetition should come from the independent witness and at an unspecified time, and the tape should then remain under his or her control until it is rewound and played back. Hopefully an ITC voice will be heard repeating the words concerned.

The second of the two methods for demonstrating beyond doubt that recorded ITC voices cannot be explained by normal means, the acoustic analysis of the ITC voices, looks much simpler at first sight, and has the added advantage that it can be used both with DRV recordings and EVP recordings. A further, and particularly important advantage, is that the analysis can be carried out and confirmed any number of times by skeptics themselves (assuming they have the expertise and the appropriate software). Again however there are problems, the most important of which is that the equipment required to carry out the analysis is expensive and highly specialized, and can only be operated by an expert and appropriately qualified acoustic engineer. Anabela and I are currently conducting research of this kind as part of the Oliver Knowles Research Project with the help of acoustics expert Daniele Gullà (see Gullà’s paper in the Proceedings of the First International Conference on Survival/ ITC for details of the acoustic analyses used), and hope to be able to publish results soon, but the need for professional software and for the involvement of a suitably qualified acoustic expert means that it is not the kind of work accessible to most people.

[Editor: See Computer–Based Analysis of Supposed Paranormal Voice: The Question of Anomalies Detected and Speaker Identification for a related article by Gullà] )

Why the Struggle for Acceptance?

In view of these three major advantages, which potentially put ITC in a particularly favorable position when compared not only to other forms of research into survival but all other forms of psychical research, why is it still struggling to gain acceptance outside the circle (admittedly a large and growing one) of those who have experienced results at first hand? The answer is that it shares the opposition that exists towards all forms of survival research. This opposition comes primarily from four groups which we can look at in turn.

Established Science

Typically scientists claim they don’t find the evidence for ITC or for survival in general convincing, but the truth is they have never studied this evidence and show little sign of wanting to study it. Lack of knowledge of a subject is acceptable – most scientists find it difficult to enough to keep abreast of advances in their own field and can hardly be expected to wade through the extensive data on survival of death (I have over 600 books on the subject), but what is not acceptable is lack of knowledge that dishonestly claims to be knowledge. Thus we still hear top scientists maintaining in the media that no properly conducted studies have ever found claims for the existence for survival or for psychic abilities to be anything other than nonsense. Such behavior is not only misleading but very poor science. A cardinal rule in science is that you don’t pretend to knowledge that you do not have, particularly when you know that your views carry weight with both colleagues and laypeople. The complexities of modern science and the aura of infallibility that surrounds it mean that many people take the pronouncements of eminent scientists on trust, wrongly believing that such is their distinction in their own fields that they must know what they are talking about when they pronounce on any subject.

The main reason for this uninformed hostility on the part of many scientists towards psychical research is the belief that if psychic abilities exist and if the mind survives death (and is therefore non-physical) many of the most fundamental laws of science would have to be re-written. This claim is of course absurd. The known laws of science have their own range of convenience within which they work perfectly well, and far from challenging them the existence of psychic abilities and of a non-material mind simply adds a new dimension to our understanding, just as quantum mechanics adds a new dimension to Newtonian physics. This fact leads me to suspect that behind this hostility towards psychical research and survival lies the fear that if such things are true they challenge the supremacy of material science. Instead of being the final authority on life and death and everything else, material science simply becomes the science of material things. Many scientists appear to resent the idea of the physics/chemistry/biology triumvirate being dethroned in this way, forgetting that science is really about the search for truth and not about the protection of authority and status.

Parapsychology

The second group against which research in survival has to struggle is parapsychology – the very subject that should be most identified with survival research. As Edgar Muller put it in the last issue of the ITC Journal (September 2006) “… survival [research] has a low status within parapsychology. It seems that most parapsychologists endeavor to avoid being connected with the topic.” The reason is of course that parapsychologists believe psychical research will never be accepted by established science if it involves itself in hauntings, séances, mediumship, poltergeist phenomena and anything that goes on outside the laboratory – most particularly research into survival. This attitude dates back to Professor J. B. Rhine, who was one of the principal founders of parapsychology, and although more than 25 years have passed since his death parapsychologists still insist on clinging to it – in spite of the fact that the subject is still not accepted among scientists regardless of the extensive range of positive results obtained by it (see e.g. Radin 1997 for an excellent survey). Even demonstrating an interest in the subject risks blighting the career of even the most promising young academic. Sadly it has to be said that the consequence of the efforts by parapsychologists to appeal to established science has therefore not been scientific acceptance. Instead it has been the diversion of attention away from the very subject, survival research, that helped inspire parapsychology in the first place.

Professor William MacDougall, who established what became the parapsychology unit at Duke University with Professor J. B. Rhine in charge, believed like the founders of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) that mind is non-physical. MacDougall, who served as SPR President in 1920 and whose book Body and Mind remains a classic study of the mind-body relationship, put it that although the SPR takes no formal position on such issues its principal aim “is to obtain, if possible, empirical evidence that human personality may and does survive in some sense and degree the death of the body,” and adds that “A considerable mass of evidence pointing in this direction has been accumulated” (MacDougall 1928 page 347). MacDougall also insisted that his own theory of the mind-body relationship, which he called Animism, “is the only psycho-physical hypothesis which is compatible with a belief in any continuance of human personality after death” and points out its relevance “[now that] for the first time serious attempts are being made to discover empirical evidence of such survival; and the fact that these attempts seem already to justify hope of their success ….” (ibid page 202).

Most parapsychologists seem to have forgotten – if they have ever read – MacDougall’s wise words. And even those parapsychologists who do show some interest in survival research seem to incline towards the view that communications from the deceased can best be explained by the SuperESP theory mentioned earlier. However, not only do results show the inadequacy of this explanation in the context of ITC, it is unconvincing even when applied to mediumship. The notion that mediums may, unconsciously and while deceiving themselves that the deceased are responsible, be capable of hunting through living minds and through the environment for information associated with the deceased even though they have no clue where to look and no emotional connection with the people or the information concerned stretches credulity beyond the bounds of possibility (I have set out these arguments and others more fully in Fontana 2004 and 2005).

Established Religion

The third group that has traditionally opposed survival research, established religion, should in theory also be among its strongest supporters. Established religion has across the centuries typically equated communications from the beyond with the powers of evil arguing, attributing them to impersonations by demons. The justification for this point of view is sometimes said to come from Exodus Chapter 22 Verse 18 of the Bible when Moses informs the people that one of God’s ‘social ordinances’ is that ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’. However, the word ‘witch’ seems to have been chosen by the translators to satisfy their own prejudices, as the Latin word is veneficus which is more correctly translated as ‘poisoner’. Even King Saul (Samuel I Chapter 28) who banished all those with ‘familiar spirits’ (spirit guides) from the land pays a visit to one of them himself when he wants to consult the spirit of Samuel to tell him the outcome of his impending battle with the Philistines Samuel duly appears and tells Saul in no uncertain terms that he has lost favour with God and not only will he be defeated he will perish along with his sons in the battle – all of which turns out to be correct.

Saul’s loss of favor with God – together with the Bible’s account of his generally shabby behaviour during much of his reign – hardly suggests he is a suitable role model on how to treat those with ‘familiar spirits’ (i.e. spirit guides). Given therefore that there seems no Biblical objection to ‘familiar spirits’, we are driven to the conclusion that the attitude of the Christian churches (Catholic and Protestant alike) towards converse with the departed stems more from a threat to the authority of the priesthood than from anything else. I am not arguing against religious belief, which is an essential part of human nature, but it seems clear that the teaching which claims that the priesthood are the intermediaries between man and God and the only key holders of the Kingdom of Heaven has been an important obstacle to interest and research into survival. Far from being Biblical, the beginnings of this teaching stretch back to the decision by the Emperor Constantine to make Christianity the state religion of Rome, and thus were always more political than religious. The result of them is that we in the West lag far behind the cultures of the East, whose psycho-physical systems such as Hinduism and Buddhism have extensive and detailed teachings both on survival and on the nature of the afterlife.

The General Public

The fourth group, the general public – particularly the general public in Britain and in the USA – do not so much oppose survival research as show little interest in it. We are in fact the only generation in which the subject of death has been so widely ignored. Right through to the mid 20th Century and World War Two people lived with the reality of death. In the earlier part of the Century large numbers of children died young, and even for adults death was a constant companion. In the 16th Century scholars kept skulls on their desks as momento mori, and in Britain the Victorians and Edwardians in the 19th and early 20th Century frequently wore lockets containing tresses of hair from deceased loved ones. Catholic countries had their Day of the Dead on November 2nd, and this is one of the few remembrances that are still observed. Apart from this, the reality of death is largely ignored. In earlier times people fell sick, declined and for the most part died at home, and the tragedy of death was forever present. Advances in medical care and public health mean that we are the first generation in recorded history insulated from many of the reminders of our own mortality. Together with the growth of consumerism and the prevalence of materialistic philosophies, this has led to a general resistance to any talk of leaving this life and of what might happen next. There is also a failure to recognize that belief in an afterlife does not distract us from trying to improve this life. Instead it gives this life meaning and purpose and increases our awareness of its sacred nature and of the need to cherish the physical world and the opportunities it gives to us.

Conclusion

We have reached a point in human history where many people now realize that science cannot provide us with answers to life’s fundamental questions, that we have pushed consumerism past its sustainable limits, and that materialism does not provide the route either to individual happiness or to a future for our planet. Together with the advances currently being made in survival research – and particularly in ITC – we may find that opposition from the four groups we have identified begins to weaken, meaning that at the very least the results of research into survival will begin to be taken more seriously. The problem may then be that parapsychologists, recognizing the importance of the PPOs produced by ITC, may attempt to claim the subject as their own and to take much of the credit for its development. We can but wait and see.

References

Fontana, D. (2004). Survival research: opposition and future developments. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 68.4 (877), 193-209.
Fontana, D. (2005). Is There an Afterlife? Alresford: John Hunt.
MacDougall, W. (1928). Body and Mind. London: Methuen (7th edn.).
Radin, D. (1997). The Conscious Universe. San Francisco: Harper Edge.

EVP Using VoIP and Telephones

05/ 202109/ 2012 by Tom and Lisa Butler

Originally published in the Fall 2012 ATransC NewsJournal
Also see: Phone Line EVP and Recording EVP Using a Telephone

Recording for EVP using the telephone system has always offered tantalizing possibilities. In recent years, cell phones and answering machines have produced good but usually spontaneous EVP. Now, we see more people using the Internet for planned EVP sessions.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the technology that makes it possible for a person to use a computer to call another computer via the Internet or even call a landline telephone via the Internet. The most commonly used service has been Skype.com, but others are coming along, including Google Voice (google.com/voice).

This article describes some of the more successful techniques being reported to us by members and associates.

Sonia Rinaldi

Brazilian researcher, Sonia Rinaldi, is a veteran transcommunication researcher. With members of the organization she coordinates, IPATI (translation from Portuguese: Institute for Advanced Research in Instrumental Transcommunication), she has been diligently seeking ways to improve both visual and audible communication across the veil. We have included a number of articles on her work over the years which may be accessed in the Idea Exchange archive.

The Idea Exchange has been converted to “Read Only” due to lack of participation.
Please contact us if you have questions.

IPATI has been a leader in developing new techniques for EVP using the telephone system and Skype. A major part of Sonia’s work involves reunions and she has produced some very convincing results using these techniques. We asked Sonia to elaborate on her current setup. Here is her answer with the help of Sonia’s translator, Cristina:

Description of Technique

This is the configuration of equipment used by Sonia Rinaldi for her recent work with reunions.
In the laboratory: a speakerphone is placed beside a laptop configured to record via a microphone.

The client, who is anywhere in the world, calls that phone via a computer using Skype (voice only). The telephone is answered by the practitioner (Sonia in her reports) who initiates the recording session in the computer, sets the telephone to speakerphone mode and leaves the room.

The practitioner then goes to a second room in the same building and picks up an extension phone located near a television. As a sound source, the television is tuned to an English or German-language news channel (any language other than the practitioner’s native language).
Via the telephone, the client speaks to his or her loved one on the other side while the practitioner listens to make sure that the client asks questions while leaving a thirty-second pause for the etheric communicator’s response.

In this technique, the voice from the television, as the background sound, appears to be transformed to produce answers from the loved one. While the background sound is in one language, the resulting utterance is in Portuguese.

