Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) is sound captured on an electronic device, such as a digital voice recorder, which many people in the 
paranormal field interpret as spirit voices. At the time the recording is made, the sound generally isn’t heard with human ears, but when we go back and listen to the tape later, we can pick up all sorts of voices and noises. Voice recorders are a staple of most paranormal 
investigators equipment. It can be an amazing and rewarding experience to go back through your tapes and discover answers to questions you’ve asked or hear other bits of information. 

EVPs are categorized by how easily you can understand what is being said on the recording. There are four classes: A, B, C and D. Class A 
EVPs are the most clear (and least common), and most people will agree as to what they believe they hear. Class B EVPs are not quite as 
clear, and you may have to listen to the recording a few times, but you can normally decipher what is being said. Class C and D EVPs are 
progressively harder to understand, and sometimes you’ll need to listen to the recording a number of times. Even then, you may not be 
able to conclude what you’re listening to. What you think you hear during a recording, a fellow investigator may not--that person may have an entirely different opinion of what they think is being said. Investigators also need to be careful of pareidolia, the tendency for our minds to identify human voices where there actually are none.

 

Most investigators transfer their recordings to a computer, plug in a good set of headphones so they can hear the tape better, and often 
use software to adjust, amplify or filter the segment to better understand it. We need to be careful not to confuse common background 
noises with potential spirit voices (we should “tag” sounds while we are in the process of recording, so that when we go back to listen to it 
later, we remember what that sound was; e.g. someone coughing or a dog barking). Sometimes during an investigation, we will do a “burst” EVP session, which is a shorter recording, normally just a few minutes, and then go back and listen to the tape right at that moment to get an idea if we’re making contact with anything.

Below are some of the EVPs we’ve captured over the years with the caption of what we think that EVP is saying. Some are considerably 
softer than others and you’ll need to adjust your volume; others are a lot louder. For the softer ones, unless you listen with headphones, 
you may not be able to hear them very well. Again, though, not everyone hears the same thing. The best thing to do is plug in a good set of 
headphones and see what you think you hear...