Electronic Voice Phenomena

In 1959 the Swedish painter and film-maker Friedrich Jürgenson was recording birdsong when he heard what he believed were human voices on the tape, including one he took to be his late mother. He devoted the rest of his life to recording such voices.

The Latvian psychologist Konstantīns Raudive extended the work, gathering tens of thousands of recordings. His book, published in English as Breakthrough in 1971, made EVP known worldwide.

In 1982 Sarah Estep founded the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena. Later generations of investigators adopted digital recorders and 'spirit boxes' that sweep rapidly through radio frequencies, producing fragments of speech for listeners to interpret.

Radio broadcasts, baby monitors, mobile phones and equipment noise can all produce voice-like sounds. Our brains are tuned to detect speech, so suggestion — being told what a recording 'says' — powerfully shapes what we hear. We log time, location, equipment and conditions for every recording and ask listeners to transcribe independently before any interpretation is shared.