Preparation

The client is instructed to prepare questions before calling Sonia’s lab in Brazil via Skype. From client Christina, “Before calling Sonia’s lab in Brazil, I prepared questions to maximize the communication with my son Stefano. I also decided at the last minute to call from my bedroom, the quietest place in the house.”

After the call is connected: “All of a sudden Stefano validates his presence by saying that I was in my room, something I had not mentioned because it was a last-minute decision. I could clearly hear my parents and husband as well, which gives me the hope that I will rejoin my loved ones sometime in the future.

“Another communication that amazed me was his suggestion that I contact a friend and girlfriend of his: Lina.

“I contacted Lina the next day and she told me that it was an amazing ‘coincidence’ that I called. She had been thinking of Stefano and had decided to call me the same day to take me out for lunch. We had lunch together and she surprised me with a gift: a heart-shaped silver locket and chain bearing the words on both side: ‘Stefano, ever loved, never forgotten.’”

Debbie Caruso

debbie-telephone-evp — EVP recording arrangement used by Debbie Caruso

As reported in the Spring 2007 ATransC NewsJournal, “Recording EVP Using a Telephone,” before her transition, Debbie Caruso had been using a landline telephone and computer for recording EVP. The elements of her setup are shown in the following diagram. A recording program such as Audacity or Audition was used in the computer. (Use Phone and Modem in the Control Panel to control the modem in Windows 7.) A telephone was connected to a second telephone wall jack, but she sometimes used a headset that connects to the computer.

An example of what Debbie was recording is in the article, “Jenny and Brandon – The Newlyweds”

Margaret Downey

Margaret Downey uses an Apple computer and iPhone to conduct VoIP sessions. With two Skype accounts, she calls one with the phone and the other with her computer. Both are in the same room but about eight feet apart. A sound source plays into the room near the cell phone.

During the call, Margaret’s voice from the cell phone plays out of the computer speakers. A feedback loop is formed because the phone picks up Margaret’s voice, the background sounds and the output of the speaker. So, if the phone is too close to the computer speakers, there will be a loud “feedback” noise. Part of the task is to find the best location for everything so that there is a little feedback, but not enough to cause the loud noise.

When the call is answered with her computer, Margaret starts an app named Call Record (ecamm.com). (A similar Windows app is PrettyMay Call Recorder: prettymay.net.)

An interesting observation about Margaret’s setup is that the call recorder displays both sides of the conversation so that the caller’s voice is strong on the receive side but also slightly delayed. The send side also has the caller’s voice but much weaker.

Seeking EVP Examples for Study

01/ 202109/ 2016 by Tom Butler

This study is suspended due to lack of participation

by Tom Butler
See: The Energy Profile of Transform EVP

ATransC is seeking examples of Transform EVP that can be compared to supplied background sound so that the difference in waveform can be clearly demonstrated.

Objective

It is well-known that EVP are formed by transforming available audio-frequency energy to produce the intended voice. Current theory holds that the transform process is the result of stochastic amplification occurring in an active component of the recording device–probably a transistor junction.

If the voice in EVP is formed from background noise, then there should be a detectable difference between input and output of the stage of the recorder in which the transform is thought to occur. For a digital voice recorder, that would be between the microphone and before the memory circuit. A way to test this theory is to use recorded sound as a known background source and comparing the resulting EVP sound file with the same part of the supplied background sound file.

This study is in two parts. In the first phase, the examples provided by website visitors should provide a collection of “convincing” transform EVP examples. Second, for Phase 2 of the study, if a sufficient number of convincing examples are collected, a research facility will be asked to analyze the examples in an attempt to identify possible anomalous differences in energy profiles between input and output files.

Phase 2 of this study will be expensive and sufficient funding has not been arranged at this time, so Phase 2 will be pending good examples and sufficient funding. Also, it is likely that examples will be needed that have been recorded under more controlled conditions. Assuming this is the case, Phase 1 of this study should be considered an interview process to select practitioners who are more likely to be able to produce additional examples.

Requirements

You are asked to either use a pre-recorded background sound source or use two recorders.

Once an EVP is recorded that is able to be correctly understood by at least two people without prompting, the sound file containing the EVP with a few seconds of sound file before and after the utterance should be saved with sufficient labeling to distinguish it from others, as: (c)your_name_year-title. For instance: (c)butler2012-compare_transform.mp3

A second file should be saved containing the portion of the background sound file associated with the EVP example. It is important that a third file be composed, as in the example above, so that both input and output files can be compared as synchronized sounds.

Practitioners wishing to participate in this study should use the contact form at the bottom of each web page to inform us that you wish to send in an example. You will receive the email address to use with our response.

You will retain ownership of the example sound files but will be asked for permission for use of the sound files for the study, and potentially, in articles on this website. ATransC will require your real name, but you may remain anonymous beyond that. ATransC does not share personal information without specific permission from the person.

Participants need not be a ATransC member, but as always, you are encouraged to support the organization via your membership and donations if you think this kind of work is of value to the study of these phenomena.

Hint: It is useful to add some form of marker in the supplied sound file as a beacon so that the input and output files can more easily be synchronized. This is especially important if a steady-state input file is used, such as white noise.

Talking to the Dead, Listening to Yourself

09/ 2016 by Tom Butler

An Empirical Study on the Psychological Aspects of Interpreting Electronic Voice Phenomena
by John E. Buckner and Rebecca A. Buckner
Previously published in the Skeptic Magazine Vol. 17, No. 1, 2012

Introduction

A common theme in ITC research concerns how people experience the phenomena. Studies conducted by the ATransC indicate that, on average, people correctly understand Class A examples about 25% of the time. (For Class B and C transform EVP radio-sweep, that approaches 0%.) Dr. Mark Leary has conducted similar studies with similar results. See also: Phantom Voices

This common theme of so little agreement in what is said in a reported EVP example naturally leads to a second common theme. That is, the presentation of EVP examples to the public by EVP researchers and practitioners that few or no listeners are able to understand. This leads to an unavoidable assumption that the practitioner is delusional.

Of course, the assumption that people who believe in things paranormal are delusional is contagious, and ultimately leads to qualified researchers avoiding anything paranormal, little or no funding for research and an increased probability that the conservative mainstream will eventually begin enforcing anti-fortunetelling laws … again.

Here is an article that was published in the Skeptic Magazine. It can be read on John Buckner’s page on Academica.edu. We are offering it to you here because it is a reasonably well-considered study that asks all of the right questions. The fact that it was published by the skeptical should not overshadow the message it offers to the paranormal community: Pay attention to how you look to the public. Either follow the rigor of using a listening panel and carefully planned protocols for your field work or help the rest of us by refraining from sharing your examples with the public.

From the article

“Overall, the results of this study support the psychological explanations for EVP. The phenomenon was reliably produced in the sense that teams generally identified potential EVP, but they were inconsistent in identifying when an EVP occurred or in their interpretation of the alleged communication. Still, it is possible that the one matched EVP is a result of communication with the deceased. Another possibility is that noise was generated from some other source and follows a particular pattern, which caused the teams to interpret the noise in a similar fashion. We feel the latter explanation is more likely the case, given the physical explanations for EVP, such as human error. Unfortunately, the limited experience we’ve had sharing this information with proponents of EVP has been somewhat disheartening. The matching EVP identified by two of the teams seems to over-shadow the 150 potential EVPs identified that did not match. This is an example of the confirmation bias, or the tendency to look for and find confirming evidence for one’s beliefs and to ignore the disconfirming evidence. This is a very common effect found in paranormal circles, most notably psychic readings in which the sitter remembers the handful of hits and forgets the numerous misses.” This article is here.

Faces on Turned Off Television Screens

12/ 202309/ 2016 by Tom and Lisa Butler

Of the many forms of paranormal photography, faces sometimes found in photographs of turned off television screens seems to be the most unusual. In spirit photography, the presence of an “extra” or apparition in the photographic frame is consistent with the concept that we who are still in the flesh are providing sufficient energy (perhaps ectoplasm) with which the entity can become visible to the sensitive film or digital circuitry. In Photographic ITC, faces and other features that can sometimes be found in the optical noise of photographs is consistent with principles thought to be involved in Video ITC and EVP. But the presence of a face on a television screen, as if it were a photograph cut out and glued to the screen to be photographed, does not agree with any of the hypotheses presented thus far.

By the way, we have seen enough examples of this form of phenomena to accept the validity of these examples.

Thus, we are beginning a collection of such pictures with the hope that a pattern will emerge that will either fit this form of nonphysical phenomena into existing hypotheses or suggest a new one. So please, if you have an example of the phenomena as shown here, send it to us along with permission to use it in our study and details of how the picture was taken.

This picture was taken in Las Vegas, Nevada and originally published in the October 1995 National Spiritualist Summit magazine. You can see a little boy taking his first steps. The picture was taken by the boy’s mother who is also the sister of the lady whose upper portion of her face is visible on the turned off television screen.

A confirming point to this is that it is reasonable for the deceased sister to “show up” for the boy’s first step. The face was not visible when the picture was taken.

Please Note: We have recently had a complaint that this picture must be a fake because the camera is aimed more at the TV than at the boy–odd for such an important event in the Boy’s life. We, as a matter of fact, are more interested in the face on the wall than the boy and have cropped the original picture, which was indeed, centered on the boy.

Also, it is an interesting characteristic of phenomenal faces in all forms, that the bottom of the face is frequently obscured in some way.

It is important that you do not let your natural suspicions keep you from the opportunity to learn about these phenomena.

We know that this picture has been used in a preview for the movie, White Noise. Universal received permission to do so.

Originally published in the Fall 2003 ATransC NewsJournal.

Face on turned off TV 2: Photographer’s transitioned mother on turned off TV screen, as if peering in to see him and his grandson. Insert is enlargement of TV screen. ©

This picture, which was cropped from the original photograph, appeared in Le Messager No. 37, the journal of the French ITC group, Infinitude. The picture was submitted by Français F. Sabatier & S. Barrez of Marseille. The television was turned off at the time and the face on the screen is thought to be a guardian angle.

We have collected other such photographs from various sources, as has Jacques Blanc-Garin of Infinitude. Jacques observed that, except for one example, all that he has seen have been associated with a small child. Also, the television is turned off in just about every example.

Originally published in the Fall 2003 ATransC NewsJournal.

While the other examples on this page appear to be faces formed “in” a turned off TV, this is an example of an apparently paranormal feature formed in light reflected from a turned off TV screen.

We will refer to the experiencer as “Mr. D” to respect his privacy. The middle picture is a cropped and enhanced version of the original shown on the left. Mr. D was taking a picture of his pet, and the rather large screen was incidental to the picture. As you can see, the feature is formed in the noise from the flash. The picture on the right is the same as the middle, but we have traced important features in an attempt to make the feature more easily distinguished.

As we see the picture, it is of a man sitting on an easy chair or couch with his left hand on the left armrest. Based on his posture, his left leg would be turned nearly against the chair, knee nearly under the arm rest. As we can see in the original picture, he is wearing an unbuttoned dark red jacket that has piping around the buttons and collar. The jacket has a high, stiff collar that is close to the throat. He apparently has short dark hair and is facing to his left side, face slightly lifted as if appealing to God. His left hand either has six fingers that are more serpentine than bony or he has a very large ring on his index finger. He is either holding something like the neck of a guitar in his right hand and close to his chest, or his right hand is there and it has six fingers; however, if fingers, they appear to be bony.

Originally published in the Summer 2006 ATransC NewsJournal

Excerpt from Martha Copeland’s I’m Still Here

01/ 201909/ 2016 by Tom Butler

Article initially printed in the Spring 2005 AA-EVP NewsJournal
Martha Copeland – All Rights Reserved

Continuation of Signs from Cathy

Yesterday at my Buford Presbyterian Church, in Buford, Georgia, I met a couple whose son had been killed two weeks earlier in an automobile accident. They told me that he was already sending them “signs” from beyond to comfort them.

It is so important to pay attention to “signs” that our loved ones send to us from spirit. Just today, while searching through photo albums for pictures to insert in this book, I found a “sign” from Cathy. It was an album she had made for my fiftieth birthday party entitled, “The Way it was.” It contained all the important facts and events from the 1950s, along with photos of me when I was a baby up to my present life. One thing that really struck me in this album was her dedication page. It read: “My dedication goes to my mom, Martha Pierce Copeland.”

Hope is the destination that we seek,
Love is the road that leads to hope
Courage is the motor that drives us
We travel out of darkness into faith

-The Book of Counted Sorrow

How very strange to be reading these words now. Although going through the old photo albums made me sad, perhaps this is Cathy’s “sign” for me to continue on and have faith in what the future holds.

