I’m very sad to report that Sarah Estep passed away at the age of 81 this month. Sarah was a wonderful, warm and generous person–in fact, when I first met her back in 1980, she struck me as anyone’s vision of a perfect, cookie-baking grandmother. The only difference was that every morning she would go to her downstairs office, turn on the reel-to-reel tape machine and attempt to hear the voices of the dead. Sarah was a pioneer in the study of EVP–Electronic Voice Phenomena–and I had occasion to join her in a session or two of “close listening.”

Sarah’s electronic whiz husband was a skeptic, but he loved his wife so much that he rigged up her gear and went along with her on investigations.

You might recognize Sarah’s name through her association with the popular horror movie “White Noise.” I’ll have more to say about what brought me into contact with this gentle lady and the whole subject of ghostly voices in a future blog or two. However, I do know that if there is life after death, I’m sure Sarah and her husband–who passed away many years ago–are now busily rigging up some spiritual gadget to capture the voices of the living.

If you can hear me out there, Sarah Wilson Estep, enjoy yourself! Jess