VOICES OF THE DEAD

Copyright Channel Four Television
Directed, Written & produced by David Monaghan

SCRIPT

Music: Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.

NARRATOR:
WHEN THE SEVENTIES HIT PARADE WAS CHOKED BY LIVELY POP, A RECORD OF DEAD PEOPLE SPEAKING INSPIRED A NEW FAITH.

Voice On Record:
The experimenter asked her how she felt in the beyond, and the voice answered in German, "Imagine I am."

NARRATOR:
THE FACT THAT THIS IDEA OF TAPING MESSAGES FROM THE DEAD WON THE BACKING OF A POPE, HAS STAYED SECRET. UNTIL NOW.

Linda Williamson:
I speak to dead people. And not only I can hear them, you can hear them too.

Needle on record.

Record player.

Electronic Voice Phenomena

A record saying Electronic Communication with the Dead stops spinning.

Title card:
VOICES OF THE DEAD

Collection of shots of EVP faithful.

NARRATOR:
PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD BELEIVE THAT THEY CAN USE ORDINARY CASSETTE PLAYERS TO RECORD MESSAGES THEY SAY ARE THE VOICES OF THE DEAD. THE DEVOTEES OF AN ACOUSTIC ANOMALY CALLED THE ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA MAKE TAPES THEY SAY PROVE THE AFTERLIFE EXISTS. BY SIMPLY RECORDING PAUSES IN SILENT ROOMS, THE FAITHFUL BELIEVE ANYONE CAN SUMMON THE DEAD TO LEAVE MESSAGES THAT CAN CURE GRIEF, RESTORE FAITH, AND EVEN GIVE A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN.

Blur Walkers Going To Light.

Record soundtrack: To help the ear adapt itself to the strange rhythm, rapidity and softness of the voice entity speech, each utterance is repeated several times. "Zentor" -- "Zentor"

NARRATOR:
THOSE WHO HEAR THE CALLS HAVE HAD THEIR LIVES CHANGED FOREVER.

Record Going Round.

Needle On Record.

Mountain Mist.

Alec McRae Rows Loch.

Loch And Lone Singing Voice In Gaelic.

NARRATOR:
ENGINEER ALEC MCRAE LIVES ON THE REMOTE ISLE OF SKYE OFF THE WEST COAST OF SCOTLAND

Open up with Skye locate place

Alec McRae:
Well I'm going to a spot where I think I may be able to get archaic voices on the Electronic Voice Apparatus, which I've got with me. And it's an experiment, we'll see how it goes. It'll be interesting if it happens.

NARRATOR:
ALEC IS AN INTERNATIONAL DESIGNER OF VOICE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS. HE DEVELOPED SPEECH ENHANCERS FOR NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE ASTRONAUTS, AND WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR RADIO LINKS FOR LONDON'S UNDERGROUND TRAINS. IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO THAT ALEC READ ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA, KNOWN AS EVP.

Alec McRae:
I sort came across of EVP by accident, and I rejected I totally at first when I read about it. It was something about tape recording the voices of people where they had died. I knew that was nonsense and that couldn't be done, so I slung that back on the shelf. A couple of weeks later I found there were people prominent in the electronics industry involved, and I thought, if it was good enough for them, I'd take a look at it as well.

NARRATOR:
ALEC DECIDED TO BUILD HIS OWN MACHINE TO SEE IF HE TOO COULD HEAR THE VOICES OF THE DEAD.

Records At Waterfall.

Alex Walks Mountain Path.

Mountains, Waterfall.

Alec Opens Machine.

Alec Works Machine.

Alec McRae:
It is like a radio transmitter, which one controls by placing one's hands on those plates here, and this modifies the radio signal, which is picked up by the radio here, and which is converted into sound of course within the radio, that is recorded on the tape recorder. Then when we listen back to that, we find that sometimes you will get a voice sound on there.

Alec playback of Karl Johnson.

NARRATOR:
WHEN ALEC LISTENED TO HIS VERY FIRST RECORDING HE WAS CONVINCED HE COULD HEAR THE VOICE OF A DEAD MAN.

EVP Voice:
Karl Johnson.

Alec in front of computer.

Alec McRae:
That was the first EVP voice that I ever recorded; what it seemed to me to be saying in a very strange, sick, kinda voice was: Karl Johnson, Karl die here. It tails off at the end, as though somebody really was on their last legs.

Speech Waves On Computer.

Mouse Cutaway.

Alec McRae:
They are definitely speech forms and not static. It had quite an impact, really, it was quite convincing.

NARRATOR:
ALEC'S PROFESSIONAL INTEREST IN PERFECTING A MACHINE TO REACH THE DEAD TURNED PERSONAL WHEN SOMEONE HE LOVED DIED.

Alec at father's graveside

Alec McRae:
This is the grave of my father. He died on fifth January 1982. It spurred on my interest in EVP because here was a person who I had known who was gone, all that life was gone, and it made one think, what is it about, and we don't know, so EVP is a way of finding out a bit more.

Alec walks out of graveyard.

NARRATOR:
BUT AFTER 20 YEARS OF LISTENING, ALEC HAS HEARD NOTHING BUT THE VOICES OF STRANGERS.

