The Telephone to the Dead is a machine that allegedly makes contact with incorporeal spirits and then communicates the messages of these spirits to the living. A TTTD, also known as a “Frank’s Box” was the device used last Sunday to give a message to a student who had lost her sister. And through using the device she found the peace she had so desperately been looking for. Are these words truly coming from the other side? And how could you create your own ghost box?
Thomas Eddison’s final device that he never ended up creating was said to be a box that interpreted variations in radio waves and actually communicated these variations in a form that could be understood by living listeners. Later this device would become known as a Telephone to the Dead. The device, developed by Frank Sumption in the year 2000. The principle is simple enough: a radio could in theory contact the other side if a steady stream of random noise were to be filtered through an electronic device. The idea behind it is that a ghost on the other side will influence the sounds coming out and be able to use this to communicate.
And Carol Ready of Scribner, Connecticut is a believer since receiving a message from her deceased sister to stop worrying and to try to get her mother to likewise stop mourning her years after her death. The sister’s daughter was killed tragically in an auto accident two years ago, and since then her sister has been carrying the guilt of the incident with her. But with the use of the ghost box brought to her University by Christopher Moon, that guilt was replaced by excitement, hesitation, and ultimately acceptance.
The way a ghost box works is fairly simple. A radio tuner rolls through the range of frequencies letting little pieces of information come through until a coherent message is established. This message can then be responded to and ultimately result in a full on conversation. While trained users have to interpret the messages themselves, the responses they give can be at times unnerving and uncanny in their accuracy.
Ghost boxes often will sell for hundreds of dollars, but the actual premise behind the device is fairly simple. All you have to do is find a radio and start tuning it at random and listen to the audio that comes through. The sound is unnerving in the dead of night, but there is no end to the potential for interesting conversation. And the eerie sounds emanating from the box add a level of drama and moodiness to the process as it is combined with the music and the other sounds coming through at various frequencies.
One example seen in a youtube video shows a man asking a simple question into an automatic ghost box. He asks, “Is anyone there?” As the needle scrolls across the frequency band soon a child’s voice can be heard yelling, “Mom!” It’s apparent someone is in trouble here. It’s strange then that several of the following messages would come out in a child’s voice, but also in various others as well all coming from the same entity according to the operator.
And this is similar to the other principle suggested by ghost hunters that even listening to static snow from a television over time can reveal messages apparently from the other side.
But while the ghost box may be a mere toy or novelty item to many, to Carol the device was a savior and a sign her sister was alright.
