Raudive was born in Latgale in eastern Latvia (then part of Vitebsk Governorate) but studied extensively abroad, later becoming a student of Carl Jung.
He then worked with Jürgenson to make some EVP recordings, but their first efforts bore little fruit, although they believed that they could hear very weak, muddled voices.
Raudive later wrote (in his book Breakthrough): These words made a deep impression on me, as Margarete Petrautzki had died recently, and her illness and death had greatly affected me.
Raudive started researching such alleged voices on his own and spent much of the last ten years of his life exploring EVP.
[2] William Peter Blatty references "Breakthrough: An amazing experiment in electronic communication with the dead" in "Legion", his sequel to "The Exorcist".