Electronic Voice Phenomena

Here's one for your weird science collection — the first CD collecting examples of EVP (electronic voice phenomena) or recordings of voices of unknown origin that occupy radio frequencies. These poltergeist-type transmissions have been noticed since the 1930s, puzzling researchers with their “polyglot” messages that use unusual sentence structures, mixtures of languages and made up words (neologisms). It gets really weird when the voices seem to communicate directly to the researchers. When tape recorders were more readily available after WWII the voices were documented, and in 1959 a Swedish researcher, Friedrich Jurgenson, was the first to report their existence. The CD features examples recorded by a leading English EVP researcher, Raymond Cass, who also provides commentary. And the collection reproduces the seven-inch record accompanying a Russian researcher, Dr Konstantin Raudive's important book, Breakthrough, from 1971. Sceptics have decided the short fragments of low quality recordings are ham radio hoaxes or the by-product of electro-magnetic pollution. Certainly in the era of the sound byte we are wiser to the short edits used as examples — especially when you are told in advance what to listen for. Still many researchers believe these are voices from alternate dimensions or the spirit world, which had been previously investigated by Marconi and Edison, who believed radio waves could be used to contact the dead. As an audio experience, The Ghost Orchid will appeal to listeners of projects like the Hafler Trio, for its mix of spoken word, electronic tones and short wave radio-type random noises. Deepening the mystery is the 24-page booklet with articles by Ash International's Michael Harding, Joe Banks (aka Disformation) and others, as the search continues for the source of this "Holy Grail of acoustic phenomena."