From My Viewpoint

Here we are—our Second Anniversary! A year ago I wrote, “We are continuing on our way! It is time to reflect, to assess.”

Evaluation of a group, of a life, should be done more than once a year. Perhaps I may be forgiven if I say I feel the AA-EVP has a life of its own. Two years ago I breathed a spark of life into—something—that I felt was waiting. It took off and as one person said to me recently about the Association, “You’ve got a tiger by the tail.” Ah, yes, but what a tiger it is! I give the lead a tug here and there, but I am not it. It has its own mind and seems to be headed in a direction towards which I can only dimly perceive and encourage.

In the first newsletter I wrote we had members in ten states and Canada.. A year later our membership had grown to twenty-seven states and three countries. Today thirty-four states, the District of Columbia and eight foreign countries are represented. We have added over 100 new members in the last year.

Statistics can sound impressive but numbers in themselves have little meaning. What lies behind the numbers? In this case you are the numbers. In a proper evaluation, we have to ask ourselves “What has AA-EVP meant to its members?”

One member living temporarily overseas wrote on her Christmas card, “Your newsletter is the one bright spot in my life!” A man from Pennsylvania wrote last month on his renewal membership, “Best organization I belong to.” In March, a woman came to my office to see what kind of equipment I use and to observe me making a recording. For almost a year she and her sister had tried unsuccessfully to contact their father who died a year ago in another country. We made a recording together and when she called on her father three messages were received, including one on the reverse side of the tape when he said, “I’m with you my daughter.” Members write or phone asking for help with recording problems or just to tell me how things are going for them. You have let me know that AA-EVP is important to you.

Last August we held a successful national conference in Baltimore. New friends were made at the conference. Valuable ideas and suggestions came from those who were there and are being carried out today. Curtis Fuller, Publisher of Fate magazine, wrote about the conference in his, I See By The Papers feature in the March 1984 issue and suggested that the AA-EVP is one of the “new doors” being opened to “extrasensory perception and other mind phenomena.”

One can live with failure as long as one has tried. To do less for something in which one believes is unforgivable. No matter how limited a person is he can take at least one step.

The future for AA-EVP? Who can say. First, it seems necessary to let others know about the electronic voice for it is surprising how many have never heard about it. Secondly, we will try to learn more about the phenomena for there is much we don’t know and there may be worlds of consciousness to explore. Thirdly, we will continue to support all valid research which leads to better communication with the unseen from wherever they speak.

With your help we have come this far. With your continued help we will move into the future, together.

EVP Contact? 1936

Most of us have heard about the early days of EVP recordings which took place in the 1950’s. It may come as a surprise to learn that an effort to produce voices came as early as 1936. In a letter from William Callander of England, he wrote, “You might be interested to know I had made the first (I believe) effort to produce voices in 1936, a box-like wireless set-2 valves and a large H.T. Battery, with two leads attached to a speaker, holding one lead in each hand. I got lots of noises... Alex MacRae thinks I would have had voices if I could have taped them, but tapes were unknown.”

Mirrors

Each time the enigma of the mirrors has been mentioned in a newsletter it brings a flood of inquiries. To bring new members up to date, several years ago three of us unknown to each other at the time, taped messages telling us to use a mirror while recording. I mentioned the mirrors on A. MacRae’s EVP Quarterly Tape-3, and said I was eager to learn if unique messages, such as those about mirrors, crossed the boundaries of one country.

Barbara Jennison, new AA-EVP member from England, wrote that she had heard the tape and thought I might be interested in her experience with mirrors. One day while taping, she said, “Here’s a photo of the lady.” Someone said on tape, “Use a mirror.”

Clara Laughlin, Virginia AA-EVP member, recently recorded two mirror messages. A voice said, “I’m in front of you. I love to watch your conscious and your mirror.” Another time a voice asked her, “Can’t you watch your husband in the mirror?”

In February I was asked to lecture and teach a workshop about EVP at the Spiritual Advisory Council conference in Orlando, Florida. During the talk I mentioned the mirrors and how they related somewhat to the cross-correspondence cases, famous in literature about evidence for survival. Several people came up to talk to me about them later.