Hold on empty graveyard.

Music - slowed down chorus "Where's your mama gone"

Judith introduction with photo albums.

Green seance.

Judith Chisolm:
EVP found me, I didn't find it.

Green table rattling.

Picture of Paul Chisolm.

Judith Chisolm:
I mean, to hear from Paul two years after he'd died, it was just the most amazing and wonderful thing that had ever happened in my life.

Judith looking at pictures.

NARRATOR:
JUDITH CHISOLM, A FORMER JOURNALIST WITH THE SUNDAY TIMES, RUNS A SOCIETY PROMOTING EVP FROM HER LONDON HOME. IN 1992, SHE WAS STRUCK BY THE SUDDEN DEATH OF HER ELDEST SON, PAUL.

Judith Chisolm:
I went through periods of enormous depression and loss and grief and you know just anguish really.

Pictures of Paul.

Judith's seance EVP discovery.

Green pictures of table rattling.

NARRATOR:
JUDITH COULD NOT ACCEPT PAUL'S DEATH. IN DESPERATION, SHE AND HER OTHER SON, VIC, BEGAN ATTENDING SEANCES TO TRY TO CONTACT HIM. AFTER RECORDING A SITTING, THEY HEARD AN UNEXPECTED VOICE.

Judith Chisolm:
The voice which came onto the tape that evening, the woman voice, it was just a very soft and gentle voice, almost a whisper, and she just said "Judith" just like that.

STRAPLINE:
Vic Chisolm.

Vic Chisolm:
The electronic voice phenomena is real, it is absolutely real.

NARRATOR:
THE WHISPER CONVINCED THEM BOTH THEY COULD USE A TAPE PLAYER TO RECORD A MESSAGE FROM PAUL.
Judith Plays Paul's EVP Voice.

Judith at tape recorder.

Judith Chisolm:
Vic and I were sitting together, to try to record for EVP voices. So I'll play that now:

Tape player.

Pics Of Judith Sitting With Her Son Vic.

Judith Chisolm:
Would you like to speak to Paul, 'cos I think he might be more likely to reply to you.

Vic Chisolm:
Hello Paul. Are you there?

Judith Chisolm:
Paul, I felt you were here today, when there was a knock in the kitchen, a loud knock. You mixed up some Polyfilla and you dropped it, that was what made the loud noise.

Vic Chisolm:
Yeah, very funny. Well listen, can you not….

EVP voice:
Laugh at us.

Finger stops tape player.

Judith Chisolm:
It's just incredible, I mean, and Paul, in spirit, finished off the sentence: Can you not laugh at us?

Replay Laugh At Us.

Judith Chisolm:
I mean it, it is him. It's his voice, it's his intonation. He spoke faster than Vic, and he had this little gap in his front teeth, as well, and I can even hear that slight whistle behind his voice. We were just overwhelmed, absolutely overwhelmed, to think that he was listening and partaking, participating in what we were doing.

Photographs of Paul.

EVP of Paul - laugh at us.

Scottish drummer.

Alec watches bagpipe band.

NARRATOR:
UP UNTIL NOW, ALEC HAS ALWAYS WORKED ON HIS VOICES ALONE. BUT HIS TECHNICAL KNOW-HOW HAS MADE HIM A CELEBRITY, AND IN JULY HE WAS INVITED TO AN EVP CONFERENCE IN PLAINFIELD, INDIANA, TO TALK TO OTHER PEOPLE WHO CAPTURE THE VOICES OF THE DEAD.

Travelling shots of Plainfield.

Girl catches butterfly.

Conference hotel exterior.

Alec walks corridor.

Alec McRae:
There's going to be a lot of speakers from different specialties. I'm quite looking forward to it, I'm quite excited.

NARRATOR:
THE MAIN SPEAKER IS THE FOUNDER OF AMERICA'S EVP MOVEMENT, SARAH ESTEP.

Exterior hotel sunset.

Night time Sarah Estep.

Sarah:
And this first one is murder, and she is walking around in the basement of an old hotel, and someone was murdered there, probably a hundreds years or more ago, and as she is walking around, you'll hear this word, murder.

Group recording session.

NARRATOR:
OLD AND NEW FOLLOWERS OF EVP COME TOGETHER TO TRY TO REACH THE DEAD.

Sarah:
OK, those of you who have a tape recorder stand, and we will assign people to you, fine okay, you just take off, good luck, good luck, come back, 20 minutes maximum.

NARRATOR:
ALEC JOINS ALISA BUTLER, THE HEAD OF THE AMERICAN ASSSOCIATION OF THE ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA, TO SUMMONS THE VOICES TO TAPE.

Tape goes in, presses play.

Lisa:
I welcome someone from the other side in, and send them a message: "I'm hope you are as excited about the conference as I am. I'm all jazzed up. I hope you are."

Exterior: Hallway up stairs.

NARRATOR:
AFTER MAKING A RECORDING OF SILENCE, THE TAPES ARE PLAYED BACK, TO FIND OUT IF ANY MESSAGES FROM THE BEYOND HAVE BEEN LEFT FOR THEM.

Second group listen.

Tape plays.