“Tears in Heaven”

Today I was riding in the car, listening to the CD of music we had played at Cathy’s funeral. Each song was chosen for a specific story in her life, and each one usually brought tears to my eyes. When Eric Clapton came on singing, “Tears in Heaven,” I remembered the first time I heard it.

Cathy was about ten years old, and we were living in Okinawa Japan, on the military base. Two of the children she often played with were twins, a girl and a boy, Shane and Shannon. One day while Cathy was playing with them, Shane was hanging upside down by his knees from a tree limb, hitting at the girls as they rode by on their bicycles. Something caused him to lose his grip, and he fell to the ground. His head hit the curb. Cathy came running home and said, “Mom, I think Shane is dead.” He was taken to the hospital where he died shortly from his injuries.

The day of Shane’s memorial service, Cathy had picked up her room, making it spotlessly clean. This was unusual for our girl, whose bedroom floor was rarely seen. We went to the service and joined the grieving family and friends of this young boy. The song, “Tears in Heaven,” was too poignant and left everyone weeping as we said goodbye to Shane.

We had been home from the service a few hours when cars started pulling up in front of our house, and parents let out their children. At least thirty children had shown up, and Cathy was at the door greeting her friends. Even Shane’s twin sister Shannon was there. When I asked what was going on, she informed me, “Mom, I told them that you were going to have a séance and bring Shane back to talk to us.” I was stunned and told her that I was absolutely not going to do that.

Cathy glared at me, grabbed her Ouija board and stormed off to her room, closing the door behind her after the many kids piled inside. While my “little psychic” was in there, I glimpsed Shane in our living room. He was wearing a blue and white striped shirt with cut-off jeans.

Cathy: “My little psychic.” — Cathy:
“My little psychic.”

Cathy later reported that she and her friends had asked some questions of her board, and had gotten some “yes” answers, which helped them believe that they had contacted Shane. This must have helped the grieving process for these youngsters, who needed a chance to say goodbye to their little friend. I asked Cathy what Shane had been wearing at the time of his accident. She described his outfit just as I had seen in my living room.

“Would you know my name … if I saw you in heaven?” As I listen to these plaintive phrases sung by a man who was a grieving parent, I know the answer to the question he poses. I know without a doubt that we will recognize our loved ones when we get to the Other Side. Still, this thought does not stop the tears I have here and now.

Binaural Synchronization for EVP Preparation

02/ 202409/ 2009 by Tom Butler

(Initially published in the Winter 2009 ATransC NewsJournal)

Abstract

This study is based on the question of whether or not a practitioner’s ability to record for EVP can be influenced by the use of binaural-beat synchronization of mental processes. According to research conducted by The Monroe Institute (TMI), neuron activity in the two hemispheres of the brain are synchronized with and entrained to the beat-frequency between left and right audio signals supplied to the ears via a stereo headset. A slowly changing beat-frequency can change this synchronization, known by TMI as a “frequency-following response,” so that the listener experiences meditative-like states of awareness. A CD containing a frequency set designed for meditation and a CD containing the same set of frequencies plus a set intended to facilitate access to what TMI refers to as an “inner-self helper” were used. The CDs were only labeled as “A” and “B.” Volunteer EVP practitioners were asked to conduct a series of ten recording sessions using each CD and make a self-evaluation of any changes from their expected success rate. No appreciable change in success rate was reported by the volunteers.

Introduction

Association TransCommunication has conducted a study to determine whether or not the use of binaural synchronization can improve a person’s ability to record for EVP. Two audio CDs were used by each participant. One included a set of frequencies developed by The Monroe Institute (TMI) designed to facilitate meditation. The other was the same but included additional frequencies derived from analysis of a functioning trance-channel. (This technology is referred to as “Hemi-Sync®” by TMI.) (See The Monroe Way for background.) Here is a summary of the results:

Protocol

These are the instructions each participant received.

Overview

The objective of this experiment is to evaluate the effect binaural synchronization has on the quality and quantity of EVP. Monroe Institute Hemi-Sync® technology will be used.¹ See the attached article, The Monroe Way.

What is in the kit?

You have been assigned a tracking number, and all of your results will be recorded by that number rather than by your name until after the results have been evaluated.

Audio Recorder

You are all being asked to use the same equipment and technique. If you have not indicated that you already have a Sony ICD-B26 digital voice recorder that you will use, one will be mailed to you in a separate package.

Assumptions

It is assumed that:

You have an audio patch cable and know how to connect a recorder to your computer and how to record the audio into the computer.
You have an audio management program and know how to use it for audio capture, editing and saving.
You have a audio CD player that you can use for these sessions.
You have a set of headphones that you can use.

If this is not the case, please contact us before beginning the trials.

Memory Storage

A USB thumb drive has been included in the kit. You are asked to use the memory device as a means of returning your recordings to the AA-EVP. The SanDisk memory stick has a folder named Documents which contains the folders:

2008 Hemi-Sync Trials

mp3 and wav formats of the Hemi-Sync CDs A and B

2008 Hemi-Sync Trials Results

Twenty folders for storing the results of twenty sessions.

The other folders are empty

A “U3” icon will appear in the bottom-right tray. Click on that and click on the “Eject” button before removing the memory stick from you computer. A window will tell you when it is okay.

Audio CD

Two 36 minute audio CDs have been included. One is marked with a large “A” and one with a large “B.” These are the sound files containing the Hemi-Sync tones and what you will be listening to for the EVP recording sessions.

Notepad

A notepad has been included and you are asked to keep notes related to this experiment. When you listen to the resulting audio files, you will be asked to note what you hear and how well possible EVP agree with what was expected, and provide a brief description of how you feel about the circumstances.

Instructions

A set of instructions have been included, which explain the protocol.

Protocol

Please conduct twenty recording sessions during which you will make three one-minute recordings for EVP. Since Hemi-Sync leads your level of awareness to a deeply relaxed state, and the sessions are nearly forty minutes long, it is recommended that you conduct only one session in a six hour period. You are asked to complete all twenty session in three months, and to do this, you will need to average slightly more than three sessions every two weeks.

Please do not listen to Hemi-Sync while driving or during activity that requires your full attention. Just as with meditation, be sure that you are fully alert after using Hemi-Sync.

To begin

Copy the 2008 Hemi-Sync Trials Results folder from the memory stick to your computer. You will use the folders to store session recordings.

Find a comfortable location where you are not likely to be disturbed. A relaxed sitting position with a pillow to support your head and a throw to keep your body comfortable is recommended. You will want to be able to hold or pick up the recorder and turn it on to the record mode three times while you are very relaxed. You may also want to make written notes. (If you record verbal notes for future transcription, please use a second recorder.)

If you prefer, you can use the files in the memory stick to play the sessions through an mp3 player or directly from your computer. The native format is the one on the CD, so it is first choice. The objective is to have the highest quality playback, but the second objective is to have all session played on the same device.

Test the equipment and make sure that your recorder, player and headset are all functioning correctly. The two CDs are identical except one has an added set of Hemi-Sync frequencies intended to help you function as a mental medium. Listen to one of them all the way through so that you will know what to expect. Take advantage of this session to set the levels in your player and in the recorder. The alert tones in the CDs are a little softer than expected so you will want to turn up the volume in the player so that you will not miss them.

Each CD is arranged as:

0:00 — 10:00 Intro surf and up to working level

10:00 Record now sound

11:00 Stop recording sound

Return to working level

20:00 Record now sound

21:00 Stop recording sound

Return to working level

30:00 Record now sound

31:00 Stop recording sound

Brief return to working level

34:00 — 36:13 Return to C1 verbally guided

36:14 — 36:15 Silence

Questions

Before beginning a session, think of three questions you will ask and/or who you wish to contact. Begin a fresh page in the notebook with:

Date
Time you expect to begin
Current weather conditions
Session Number
Write a brief comment about your sense of wellbeing, energy level and attitude about the session.
Leaving space between each question for further comment, write what you will ask or say to the etheric communicators.
Write down the number in the recorder that will be associated with the three recordings for this session.

It is important to use questions that are meaningful to you so as to draw on your personal energy and focus. If you have a loved one in the etheric, you could ask for a personal message. Think of the kind of questions you have had success receiving results for in the past. The questions should be interesting to your communicator, as well. For instance, experience has shown that asking the same question session after session is met with fewer and fewer responses and maybe even complaints. The entities are pretty good at telling you what they have seen in your home, so you could put something on a table and ask what it is (a teddy bear or plant would be better than a rock). You could also ask them to tell you what you are wearing.

During the session

Make yourself comfortable so that your head is supported and there are no pinch points that will cut off circulation to an arm or leg. Your body will cool down during the session, so you may want to have a throw nearby. The Hemi-Sync tones will “take” you to a meditative level of consciousness. All you have to do is relax and enjoy the trip. If you have an itch, scratch it. If you need to reach for the throw, do so. The tones will gently take you back to level.

Think about your question. Visualize who it is that you wish to hear from. Desire to record the response you are hoping for. When you hear the “record now sound” turn on the audio recorder and say out loud your question or request so that it will be recorded, and then remain quiet until you hear the “stop recording sound.” When you do hear the tone, turn off the recorder and allow the tones to take you back to level. Be brief so that there is time for the EVP.

Begin thinking about your next question or request and repeat this process for two more record periods. After the third period, relax and allow the narrator to count you back to full consciousness. It is a good idea to express your appreciation for your communicators and tell them that you would like their help next time, as well.

Number of sessions

Please conduct twenty sessions beginning with the CD marked “A” and the next with the one marked “B” and then alternate between the two so that every other session will be with CD “A,” ending with CD “B” for session twenty.

Each session has three recording periods for a total of sixty one-minute recordings.

Analysis of the recordings

Copy the recordings into your computer and save them as a Windows PCM (*.wav) file (or Apple equivalent). If you are using Audacity, then “Export as a wav” file. The recorder will hold more than 60 minutes, so please save the files in the recorder, as well. Be sure to lock the recorder when you have finished.

Label the files in your computer as EVP Folder > 2008 Hemi-Sync Trials folder and then:

Your number-Session 1–CD A period 1
Your number-Session 1–CD A period 2
Your number-Session 1–CD A period 3
Your number-Session 2–CD B period 1

and so on for all 20 sessions and 60 recording periods for a total of 60 files.

During analysis, you will be looking for EVP, how many per one minute session and what you think of their relevance to your question. Please make a record of the results in the provided notebook. This is not a contest for the most EVP or most meaningful responses. The objective is for you to decide if an EVP has been recorded using the same standard as you have used in the past.

Assessment of results

After finishing the last (20^th) session, please answer the following questions in the provided notebooks:

Please describe your playback setup and environment.
Did you record EVP during the Hemi-Sync sessions?
If so, explain your view of the results.
Did you notice any difference between the Hemi-Sync sessions and past experience in your usual quantity and quality of EVP?
If so, please explain.
Please pick one of the following:
1. I saw no change in my ability to record EVP between the Hemi-Sync sessions and my normal sessions.
2. I saw a slight change in my ability to record EVP, but the Hemi-Sync did not seem to be the reason.
3. There was considerable change in my ability to record EVP when I used Hemi-Sync.
True or False: I now prefer using Hemi-Sync for my EVP sessions.
True or False: I would recommend Hemi-Sync for anyone wanting to improve their ability to record EVP.
How would you change the protocol for this kind of experiment?
Please provide a statement of how you feel/felt about this experiment. Do you see value in this sort of effort? Did you benefit by participating?

Finish

Please save the sixty sound files into the USB memory stick provided in the kit, and return that and the audio recorder, the two CDs and note pad to the AA-EVP. It is important that the recorder is returned so that future experiments may be conducted using the same hardware.

Thank you very much for participating in this experiment. We will give you a report about our findings as soon as we can finish the data reduction.

The Monroe Institute, 365 Roberts Mountain Road, Faber, Virginia 22938, 1-866-881-3440, 434-361-1252, www.monroeinstitute.com.

Results

The short report is that the study did not produce evidence that use of binaural synchronization improves Quality and Quantity (QQ) of EVP.

Ten people participated in the study. All used the same type of recorder, but background sound, where they recorded and when was optional. Six kits were returned completed and two returned blank. As of this writing, two were not returned. An eleventh participant withdrew before beginning because they found the tones irritating.