Sol Lewis, keynote lecturer at the conference, President of the Michigan Metaphysical Society, new member of AA-EVP, wrote to me after the conference. He said he had been “impressed” to tell me to use two mirrors angled toward the other so a reflection would be created. I am now doing this. The first time I tried it I asked if they thought the second mirror would help them. A male entity in a Class A voice replied, “Yes, I see with them. Doesn’t seem to help me today. I will go over and learn to use it.” Since then, they have said they like the two mirrors and have learned to use them.

David Lothamer’s Technique

David Lothamer, CA State Coordinator for AA-EVP, is eager to share with you the recording technique that works so well for him. He thought some of you might like to try it. If you do, David would like to hear about your results. He is on the cross list.

Connect a patch cord from headphones outlet of radio that you are using for a sound source to Main In of equalizer. Connect another patch cord from Main Out of equalizer to Line In of recorder. Either channel of recorder can be used. Microphone should be plugged into the other channel. Headphones are plugged into headphone outlet of recorder. You can now hear what is on the radio and can control the volume. On tape playback all radio intrusions and most of the paranormal messages are on the channel that is not carrying the mike. David sent me a tape of voices recorded this way and they are unusually clear.

Gilbert Bonner Reports

In an interesting letter received from Gilbert Bonner, English EVP researcher he wrote, “I put in for a grant for further study in EVP in relation to Left/Right brain hemisphere decoding and Subliminal hearing to SPR London. On a split decision my request was refused but I was interviewed by a psychiatrist and his assistant ... given a cassette by them and told to get voices. Before two witnesses at 4 in the afternoon on their own tape I recorded EVP, including Raudive.”

Best of 1983

In the February NEWS, Dan McKee, State Coordinator of Illinois, suggested AA-EVP members send in what they considered their best, (most interesting) intercepts of 1983. A number of people did this and so I am indebted to you for your response and to Dan for conceiving the idea in the first place.

Carol Barron of MA has been taping less than a year but has already received many clear, interesting messages. A number of her communicants show a delightful sense of humor. In one instance, which demonstrates how our unseen friends are sometimes a step ahead of us, Carol kept asking for the name of a man who spoke to her frequently. Carol writes, “I decided to be ‘crafty’ and ask another way. I said, ‘What did your parents call you when you were small?’ Immediately, he answered, “Baby.”

William Duvendack of MT received one word last year, but it was the most important word any of us has received, our first word. Bill, although interested in EVP, was a bit skeptical that the unseen could speak to us. One evening, as an experiment, he put the sound source tape I sell for $2, on a tape recorder and a blank tape on another recorder. He and a friend went into the kitchen and later when they came back, stopped the recorder and replayed the tape.  They heard, “Ye-e-s-s-s-s!” Others have listened to it and confirm the message. Bill wrote, “Strange, the conscious, rational mind has difficulty accepting this, yet it’s there.”

Edelgard John, one of our German members, wrote that it was not easy to decide what was her best but she would take what gave her personally much comfort and hoped it would give comfort to others. She said, “In this year 1983, my dear dog Rolf died. This was very, very sad for me and I often asked about him and got answers. Two or three times he even barked for me. A voice said, three weeks after Rolf died, “I already am friends with the dog.”

Clara Laughlin continues to receive many interesting messages. Her friend, Virginia Bates, another VA, AA-EVP member, listens to all of Clara’s messages and helps to confirm them. A short time ago someone said, “Clara never been out farther than our planet Androma.” (Clara stresses that the word was Androma and not Andromeda, the galaxy.) More recently she heard from her husband, Tom, who has spoken to her frequently. He said he was moving “up” so would not be able to come through quite as often. Tom assured Clara that his side was very interested in our “Mission,” which Clara believes relates to our “mission” of communicating with them.

David Lothamer writes that for sometime he had asked for Fred Ray to come through because Fred had once been his guardian. The clear message was received, which had deep personal meaning for David when someone said, “Fred Ray loves you.” Another time, when David was feeling despondent, a voice said, “We know you’ve been discouraged but dead isn’t dead.” Perhaps the most chilling message that he received was, “Man’s a savage lot. That’s part of his far descent.”

Dan McKee’s excellent Class A messages come through on the reverse side of his tapes. Dan had been taping for just seven years, and although he hadn’t mentioned this to anyone, a voice said, “After seven years, does God still need us?” The message Dan finds most reassuring about our work and the doubts that sometimes plague us was, “The inventive, the incentive, now does he know, there isn’t any error.”

Arabella Roberts, MD State Coordinator, feels that the most interesting and thought provoking message she received was about a family member a short time after his death. A clear voice said, “Viernon’s a third of a free shepherd.”