Exterior with thunder.

Alec and Lisa playback.

Alec and Lisa listen.

Lisa:
Sounds like a knocking.

Alec McRae:
Sound like a knock, three knocks.

Lisa:
Or was that someone in the room?

Ext: big thunder.

Alec and Lisa listen.

Lisa:
That's an EVP.

Alec McRae:
That's a name.

Sarah Estep:
We have all had time now to go off and make recordings in our groups, do any of you think you might have got a message, when you were recording in your small group? Lisa, you and Alec think you may have?

Lisa:
We might have, they were very low voices and there was noise around, so we want to carefully listen to them, and make sure they are not just voices from outside the room.

Listeners in the room.

American flag in storm.

NARRATOR:
EVP HAD ITS ORIGINS OUTSIDE AMERICA. IN 1959, A SWEDISH FILM MAKER, FREDERICH JUERGUSON, WAS TAPING BIRDSONG IN A FOREST FOR A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE SLAUGHTER OF MIGRATORY SONG BIRDS. WHEN HE PLAYED BACK THE TAPES, AMONG THE BIRD SONG, HE HEARD A VOICE HE RECOGNISED AS HIS DEAD MOTHER.

Rostrum of Swedish headline saying "sensational".

NARRATOR:
JUERGONSON WROTE A SERIES OF BOOKS ABOUT THE MESSAGES FROM THE DEAD, CALLING THEM THE ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA.

Effects shot record player.

NARRATOR:
THE VOICE THEN CALLS THE EXPERIMENTER'S FAMILY NAME:

EVP Voice:
Costja, you are so close.

NARRATOR:
BUT IT WAS COSTJA RAUDIVE, A DISCIPLE OF JUERGUSON, WHO SPREAD THE VOICES AROUND THE WORLD. RAUDIVE TAPED 70,000 VOICE MESSAGES IN SIX DIFFERENT LANGUAGES FROM SILENT ROOMS AND RADIO STATIC.

Record track:
And now we hear in Latin and in German:
"Costic too tic na" -- Costa you are so near.

NARRATOR:
IN 1971, COSTJA RAUDIVE RELEASED A SEVEN INCH RECORD TO PROMOTE HIS BOOK "BREAKTHROUGH".

EVP Voice:
I Can See You, I Can See You.

NARRATOR:
RAUDIVE HAD LABOURED TO CATEGORISE EVERY BRIEF AND SEEMINGLY BIZARRE MESSAGE.

EVP Voice:
The voice says du hast hein flussigon.

NARRATOR:
HE CONCLUDED NOT ONLY THAT THE VOICES RESPOND TO QUESTIONS, BUT THAT PROPER INTERPRETATION OF WHAT THEY SAID COULD REVEAL WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE BEYOND THE GRAVE.

Reporter:
The experimenter states man cannot grasp the events after death with his intellect. A voice replies in German "he can".

EVP Voice:
Er Kann, Er Kann

NARRATOR:
RAUDIVE'S MESSAGES BECAME EVP'S MOST INFLUENTIAL TESTAMENT.

Indiana conference.

Raudive speech.

NARRATOR:
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, RAUDIVE'S VOICE STILL REACHES FROM THE GRAVE TO INSPIRE AMERICAN DALE PALMER. THE INDIANA CONFERENCE HEARS A RECITATION OF THE MOMENT OF HIS CONVERSION.

Sarah Estep introduces EVP.

Sarah Estep
He asked if Konstantine Raudive is here, & within a few seconds a voice responded, Raudive is here.

Plays EVP voice: Raudive is here.

Dale Palmer speaks at lectern.

STRAPLINE:
Dale Palmer Noetics Institute.

Palmer:
When I heard that, I recognised it was an answer to my question. I was hooked.

Alec and the conference device.

Shadow wires pan up to computer.

NARRATOR:
ALEC MCCRAE IS TO HEAR ABOUT A NEW EVP BREAKTHROUGH.

Alec McRae:
I know very little about it at this stage, but Dale Palmer's going to unveil a computer system which is going to enable people who can access the Internet to perform EVP experiments on their own.

NARRATOR:
DALE PALMER IS A FORMER DISTRICT ATTORNEY WITH A VISIONARY PLAN, A WEBSITE TO PROVE CONTACT WITH THE DEAD.

Dale Palmer:
What impact might we have on the world. If anyone in the world can get on their computer and communicate with their dead grandfather, I don't like that word dead, because there is no such thing, you cannot die. Jesus didn't die, and if Jesus didn't die, then I won't die, and you won't die, okay. So if anyone in the world can speak to their loved ones in another dimension, think of the impact it will have on this culture.

NARRATOR:
BUT DALE'S MISSION TO USE THE VOICES TO CONVINCE THE WORLD OF AN AFTERLIFE IS NOT A NEW IDEA.

Raudive record & short EVP quote from record.

George Meek introduction.

NARRATOR:
IN 1971, ANOTHER WEALTHY AMERICAN HAD A SIMILAR VISION, ALSO INSPIRED BY RAUDIVE'S VOICES.

Cut to Meek in study.