No obvious trend was evident after the resulting QQ of EVP was assessed and the opinions of the participants were considered. It was felt by some that they did better using their own recorder and using their more usual techniques. Most liked Hemi-Sync as an aid for meditation, although some found it too difficult to remain sufficiently alert to record during the allotted times.

Conclusion

Hemi-Sync is very effective in facilitating meditation. This experiment was inspired by the personal experience that it also facilitates mental mediumship. Not knowing what makes an effective EVP practitioner, it seemed reasonable to test whether or not what worked for mental mediumship would work for EVP, which is thought to involve essentially the same process.

The results of this trial must be considered inconclusive. An improvement in QQ was not evident, which is the necessary measure; however, the experiment itself was not conducted in a manner that allows reasonable assessment of the technology. Please see the “Recommendations”

Sincere thanks to the volunteer practitioners: Vicki Talbott, Richard Shenk, Keith Clark, Leslie Taylor, Billy Deluca and Teri Daner for their hard work to complete the experiment. We learned much that will guide us on to new efforts.

Recommendations

The experiment should be conducted in controlled conditions in which participants can be monitored, and the results can be more formally reported. The sound files lacked an induction process that might help a person have a better sense of the process and more effectively set listening levels. The record begin and end sounds were often missed. Participants should also be familiarized with Hemi-Sync for a time before beginning the series of experiments.

It is our belief that binaural synchronization may be an effective tool for improving QQ, but it is clear that more qualified researchers need to be involved. This study involved a complex protocol, many recording sessions conducted by volunteer practitioners and very poorly designed sound files. Meditating with Hemi-Sync is a pleasurable experience, but this assessment is based on the CDs available from The Monroe Institute. By comparison, the ones provided for this study did little to give the practitioner a sense of “induction.”

About the AA-EVP

11/ 202009/ 2016 by Tom and Lisa Butler

by Tom and Lisa Butler, 2001

Introduction

Many of you have heard of the American Association – Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP). It is an Association founded by Sarah Estep in 1982 in the USA as her way of helping people learn about and experiment with EVP. Sarah asked us to assume leadership of the AA-EVP in May of 2000, almost exactly eighteen years after the Association was founded.

The AA-EVP publishes a quarterly newsletter designed to keep members up to date on what other members are learning about and receiving through EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) and ITC (Instrumental TransCommunication). The newsletter provides news about EVP/ITC activities from around the world. The Association now has a web site at aaevp.com to help the public learn about EVP/ITC and an email distribution service, in which members can exchange emails as a group. The web site has sample EVP voices that can be listened to as well as transimages and Spirit Photographs that researchers have gotten.

The Association reports on people who hear from and capture images of those on the other side through all kinds of electronic devices. Long gone are the days that messages and pictures were received only on simple tape records or cameras. Today reports are received from people who get EVP by recording directly onto their computers. Messages are received on answering machines, digital note takers and all manner of recording devices. People also still report the phenomena of receiving a phone call from someone who has died.

Many people are still capturing spirit photographs with their cameras, but now more and more people are using their video cameras to receive what is called “transimages.” The digital camera was bound to not be far behind and we have now seen transimages captured in this way. Erland Babcock of the USA has made the change from experimenting with video ITC to working with a digital camera. The interesting thing about his digital camera work is that, unlike the use of a feedback circuit in video ITC, Erland depends on background colors, textures and intensities to provide the needed optical energy.

One thing that is for certain is that those in other dimensions want to communicate with us and are using all manner of technology to do this. As we make technological advances, they are quick to use them to communicate with us.

Many people use EVP/ITC to reach and communicate with loved ones that have passed into the next plane of existence and there are many interesting and wonderful stories that are shared. One member received an EVP message from her dead husband, but she did not believe it. He told her to take her camera, turn on the TV and take a picture. She did and could make out that it was indeed her husband. Another member consistently hears from two sisters who have gone to the other side. They tell of how wonderful it is to be free of their physical bodies that were old and filled with disease. They speak of being in a beautiful place. Still others have reported receiving messages from those whom they did not know on earth but who tell them that they were related in a past life. Researchers have even described both messages and transimages that come from those who claim to be what we would call extraterrestrial.

One of the interesting speculations AA-EVP members have discussed recently is that some EVP messages may actually be coming from the thoughts of living people. Members have reported recording messages that seem to come from a person that is still on earth. We recently ran a sleep experiment in which we tried to reach Sarah Estep while she was sleeping and she did the same with us. Messages were recorded that indicated that we were both receiving messages from the other experimenter while they slept.

Several experimenters receive loud EVP messages without using any background noise. However, most EVP experimenters provide background noise while recording. Simple noise generators, such as a fan in the room or a radio turned off station, are commonly used. Special noise generators are also used, such as the germanium device that is often referred to as the Scole Device. It is thought that the entities modulate this energy into intelligible phrases. Adding noise seems to increase the volume at which the EVP are received. Sometimes, even the words spoken by the experimenter are changed to form EVP messages.

Central to EVP research findings is energy—both physical and etheric. For instance, in a séance, the energy brought to the room by the participant’s sense of community and great expectations can be compared to the energy of the sound noise just discussed. The entities seem to use all kinds of energy to communicate. This may be communication through a medium as a spirit greeting or through devices as are used in EVP experiments. This idea also suggests that direct voice in a séance may be facilitated with the addition of sound energy in the room. It would be interesting to see if this is true.

There is some evidence that the experimenter is part of the recording circuit. That is to say that the experimenter’s mediumship or psychic ability may have an influence on the quantity and quality of EVP messages and transimages. There is disagreement about this as some successful experimenters do not believe that they have mediumistic abilities. Also, members with a science background would like this concept to be better researched before such statements are made.

Experimenters have reported that they have better contact for a while when they try a new recording technique. It appears that the experimenter’s enthusiasm is shared by the entities. However, once the newness of the approach wears off, the quality of contact often returns to “average.” From this, researchers are beginning to conclude that it is important for them to experiment when they are “fresh” and interested, rather than when they feel they have to record to maintain a schedule.

AA-EVP members have varied interests. There are many that are active in recording EVP and ITC. Others belong to the Association because they are interested in keeping up with EVP/ITC and want to support the effort to improve the understanding of this phenomenon. There are also members who are actively involved in EVP/ITC research.

Alexander MacRae of Scotland has focused on the acoustical properties of EVP with a device that has given him good results. Alec is well aware of the need for good science in EVP and continues to devote much of his time to research, education and documentation.

Mark Macy of the USA is a long-time contributor to EVP and ITC. His authoritative work is published around the world. Mark is currently experimenting with a Luminator (Bioluminator developed by Patrick Richards). As Mark has told us, “For ITC, I like the fact that the Luminator seems to melt away some of the subtle barriers between our physical world and the spiritual worlds that are superimposed over our reality.” Photographs taken of people setting in the Luminator field seems to show the presence of nonphysical entities.

Tina Laurent is an active researcher in the UK. She has been involved in this research for 20 years and personally knew many of the people who originally made the phenomena of EVP known to the public. She regularly lectures on the subject and many of you have probably read her article on EVP that was published in The Spiritual Scientist.

Anabela Cardoso is receiving excellent communication from those on the other side who say that they are part of the group, Timestream. She publishes the excellent ITC Journal that documents her contacts and includes articles from renowned researchers and specialist in ITC.

Jacques and Monique Blanc-Garin provide an excellent French journal called Le Messager. They were recently given an award for the work, conferences that they do in the ITC field.

Finally, Dale Palmer of the USA, along with his family, has formed the Noetics Institute. [Editor: The the Noetics Institute is no longer in existence] Through the Noetics Institute, and working with Brazilian ITC researchers, Dale has funded the establishment of a web site designed to permit the public to log on and conduct EVP/ITC experiments. This is no small undertaking. It has been necessary to purchase considerable computer capacity and to develop new software. The site is currently in the early stages of testing, but it should be on line soon. Keep an eye on the AA-EVP web site for the announcement and the new web address.

The list of active EVP/ITC researchers is long. As the veterans retire from research, new people are becoming interested enough to step forward and continue the work. The AA-EVP has been working with groups around the world in an effort to find ways to further research in EVP/ITC. We see our leadership with the AA-EVP as an extraordinary opportunity to bring together these discoveries and make them accessible to whomsoever may be interested. In this way, we hope to promote further research. We consider the work done at Scole very important to this effort. As we see it, all forms of transreality communication hold the potential to improve Humankind’s understanding of the nature of our reality and the knowledge that death is simply a continuation of our present life.

This article was initially published in The Spiritual Scientist, A magazine of the Spiritual Science Foundation (more commonly known as the Scole Group). The Scole Group has established a substantial presence in the world as a confederation of small development groups who follow the Scole method for mediumship and group development. If you are interested in starting a home circle for séances and mediumship development for spirit communications, please take a look at the Scole Group website.

The Butlers had just assumed leadership of the AA-EVP when they wrote this article. Much has been learned since.

About safety of Communicating with the Other Side

11/ 202009/ 2016 by Tom and Lisa Butler

From Viewpoint, Spring 2003 AA-EVP NewsJournal

Attitude is everything. Attitude is an expression of our worldview, and it is our worldview that we use as a mold to build our personal reality.

We have had a number of people ask us about the dangers in seeking to communicate with our friends on the other side. Some have expressed great concern that they might leave themselves open for attack from angry entities or that they might inadvertently invite a disruptive force into their home. The words, “demon” and “low levels” have come up more than once. We think a better term might simply be “less spiritually evolved entities,” as this is what they are. However, “low level” seems to be the term that is most used and understood.

Harold Sherman, in an article written for Psychic Observer & Chimes, recounted a friend’s distressing experience in trying to reach his wife and running into what he called “low grade discarnates.” When the man lost his temper and told them to go away, it only seemed to increase their interference. Sherman listened to some of the recordings and called it pure drivel.

Sherman came to the conclusion that the mental attitude of the experimenter played an important part in what was recorded. He wrote, “It is as though low grade intelligences come in on the emotionally disturbed ‘wave length’ of the operator. Unless the mind is prepared through prayer or a spiritually motivated meditative period, one is apt to invite the wrong kind of communicants.”

Some researchers, who have occasion to address the public about these phenomena, will include a strong warning that there are potential dangers and that the prospective EVP and ITC experimenter should use caution. Others seem to wonder what all of the fuss is about because they have never had a problem.

In the Summer 1988 AA-EVP NewsJournal, Sarah Estep ran a brief review of the CETL newsletter written by Jules and Maggie Harsch-Fischbach in Luxembourg. The couple believed that experimenters could attract positive as well as negative contacts. They quoted a comment made by pioneer researcher Dr. Konstantin Raudive. Raudive said, “Transcommunication is not a hobby for people who can’t cope with the realities of life.”

We believe that working with EVP and ITC is fundamentally safe. It is difficult to find a single example in which an individual has been harmed because of their communication across the veil. Yes, people have occasionally been “bothered.” It is known that the time we spend carefully listening too hard to hear EVP examples seems to enhance our clairvoyant and clairaudient senses. To many people, this is exciting and something they want. To others, it can be disturbing. This enhanced sensing has been reported to fade if one takes a break from EVP or other development work.

In the heyday of Spiritualism, people sat in groups trying to communicate with the other side. One of the important benefits of these groups was that they provided a safe place for mediums to develop. When people were working on, say for instance trance development, they could feel open and safe, in that they had an experienced medium to assist them if they should run into some sort of trouble. By the way, many Spiritualist churches still have development groups and classes and we would recommend these or any other good development groups or classes to EVP/ITC experimenters.

Many EVP experimenters work alone and do not have the benefit of a group of more experienced EVP researchers. We wish that everyone who experimented with EVP had a strong metaphysical or spiritual background, because it is important to have some basic knowledge about the other side and its workings. Since the experimenter is part of the bridge between those on the other side and the EVP or ITC equipment, it is important for the experimenter to have a strong sense of self, accompanied by a positive attitude and spiritual outlook on life.

In the Fall 1989 newsletter, Sarah Estep wrote, “Obviously, no one starts taping, automatic writing or playing with the Ouija board, thinking they will become possessed or obsessed. But it can happen. As I wrote on page 196 of Voices of Eternity, The difficulty is in ascertaining who is susceptible… I am not trying to frighten people who are thinking about beginning to tape… Working in the field can bring some of the most rewarding, enriching experiences of your life. It would be amiss of me, however, not to caution you about the darker side of psi. Experienced tapers will tell you not to believe everything that comes through. You have your liars on the other side, as you have here. The more they realize they are getting you upset, the more they will continue. Human nature being what it is, we may imagine certain messages are there, when in fact there is nothing. The important thing though is, if a person believes a message is on tape, that person will respond to it for better or worse.