Mercedes Shepanek, VA State Coordinator, said that the most interesting aspect of her recordings for 1983 was how many of the Voices began using Biblical language and that “thee,” and “thou” were heard frequently. One time when she asked, “What do you do to make the sounds, what makes the Voices?” someone answered, “They are both of our sounds. It is thy love, thy belief makes them. A different type of voice which came through clipped and robotic sounding gave the message, “Isabello, we are traveled in space by the stellar light.”

Friedrich Jürgenson Documentary

In a recent letter from Monty Hearon, Oregon State Coordinator, he wrote about well-known Friedrich Jürgenson, Swedish EVP researcher. For those new to the world of voice phenomena, Jürgenson (along with Attila von Szaley of California) is credited with bringing the phenomena to the attention of the world in the 1950s. Monty wrote, “You know that Jürgenson is a good friend of ours … Friedrich has been working on a TV program for several years which I gather will be a documentary on his taping. The program is essentially finished. On May 10-12, in Milan, there will be a press conference with Jürgenson attended by reporters from press, radio and TV from all over the world. We might be on the lookout for the releases coming from that press conference …. Apparently, the program will be shown by TV Luxemburg shortly after the press conference.”

Dan Mckee’s Recording Method

I asked Dan to share with members the method he uses to get his excellent voices, most of which are on the reverse side of his tapes. The following is from his letter. “Just outside the 40 meter amateur band, 7329.5 kHz to be exact, in the evening there is a military station that sends multiple tones constantly to hold the channel open for their use. On the hour they transmit a coded message with the operator phonetically speaking each letter distinctly. Using an audio rejection filter I can usually reduce the multiple tones to a low enough level so the voice signal predominates. Also backing the R.F. gain control down tends to bring the voice up. Then I copy the message in the normal reverse manner and it is often more distinct than any other way I’ve used. Sometimes I generate my own multiple tones by adjusting my transmitter frequency slightly different from the receiver frequency which results in multiple bird chirp sounds. I then voice modulate my transmitter, copy this from the receiver on a tape recorder and play it backwards.”

News from Members

Arthur S. Berger, President of Survival Research Foundation, wrote that he was pleased that some of our members had responded to his request to help in a survival research project mentioned in the February NEWS. If anyone is interested in helping Arthur with various experiments you may contact him: (Address removed).

Betty Evans, VA AA-EVP member, reports that she has had several messages lately from her father and brother. “London” was mentioned in the one message in connection with her brother which she felt was evidential.

Philip Paul, TX AA-EVP member, stopped to visit me one day on his way to China. He will be living in Peking for the next several years.

Mercedes Shepanek will be a part of history in the year 2001! Her daughter and son-in-law have made-up a time capsule for their son Gregory born last fall. The capsule, which has been sealed, contains many artifacts from 1983. One of them is an EVP tape of some voices Mercedes has recorded, a brief explanation about EVP itself, and the suggestion Gregory check with his mother further about the phenomena. Mercedes included a small tape recorder in the capsule just in case tape recorders capable of playing our present cassette tapes are no longer manufactured. Gregory will open the capsule in 2001 on his eighteenth birthday.

Anne Smisko, VA AA-EVP member, has reported that her tape recorder was stolen. The police recovered it but it was damaged. Anne hopes to have it repaired soon so she can continue with her recordings.

Tim Smith, new MD AA-EVP member, wrote to me that he took his portable tape recorder to the room where Abraham Lincoln died. He made a recording but nothing was heard. This stands to reason. Although an apparition, that many people feel is Lincoln, has been seen at various locations around Washington, it is doubtful if an individual of his caliber would linger in the room in which he had died.

Ultrasonics in Germany

Dr. Ernst Senkowski, German AA-EVP member, wrote that Otto Konig, German researcher, is continuing to work on the ultrasonic method for EVP recordings. In his letter he wrote, “In long-time experimentation you never have a stand-still. The parts are changed, rearranged, it is a dynamic procedure … Konig himself is of opinion that the whole development is far from perfect—so what is the use of giving exact data which—at time given—are already surpassed by another set.”

George Meek, President of Metascience Foundation, Franklin, NC, sent me a tape of Voices Konig had recorded. It is outstanding. Raudive’s voice, which came through at the Fulda conference, is on it as well as Walter Steinokel, a former co-worker of Konig’s. Their after- death voices are compared with their before death voices, and one can hear that they match!