George Meek:
I am a visionary, here is my vision. Within 50 years, which is just an instant of time in the march of civilisation, other inventors will have perfected the communication system, then billions of people on the planet will each know that clouds and singing.

Voice Over:
There is electronic proof that death is not the end of life, the dead are still very much alive.

NARRATOR:
GEORGE MEEK SET OUT TO BUILD A NEW MACHINE THAT WOULD NOT JUST PLAY BACK SHORT MESSAGES, BUT HAVE LIVE, TWO-WAY CONVERSATION WITH THE DEAD. MEEK BELIEVED HE COULD END GLOBAL CONFLICT AND PREJUDICE, BY HAVING THE DEAD THEMSELVES TELL WORLD LEADERS THAT REGARDLESS OF RACE AND RELIGION, ALL SOULS WERE JOINED IN THE AFTERLIFE.

Meek video promo.

Video voice over:
After years of research in experimentation, an exciting breakthrough for Meta-Science came with the development of Spiricom.

NARRATOR:
SPIRICOM CONVERTED RADIO FREQUENCIES INTO 13 BUZZING TONES, DESIGNED TO ACT AS CARRIER SIGNALS FOR SPEECH.

Alex McRae:
Now this was a tremendous advance on what everybody else had been doing. They were just picking up voices, you know short statements, but here was this guy apparently communicating with the Other Side.

Match shoots wides of television.

Metascience Promotional film voice over:
After 3 years of work, William O'Neil, an electronic technician and Psychic, achieved his first actual voice exchange with a man who announced that he was Dr. Mueller, who had died in 1967.

Video tape of O'Neill at Spiricom

NARRATOR:
THIS VIDEO TAPE OF BILL O'NEILL USING THE SPIRICOM WAS NEVER SHOWN.

William:
You know better than that.

O'Neil:
What's that sir?

Neil:
About a quarter after two, I forget what time it is.

Mueller:
Oh there we go with that old time, Again.

NARRATOR:
THE VOICE IS SOMETIMES FRIENDLY WITH O'NEILL.

Mueller:
Isn't that right, William?

O'Neil:
Yes that's right, Doctor, I'm sorry sir. Please forgive me.

Mueller:
That's all right, William. That's all right.

O'Neill at Spiricom,

NARRATOR:
AT OTHER TIMES, IT'S MENACING.

O'Neil:
Oh Doctor Mueller?

Mueller:
Turn that damned camera off or our conversation is at an end. Do you understand me, William?

Sarah Estep:
William O'Neil had long, long conversations with Dr. Mueller who had been on the Other Side for some time. And I was just so impressed, I had never heard such long conversations and the, oh that is just wonderful. George Meek was very, very impressed. About a year or so later, he introduced the Spiricom system in Washington, D.C.

Meek with stick

Electronic signal.

Spinning Reel To Reel.

NARRATOR:
GEORGE MEEK DECIDED TO REVEAL HIS VISION AT THE EPICENTRE OF THE WORLD'S MEDIA, THE PRESS CLUB IN WASHINGTON DC. MEEK STEPPED INTO THIS LION'S DEN CONVINCED THE VOICE OF HIS CRANKY GHOST WOULD IGNITE A SPRITIUAL REVOLUTION.

Poster with crossed out race, religion.

Spiricom voice says William.

END PART ONE

^^^

START PART TWO

Metascience tape

Music intro: Chirpy cheep cheep, where's your mama gone.

Spiricom footage.

Oscilloscope tights.

NARRATOR:
WHEN THE AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE BUILT A MACHINE TO TALK TO THE DEAD, HE WANTED THE WORLD TO HEAR ABOUT IT.

Music Far Far Away.

Meek's Washington press conference.

NARRATOR:
GEORGE MEEK'S WASHINGTON PRESS CONFERENCE WAS TO BE THE HIGH POINT FOR THE FOLLOWERS OF THE ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA.

Speaker:
It is my pleasure to present to you George Meek.

George Meek:
We have chosen Easter Week to make this Announcement for Reasons that will shortly become apparent. For many Christians our findings may be one of the most significant items of news in 2000 years. The findings I'm announcing today are truly fantastic and far-out. For the first time we have electronic proof that the mind, memory banks, and personality survive death of the physical body.

Spiricom voice:
How long have you been married, Bill?

George Meek:
We call our equipment Spiricom, short for spirit communication.

Close up Bill O'Neill.

NARRATOR:
WILLIAM O'NEILL, STAYED SILENT AS REPORTERS HECKLED MEEK ABOUT HIS CONVERSATION WITH A DEAD MAN.

Journalist:
Why should we, why should we accept what seems to be, scientifically, a cock & bull story?

George Meek:
The gentleman asks why we should we expect any of you to accept a Cock & bull story. Heh, heh. Frankly, we don't expect you to accept this story. All we're asking today, all we're attempting to do in this press conference, is to ask you to perform your function of reporting this information, reporting this news to your readers, listeners, and viewers.

Meek's Rise and fall post press conference.

Spiricom Headline Being Folded By Meek.

NARRATOR:
MEEK'S PRESS CONFERENCE MADE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES.

Sarah Estep:
George took the Spiricom system and went to many many countries around the world.

Meek at Press conference.