“If you, at any time think you are in contact with low level entities, leave your tape recorder. Remain in control at all times. Anyone can sit down to tape. It takes much more inner strength to pull the plug and walk away.” Negative thoughts, such as fear or hate, are powerful forms of energy, and this energy can accumulate and do harm. It is as if this negative energy is an anti-particle that neutralizes positive energy and dissipates it from our use. We also believe that negative energy is not as sustainable as is positive energy because it is not consistent with the fundamentally positive nature of reality. Thus, as entities gain in spiritual maturity, they become less able to sustain fear or hate.

We advise people who are fearful of the unknown or who might have trouble keeping the voices in perspective, to pass on EVP. Our concern is that a person’s fear might tend to be amplified by a close encounter with an entity. The entity could be perfectly friendly, but because of fear and because the encounter is so fleeting, a fearful person might see the encounter as a reason to be more fearful.

Experimenters are responsible for creating a positive contact field for the other side. This includes expectations. You are responsible for your own life, and who and what you let into your environment and consciousness. Protect your personal environment and maintain a field of positive energy around your home and all that you do.

We want to make sure that people do not feel that something is wrong with them if they do encounter one of these less spiritually educated entities. Many researchers have had this happen. If you are one of them, you are not alone. Discarnate entities are attracted to people in the flesh who seem to be supportive of them in some way; someone who might be sympathetic about their plight. So, if you have attracted an angry entity, you are not necessarily an angry person. For example, if the angry entity is afraid to go on because of some dastardly deed committed in a past lifetime, and you are knowledgeable about why the entity should not be afraid, then it may very well be attracted to you as a potential source of guidance.

It has been made clear, via just about all of the forms of spirit communication, that Spirit entities are always with us. They may be in our home at any time, whether we sense them or not. A group we have communicated with, the Imperator Group, has told us that they do not watch us, and that they only come to us when we call on them or when we need help. We are certain that this group is not earthbound. It may be that earthbound entities do watch us. With that said, we believe that EVP researchers can request privacy and can tell earthbound entities to go away if they are being bothersome. An entity certainly does not have to be in your home to initiate EVP.

It is common for an EVP experimenter to ask for help from the other side to improve communications. To our friends on the other side, this is probably equivalent to asking them into our house for a visit. If you are seeking phenomena—and you are if you work with EVP—then we would think that you would greet these visitations as a new form of communication. What a wonderful proof!

These entities are people. In time, they could be you. How would you like to be treated? They deserve to be treated with respect. If you are not living in a haunted house and if you find that you have entities in your home, odds are this is because you have called them in some way, or they have a need to communicate with you. After all, many of us have come to EVP out of a need to communicate with one of them. Can you imagine how frustrating it might be if entities in your house believe you can help them communicate with a loved one (perhaps with you) and all you do is request that they leave? You have the right to tell them to go, but you have the opportunity to greet them and find a way to communicate.

How it may be possible for an animal to communicate via EVP

12/ 202009/ 2016 by Tom Butler

The Survival Hypothesis hold that we are an etheric entity in a symbiotic relationship with a physical body. It is through this etheric-physical entanglement that we are able to bring etheric objects of reality into the physical and still satisfy the Principle of Natural Law which holds that “An object of reality must be in perceptual agreement with the aspect of reality it inhabits.” An etheric object, such as a dog bark or an idea, must somehow be embodied into the physical. Thus for etheric-to-physical influences to be possible, that influence (an object of reality) must be “embodied” into the physical (made energetically in agreement with the physical). There are other sources of information that support the idea that we are responsible for providing the etheric-physical energy necessary for EVP or any other form of etheric to physical phenomena.

In mental mediumship and in EVP, we are pretty sure that the etheric communicators must use the vocabulary and image library of the person enabling the communication. That is usually the experimenter and/or a person who has their attention on the experiment. I have a little training in mediumship and this is consistent with my experience. Essentially all EVP are in a language that the experimenter or interested party understands. It is common to hear an experimenter say, “that means …” to explain an obscure utterance in EVP. We think this is because the person understands the imagery and may have even sensed the translation of the image into voice. That is essentially how mediumship works.

(c)2004butler_man_with_dog Experiments have shown that it is possible to deliberately record the thoughts of sleeping people–even to solicit meaningful comments about what the experimenter is doing far in another part of the world. This is reasonable because while sleeping or in some way mentally disengaged from the physical, we are pretty much the same as the etheric entities we communicate with via EVP.

An animal is also an etheric entity embodied into the physical, and so, there is no reason to think that an animal could not also communicate ideas to us via EVP and using our language and image library. Experiments need to be conducted to determine if this makes sense.

This is a video ITC image of a man–maybe in uniform–holding a dog as if for a portrait. The technique is to set up a camera so that it “sees” what it has just “seen” on the screen of a TV. The objective is to generate chaotic optical noise with the video loop. Order naturally emerges in the optical noise via stochastic resonance, but those otherwise haphazard patches of order are sometimes transfigured into recognizable features. The features are found later by examining individual video frames.

We see quite a few animals in visual forms of these phenomena, often being presented as a favorite pet. We believe that the physical mechanism of stochastic resonance enhancing small telekinetic influences is the same for mental mediumship, and audio and visual forms of ITC.

As a side note, you will see scholarly dissertations about how EVP is just the telepathic manipulation of the electronic device by the experimenter, and is therefore not evidence of survival. (Telepathy obviously being the lesser of two evils for these physical scientists when compared to survival.) As you can see above, we agree that it is telekinetic manipulation by the experimenter, but caused by the etheric communicator. The evidence of survival is in the message not in the mechanism.

I hope that answers your question. Please remember that all I have said about the theory is hypothetical. Much more research is needed.

Bill (Dutch) Weisensale Returns Home

11/ 202009/ 2001 by Lisa Butler

From Spring 2001 AA-EVP NewsJournal

Although we knew that Dutch Weisensale had been fighting cancer for quite some time it was still a very sad evening when we learned that he would no longer be communicating with us in the physical. Our prayers go out to his wife Mary who was instrumental in much of Dutch’s work.

Sarah Estep wrote:

Dutch (Bill) Weisensale and I became close friends almost 25 years ago. He’d heard about me, somehow, and how I started taping in October 1976, so wrote to me about his work in the field. We immediately began exchanging letters (in those days neither of us had computers) and answered each other promptly. George Meek, the developer of Spiricom contacted Dutch and asked if he knew any taper who might be able to reinforce William O’Neil’s work with Spiricom. Dutch suggested George contact me.

About that time, Dutch began an international group he called “Spirit Voices.” He published a quarterly Journal, largely technical, about his own brilliant work in the field of EVP, and outstanding ideas he had for development. When Dutch discontinued his group, I felt others in the field needed to know what their colleagues were doing, so I began the AA-EVP in May 1982. Dutch was very happy I’d done this and supported my every effort. He remained a member of my AA-EVP until I turned it over to the Butlers in May 2000. Dutch joined their group and remained very active in working on R&D ideas, along with other members, to enable the invisibles to come through to us more easily and in louder and clearer voices.

Even though he was diagnosed with terminal cancer several years ago, he continued putting all of his efforts into the development of the field of ITC. Dutch had many treatments for his disease, which would cause him to remain in the hospital for several days at a time. Just as soon as he was able, he’d return home and continue working in the field that he loved, ITC.

I am sad that Dutch is no longer with us–in a physical sense, although I know he will continue to be aware of all that we do in bringing communication from the spirit world, to our world, here. No doubt he has already returned to good health, and is busy working with other outstanding scientists from his ‘home’ back there, to help those of us involved with EVP/ITC.

I am sure Dutch was greeted by the Heavenly Choir, upon his return, and the red carpet was laid before him….

Jeff King wrote:

I first made contact with Dutch in the late 1980s, after Sarah had mentioned his work (and address) in her newsletter. The first interesting parallel between us was that he and I shared a common career and status as what he humorously called a “recycled technician.” He was ex-Air Force, I was ex-civil aviation.

In gaining copies of all of Dutch’s printed work, I quickly realized that he and I had been on a parallel research path without knowing it. For my part, Dutch’s insights validated my own, and gave me confidence to go further with formative theories.

At that time, we corresponded via snail-mail, but the major part of my involvement with Dutch was much later via personal emails, where through our collaboration, we both had some satisfying insights to long unanswered technical questions.

I quickly came to greatly admire Dutch’s insights (and direct approach) into the technical realms of EVP research, and felt very privileged to be able to work with him in this pioneering field.

“I know that the technical work will indeed continue for him in a heavenly setting, and that somehow we will be aware of this work and its evolution.

I’ll miss you Dutch…but I’m sure we’ll be hearing from you!!

In one of his last letters to us Dutch wrote: “When I was 14 years old, I learned to ride my Dad’s Harley-Davison in the cornfield behind our house. Off and on during my life I’ve ridden bikes and still have our almost half-century old (1952) Harley in our little shop. Free spirit on the open road, and all that good stuff. Just a keepsake now. I’m hardly in condition to kick start an engine with the displacement of a Volkswagen. Anyway I’ve told Mary that she doesn’t have to worry about me passing on, because when my time comes, if I can’t figure out how to take our Harley along, I’m just simply not going to go, period. — So far I haven’t been able to figure it out. Love, cheers and best wishes to all of you, Dutch and Mary.”

We are sure that Dutch found an exact replica of the Harley waiting for him on the other side.

Forever Family Foundation 2013 Conference

04/ 201809/ 2016 by Tom Butler

by Tom and Lisa Butler
Previously published in the Winter 2014 AA-EVP NewsJournal

Forever Family Foundation 2013 Conference

Bob and Phran Ginsberg’s daughter, Bailey, made her untimely transition in 2002. Phran told us, “The knowledge that she was still with us gave us the hope we so desperately needed just to survive each day,” and with that understanding, they started the Forever Family Foundation (FFF) in 2004. Since then, they have expanded the nonprofit, volunteer organization to provide a host of services including conferences, discussion groups, a radio program and newsletter. Membership is free; however, the organization lives on donations and the hard work of a few volunteers, so your support would help this important organization continue into the future.

Forever Family is dedicated to supporting people who have lost loved ones. The organization maintains an excellent certification program for mental mediums, making it possible for people to be sure that they are working with a reputable medium.

We were invited to speak at their 7th Annual Afterlife Conference in San Diego in November. It was a fantastic mixture of amazingly gifted mental mediums and the latest scientific evidence proving survival.

Well-known researcher of the paranormal and foundation president, Loyd Auerbach, opened the conference, and later gave a very interesting talk on apparitions. His broad background in paranormal research, and especially in hauntings investigation, gives him an important perspective on the nature of this phenomenon.

2013-fff-panel Dr. Stephen Braude has been conducting intensive research into the physical mediumship of the Felix Experimental Group (FEG) under controlled conditions. You have seen reports in this NewsJournal about the FEG medium and we will be hosting him again in July, 2014. If anyone ever felt that there was trickery in Kai’s séances, Braude can provide excellent assurance that the phenomena are real. Please read Arrogance of Scientific Authority.

Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell has conducted extensive research into psi functioning and brain activity. She spoke about her research into people with autism and how they experience reality. The information was riveting and we realized how they are much more high-functioning than most think. We believe that she is working toward a book that will be both extremely interesting and very needed.

During a holotropic breathing workshop, medium Janet Mayer began speaking in a foreign language. After years of searching, she learned that the language was that of an indigenous people living in a tropical rain forest in northern Brazil and southern Venezuela. Janet found a man working at the Smithsonian Institute who was able to translate her words. She learned that she was speaking prayers, chants, prophecies and prognostications of the Yanomami people who believe their fate is tied to the fate of the environment.

Dr. Jeffrey Tarrant gave a talk about his research mapping Janet’s brain while she is channeling the Yanomami language and other languages (spoken by more than one person). Jeffrey put a helmet equipped with electrodes on Janet’s head and gave us a real-time demonstration of the changes in her brain activity during her normal speech and then when she was speaking the foreign language. He pointed out how the region of the brain associated with compassion, empathy and loss of ego became very active when Janet began channeling.

Of course, we talked about transcommunication. Lisa played a number of Class A EVP and told their stories, after which Tom displayed examples of the many forms of visual ITC and talked a little about theories for how the phenomena might be explained.

