Spiricom, the Telephone to the Dead
In 1982, a retired engineer told reporters in Washington that he had built a machine for talking with the dead, and played them the tapes.
What was reported
George Meek, a retired engineer who ran a small research foundation in Franklin, North Carolina, worked with an electronics experimenter named William O'Neil on a device they called Spiricom. It used tones fed into a radio-style circuit, which they believed the dead could shape into speech.
At a press conference in Washington, D.C. in 1982, Meek played recordings of O'Neil holding conversations with a buzzing, robotic voice they said was a scientist who had died years before. Meek gave away the plans for free, so anyone could build one and test it.
Explanations offered
No one who built a Spiricom from the plans reported the same results, and the conversations happened only when O'Neil was present. Sceptics suggest the voice was produced by O'Neil himself, perhaps with an electrolarynx; supporters say the device depended on his unusual abilities. Meek remained convinced until his death.
- When
- 1980–1982
- Where
- Franklin, North Carolina, USA
- Witnesses
- George Meek, William O'Neil and the press
- Status
- Never replicated
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
More from North Carolina