10 Basic Guidelines for EVP Sessions

Any paranormal investigator will tell you that an EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) session is one of the basic investigation techniques that is performed.  There are several ways to approach conducting a session, and of course there are differences of opinions amongst investigators as to which technique works the best.  The problem with finding which technique is the best is due to paranormal research being such an open field, and as an investigator, you need to determine which technique works best for you.


Some believe it is best to conduct your sessions after an electrical storm.  Others believe it is best to conduct your sessions during the late hours of night, and there are those that believe that conduction a session can be as dangerous as using a Ouija Board.  Whatever your belief or technique you decide to adopt, the following are some basic guidelines you can incorporate that will help guide you through your sessions.

1. Set the rules with those who are with you.  If you are conducting the session, before you turn on the recording, state the rules of the session and what you are trying to accomplish with the session.  Even if you have experienced investigators with you during the session, you may have something else in mind that you are trying to capture.  Also, if you have someone in your group that has never been on an EVP session before, you need to let them know the basics:  1) Try not to whisper, 2) Try not to make noises if possible, 3) Try not to move or make shuffling noises, and 4) If you do any of the above, state out loud that it was you so that the evidence does not become tainted during the analysis.
2. Verbally date and time stamp the recording with your voice.  Include the date, location, and what room you are in.  You can also include the time of your recording as well.  This will help you later with organization of your files when you go back to review the recordings.
3. Be respectful.  Remember, you are trying to communicate with a spirit that once was human, so talk to the spirit as if it still was human.  Be respectful and ask permission if you can try to communicate and record their responses.  Using "please" and "thank you" can go a long ways with spirits the same it does with the living.
4. Introduce yourself and let them know you are only there to talk.   You should state in the beginning of the session that you are just there to talk with them.  You are not there to hurt them in anyway and try to console them and build a trust factor.
5. Let them know where to talk.  It's possible that you will be communicating with a spirit that was alive before recording technology was even invented.  You need to tell them where to speak and what microphone to speak into.  Let them know that you will be able to hear their responses later when you play back the recording.  Some believe that when you make this statement, that it will encourage a better response to your questions.
6. Identify everyone in the room with you.  We always begin an EVP session by going around the room and letting everyone state their name.  This does three things; 1) It introduces everyone to the spirit, 2) It get's everyone in the room involved, even if they are there to be an observer, and 3) It records a sample of the person's voice on the recorder so that later on during the analysis, you have an example to compare recordings with.
7. Tag All Noises.  Even if you ask others to tag their noises, as the one running the EVP session, you need to tag the extra noises in case they do not.  Again, this will help you later when you are analyzing your evidence.  If you hear whispers from people in your group, state that for the recording.
8. Allow time for answers.  In most cases, you are not going to hear the responses to your questions with your naked ear, so you are going to have to train yourself to leave about 20-30 seconds for the spirits to answer your questions.  This takes some practice, but it is theorized that it takes the spirits some time to build up the energy needed to answer your question.
9. Limit the time of sessions. Again, to help you later when analyzing your data, limit the total time of your EVP session to around 10-15 minutes.  You can always start another session, but by grouping your evidence into smaller sessions, you can manage the evidence better then trying to go through 40-60 minutes of audio recordings.
10. Analyze as soon as the conditions are right. It takes some time to listen to all of the audio recordings.  You need to make sure you have quite interrupted time you can set aside to listen to the evidence.  It is even a good idea to schedule the time in your calendar if you have to do that, but try to perform the analysis as soon as you can.