EVP or electronic voice phenomena was discovered in the late 1950’s and has become well known today thanks to numerous television shows featuring ghost investigators using audio recorders to capture the supposed voices of ghosts and spirits. As EVP technology has evolved more paranormal investigators began to embrace the two-way communication device called the “Ghost Box” or otherwise known as “Franks Box”. Following the tradition of Spiricom which was one of the first known two-way communication devices used to bridge the gap between the earthly realm and the spirit realm. Franks Box was the first device that allowed paranormal investigators to communicate with the dead. Frank’s Box is a ghost box that produces random voltage to create raw and random or linear sweeping audio from and AM or FM bandwiths that is then amplified and sometimes fed into an echo chamber before being recorded. Ghost Boxes such as Frank’s Box create audio bits and white noise that ghosts and/or spirits can then use to bring forth words and other sounds with possible real time two-way communication. Frank Sumption was the original creator of the ghost box. The impetus of his idea came by initially experimenting with Stefan Bions EVP Maker software for EVP Recording while also being inspired by an October 1995 Popular Electronics magazine article that asked “ Are the dead trying to communicate with us through electronic means: “Try these experiments and see for yourself”.
Frank’s Box can also be viewed as homemade radio receiver that continuously scans radio frequencies at a predetermined rate. The effect is like twisting the knob on a radio backwards and forwards quickly. However the scan lock function is disabled on this “radio” so the listener can’t tune into a specific station. This sweep method creates a radio that plays erratic white noise. Random fragments of speech and music punctuate the rushing sound of unused frequencies when the scanner momentarily picks up a station. Frank Sumption claimed that the white noise creates what he calls raw audio which paranormal beings use to transmit messages intended for the listener. By his theory the device tunes into some sort of cosmic radio station where the DJs are spirits.
The messages received from the Frank’s Box are composed randomly from the repertoire of radio stations. Proponents prefer listening to the AM band and as a greater source of talk radio and news than FM radio. AM broadcasting produces a higher ratio of words to music. Amidst the radio static the content includes music, advertisements, news and talk. However, the scanner barely rests on a station before flitting to the next so the output is arbitrary and consists of word fragments, single words, and short phrases, combined with language-like sounds from music and white noise. Listeners pick out these intelligible sounds selectively to form messages, words and responses to questions that are asked directly.
Frank Sumption explained that the ability to understand EVP is similiar to learning a new language. But skeptics say that this is not authentic language. The Frank’s Box generates bits of speech and the results resemble speech but collectively these sounds don’t constitute speech. The messages don’t have the features that characterize natural language. They are pieced together selectively from a mixture of sounds and there is no grammar or consistency and no agreed-upon meaning. The output is meaningless. That is until someone gives it meaning.
Today most ghost boxes do not sweep the band randomly but prefer linear sweeping of the AM or FM bands. That is not to say that other bands such as shortwave, weather, etc. are not being experimented with though. The Frank’s Box device is one of several incarnations. It is also known as the Paranormal System’s “MiniBox” and the “PSB7 Spirit Box” according to the design, the manufacturer, and the faction.
The use of the box has become controversial with mixed reviews within the paranormal community. Although some of the audio heard while using a ghost box can seem accurate many have claimed that it is only by chance that certain words are heard during an investigation using the device. Many claim that the timing of Ghost Box EVP’s are proof that that ghost box is truly communicating with the dead. It does seem as though the responses and audio come through at just the right moment on many occasions. Often the box is heard speaking the names of those conducting the investigation. The ghost box has been used to form words and responses to questions and even complete sentences on many occasions.
From a pragmatic or skeptical approach the messages that are received are nonsensical and subjective and do not contain direct or meaningful information. They are only infused with meaning by the listener. It is speculated that this is idiosyncratic meaning based in personal experience not a shared meaning. Critics suggest that it does not replace the gift of mediumship where the information can be interpreted and discerned. However, sometimes this meaning can be shared artificially. Listeners are suggestible and want to hear something meaningful. Listeners can be influenced and would like to hear something concrete. As believers they are often expecting to hear something personal as the brain does like to form patterns and recognition. This is otherwise known as audio pareidolia when your brain attempts to discern patterns in randomness.
As a physical medium these EVP’s are just a part of what I hear during my waking hours and when I conduct readings. Twenty four hours a day seven days a week. It never stops. It does sound like a lot of white noise and faraway snippets of talking and words. I also hear music and static noise sometimes at night. I can tune it out and distract my brain and “lower the volume” so to speak through jumping on the mental plane. The difference between capturing the voices and words through the ghost box and listening as a medium is that as a medium I have the gift of discernment and can tell what energies I am in contact with be it human, nonhuman, angelic, demonic, elemental etc. This is the gift. This is open- channel mediumship which is the mirror of EVP recordings with interpretation. At night this becomes very loud. Most of the time the talking is layered but I can hear much of what is being said if I really concentrate.
Frank Sumption claimed that his boxes could predict the future and warned of doomsday prophecies and natural disasters. He stated that he could even contact the victims of the occurrences. Frank Sumption also stated that the Frank’s Box can be used for solving crimes, finding missing persons, medical research, and in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The eccentric EVP enthusiast claimed at the time that even the designs for the device had been received from the spirit world. Frank Sumptions never put his devices up for general sale but instead created only a limited run of about 180 units and distributed them to only a select few people who he felt would honor and respect his design. There are as of this writing only 97 known Frank’s Boxes in existence. These boxes are to be cherished and used because they represent the genesis and changing technology of ghost box communication. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Frank for letting this technology out into the public to further instrumental trans-communication.
Despite the highly controversial nature of his invention and the lack of evidence to suggest that it had ever been able to communicate with the dead “Frank’s Box” would go on to influence the field of EVP recordings and Paranormal Reserach like nothing before. It usherd in an entire new era of paranormal inevtigation and research. Frank Sumption passed on in 2014 but his legacy lives on in furthered research and the deepened development of his original concepts that continue to push the boundaries in the field of paranormal research.
