(Read this in your spookiest voice.) It was a dark and stormy night.  The ghost hunter’s faithful recorder was recording each crack of thunder and creak of the aged stairs as she ascended into the attic.  She looked up into the attic with tense anticipation as she called out to the spirit world in a breathy voice, “Is there anybody here with us tonight?”

This scenario may sound cheesy, but I can’t tell you how many times I have run into ghost hunters using just this modus operandi.  I cringe every time I hear EVP questions like this.  It makes me just yell, “Get your head out of your astral and think about this for a minute! You are talking to a person!”  Yet so many ghost hunters get caught up in the drama and spookiness of an investigation that they seem to forget that ghosts are people who just happen to be living-impaired.

“But, I’m a scientist!” you may be saying to yourself, “I’d never behave like your scenario.” That may be so but I ask you, do you talk to ghosts like you would to other people, or do you ask them bizarre questions that you would never ask a living acquaintance?  Do you use a conversational tone of voice or is your voice pitched to a spooky tone?  Do you ask your EVP questions and give time for a response, or do you whip through your questions giving your ghosts little or no time to respond?  Do you hit them with the “big” questions early and later flounder around to figure out what to say, or do you start out conversationally and give a ghost time to warm up to you first?

I’d like to share with you some of my own techniques and experience.  Although I come to the subject with a psychic’s perspective, the ideas here are based in good sense.  Even the most stringent skeptic should be able to find logical approaches toward EVP work to hopefully get you thinking about how you can improve your own EVP work.

Julie’s Rules for EVP Questions

1.)    Use a normal tone of voice.

2.)    Start off slowly and conversationally.

3.)    Pause and give time for response.

4.)    If you wouldn’t say it to a living person, don’t say it to the ghost.

Use a Normal Tone of Voice

A conversational tone of voice is essential when speaking to people and ghosts are no different.  Ghost hunters regularly use a breathy or spooky tone of voice that they would never dream of using with someone while talking to someone in the grocery store check out line—or if they did you would soon see the people around them backing away slowly.  Death did not make your ghost slow or stupid, so just talk.

Start Off Slowly and Conversationally

Imagine for a moment that you have just entered the home of people that you don’t know.  Would the first thing you say to your host be, “Gee, those are some nasty scars on your wrists?  So tell me, why did you try to kill yourself?”  Give the ghost some time to get to know you. Comment on the place or the weather.  Ask where they are from. Take some time to build rapport.  Yes, you can build rapport even if you can’t hear them, because you are giving the ghost time to get used to you, recognize that you really are a nice person, and earn a little trust.  You still may not get an answer to the “big” questions your first visit or even your fifth, but good rapport will never hurt a relationship whether with the living or the dead.

Another reason that I have found to give a little time is because it seems to take some time for the ghost to synch up with us.  It is almost as if they are on a slightly different radio frequency and takes a little dial-twiddling to get a clear signal.  Give the ghost some time to tune in to your signal before trying to ask anything important or you may just miss out on a great opportunity for answers.  After all, they may have wanted to answer you…if they had heard the question.