Even dumber than EVP

EVP or “electronic voice phenomena” is what people like to call it when they take a cheap tape recorder or a computer with a sound card and crank the volume way up until they start to hear a lot of noise.  This noise is a combination of internally generated noise, RF interference, cross talk from various sources and other various random sounds.   However, if you listen closely, the human brain can do an amazing job of convincing itself that it hears a voice in the noise.   This is even easier if you know what you’re expected to hear.

Apparently this is not lame enough for some, who find that the sounds just don’t sound enough like ghost voices no matter how high they crank the volume or how cheap their microphones are.   Thus a new device has recently been making the rounds in the “paranormal research” community.  It’s called the “Frank’s Box” and it promises to revolutionize EVP’s by making them even more dramatic and easy to hear.

Wowa, that sounds like there are definitely some human voices there, right? Well, actually, yes. That’s because a Franks Box is indeed picking up human voices, just not the ones of the dead. More likely, it’s picking up the voices of someone giving a traffic report or complaining about politics, because a Franks Box is actually the equivalent of randomly turning the knobs on an AM Radio:

From “Ghost tech:”

After receiving various messages from computer savvy spirits relaying messages for other spirits who were not so technologically advanced, Frank came up with the idea to create a device that hopefully all spirits could use. His design was apparent to him almost immediately, but the actual construction of the device has led him to create at least 25 different models to date. Each box is unique in design and construction, but is based on the same principle.

Franks spirit receiver starts off with a standard white noise generator which is fed through a random voltage circuit of Franks own design. The random voltage is linked to an AM radio receiver which reacts to the voltage by tuning to a specific spot on the radio dial. This is known as voltage tuning and is a common function of late 80s and early 90s radio receivers. Though various radio stations are turned in for a split second every so often along with regular static, the devices also allows the spirits to interact with the device and create their own vocals through the receiver and for lack of a better term, talk through the device.

A newer version of the box simply tunes back and fourth through the AM band which Frank is calling the Sweep method. At first, he believed that the random voltage design is what allowed it to work but after using the sweep method, he has since changed his mind as it seems to do a better job.

Alright, I realize most self-proclaimed paranormal investigators don’t know the first thing about science or technology, but honestly! If you want human voices it seems like a broadcast band would be the place to find them, but could anyone really believe that randomly tuning from one radio station to another is going to get you anything other than bits and pieces of speech that is not paranormal at all?

If you tune fast enough, what would sound like “Iowa police arrested two suspected…. American consumer confidence was up…. A minor accident on I-95 has …. deadly riots for a second day in… personal debt continues to rise” will become “I’am’A’dead’person” Is this not obvious?

Just when things seemed like they could not get any lamer…