Rostrum Meek photo.

NARRATOR:
BUT FEEDBACK FROM MEEK'S GLOBAL MISSION WAS NOT WHAT HE'D EXPECTED.

Sarah Estep:
When people would hear these sample tapes just like I had, oh that's the kinda results we want to have, and so they would buy the Spiricom manual, and it told how to build the system and so forth, and they would build it, and then they would sit at their tape recorder and no one, no one in the world, no one had the results with Spiricom as William O'Neil had.

O'Neill at Spiricom.

Mueller:
William?

O'Neil:
Yes, Sir?

Mueller:
What's wrong?

O'Neil:
Nothing's wrong sir.

O'Neill at Spiricom.

Mueller:
Wiiillliaammmm?

Alec McCrae:
That can be very easily faked.

Alec McRae:
There was a very old record from the 1940's for kids and that, called 'Sparky's magic piano' which was about a piano record cover that could talk, and it just produced exactly the same kind of sounds, you know?

Rostrum Cover of Record.

Sparky's Magic Piano.

Needle on record.

Sparky Piano Voice:
Oh Sparky, Your time is up, I will no longer play for you.

NARRATOR:
MEEK'S TRIUMPH ENDED IN SHAME WHEN, LIKE SPARKY'S PIANO, HIS SPIRICOM REFUSED TO SPEAK AGAIN.

Bill O'Neil at Spiricom.

Squawk Of Spiricom

O'Neill:
Dr Mueller, Dr Mueller, Oh my God.

Meek's family legacy.

Meek Archive.

NARRATOR:
BUT MEEK HIMSELF CONTINUED TO PROTEST THAT THE SPIRICOM VOICE WAS GENUINE.

George Meek at Press conference.

George Meek:
I'm not about to perpetrate any hoax. Our findings will withstand the closest possible scrutiny by the scientific community.

NARRATOR:
BEFORE HE DIED, MEEK EXPLAINED WHY HE HAD SPENT HIS LIFE AND FORTUNE ON A DEVICE TO PROVE THAT ALL RACES AND RELIGIONS ARE UNITED AFTER DEATH.

George Meek:
The result will be nothing less than an evolutionary leap for mankind. There will be no more war, murder or suicide. That is a legacy I want to leave my children and grandchildren, and yours.

Bill O'Neal at Spiricom device.

Mueller:
William, William

Sarah Estep:
And so that was the unfortunate history of Spiricom. Spiricom has been D-E-A-D for 15 years.

Music cue out.

Stylised tape player.

NARRATOR:
BUT THE DEATH OF SPIRICOM WAS NOT THE END. ALL ACROSS THE WORLD PEOPLE KEEP COMING ACROSS THE VOICES.

Wide of Dundee.

Close up Linda Williamson cleaning.

NARRATOR:
THE VOICES EVP BELIVERS NOW HAIL AS THE MIRACLE OF DUNDEE, WERE FIRST HEARD IN THIS EMPTY BUILDING THREE YEARS AGO. CLEANING LADY LINDA WILLIAMSON WAS WORKING WITH A FRIEND, WHEN SHE HEARD STRANGE NOISES. SHE DECIDED TO RECORD THEM.

Dundee exteriors.

STRAPLINE:
Linda Williamson.

Linda Williamson:
That's when we got the voices on tape, which was unbelievable. When we first heard it, it was very frightening, we didn't know what was happening. There were voices, they were laughing, and they were speaking to one another.

EVP laughing.

Women clean stairs from above.

Linda Williamson:
You actually hear the women. Were they referring to us? Were they seeing us? We never seen anything of them, you know?

EVP laughing.

NARRATOR:
LINDA HAD NEVER HEARD OF ANYONE RECORDING SPIRIT VOICES, BUT SHE BECAME DRAWN INTO IT BECAUSE HER FATHER HAD RECENTLY DIED.

Linda's playback.

Dundee street ext.

Linda Williamson:
My friend said if you can get dead people, why don't you try for your father, and I tried on the first time.

Pan To Photo Of Father.

EVP laughing.

Linda Williamson:
I heard my father's laugh and that was the first time I heard anything relating to my dad, and then I got him two days later actually trying to speak.

EVP Voice:
There's Linda.

Linda Williamson:
I speak to dead people. And not only I can hear them, you can hear them too.

Computer screen playing snippets of EVP voices.

Linda Williamson:
They don't come in for big conversation.

EVP voices: Avril, Irene, Gordon

Linda Williamson:
They're just basically coming in and saying hello to the Person.

Judith's bedroom experiment.

Judith Chisolm:
Well, very soon after I bought this, I thought I'd do a little Experiment. And it records for an hour, so I came up to bed one evening and I just simply switched it on and I put it here, just like that. And I got into bed and went to sleep quite quickly. And then, the next day when I played it back, it was absolutely full of talking, from one end, I mean an hour, an hour of taking. And a lot of the voices were making reference to me, things like: She's lying in bed, get her out, ha ha, and the whole thing was full from beginning to end, was full of spirit voices. And it was incredible.

Turns off light.

Black.

Close Up tape recorder.

Judith Chisolm:
Now when they're speaking to me this red light flickers.