Mental mediumship is an important cornerstone of the FFF and time was set aside for demonstrations of mediumship by Kim Russo, Angelina Diana, Janet Mayer and Laura Lynne Jackson. We were very impressed by the quality of the information presented by the mediums. Their focus was not only on evidence but also on ethics. Mental mediumship is well-established as one of the phenomena providing evidence of both psi functioning and survival. However, anyone with the gift of gab and a little insight into human nature can claim to be a medium. This “wild west” environment makes it difficult for a grieving family to find a trustworthy person to help them contact a discarnate loved one. The FFF efforts to establish a registry of reliable mediums is perhaps one of the most beneficial services they can provide. You can view this list at www.foreverfamilyfoundation.org

The very first night of mediumship demonstrations turned out to be extremely evidential for me (Lisa), but let me explain a little. My sister had made her transition on October twenty and the memorial in Arizona was only six days before our trip to San Diego for the conference. This was a difficult memorial because my sister never liked me. She wanted to be an only child and never really forgave me for showing up.

In lieu of flowers, donations to a fund for helping animals had been set up, which was wonderful. But, I asked if we could provide a wreath for the memorial because, without flowers, the memorial would seem cold. My niece agreed to this and we ordered a big heart of roses to be delivered for the memorial. It turned out to be quite beautiful.

The whole thing was beyond awkward and stressful. We were invited to a potluck dinner at my sister’s house the evening before the memorial. My niece welcomed us but introduced us to no one in the room of about thirty people. Again, at the memorial we were not asked to sit with the family and were not introduced to anyone. I can’t blame my niece, as there is no telling what my sister had said about us. We had never been a part of her life, my sister did not even invite us to her daughter’s wedding, saying after the fact that the invitation must have gotten lost.

There is no blame here, families are families. If there is reincarnation perhaps I have done something terrible to my sister in a past life. But because of the loss of this relationship, I cried my eyes out at the memorial. I tell you all of this only because of the next remarkable event.

That first night of the conference, Kim Russo came to Tom and gave him some amazing information on a step- brother and his father. After the event was over, Janet Mayer quickly came to me and said, “Lisa I can’t believe that Kim didn’t come to you next. Who is the women; the mother that is here”? I immediately thought of my friend Jannet whose mother had just made her transition. Then Janet Mayer went on saying that she had been a florist and the women was pointing to a large beautiful floral arrangement. Immediately, it hit me that it was my mom. Then Janet said something about angel wings.

Angel wings were important to my sister because she had been very reassured by seeing angel wings, years earlier them during a heart angioplasty. They also seemed to assure me that my sister was on her way to a new life.

I simply can’t express the impact of this message. I am so immensely thankful for those on the other side being able to get messages to us in so many different ways. This message through Janet was enormously healing and allowed me to know that my mother had been at the memorial and helped my sister across. I feel blessed for this experience and its ability to help me let go of hurt feelings that are really nothing in the larger scheme of things.

Another very interesting message came from another medium who told us (before our presentation) that she had done a reading for a mother whose child was on the other side. The son said he was part of a circle (she used the term circle) trying to use technology to contact loved ones on this side. I asked “Big Circle?” and she immediately said “Yes!”

The Mystery of the Roses

11/ 202009/ 2004 by Lisa Butler

Originally published in the Winter 2004 ATransC NewsJournal

The Encyclopedic Psychic Dictionary defines coincidence as, “1. (esoteric) (Carl Jung) two events occurring simultaneously, having no known cause-and-effect connection and unrelated in nature but showing a meaningful response, indicating some kind of intelligence link.”

If you have read our book, There is No Death and there are No Dead, you know that we attended a transfiguration séance at the Golden Gate Spiritualist Church in San Francisco last May. The church is an amazing place full of historical items. Some of these items are spirit paintings painted by a spirit artist during sittings given by the Reverend Florence Becker. During these one to two hour sessions, a blank canvas was set out for the spirit artist to work with. The people attending the séance sat in total darkness, continuously singing until a loud clap was heard. The clap signaled that the painting was complete. When the lights were turned on, the canvas was seen to hold a portrait or scene with still wet paint. The spirit painting was then covered with a black cloth and placed away from light for over a year. It was known that, without this period of darkness, the precipitated painting would fade away.

Most of the spirit paintings were presented to Reverend Becker’s students or church members and were returned to the church upon the recipient’s eventual transition to spirit. The total number of such paintings is unknown but twenty-five have been returned. The earliest known spirit painting was completed in 1911.

In October 2003 we gave a workshop at the National Spiritualist Association of Churches annual Conference in San Francisco, California. While there, a woman approached us with two photographs. One was of a spirit painting that was precipitated at a Reverend Becker séance. It was a painting of a vase of roses. While at the Golden Gate Church, we remember seeing several of the wonderful spirit paintings, but not the painting of roses. The other photograph was of another painting of roses that the woman had found in a restaurant in the California Gold Country. The two were somewhat alike, as you can see by the photographs, and she thought we might be interested in the “coincidence.”

In early November of 2003 we conducted an investigation in the Thunderbird Lodge at Lake Tahoe, Nevada with Janice Oberding (www.hauntednevada.com). It was a large place and it required hours of work to analyze the audio and video we collected during the investigation. (Hear the “Hidden Morphine” example below) Janice writes books about haunted places and was talking to us about a haunted antique store she had discovered, even as we were working on the Thunderbird material. As she was speaking about this new location, I could only think about all the work that we had stacked up and that I was not going to let her get us interested in another investigation. We simply had more to do than we could handle! So I listened, but assured myself that we were not going to get involved!

A few days later an email came from Janice informing us of the address for the haunted antique store on her website and asking us to let her know what we thought. The first thing that I saw on the recommended page was a painting of roses with a title, “Haunted Painting.” To say my mouth dropped open is an understatement. We immediately tore through the house to find the photographs that had been given to us at the convention in San Francisco. Holding the picture of the spirit painting beside the picture of the “haunted painting,” we could see that the similarities were unmistakable. The form and location of each rose and leaf is the same. There is an additional bunch of roses on the table in the antiques store version. This is exactly the location of the spirit artist signature in the original. There is also a difference in the color of the roses. The spirit painting roses are toward the red shade. The roses in the painting in the antique store are pink.

Janice later explained that the rose painting had been the property of the owner’s mother. She loved the painting and even painted a room of the house to match the pink of the roses. When her mother transitioned, the daughter turned the home into an antique store. The rose painting was among the antiques for sale.

As the story was told to us, she had agreed to sell it to a man who helped in the store and was a boarder in an upstairs room. That very night the painting fell off the wall damaging an electrical outlet and nearly starting a fire. A few weeks later the man mentioned that they had not set a price for the painting and its sale was once again discussed. The painting again fell off the wall that evening, even though it was hung with an eight penny nail. After this the proprietor told the man that she felt the painting did not want to be sold.

The next day we were all in the car, making the drive to the antique store. The first thing that we asked after meeting the owner was if she knew anything about Spiritualism. She answered, “Have you ever heard of the Reverend Florence Becker?” We learned from the ensuing conversation that her mother had lived near San Francisco and attended Reverend Becker’s sittings in the late 1950s. The daughter felt that the painting was from the late 1800s but the painting is not signed or dated. The Becker painting is dated 1916 and signed by the spirit artist, Rapierre.

While we were there, we recorded for EVP around the painting. We feel that we possibly heard from the woman’s mother, who via EVP, reassured the daughter that she was pleased with what she had done to the home through renovations. We then asked if the painting would like to be in a Spiritualist household and received a “Yes” and another EVP saying, “We are not happy here.” We asked if the painting would like to be returned to the Golden Gate Church and also got an affirmative answer.

The owner will not sell the painting and is actually afraid that some terrible thing will befall her or the store if the painting were to be removed even for a few minutes. We did not share the EVP that we received regarding the painting. This would not be ethical considering her feelings about the painting. We have no idea who was speaking to us through EVP, and as we all know, this could have easily been a trickster. So, we really do not know the meaning of this series of events. The relationship and similarity of the painting is obvious. We feel that the haunted painting is most likely a copy of the original, which was a gift from the spirit artist to Reverend Becker for her work and dedication. The rose painting hung over the fireplace at Reverend Becker’s house during the late 1950s. A photograph could have been taken of it and a copy made. Still this was a most interesting experience and we wonder if the story is not yet over.

Larry Dean and Patricia Begley: ITC

07/ 202009/ 2016 by Lisa Butler

Author, Larry Dean has been working on a book on Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC). Larry says that he was interested in spiritual pursuits at a very young age when others were out playing sports. Later in his life he devoted most of his time to doing presentations and teaching classes on the development of psychic abilities and healing. Although Larry is naturally clairaudient and clairvoyant, it was only after he stopped teaching these classes that he took time to develop his own trance work.

Larry is a deep trance channel. His ITC partner, Patricia Begley facilitates and records the sessions. It is generally only through her doing this, and the recordings she makes, that Larry knows what has taken place while he has been in trance. Many years ago the two were told by their main guide, Choi, that their spirit team was working with them to establish Video ITC contacts.

Larry and Patricia worked together on sitting for physical phenomena for many years. They were excited and encouraged by the ITC results of the Harsch-Fischbach, and were even able to sit in on some of the Scole Experimental Group sessions. They continued to sit with a group and did experience limited physical phenomena, but did not achieve successful television or Video ITC contacts. Larry talks about the years that they sat around looking at dots on television screens and featureless video experiments.

Larry made contact with the two of us over a year ago regarding the ITC book he is working on. We spoke with Larry numerous times on the phone and found a common bond and interest in his enthusiasm for ITC. Since we had also begun work on a book on EVP and ITC in late 2002, we were able to send Larry the two chapters on Video ITC that describe how to conduct an experiment and some of the theories that attempt to explain Video ITC. We wanted to get his opinion about the usefulness of the chapters and to see if he could replicate what we were finding in our experiments. Within weeks we received an excited phone call from Larry. Larry and Patricia had followed the instructions and had received images on their very first experiment. One of those pictures was that of a close friend who is now on the other side.

Larry has the wonderful benefit of being able to use his trance work to receive advice and direction on future experiments. He was told to ask for particular people to appear in their experiments. Larry and Patricia have only been working with video ITC for a few short months, but following that advice, they have received many images of people whom they have asked to appear in their video frames. For instance, they have collected images of Patricia’s father and mother and also the image of Patricia’s Aunt Ethel, which is shown here. (The first frame is a black and white photograph of Ethel. The second frame is the ITC feature as it came to us. The third frame is a black and white enhancement of the ITC, which was necessary to permit it to be printed in the ATransC NewsJournal.)

Life is but a Dream

12/ 202009/ 2016 by Lisa Butler

Published in the Summer 2007 AA-EVP NewsJournal

Debbie Sheppard recalls that about three years ago, every now and then she would look at a clock, cable box, microwave, stove, cell phone … anything digital and see 11:11. Then the 1111 grew more frequent and daily. As the frequency progressed it changed from just digital equipment to out-of-the-home experiences. Because of all of the 1111 prompts, Debbie went for a reading with a medium at Cassadaga, a Spiritualist camp a short distance from where she lives. She was told that there was nothing to fear, that a man would come into her life and it would be a match from heaven. The number 1111 would be highly significant in their lives. Debbie wrote, “I thought, ‘Yeah, yeah. OK, that’s very generic.’

“As of the summer of 2005, I had been divorced for twenty-two years. I had a lot of dates, boyfriends and two long-term relationships but never any relationship that I wanted to commit to. In addition, I had a great corporate health care career and the boys were my focus. Two played football, my oldest with a National Honors Graduate scholarship with a full ride to the University of Alabama. I was busy. Men were fun but no one really captured my heart and I lived very, very much ‘in the world.’ I was successful and if it didn’t say Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Porsche or Corvette I couldn’t be bothered. If I was going to be taken out to dinner to Olive Garden, I wasn’t interested … take me to Europe and I’ll go. Yes, I was very much a spoiled Italian princess.

“In the summer of 2005…. an Italian friend of mine from Toronto told me about an Italian singles web site and that I should check it out. I really wasn’t interested, but the allure of only Italians captured me, so I went on to take a peek. Well, you actually had to have a profile posted to look. I placed a very tough personal ad on that web site. I think a lot of men were afraid to contact me … I justified my tough profile by knowing who I am, what I want and what type of men I blend best with and also I needed only the very strong to send me emails, as I have issues with my oldest son … who is ill…. Most men would not be interested in a relationship with a woman that has a twenty-seven year-old hanging around all the time. So, I knew that this Italian web site would just be for fun.

