Amazing results from George Meek's Spircom device

[Magical Realist]

http://www.worlditc.org/k_06_spiricom.htm

"In 1979, he (George Meek) and his colleague Bill O'Neil developed the Spiricom device, a set of 13 tone generators spanning the range of the adult male voice. O'Neil was psychically gifted, and he collaborated with his spirit friends while developing the large radio-like apparatus, which gave off a droning buzz that filled the room. When O'Neil spoke in its presence, you could hear his voice getting wrapped up in the buzzing noises of the Spiricom machine. He worked on the machine for months, and then a most amazing thing happened. Another voice began to get wrapped up in the radio sounds too—a voice belonging to someone who was present in the room, but invisible. The voice of a spirit.


Bill O'Neil and his spirit friend Dr George Jeffries Mueller had more than 20 hours of dialog through the Spiricom device which the two developed together between 1979 and 1982. These are excerpts from those dialogs."

[C C]

Quite nice of those spirits (Doc Nick and Dr Mueller) to have offered helpful suggestions to O'Neil on improving the device. I mean, it's not as if there were more significant things that an otherwise sane, inquiring mind (under those circumstances) would eventually want to get around to discussing and asking about. As opposed to banal talk about weather, carrots, lettuce, and the all-important spiricom. Which all those conversations and hours spent perfecting seem to have been pointless, in that no one since has produced similar results with one. Time well wasted, Bill.

Make A Modern Day Spiricom: [...] The name "Spiricom" was used to refer to an evolving series (Mark I - IV, etc.) of experimental devices that were built and tested over a period of several years. Initial results from the Spiricom experiments were both encouraging and disappointing. Some interesting effects were observed but the desired quality of communication remained elusive. Then, in 1977, one of Meek's associates, an electronics technician named Bill O'Neil, reported that he had achieved voice contact with a spirit entity called "Doc Nick" while using the Mark III version of the Spiricom. Doc Nick was said to have been a former medical doctor and HAM radio operator who was able to assist O'Neil, Meek, and the Metascience associates by making technical suggestions for improving the Spiricom. Soon, contact with another deceased scientist was reported as having come to Bill O'Neil through the Mark IV version of the Spiricom. This new contact identified himself as Dr. George J. Mueller and, over the next few years, Dr. Mueller's Spiricom-empowered voice suggested further technical improvements to the system. In particular, Dr. Mueller was credited with suggesting a combination of 13 specific audio frequency tones which were to be used as the optimum background sound source by which a spirit could make itself audible.

[Magical Realist]

I'm thinking there's not alot of interesting things goin on in the afterlife if you have time to finagle with amplifier circuits on the mortal side. But hey, what do we know? Maybe they are more involved with our dimension than we know.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."==Lewis Carroll

One thing that comes thru on those recordings--the spirits are more intimately human than we may suppose. They share interests and teasing humorisms that bond with our most personal emotions. They have lost none of their humanity despite being disembodied. What does this say about humanity I wonder? Furthermore, there doesn't seem to be a tremendous urgency in relaying to humans anything about the afterlife. It's kept itself pretty mysterious so far. I can't help but think that's intentional, for whatever reason.

[Magical Realist]

Well it appears I mispoke. George Meek actually wrote a book documenting information he obtained from spirit voices all about the nature of man, the universe, and the afterlife. Here's an Amazon review/summary of that book:

"_It is strange how you can consider yourself well read on a subject and then suddenly become aware for the first time of a true classic on that subject. This is such a book. I am indebted to P.M.H. Atwater for citing it in her _We Live Forever_.

_The first of the five parts of this volume deals with the true nature and structure of both the human body and the worlds in which it functions. The human being is a multi-dimensional entity composed of physical, bioplasmic (etherial), astral, mind (subconscious, conscious, superconscious), and soul bodies or levels. Above all, it is hammered home that the brain is not the mind.

_The second section deals with the evidence of survival after physical death. Extremely good, succinct, descriptions are given of eleven types of evidence: 1) historical and religious writings, 2) death-bed, near-death, and out-of-body experiences, 3) apparitions, hauntings, and ghosts, 4) obsession and spirits, 5) spirit doctors, 6) spirit photographs, 7) materialism, 8) reincarnation, 9) space-time relationships, 10) conservation of matter and energy, and 11) communications through mediums and telepathic channels.

_Part three gives detailed descriptions of the interpenetrating planes of existence: the physical plane; the low, middle, and high astral planes; the mental-causal planes, the celestial planes, the cosmic God Head, the end of manifest creation, the void of pure consciousness, Nirvana, and beyond.

_ The fourth part gives 50 specific questions and answers to the system put forth. This includes the proven path for individual soul development (which agrees with the perennial philosophy and the core teachings of all the great religious founders.
"=====http://www.amazon.com/After-We-Die-What-...089804099X

Also of note is George Meek's original report on his research. Quite detailed and fascinating:

http://www.twelvearound1.com/files/magic...orever.pdf

[C C]

[...] Above all, it is hammered home that the brain is not the mind.