Fireworks.

Dream Of Afterlife Place.

Fireworks And Crowd.

Judith Chisolm:
Well, it sounded like some vast place that they were in. All talking, talking, talking, like mad, to each other. But the impression, the overall impression, was just of thousands of people. Maybe I was connecting to the plane that we all go to when we die, a kind of clearing house, where people go until they are sorted out emotionally, or if they have had any emotional problems, and maybe that's what has to happen, that you have to work things out there, in that kind of a place, before you go to wherever you are allocated to next.

Judith in bedroom.

Judith Chisolm:
All I know is what I was able to record, which was just a mass of voices from nowhere.

Close up tape recorder.

Judith Chisolm:
But in actual fact, from what I believe was the spirit world.

Close up Linda ironing.

NARRATOR:
COMFORTED BY HER OWN EXPERIENCE, LINDA FELT THE VOICES COULD HELP OTHERS.

Linda is ironing.

T-shirt says EVP.

Linda Williamson:
At one stage a friend was quite distressed over the loss of her mother and so we invited her up and put a recording on and got a few things for her. And we felt she got a lot from it, and she felt a wee bit better. And I said to Irene, would we not help people with this, instead of keeping this to ourselves, why don't we do something positive.

Linda's streetwalk.

Recording sitting with women.

Exterior Dundee.

Linda Williamson:
Since I've been doing this Electronic Voice Phenomena, we put an Advert in a newsagent's and we started getting group sittings.

Linda walks through Dundee streets.

Women at sitting.

Exterior Dundee.

Wide women around kitchen table.

Linda Williamson:
Right, what we're actually doing tonight is taking recordings. And hopefully you'll be getting voices from deceased people, that's gonna come through tonight on a tape recorder. This process is called Electronic Voice Phenomena. It totally amazes me that we could put a recorder on, and just talk amongst ourselves and play it back and discover that there's been voices added, and hopefully you people here tonight are gonna recognise if you are getting a name on the tape. Denise, who would you like to see if we could make contact with on the tape?

Denise:
My dad Henry.

Linda Williamson:
Your dad Henry.

Denise:
My cousin Billy.

Linda Williamson:
Your cousin Billy.

Helen:
My daughter Fiona, my dad James, and my mum Helen.

Linda Williamson:
OK we can only just ask, we can't demand anything.

Tape recorder - close up tape going in.

Linda Williamson:
Gunna take a recording of us just talking, basically. Now I am going to use a further tape here as proof that I am not doing anything to the tapes.

Tape recorder close up.

Linda Williamson:
So I've got Denise here and she's asking especially for Henry, or Billy. Would anybody like to walk forward and say something special for Denise?

Denise kitchen interview.

Denise:
Now Billy is my cousin, and he died in a tragic drowning accident when he was 8 years old, that is about 8 years old, and 34 years ago. I'm hoping to hear from my Dad, Henry, I've always grieved for my Dad, we've always been quite a close family, and I'd like to hear something positive for my mum's sake, my mum misses him terribly.

Linda at group sitting.

Linda Williamson:
Right, people, I'm asking for Helen, who's asking especially for Fiona, her daughter, and her mother and father, James and Helen.

Photograph of Fiona.


Helen interview at home

Helen:
Fiona, she was six years old. She died of Meningitis.

Helen:
She came home from school and said Mummy I got sore tummy. That was on a Tuesday and by the weekend we had lost her. It just, the whole bottom fell out of my world when Fiona died, it was just devastating.

Picture of Fiona

Helen:
I just wanted to see if Fiona could come through in any way to me, could she show that she was there, that was all. I've never forgotten her voice, never forgotten her voice.

Linda Williamson:
Are there anybody else that's not written down in the list that would like to walk forward and say who they are and who it's aimed for tonight?

Tape reels.

Linda nodding.

Linda Williamson:
I wouldn't like to call this a modern day séance. I don't like the word séance. But I always prayer about it behind the scenes.

Microphone from sitting, to Linda pan up.

Linda Williamson:
So we'll just let the tape run and let my people come in, and I'm asking if you would walk forward and make the contact with your family.

Effect shots of blurs walking towards light.

Superimposition pictures of Fiona and Henry.

DVE photographs so they zoom through and dissolve as if passing through us.

Pool of intense light.

Linda Williamson:
I was in a bit of turmoil, because my faith was telling me it was wrong.

Blurred eyes of Madonna statue.

Linda Williamson:
It says in the Bible, ye not raise up spirits, and things like that.

Linda in apartment.

Linda Williamson:
I remember being down on my hands and knees for three days. Praying to my Christ. as a personal belief between me and my Creator, and then I was asking, and this has nothing to do with him, that He was the strongest one, it took two years to deal with this, to take this from me, and I totally put my trust in Christ and asked him to deal this.

Photos And Effects.

Big Bible Opens.

Soundtrack Drone.

NARRATOR:
LINDA'S TURMOIL AROSE FROM THE 2,000 YEAR OLD TESTAMENTS OF DEUTERONOMY AND LEVITICUS THAT BAN SEANCES AND PROHIBIT COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAD.

Flames, superimposed with Linda, Alec, faces, and those at conference.