“A week or so after I joined, I received an email from ‘Tinman’ and he committed the first sin: NO PICTURE!!! ‘Tinman’ wrote that he was from Connecticut and moved to Florida a year ago and that he has been single for over thirty years and he was very clear on what his desires were for a woman in his life…. He wrote how much he related to what I had written about strong Italian ties, holiday traditions, family, etc. I wrote back and told him that I would not communicate with him in any way without a picture. He wrote back that he was new to computers, had just purchased a digital camera but didn’t know how to use it, and would I consider talking to him anyway. Well now I thought he was a complete moron and told him so in my reply email. He wrote back again and I HAD MY FINGER ON THE DELETE BUTTON. My hands started to sweat and I walked away from the computer. I replied to his email a day later and gave him my phone number. He called right away.”

Debbie told us that the two talked on the phone and then agreed to meet for lunch. Lunch lasted six hours and she was shocked that she even invited this total stranger, Joe Stella, to her house for coffee. She introduced him to Trooper, the boxer that she had rescued six months before. He told her that he had always wanted a dog and in particular a boxer but could not have one where he lived.

Joey took ownership of Trooper and for the first time in her life, Debbie was happy. As she told us:

“Joey was everything opposite of every man that entered into my life for my entire adult life. Joey had none of what they had but Joey had EVERYTHING, everything that was important and everything that I loved. Joey didn’t have children and he took on my three grown sons as his own. The guys immediately formed relationships. Joey loved my parents and our friends all blended in well.

“One night as I was sleeping, I felt someone looking at me. I woke up and there was Joey, leaning up on his arm looking at me. He said, ‘I love you, I love Trooper, I love this, you are my love, I think we should get married. You sleep on it and give me your answer in the morning.’ He rolled over and started snoring. I sat up in bed in shock. ‘Sleep on it’? I was up most of the night. I couldn’t sleep.

“We became engaged on 11-24-2006…. After Joey crossed over, as I was going through his desk, I found an email that he sent to the online dating site that was dated 11-14-2005. It said, ‘Please cancel my subscription effective 11-14-05, as I have found the love of my life.’”

Joey’s favorite song was Life is but a Dream and this was the theme of their wedding, which was to be a huge destination wedding for their family and friends. They wanted the wedding on a Saturday in mid-October to mid-November. The only Saturday available was November 11 (11-11).

In May, Joey went to help his mother move into a different senior complex in Connecticut. He decided to drive so that he would have a car to help with the move. Before going, he insisted on buying the wedding rings even though Debbie kept telling him there was no hurry, as the wedding was six months away. They chose matching bands, and the evening before he left, they took them out of the dresser and tried them on.

Joey and his friend left for Connecticut on Tuesday. Debbie told us,

“We spoke through his ride and I could not sleep until I knew he was at his destination in Connecticut, which was twenty hours later. The guys did what they had to do on Wednesday after just having a few hours sleep. On Thursday, Joey’s friend went to see his family while Joey spent the day completing what had to be done for his mom and then went out to dinner with friends.

“I spoke to him Thursday evening and he was very tired. The guys planned to leave Connecticut the next day, but Joey never woke up from his night’s sleep. He was found dead!

“A knock came on the door to our home and it was the police. My Joey was not coming home to me. I screamed and screamed! I ran out into the middle of the street screaming. All of our neighbors ran to me and called my sons … how my boys cried. They jumped into their cars and came to me. My mother was screaming, ‘Why God? Take me; bring him back to her. I have cancer. Please let me die so Joe can live. Don’t do this to my daughter.’

“Guilt! I was overcome with guilt. Why didn’t I go with him? Why didn’t I insist that I go? He didn’t have to die. If I was in bed with him, I would have heard him in distress. I hated God. In my book I state, ‘you heartless God, why bring this precious gift to me and then take it away?’ I wrote, ‘I HATE sympathy cards, please do not send me any more mass cards. I hate God; do not tell me that God has a path for us and go to God to ask him to heal your heart. Go to God!!! Why he ripped my heart out.’ I was inconsolable. My parents are very old-fashioned Italians and my mother had saints and candles and rosary beads and I HATED everyone.

“I stayed in my house all summer long. I had chest pains and I cried every day…. I spent nights on the computer searching every web site I could find about religion, death and dying. On a web site from a church in Argentina, I learned of Father Francois Brune and his recordings of the dead. There was a link to a web site called listentothisforme.com (closed) …. I listened to this mother, who spoke like I did but stronger, talk to her son Joey. I listened and listened to all the kids, I saw the picture of Lenny Ingrassia…. I sat at the computer and cried. I thought, ‘you selfish woman. Here is a mother who lost her son. You don’t know what pain is.’

“I put listentothisforme into my favorites. The next day, my cousin from Staten Island, NY, my home town, called me to check on me. I told her about the web site and the horrible story of four teenage boys from the same high school who had all died. I said, ‘Doreen, they have to be New York kids because I can tell by the way the mother Debbie talks to her son.’ My cousin Doreen said, ‘Debbie that’s Joey Caruso and Lenny Ingrassia; it has to be. These boys are known all over Staten Island. They all died the same year’…. She started to cry at the coincidence of it because her daughter Jenna has a prayer group in her Catholic high school for all of the boys that died that year. We thought that it was amazing that through a web site in Argentina, I found a web site of a woman from Staten Island where I grew up and that my cousin knew the stories and heartache for all these boys.

“That evening, I was back on listentothisforme and found the link to the AA-EVP. And that night, I became a member of the AA-EVP. The next day I went to Wal-Mart and bought a cassette recorder. I followed the instructions about the prayer of protection. I lit my candle and had my picture of Joey with me. I recorded and recorded and heard nothing. I joined in on the Big Circle and recorded on Thursday nights. I received nothing. I studied the AA-EVP web site to learn techniques and I listened to everyone’s posts. I was starting to understand the words in between the scratchy sounds. But I recorded nothing.

“Feeling sad and left out, I sent an email to the administrators to ask for help…. I received an email back from the AA-EVP telling me about a woman in New York named Debbie that might be able to help. I immediately jumped at it and within a short time received an email and a phone call from Debra Ann. We connected immediately as we are both New Yorkers, both Italian and both of us had lost Joeys…. When I found out more about Debbie and her son through our phone conversation, I was screaming about listentothisforme and I told her that I had been listening to her and her son and others for over a month. When I told Debbie about my cousin and that her daughter Jenna holds a prayer group for the boys, Debbie was in shock.

“How is this all possible? Really, think about it. I stumble onto listentothisforme from a priest’s web site in Argentina and through listentothisforme I find the AA-EVP, and because I am not hearing, anything a woman, a total stranger who doesn’t know me and certainly doesn’t know that I am Italian from New York because my last name is an American name from my ex-husband … so why did this stranger lady connect me to Debra Ann, who is Debbie Caruso?

“Debbie and I … started recording for Joe Stella right away. We recorded over the phone and Debbie emailed the EVP to me. Debbie did not know the name of our dog. When I asked Joey to tell her, we received “Troopa.” The dog’s name is Trooper. Debbie and I recorded a lot as the time got closer to 11-11, my wedding date.

“Debbie is selfless and I can never repay her for what she did for me the day before and on my wedding day. Her daughter Alexa was in a dance competition in Atlantic City, New Jersey those two days and Debbie took the time from her busy schedule to record with me. That’s when Debbie asked, ‘who’s getting married Saturday?’ and we received, ‘Joe Stella.’ Debbie asked Joey, ‘What’s the name of your wedding song,’ and we received, ‘Our life would have been a dream.’ Ninety-nine percent of all the EVP from my Joey is validation EVP. It’s amazing!

“I am no longer angry at God. Through the books written by the members of the AA-EVP, I now understand that our souls are on the physical plane for a predetermined period of time. I now understand that there is no death, there are no dead and that crossing over is just a transfer of spirit. I now understand that there is a heaven and that our loved ones are happy and peaceful. I now know that they are with us and want to communicate with us. I now know that, although we can’t see them (yet) or feel them (yet), we still have a connection to them.

“The AA-EVP has allowed me to find God again, to believe in heaven, to believe in life after death and to know—really, really know in my heart—that there is nothing to be afraid of when we take our last breath on this earth. Rather, expect the wonderful journey to a forever of happiness, family, friends and beauty. Whether or not I record audible EVP, I will continue to work with EVP, to learn and to open a grieving heart to it.

“I know that, with all the brilliant minds combined with the passion of the AA-EVP members, we will be able to better communicate with our loved ones and help many, many broken hearts that will come into our paths in this life. To my AA-EVP family, thank you.” Debbie

A Two-Year Investigation of the Allegedly Anomalous Electronic Voices or EVP

12/ 202009/ 2016 by Anabela Cardoso

Republished from NeuroQuantology | September 2012 | Volume 10 | Issue 3 | Page 492-514
Please see the entire article at citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.988.4953&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Abstract

A relatively novel acoustic phenomenon has inundated the Internet and specialized literature. Several Associations, some of them with an important number of members, have formed around it in many countries. In the Anglo-Saxon world the phenomenon is called EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) and is usually assumed as electronically mediated communication from or with the deceased. The first tests aimed at verifying the reality of these claims were carried out in Sweden and in Germany, in 1964 and 1970, under the direction of Professor Hans Bender from Freiburg University (Bender, 1970; 1972; 2011). The present report describes in detail the tests designed to record the allegedly anomalous electronic voices, or EVP, under controlled acoustic conditions. Series of experiments were carried out in Vigo, Spain throughout a period of two years under conditions controlled to the highest degree achievable. Several operators were involved in the many tests conducted in Acoustic Laboratories and professional recording studios equipped with very high levels of acoustic shielding. The protocols and procedures followed in the experiments, as well as the results obtained, are herewith described. Several extra voices were recorded during the many experiments performed for which no normal explanation was found.

Conclusions

The reality of the apparently anomalous electronic voices was confirmed in acoustically controlled environments with different operators.

With the exception of the June 17, 2008 radio voices, none of the voices or whispers described in the present report were heard live during the tests. Extra voices, originating from undetectable sources, were identified in the following situations:

Under controlled speech and controlled acoustic environment – AC as sole operator at the Metropolis and at the University of Vigo; Iñaki at the University of Vigo and at the Metropolis.
Under controlled acoustic environment and uncontrolled speech – AC, Portuguese operators and participants (PN and Francisco) at the Metropolis; AC, IH and UH at University of Vigo; the same and Iñaki at the Metropolis.
Under uncontrolled speech and uncontrolled acoustic environment – AC and the Portuguese operators outside the Acoustics chamber of the Superior School of Engineering; AC and Iñaki at the same place.

The voices seemed to benefit from the presence of noise in the environment (particularly human speech and metallic clicks). The very few voices recorded without any explicit noise had quite lower amplitude than the voices registered with a background of explicit noise. The amplitude of the voices seems to be related to the level of background environmental noise extant in the room when the voices appear recorded. Probably to other variables, too but those remain undefined and need further research.

The voices were louder, clearer, more abundant and flowing when uncontrolled direct human speech by two or more people prevailed, independently of an acoustically controlled or uncontrolled environment. Above all, they seemed to benefit from a situation where the operators’ frame of mind was lively and energetic, and perhaps also from a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. On the other hand, they seemed to be negatively affected if the operators were focused on the experiment.

The voices seemed to benefit from a slightly chaotic situation – AC, Portuguese operators, PN and Francisco at the Metropolis; AC, IH, UH and Sound Technician ML at the Laboratory of Acoustics. The voices did not seem to be significantly more abundant when an artificial basis of human speech was used (Psychophone* and EVPmaker) as acoustic background source.

Methods, the psychophone and the EVPmaker software methods proved to be highly unreliable, not because they are particularly bad acoustic backgrounds for the production of the voices but because they are undoubtedly a source of uncertainty and ambiguity in the analysis of the results. They can very easily originate pareidolia and/or projection of meaning based upon expectation. Very particularly with the EVPmaker software, it is easy to find “results” in recording-sessions where they do not exist. In addition, an erroneous interpretation of the content of possibly anomalous utterances found in the recording is very likely. Most of the EVP “results,” published in the Internet, fall into one of these categories.

The equipment and location of the experiments did not seem to weigh on the formation of the voices but the highly sensitive microphone Bruel & Kjaer used at some of the University experiments appeared to capture more voices than the other microphones.

