Psyché Tropes Episode 26
11pm, 28 October 2024 on Resonance 104.4 FM
Last month, we explored the musical philosophy of Father Pellegrino Ernetti and his research into ancient musical notation. We also touched on the importance of physical archives, particularly the secrets held within the Vatican, along with the relevance of the Akasha—a metaphysical archive where all experiences and events are recorded. We discussed the significance of sound in spirituality and science, and how for thousands of years, humans have sought to harmonise with the very fabric of reality through sacred chants and rituals.
Presented by Steven McInerney, Episode 26 examines the arcane practice of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) featuring Konstantīns Raudive, Gilbert Bonner, François Brune and Joe Meek, with unreleased work by Mark Vernon.
The transmission of electronic media has the power to communicate wirelessly, at the speed of light, to every human consciousness on the planet. Throughout history, scientists have conducted experimental research, from firing billions of electrons at a glass screen covered in phosphors to sending radio waves far beyond the solar system.
As the Spiritualist movement gained prominence from the 1840s, with its defining belief that spirits of the dead could be contacted by mediums, new technologies of the era—including photography—were employed by spiritualists to contact the spirit world. Such ideas became so popular that Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture camera, was asked in an interview with Scientific American to comment on the possibility of using his inventions to communicate with spirits. He replied that if spirits could only exert subtle influences, a sensitive recording device would provide a better chance of communication than the table-tipping and ouija boards mediums used at the time. As sound recording became widespread, mediums began exploring this technology to demonstrate communication with the dead.
Spiritualism declined in the latter part of the 20th century, but attempts to use portable recording devices and modern digital technologies to communicate with spirits continued, evolving into what we know as Electronic Voice Phenomena or EVP. Parapsychologist Konstantīns Raudive (1909–1974), who popularized the idea in the 1970s, described EVP as typically brief, usually a word or short phrase, often found in recordings with static or other background noise.
Raudive began researching these alleged voices independently and spent much of the last ten years of his life exploring EVP before his death in 1974. With the help of various electronics experts, he recorded over 100,000 audiotapes, most of which were made under what he described as "strict laboratory conditions." Over 400 people were involved in his research, and all reportedly heard the voices believed to be communications from the dead. Detailed descriptions of his methods and examples of captured phrases to support the theory of afterlife communication were published in his book Breakthrough, which originally included a flexi-disc containing audio recordings of the experiments.
Twenty years after his passing, in 1994, Raudive reportedly contacted several EVP researchers by telephone in what has been named Phone calls from the Dead. Many of these conversations were recorded in which the recipients were unmistakenly convinced it was Raudive making contact from the afterlife.
After reading about the EVP works of Konstantīne Raudive, English record producer, sound engineer, and songwriter Joe Meek, in his later years, became fascinated with the idea of communicating with the dead. He would set up tape machines in graveyards in an attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, at one point capturing the meows of a cat he believed was speaking in human tones, asking for help—which you are about to hear in the following recording made by Meek himself.
Episode 26 has presented genuine Electronic Voice Phenomena recordings from experts in the field, many of whom dedicated a large part of their lives to it. Scientists generally regard EVP as a form of pareidolia—a psychological phenomenon in which people impose meaningful interpretations on ambiguous stimuli, as with the Rorschach inkblot test. However, what remains certain is that sound is a fundamental component of this experience, allowing those who engage with EVP to feel connected with a higher frequency of existence. Energy is eternal and omnipresent, and while we dwell on this earthly plane, our desire for connection is an innate part of what it means to be human.
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