Soundtrack: hellish screams, sparky heavy pianos backwards.

NARRATOR:
UNDER THESE STERN EDICTS, COULD LINDA, ALEC AND ALL THOSE WHO RECORD THE VOICES BE GUILTY OF SORCERY AND THE SIN OF CONJURING SPIRITS?

EVP Ghost Laugh.

Vatican exterior: Madonna statue.

NARRATOR:
THE VATICAN HAS NEVER MADE ANY PUBLIC PRONOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA…

Blurry corridor - Father Brune emerges.

NARRATOR:
BUT THIS PRIEST REVEALED THE SECRET OF THE POPE AND THE GHOST VOICES.

End of Part Two

^^^

Start Part 3

Father Brune at monk's funeral tells of Ernetti experiment.

External of Belgian monastery.

Distant Gregorian chant.

Coffin with hat on it.

NARRATOR:
INSIDE A BELGIAN MONASTERY, A PRIEST LIES DEAD.

Arrival of Gregorian chanters.

Incense being swung.

Priests in procession down corridor.

NARRATOR:
A GUEST AT THE FUNERAL IS THE ONE OF EUROPE'S FOREMOST THEOLOGIANS. HE IS ALSO KEEPER OF A DEEP SECRET. FIFTY YEARS AGO, THE POPE BELIEVED HE HEARD THE VOICE OF A DEAD MAN.

Father Brune walks down corridor.

Distant chanting in background.

Father Brune introduction.

Father Brune:
My name is Francis Brune. I am a Catholic priest in Catholic Church, and had studied in the Institute Catholique in Paris in the Biblical Institute in Rome, and I was Professor for Theology for Holy Scripture in France.

NARRATOR:
FATHER BRUNE HAS WRITTEN THREE BOOKS ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA, DECLARING IT TO BE ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT RELIGIOUS EVENTS OF THE CENTURY.

Father Brune:
Through these experiments we have more and more proof of life after death.

Gregorian procession heads down corridor coming to Father Brune.

NARRATOR:
MOST SURPRISINGLY, FATHER BRUNE BELIEVES IT WAS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ITSELF WHICH HAD FIRST DISCOVERED THE VOICE PHENOMENA. FATHER BRUNE LEARNT THIS FROM A MONK.

Rostrum Father Ernetti.
Father Brune:
I know very well Father Ernetti, and I met him many times, and he told me a very fantastic story.

Wire Recorder.

NARRATOR:
IN 1952, THE VATICAN'S UNIVERSITY IN MILAN HAD ACQUIRED A NEW ELECTRONIC RECORDER. FATHER ERNETTI WAS HELPING THE POPE'S CHIEF SCIENTIST, FATHER GEMELLI, TO RECORD CHANTED PRAYERS.

Wire recorder is turned on.

Father Brune:
They were trying, Gemelli and Ernetti, in this laboratory, to record the voices of monks who were singing in Gregorian. They were only wire recorders, and very often the wire broke.

Wire recorder.

Father Brune:
One time , it was 17 November 1952, and the wire broke again, and since his childhood, Father Gemelli when he had some difficulty, said: "Oh Father, help me" without thinking. And he did again his small knot, and this time, instead of hearing voices singing in Gregorian, it was the voice of his Father from the Beyond who said: "Of course I am helping you, I am with you".

Button goes off.

Father Brune:
Father Ernetti was afraid and stopped recording.

Father Brune:
Of course for Father Gemelli, at the beginning it was dreadful to hear the voice of his Father, because in the Old Testament, there were many passages saying all communication with the dead are forbidden.

Bible cutaways.

Alec meets the vicar.

Return to bag pipes and drummer & Bible hit.

Pan up minister Dr Ferguson.

Skye mountain.

Drummers.

Alec by fishpond.

Alec McCrae:
Well, the minister Dr. Ferguson is coming this afternoon, and he is going to look at the EVP equipment. And, I don't know how that will come out, there are things in the Bible which are probably not too favourable for that type of research, so we shall see what happens.

Int. Alec's house.

Drummers drumming lead into.

Knock at door.

Alec McRae:
Hello Dr Ferguson, thank for coming.

Dr Ferguson:
Thank you.

Alec McRae:
Just in here. This is the equipment that I've been using over here.

Dr Ferguson:
Yes.

Alec McRae:
So if you would like to have a seat here.

Dr Ferguson:
Thank you.

Alec McRae:
So.

Dr Ferguson:
So will you explain to me what's happening.

Alec McRae:
Well, I will explain what can be explained, what cannot be explained I will leave to you, in hope that we'll beget further enlightenment.

Dr Ferguson:
Very good.

Alec McRae:
It does seem to be the voices, voices from an origin which is not of this physical universe. Which is where we think the religious aspect comes in.

Dr Ferguson:
So you're quite convinced that it's not from other stations or?

Alec McRae:
I am quite convinced.

Dr Ferguson:
But it was obvious through the whole of the Old Testament that there was a prohibition against communicating with the dead. There were people who communicated with the dead, people they were prohibited out of Israel at the time. Saul himself advised that they should be cut out from among the people. Regard not then that familiar spirits neither seek after wizards, but if one went to them from the dead they will repent. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.