The content of all the voices recorded in the tests, with the possible exception of “altus”, were pertinent to the situation and/or to the operator(s)

From the results of the present research, this author fully corroborates Professor Alex Schneider, the Swiss physicist from St. Gallen who closely followed, studied and replicated some of Raudive’s work, when he declares in his Appendix to Breakthrough:

“Other investigators choose the moment when a transmitter starts to beam out the carrier wave just before beginning to transmit a program or else they select a slow-speaking lecture program in which the pauses between groups of words are so considerable that call signs can be interspersed. A carrier appears to be necessary, or, at any rate, desirable… a number of voices sound as though they were constituted from the homogeneous noises spectrum by some physically unexplained process of selection” (ibid, pp.340-341).

Moreover, in view of the results, a pertinent question is to find out if there are parallels between the allegedly anomalous electronic voice phenomena and so-called paranormal events of a different nature. Apparently, one of the distinctive characteristics of paranormal events is their occurrence in situations when they cannot be easily controlled. Professor Hans Bender is quoted as saying (translation):

“If we tentatively admit the still questionable factuality of ‘spooks’, then [the attempt] to keep hold of it by photographing, filming or by recording acoustical phenomena will have to face the difficulty that the phenomena apparently elude a critical grasp. The impression almost suggests that the intelligent forces mock the observer and produce a phenomenon just there where one cannot get hold of it” (Bender, 1979).

* Editor: A psychophone compares well as an early form of radio-sweep.

Anabela Cardoso has published the ITC Journal (itcjournal.org) since March, 2000. She is amongst the few ITC practitioners in the world able to communicate using Direct Radio Voice (DRV). Since 1998, she has communicated with an etheric communication station which identifies itself as Rio do Tempo (Timestream).

Alexandra MacRae Experimental Results

01/ 202109/ 2007 by Alexander MacRae

Previously published in the Summer 2007 AA-EVP NewsJournal

In 2004, I applied for a research grant to the Bial Foundation to investigate whether or not EVP utterances could be related to questions asked by the EVP experimenter. Also on the team were Dr. Charl Vorster, a professor of clinical psychology, Jane Boyce and her team of listeners in England and a larger number of listeners in the US.

I wanted to make it as exact and formal as a physics experiment, but problems showed up even before we had properly started. I had devised a list of six standard questions which were asked one at a time, with thirty-second intervals between asking one question and the next. This was done in a standard formal way, with good, quite loud voice projection. One of the questions was, “What is your name?” So I’d ask:

Question (loudly spoken): What-is-your-name?

The reply surprised me. It sounded like the street-wise NYC cat in the cartoon series, Top Cat.

Response: “Who wansta know?”

Another time when I asked the same question, I got the same type of response.

Question (loudly spoken): What-is-your-name?

Response: “Stop shoving’ me around”

What on earth was going on?

Eventually I realized that the questions must have sounded like an interrogation, like a questioning authority. “My golly,” I thought, “these are sentient entities. They are sensitive to what I say, or at least, to the way that I say it.”

So the question was modified to, “Would you mind telling me your name?” and the intentionality was toned down, so it just sounded kind and interested and casual. And, the results were good.

There were four sessions in March 2005 and a good percentage of the responses were in context and in the right thirty-second time-frame. Already the point was proven!

But in April we began to lose some of the response categories. There were no in-context responses to some of the questions. Were they losing interest in those questions?

Even stranger, however, was the fact that there were one or two in-context responses that occurred BEFORE the questions were asked.

In May, there were some more anticipatory responses. In fact you could see the trend growing from late March until early May. More and more answers came before the question was asked. So were the entities not just sentient but precognitive? Or had they just learned what was going to happen?

Later, it looked as though it was just an experimenter effect. Two more things were happening. The number of responses was growing rapidly, month on month, but the number of in-context responses was decreasing. The responses were becoming more meaningless.

But then, as the months went by, it was noticed that, though the responses had ceased to relate to the questions asked, they were actually relating to each other. Here is a made-up example:

1^st voice: I’ll never see John again.
2^nd voice: You never liked him anyway.
3^rd voice: You can talk, loser.
4^th voice: Stop your noise. Give me peace.

Trying to make sense of this required a great deal of analysis, and I will try to compress this, in what follows.

The present understanding is that a part of the brain called the phonological loop is involved. Centuries ago, without the knowledge that we have nowadays about neural networks, the Swedish scientist Emmanuel Swedenborg, wrote that the speech of spirits was characterized by being rapid and rhythmic. (Spiritual Diary by Emanuel Swedenborg), and early EVP research, too, typified EVP as being speeded up and rhythmic.

My own first research showed that, based on many examples from other people, the length of an EVP utterance was typically less than two seconds. This observation was corroborated in Europe by Ernst Senkowski and Carlo Trajna. Coincidentally, it so happens that the size of the working memory in the part of the brain called the phonological loop is around two seconds.

The above diagram is based on the Introduction to Experimental Psychology course at McMaster University, Canada. Notice the use of the terms “inner ear” and “inner voice.”

The recognition of sound patterns goes way back on the evolutionary tree and is crucial to survival. You’d better recognize a lion’s roar, and quickly, if you don’t want to end up as its lunch. Recognition had to be exact and it had to be fast. And this is still true of the sound-pattern recognition system that we call speech.

The recognition process occurs through rapid recycling of the speech pattern through the phonological loop. As the memory storage to do this is only two seconds long, the empty spaces between words are “a waste of space,” and so these intervals are compressed to a standard shortness; “formatted,” to borrow a computer word. This means that the “inner speech” has a regular beat which is staccato or rhythmic. And it is shortened in time; “speeded up” is the usual term used.

In other words, there is a 100% correspondence between “inner speech” and EVP. The implication is that for EVP, you still need an actual person around. The way that Swedenborg put it, hundreds of years ago:

“Human speech passes in through the ear, by an external way, by means of the air; but the speech of spirits does not enter through the ear, nor by means of the air; but by an internal way, into the same organs of the head or brain. Consequently, the hearing is the same.” (Arcana Coelestia (Paragraph 1635) by Emanuel Swedenborg)

“…it is spiritual ideas which constitute their speech. When these inflows into man’s memory they excite words corresponding to the ideas and the like, which man has in his memory.” (Spiritual Diary (Para 2138) by Emanuel Swedenborg)

So you could say that EVP, like mediumship, needs a participating person to work. You could it call it Electronic Mediumship (EM). How inner speech gets from the brain to the EVP equipment is a remaining puzzle, but one that we are looking into.

Once again, thanks to all who participated in the Bial Project, it has led to a big advance in our understanding of EVP.

The Monroe Way

12/ 202004/ 2008 by Tom Butler

Binaural synchronization induced meditative state
Previously published in the Spring 2008 AA-EVP NewsJournal

Robert Monroe had spontaneous out-of-body experiences, which are well-documented in his books, Journey out of Body (Doubleday, ISBN: 0385008619, 1973) and Far Journeys (Doubleday, ISBN: 0385231822, 1985). An engineer, Monroe owned a radio production company, and so it seems natural that he would turn to audio technology in his efforts to understand his experiences. Before his transition, he “discovered” Hemi-Sync^® and the Frequency-following Response.

Robert had a penchant for acronyms and frequently described the etheric worlds in which he traveled in terms that were catchy but often used to represent unfamiliar meaning. For instance, he used the term, “Locale,” to describe a region of reality and while we are still more or less associated with the physical in Locale I, we see in the transition to Locale 2 that we leave things physical behind.

Robert Monroe is on the other side now, but his legacy is maintained as the Monroe Institute. The Institute provides on-campus classes and well-designed home-study packages. In general, students listen to a series of audio programs in which they are verbally, and with subtle audio signals, guided to deeper and deeper levels of awareness. These programs are intended to be used as a training tool to help the mind “recognize” these levels, and thereby, more quickly return to their associated states of mind.

We have attended three, one-week classes and have even met Robert. His daughter, Laurie Monroe, spoke at the 2006 AA-EVP conference. Our experience with the Monroe training programs is that they are a powerful tool for self-development and are potentially important for people wishing to develop their mediumship abilities.

The Monroe experiment mentioned in the Viewpoint will test this belief with a series of EVP recording sessions with and without a special set of frequencies.

The Technology

Robert Monroe discovered that the two hemispheres of the brain will synchronize with the beat-frequency between two audio signals. Using representative numbers, a 1000 Hz tone in one side of a stereo headset and a 1010 Hz tone in the other will result in a response to the 10 Hz difference between the two tones. This is “Hemi-Sync.^®” Further, if the difference between the tones is reduced, say to 5 Hz, then the brain will follow. This is the “Frequency-following Response.”

The levels of awareness in electroencephalograph biofeedback training for meditation are described as:

Beta (13-40 Hz): Awake and alert
Alpha (7-12 Hz): Deeply relaxed; meditative
Theta (4 -7 Hz): Between deep meditation and sleep.
Delta (0-4 Hz): Sleep

Biofeedback is used to teach a person to recognize a deep meditative state, and in the future, to quickly “go there” without feedback aids. In the Monroe system, binaural-beats (Hemi-Sync®) are used to teach the person the same response. In fact, you just relax and listen to the program as the hardly heard frequencies slowly move you into deeper and deeper levels of awareness. Even if you are disturbed, say by a passing car, the frequencies will quickly “pull” you back.

Robert referred to the first level, Focus^TM10, as the state of awareness in which the body is asleep and the mind is awake. Focus 10 is the beginning place for most of the programs. We believe it is correct to say that, in terms of biofeedback, this would be roughly equivalent to the “Alpha Level.”

The Institute has scanned the brains of people reported by others to be very successful trance-channels and did find a discernable difference from people who did not trance. A set of frequencies were developed from these EEG maps and were used to develop binaural-beats for audio programs designed to help the listener sense the presence of other intelligences. These are referred to as “Inner Self-Helper” or ISH frequencies and brain mapping of “ordinary” people, while they were under the influence of the frequencies, showed that they were measurably effective in inducing trance-like conditions.

The Cosmology

There are many cosmologies describing how reality is arranged, and if you need a reference point, then it may work to say that Focus 1 is our waking state—body and mind awake, so that would be the physical. As the focus of attention is changed further and further away from the physical, there is a transition point at Focus 21. So Focus 1 through 21 is Locale 1. Focus 22 through 27 is Local 2, and beyond that would be Locale 3. In the more commonly held cosmology, Locale 2 would probably be thought of as the Astral Plane (level of existence), but one should not be too determined to relate the Monroe way with others. The Monroe way is based on direct experience that can be generally replicated in controlled conditions, so it is best to look for perceptual similarities amongst the cosmologies.

Here then, are the more important focus levels as described in the Monroe literature:

Focus 10: The first stage in separation of mind-consciousness from physical reality. “Mind awake/body asleep” is a deeply relaxed state in which awareness of physical sensory input is reduced, yet the mind is alert and attentive to experience. This gives birth to awareness that you exist with or without the physical body.

Focus 12: A state of expanded awareness in which you can become more conscious of inner resources and guidance; a powerful and empowering state which readily lends itself to many diverse applications.

Focus 15: A state of “no time” in which you explore beyond the constraints of time and place. Opportunities are abundant for establishing communication with larger aspects of self.

Focus 18: Self-love, self-trust, and non-judgmental acceptance

Focus 21: Like deep (delta) sleep, but with a significant difference. You are fully “awake” and conscious, directing the action, as you explore more deeply your personal self and the far reaches of other realities.

Focus 22: Where humans still in the physical can have partial consciousness, remembered as dreams, deliriums, and patterns induced through chemicals

Focus 23: Inhabited by humans who have recently exited physical existence and have not adapted to such change

Focus 24, 25 and 26: The Belief System territories where those who have exited the physical are residing in a particular belief system

Focus 27: The Reception Center, Way Station, or Park, designed to ease the trauma and shock of the transition out of physical reality.

Some levels are more “interesting” to one or another of us. Tom really likes working at Focus 15. Also, how the levels are visualized is very personal. He gets a lot of insights from people in spirit coming to talk to him in Focus 15 (no time) but others have described it as nothingness. Some people say that in Focus 15, they have learned to imagine themselves moving from a center, along spokes of a wheel to the circumference where they are able to go forward or back in time. Lisa likes to use Focus 15 to visualize what she would like to manifest and feels that Focus 27, The Reception Center, is the easiest focus level to use to meet with loved ones and friends now on the other side.