Just as "vehicle" is a generic placeholder for varied specific items that can realize transportation (car, train, airplane, etc), so "mind" would be a category for diverse substrates (other than just neural tissue) that might instantiate what "thinks, perceives, feels, etc". IF such general things lack the capacity to be concrete or phenomenal objects, then via the dogma of nominalism it might be contended that "vehicle" does not exist (or is not spatial, material, empirical) and also neither does "mind" exist. Only the particulars exist which an immaterial thing or classification-principle linguistically or semantically collects as its membership (like brains, computers, alien organs, etc).

But otherwise, the sorry state of comprehension that would result from eliminating categories, sets, universals, "noumena", etc, from communication and thought seems an indicator of some valid degree of their existential status. IOW, the indispensable usefulness of generalizations and abstract concepts presents a potential obstacle to declaring them completely unreal.

Ironically, "mind" might even be a particular [subset] of a broader idea like "nomological system" -- or any regulated complex of orderly and coordinated events / entities. Not everything therein would have to have a logic or hang together coherently with everything else; but there has to be at least one or more reliable themes / patterns possessed by an example of such. In addition to mind, cosmos would be a distinct member of the nomological system generalization, sharing properties with the others but having its own special attributes -- as well as potentially missing some. Mind in this context, for instance, might possess features like personhood, perception (showings), thought, a body, etc -- characteristics which cosmos would lack. OTOH, mind would be at the mercy of many circumstances which a passionless cosmos was not. Again, both are different ways for the general idea / principle / form / formula / noumenon of "nomological system" to be realized.

In fact, when some philosophical concepts are translated from non-Western cultures, the hyponym of "mind" might often be the word used rather than a hypernym it could belong to like "nomological system". Thus the abundance of "mind" occurring in texts where it might seem out of place in terms of the Western meaning. In turn, this error would have fed back into Western culture itself, to where some of its factions have taken to using mind rather than [the submitted option of a] less narrow category like "nomological system".

[Magical Realist]

Hmmm..well this video raises an eyebrow. Supposedly it is William talking into the Spiracom, but notice he never turns around. Could he be using one of those mouth boxes? Could be. The video even cuts to him already turned around at the end. He obviously had to take the thing out of his mouth. Damn. How could Meek be fooled by this scammer? He really wanted to believe, that's how.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTwvp8qJlrw

[C C]

Hmmm..well this video raises an eyebrow. Supposedly it is William talking into the Spiracom, but notice he never turns around. Could he be using one of those mouth boxes? Could be. The video even cuts to him already turned around at the end. He obviously had to take the thing out of his mouth. Damn. How could Meek be fooled by this scammer? He really wanted to believe, that's how. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTwvp8qJlrw

That's something repeatedly mentioned at the Spiricom forum, yet this fact has not deterred interest in it there: "Great thread David! Yes, one of the potential problems with Spiricom was the seeming lack of lab controls. It is reported Bill O'neill would not allow himself to be photographed from the front while the device was in operation. This led to speculation that the whole thing was a fraud. The debate continues."

As the Ghost Tech tech site says, "...it would be easy to debunk this device as a glorified walkie talkie system using the amateur radio band as the medium for short range communication which would easily allow O'Neil to hoax George Meek into believing the device actually worked."

But if it is so easy to fake (in more the one way), then the amazing thing is that no one has replicated it to an officially successful degree since O'Neil. Despite there being plenty of profiteering hoaxers who would love to do so. Astonishingly all these Spiricom fans that are building the devices are either super-honest or they really can't figure out a way to do it.

And skeptics as well. For instance, I didn't believe it was real from the start, but nevertheless failed to track down a single attempt to debunk the device by someone simply demonstrating a method of faking it (even the "Hey, no filming or photographing me from the front!"). But I only searched for described accounts; maybe there's a champion act of video debunking somewhere.

One member claimed back in 2008 that he had succeeded in getting his name repeated over and over on it by some spirit. But I couldn't hear anything intelligible from an unknown source in the recording. That plus the fact that the thread eventually died indicates it was probably just another case of subjectivity. A paranormal placebo-effect of straining so hard to discern something meaningful in that noise that you eventually do imagine it; or else something akin to aural pareidolia.

[C C]

Okay, Part Two.

The skeptic site Go Beyond Now did once offer a debunking, but that information has disappeared since 2007. There is a promise here of adding a special feature about Spiricom in the future, though.

The original link to their vanished page came from:

Actually, this specific set of frequencies comes courtesy of some skeptics from an analysis they did as part of their "proof" that Spiricom is a hoax. There is actually some useful on their page at http://www.gobeyondnow.com/spectrum.htm Check out that link for information about which O'Neil recording their frequency analysis was done on.