Father Brune tells of Pope's OK to EVP.

NARRATOR:
IN 1952, THE TWO CATHOLIC PRIESTS WERE SO SHAKEN BY THEIR DISCOVERY, THEY SOUGHT THE HIGHEST RELIGOUS ADVICE.

Father Brune:
After this experiment in Milan, Gemelli and Ernetti went over to The Pope, it was Pius 12. They went to the Pope because they thought it was fantastic. Probably something which could help the faith to the eternal life.

NARRATOR:
AS THE POPE LISTENED TO THE ELECTRONIC VOICE, HIS PRIESTS ASKED IF THEY HAD SINNED BY SUMMONING THE DEAD.

Father Brune:
Pius 12 had a very positive position, saying that the Recorder is objective, cannot transform what it receives, it receives waves from another dimension, and to give again these waves without any influence from a medium, it is not the same thing as in spiritism, and this could be beginning of a scientific discovery, that could help with faith in the Eternal life.

Brune walks down corridor, dissolve.

Father Brune:
This experiment was not published later, not yet.

Alec's vicar says EVP OK.

Alec with oscilloscope.

NARRATOR:
TODAY, THE POPE'S PRAGMATIC VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROHIBITIONS IS ECHOED BY OTHER CHURCHMEN.

Alec McRae:
Do you think, then, that presents a gloomy prospect for EVP?

Dr Ferguson:
I don't think so, anything that can strengthen the faith is very welcome, whatever it is.

Alec McRae:
But if the proof is there, and it does seem to be there more and more as the years progress.

Dr Ferguson:
It will give respectability to faith, ha ha.

Alec McRae:
That's a very good way of putting it, but as I say, I only just came to see, I mean this is so personal I should probably not be here, but having been the sort of person who believes that knowledge is superior to faith, because that is the way we are taught, you know…

Pope's links to Juergonson & Raudive record.

Needle on Raudive record.

Quote from record:
The experimenter tells how difficult it is to convince people of the reality of electronic voice phenomenon.

Archive Juergonson meeting Pope.

NARRATOR:
WHILE KEEPING ITS SUPPORT FOR EVP A GUARDED SECRET, THE VATICAN PUBLICLY EMBRACED THE SWEDISH PROPHET OF THE VOICES AND HONOURED FREDERICH JUERGONSON WITH A PAPAL MEDAL. WITH THE POPE'S COVERT BACKING, THE PHENOMENA SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD.

Raudive Record Track:
Now a voice says "Mark you, make believe, my dear, yes"

NARRATOR:
TODAY MORE THAN 30,000 BELIEVERS IN 87 COUNTRIES BELONG TO EVP SOCIETIES AND REGULARLY USE THE PHENOMENA TO CONTACT THE DEAD.

Linda's playback and miracle praise.

Linda Williamson:
Right, Denise, Helen, and Irene. The recording that I took for the EVP session the other day. Let's see if there is anything there especially for you tonight, OK?

EVP Voice:
This Girl is ta-ping!

Linda Williamson:
Somebody saying: This girl is ta-ping. Can anybody recognise this?

EVP Voice:
This Girl is ta-ping! This Girl is ta-ping! This Girl is ta-ping!

Helen:
Linda, that's Fiona.

EVP Voice:
This Girl is ta-ping!

Photograph of Fiona.

Helen:
I know my daughter's voice. I've never forgotten my daughter's voice, it's not a thing you'd ever forget.

EVP Voice:
This Girl is ta-ping!

Black and white photo of Fiona.

Helen:
I've had a fantastic void in my life for years, and the void has Closed, it's gone. I know she's with me, I know she's here, I mean, oh wow.

Green line of computer screen.

EVP voice:
It's Henry. It's Henry.

Denise:
I'd swear that he's sayin' Henry.

Linda Williamson:
Oh he's sayin Henry? Why's he's whispering?

Denise:
Well when my dad died he died of COAD, Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease.

Linda Williamson:
But he should be well now.

Linda turns and smiles Slo-mo.

Music: Where's your mama gone.

Denise:
I believe what Linda has is a gift.

Photo of Denise's father Henry with effects of tunnel of light.

Music: Chorus: Little baby gone.

EVP voice:
It's Henry

Denise:
A power to be able to reach beyond the grave
Music: Chorus: Far far away. Far Far away.

Denise:
I do believe what we have heard tonight is a miracle.

EVP voice:
It's Henry.

Fireworks.


Judith Chisolm:
I hope that everyone will be able to communicate with the dead, and find that they're not dead after all.

Laughing.

Judith Chisolm:
I want at least the knowledge that it is possible to do it, to be made available to everybody.

Fire works explode.

Alec back to house, sitting at computer.

I love you outro.

Alec McCrae:
So this one here which I'm just going to play, seems to say: It's Simone, I love ya. Well, I think that the Simone on here is deceased, and Simone is sending a message, wishing to convey to somebody that he loves them. And presumably somewhere, someone will recognise this voice and be reassured by this message.

Mountains & Mist.

Voice Over: Singing.

Voice Over:
EVP Simone I love you.

Singing
I love you
I love you

END