Ultrasonics in U.S.A.

I am pleased to report that some of our members are doing research which will, we hope, ultimately lead to improved communication between dimensions for all.

Walter Sherbrooke, CA AA-EVP member, is working on an ultrasonic system which will be ready for field testing by several of us in the near future.

Jerry Bennett, GA State Coordinator of AA-EVP, has completed work on his first ultrasonic converter which I am now field testing with interesting results. It will then go to Dan McKee and finally to Mercedes Shepanek for additional testing before going back to Jerry for further modification.

Although I have experimented with Jerry’s converter in various ways, and each way has brought positive results, the best results have been achieved when I use it in combination with other sound sources such as the short wave on the radio set to 14 MHz. There is a lead on front of the converter which is plugged into the right channel of my reel to reel tape recorder. (The microphone is plugged into the left channel.) I have an audio generator set to 40-43 KHz, and a tweeter connected to the generator. In this way I am able to hear the sounds over the wall speakers, or through the tape recorder, by wearing headphones plugged into the headphone outlet of the recorder. You can build a similar converter. Jerry used the plans shown in Radio Electronics-Special Projects Book-Spring 1981. Permission to print the schematic diagram was kindly granted to us by Gernsback Publications Inc., 1981.

Roll Call

We have added members in the last three months. Men continue to outnumber women. In the February NEWS, I wrote there were twenty-six more men than women. Today, the men have a lead of twenty-seven. Maryland leads the states with sixteen members. Virginia is close behind with fifteen.

Cross-country List

Those of you who have renewed your membership in the last several months have noticed there is no longer a space to check if you want to share your name and address with others in your state. I have had to eliminate, state mailing lists due to the large growth in membership. Instead of thirty some individual lists, we now have one large cross-country list. Many of you have indicated you prefer this and at this time we have seventy names on the list. The list will be updated each quarter and those who are on the list will receive the new names along with your newsletter.

Newsletter Deadline

I am pleased at the increased participation that AA-EVP members are taking in the newsletter. It seems each time we have more members with NEWS to share. This is good! Deadlines, however, are necessary. Once I have your contributions, I must put them together in some sort of readable collation, keeping an eye to space limitations. Then off to the printer it must go, followed by putting the paper together, addressing and stuffing envelopes, writing special notes to some, enclosing updated cross-country lists in the proper envelopes, separating overseas envelopes from the domestic ones and so on. If you have something you want in the next newsletter please meet newsletter deadlines or regretfully it might be too late. The deadline for the August newsletter is July 7.

AA-EVP National Conference – 1985

Many members who attended the conference last year, and a number who did not, have asked me whether we were going to have another conference this summer. Something that was as successful as our August ‘83 conference bears repeating. For several reasons having a conference this summer is impractical but one is planned for 1985. I will contact the Hyatt Regency in the next several months and make reservations for a firm date. Already I have in mind several things for program and it is something you won’t want to miss. Watch future newsletters for details!

Egypt

On May 13, my daughter Becky, who many of you met at the conference, and I will be leaving for Egypt. During the two weeks we are away, we will be part of a group of 36 lead by Lynn J. Gardner of Indianapolis, Indiana. The group is comprised largely of individuals interested in exploring inner-dimensions, and open to the possibility of other realities. We will spend all night in the Great Pyramid of Cheops, part of a night at the feet of the Sphinx, and hold a séance at Seti’s Tomb. Our travels will take us to the Sinai Desert and St. Katherine’s Monastery. At dawn we will climb Mt. Sinai. Becky and I will take along several tape recorders and it is our hope that unseen entities will speak to us on tape at different locations.

Odds and Ends

Today we begin our third year. We have reached this point because of the faith and support of many. Each new year is a milestone, a marker, which points towards the future. Recently on a tape sent to me by Stuart Wilde, Publisher of the Mystic Trader, a friend of his and well-known trance medium, spoke in trance. Someone who calls himself the Old Chinese and says he lived thousands of years ago, speaks through this individual. One of the things that impressed me, and can be applied to our individual lives, as well as the AA-EVP, was something he said. I would like to share it with you at this time. “Have faith in what you are. Have faith in what you are to be.”

Always my best wishes,  Sarah Estep

Established to Provide Evidence as a Result of the Electronic Voice That We Survive Death