Another poster in the same thread countered GBN's debunking with:

I see you too have read that article on 'duping' Mr. Meek. This poster of that article is obviously uneducated in electrical physics. He does not consider the RF energy being contained in a Faraday enclosure, which it was. A Faraday enclosure will not allow electromagnetic energy inside itself; nor allow electromagnetic energy generated inside itself outside. The alleged person with a radio across the street would have no effect on the device. Also, there was no microphone input from Mr. O'Niel to the RF generator; so a person with a radio tuned to the proper frequency would never be able to hear what was going on in the house across the street! The microphone in front of Mr. O'Niel was mixed to the tape recorder only.

Actually, one of the tests built-in to Mark VI is a RF amplifier and antenna placed outside the Faraday enclosure. In this test mode, the transmitting antenna inside the cage is disabled, and the exterior antenna is enabled. Modulated RF is sent to the exterior antenna at the test frequency (in this case I'm starting at 29.575 MHz RF, modulated with 400 Hz audio tone). The radio receiver is tuned to that frequency to detect any modulation. If any leakage occurs, the modulated tone will be heard from the system monitors.

As you know, this is to prove to the debunkers that the system will not respond to random radio broadcast, of any frequency. Especially dudes with radios nearby but out of site.

Very informative #### thanks for the background info. Of the schematics I've been able to find (and they are limited) I wasn't aware of the Farday cage evident in use. I must study further.

The poster who claims to have had positive results with his Spiricom also informs them he has medium abilities:

I have been mediumistic since from the age of five. I have during this time witnessed fourteen materialization’s, twelve on my own and two while in the company of others. I have spirit voice in my right ear 24/7 but unfortunately sad to say the voices are muffled, but on rare occasions have demonstrated evidence. I have had household objects move, levitate, disappear, as well as many other psychic and mediumistic experiences. This is not to say that my mediumship contributed to the spiritcom contact, but that it is certainly interesting there is the possibility that such might have been the case.

His experience at performing such feats or their claims could make him worthy of going the extra mile, which other members didn't, to fake a Spiricom recording. Though that in itself isn't any evidence that he did -- just reason to be suspicious. In this thread his recordings might be clearer; but he claims to have made contact with a spirit named "Seth". That alone should ring all kinds of alarm bells. But who knows, maybe he's not a career medium/psychic and is just honestly missing his meds from time to time when it comes to the telekinetic powers he believes he has.

One of the posters does mention that Mueller's "voice" in the O'Neil recordings sounded an awful lot like a vocorder, which has been around since the 1930s. So all in all, it's surprising how much time people are investing in each making, experimenting with, and discussing a device of which the majority seem well aware of the situations / background that could make it a phony. And again, so few have claimed positive results which they might easily(?) produce by fraudulent means. Spiricom is at least good for improving one's opinion that most paranormal enthusiasts aren't of the profiteering hoax class.

[Magical Realist]

Great analysis! I had found that Go Beyond Now website last night saying Dr. George Mueller didn't even exist! So that got me to searching around more. I watched an hour long lecture given by George Meek last nite all about his research and the afterlife. I had even ordered his book from Amazon the day before. He apparently got some messages from his deceased wife from a computer device operated by a couple in Europe, including 3 incidents only he and his housekeeper would know about. Also included were various impressive photos of him having a OOBE. The man comes across as impeccably honest, but just seems capable of being fooled by opportunistic mediums. What he presented about the afterlife was your standard new age model of like 7 levels from the astral to the cosmic and all these entities living at different frequencies. I don't like new age descriptions myself. They are simplistic and laden with spiritual idealizations, as well as highly unimaginative. I'm fine with not knowing, knowing I will find out someday anyway. Whatever happens happens. Que sera sera and all that.

[C C]

I see now that GBN isn't what I thought, but rather a paranormal rehabilitation site. My bad. Yet still perplexing that the a priori skeptics slash pseudoskeptics and hard-core debunkers don't have an easily found Spiricom bashing-fest on the web.

By now, you're probably thinking that all this sounds like I'm trying to "debunk" EVP, but I actually do believe there's "something" to it. That's just an opinion though, and I am willing to admit that my opinion doesn't have much solid support. [...] Until somebody comes up with a means to demonstrate conclusively that the voices they've recorded could not possibly have been obtained by any "normal" means, and that there really is a bona fide voice message on the recorder, not just a perceptual illusion as in The White Christmas Test, then EVP remains a hypothetical, experimental, and extremely controversial subject.

Yet, as the years slide by, the paranormal research community has strayed further and further from the scientific method and brought itself more in line with what I call the "Hollywood Method" of research. People go through the motions and "act" like they're conducting scientific research, but it's all for the sake of fun, ego-gratification, and, sometimes, money. [...] If you are a happily entrenched member of that crowd, then this website will probably not be of much interest to you [...] If, on the other hand, you are coming here with an open mind, if you realize that what's currently being done in the paranormal research scene is getting us absolutely nowhere, and if you understand that computers could never have been invented if we hadn't first learned to master the telegraph, then you might be someone capable of helping to take paranormal research to a new and more productive level. Welcome to the revolution . . .but believe me, it's an uphill struggle.