The Ghosts in our Machines

The Ghosts in our Machines
John Topp

As we know, our increasingly ubiquitous media and technology has some drawbacks. If we don't resist, we can become overwhelmed by trivial exchanges and mediocre infotainment. It sometimes seems as if our devices have a life of their own. Luckily, we still have the option to turn them off when we choose, ignoring their imploring beeps and round-the-clock news updates. We can take a break from our virtual worlds to exchange information through more tangible channels.

But what if our technology could be used for a different form of communion altogether? What if we could hijack our gadgets for a profound purpose never intended, not even imagined, by their inventors?

Since the early days of the phonograph, telephone and camera, there have been reports of unexplained phenomena associated with our communications devices. German physics professor Ernst Senkowski coined the term "instrumental transcommunication" (ITC), to refer to the use of modern technical devices such as audio recorders, radios, and televisions to communicate with realms outside of our known physical realm. Unknown to most, a huge body of experimentation and scientific study has taken place in this area.

ITC is best known in its most basic form, electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) - when voices of unknown origin, generally uttering short, faint phrases, speak on audio recordings. EVP appeared occasionally on early phonograph recordings but became more widely known after showing up on personal tape recorders in the 50s and 60s. In the 60s and 70s, it became popular in Europe to capture EVP voices on home tape recorders. Samples can be found all over the web, and EVP is often employed for a plot twist on ghost-hunting TV shows.

The levels which ITC has reached, far beyond EVP, are, surprisingly, little known. There is a large body of clear, well documented, scientifically observed audio, video and text transmissions from beyond that have been received through telephones, radios, televisions, computers, fax machines, and a custom-built device called the Spiricom. I will briefly touch on a few key developments in the field, from documentation at worlditc.org, and offer some of my own results.

Marcello Bacci of Grosseto, Italy began receiving spirit voices through his vacuum tube radio in the 1950s. To this day, he holds sessions at his home where visitors are often addressed by their departed loved ones, through this same radio. In addition to spoken voice, he has also recorded choirs singing.

In the late 70s, Americans George Meek and William O'Neil developed a device called Spiricom which established the first known instrumental two-way conversations with the beyond. It was a combination of radio technology with a tone generator that, after much iteration over years, allowed O'Neil to speak with his contact on the other side, Dr. George Mueller, a deceased NASA scientist. Mueller's came through as a robotic sounding voice-modulated tone, similar in sound to the vocoder used in pop music where a human voice is combined with a keyboard or guitar sound. Hours of conversation were recorded and a few files are available at worlditc.org.

German Klaus Schreiber pioneered video ITC. In the mid-80s, he experimented with a technique whereby he would point a video camera at a TV set and feed the output back into the set, creating a feedback loop. The resulting visual randomness would sometimes form into indisputably human faces. At times it formed recognizable ones like Albert Einstein. In 1994, Adolf Homes received the first color picture transmission, directly to his TV set. It was an image of EVP pioneer Friedrich Juergenson and was received at the same time as a printout on Homes' computer, which read:

"This is Friedel from Sweden. I am sending you a self-portrait... The projection since January 17, 1991, has been in the quantum of spacelessness and timelessness. All your and our thoughts have their own electromagnetic reality which does not get lost outside the space-time structure... Consciousness creates all form..."

Maggy Harsch-Fischbach and husband Jules Harsh in Luxembourg received the most mind-boggling ITC transmissions known. They started with EVP, as is often the case, and moved on to achieve radio contacts. In 1986 they began to be addressed by a high-pitched synthetic sounding voice. When asked for a name, it offered "Technician", and it revealed itself to be the facilitating energy behind their transmissions. When asked "who are you?” the response was:

"We are what we are. It is difficult to explain to you, but I am not an energy being, not a light being, I was never human, never an animal and was never incarnated.... neither am I God! Humans make the mistake of imagining god as a single person. You know the picture of two children walking across a bridge. Behind them is a being that protects them. This is what I am to you, but without wings. If you insist on giving me a name, call me technician. You already confused me with a human technician at the beginning of our esb [Eurosignal Bridge] contacts. Yes, I am a technician but in a different manner than you imagine."

Ernst Senkowski, a physics professor and former military radio specialist, worked closely with the group and analyzed the experiments from a scientific perspective. In 1987 he wrote: "The possibility of faking or manipulating the voices or television pictures for the involved lay people is practically zero...[The material] is convincing and forms new steps whose significance for most people is inconceivable and points far into the future!"

The Luxembourg contacts continued into the 90's and included hundreds of phone calls, television images, computer files, and faxes conveying messages and images from the afterlife. INIT, International Network of Instrumental Transcommunication, was formed by experimenters in Europe and the United States. Conferences were held and simultaneous contacts in different locations took place. This positive alliance was thought to strengthen the "contact field" as it came to be known. Sadly, it was difficult to maintain harmony in a group spread across the globe, trying to find their way in this strange new field. Infighting ensued and relationships were damaged. The amazing contacts received by the members of INIT ceased in the late 90s. Results of that level have not been heard of since.

While there are currently no reports of faxes from beyond, there is a great deal of interest in ITC, and the Internet is an ideal medium for publishing results. Marcello Bacci continues to receive radio contacts. Mark Macy, a founder of INIT and unofficial American ambassador of ITC, is doing interesting work using photography and a device called the Luminator.

One of my favorite ITC messages was sent to the INIT group by nineteenth-century chemist Henri Ste. Claire and speaks of the purpose of ITC: "It is our job as well as your job to set fire to minds – to set fire to minds in your world, and in that moment to try to master time."

I personally have been experimenting in ITC for over two years. I was already very interested in the concept of extradimensional communication when I met a young psychic named Brough Perkins. Brough and I attempted EVP and achieved results right away. After a month or two I began using shortwave radio and got results there as well. I have continued with both EVP and shortwave since, and I would say my most interesting communications have been in the last few months through radio, as well as a couple of pictures I caught using video feedback.

The first phase of my work was to focus on the audio or video quality of the transmissions. I feel that I'm now in a second phase, where the quality has reached a sufficient level and the content of the transmissions can be made out and has meaning. Two recent messages received through radio are of this level: "Work on the forefront, not on the hysteria," and "The government tries to cover up America."

This article is intended as a brief introduction to ITC to generate interest. I would not want anyone to accept extraordinary claims at face value. Much has been written on the validity and content of these kinds of contacts, and I encourage anyone interested to look further and discuss, or even try it themselves.