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On the Analysis of Exceptional Voice Phenomena on Tapes. Pilot studies on the 'recordings' of Friedrich Jiirgenson*.

HANS BENDER

Editorial Note

We are greatly honoured to be able to publish the first translation pees into English of Professor Hans | ~ Bender’s well-known paper on |) Friedrich Jiirgenson’s voices, - “Zur Analyse aukergewohniicher Stimmphénomene auf Tonband. Erkundungsexperimente_ tiber die ‘Einspielungen' von — Friedrich Jiirgenson". This paper was initially published by the Zeitschrift ftir Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie, Year 12, Nr. 4, 1970, pp. 226-238. We are very grateful to its Editor, Dr Walter von Lucadou, for — granting Professor Hans Bender permission to the ITC Journal to publish this top reference work in the field of ITC.

Professor Hans Bender is considered by many to be the most important parapsychologist of the 20th century. Indeed, his meticulous methods and his simultaneously open and_ cautious appreciation of anomalous phenomena seem to me to be the most commendable attitude in a field as tricky as ours. Iam a great admirer of Hans Bender and therefore, it is for me doubly satisfying to be able to offer to our readers his paper on the experiments carried out with Imedrich Jiirgenson and the remarkable protocol implemented, as well as the accurate observations he makes about Jiirgenson’s recordings’.

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Introduction

The painter and film producer Friedrich Jiirgenson, living in Sweden, was the first to report (in 1959) extraordinary voice phenomena on audiotape which he interprets as 'messages from the deceased’. In exploratory experiments, the Freiburg Institute in 1964 investigated, as a first approach to the question, whether this voice phenomenon is normally explicable or attributable to paranormal influence. A second investigation in May 1970, with improved technical equipment, showed the paranormal source of some voice phenomena as very probable. Analyses with the Visible Speech Technique greatly helped to objectify comprehension of the content.

I. Since 19638 the Freiburg Institute has been connected with Friedrich Jiirgenson, the author of the book Sprechfunk mit Verstorbenen (Freiburg 1967)0] who lives in Mé6lnbo near Stockholm. After a colourful life of education and occupation (studies at art academies and music colleges, opera singer, painter) the man from the Baltic who was born in Odessa in 1908, took up residence in Sweden in 1943. There he works as a visual artist and acquired renown in the last decade as a producer of documentaries preferably with themes about his adopted country, Italy. His works about the preservation of Pompeii, which is his special interest, are well known.

In the summer of 1959 Jiirgenson made an odd observation: after recording bird-songs in the countryside he perceived during playback a soft male voice, speaking in Norwegian about "nocturnal birdcalls". A series of "cackling, whistling and burbling noises" subsequently occurred in which he believed he could discern the call of a bittern. He contemplated the possibility that under certain circumstances a tape recorder could operate as a radio receiver. But he was concerned that ‘Just me, who was in search of birdsongs, Norwegian night bird calls were sent on tape just at that moment when I plugged in the device?’ (p. 19).

How it continued Jiirgenson reported in full detail in his book. During the following months he received on his tape recorder with a microphone, voice phenomena giving him personal messages. During

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the recording they were inaudible and could only be detected in replay as softly spoken recordings. Jiirgenson had to train his hearing to understand all this ‘voice information’. Being tired, he interrupted his efforts and, in autumn 19359, hallucinatory auditory phenomena appeared: In the sound of falling rain, in streams and trickling noises, as well as in the rustle of paper, Jiirgenson heard words and scraps of words, sometimes also longer sentences by a whispering female voice. It was the same voice which appeared many times on the tapes. She asked him to ‘keep contact’ through the device, 'to listen, please, please listen'. Jiirgenson started the experiments again and _ received ‘recordings’ in the presence of witnesses such as Swedish parapsychologist Dr. J. Borkhem, now deceased, and Arne Weisse, an employee of the Swedish broadcasting company. This first 'public recording’ (p. 52) with seven observers was considered so remarkable by Jiirgenson and the witnesses, that parts of it were later documented on a gramophone record to accompany his book. It was also one of the first recordings Jiirgenson gave to the Freiburg Institute in his never failing willingness to cooperate. In fact, something special happened. The main points of the report are given here as a summary of Jiirgenson's experience:

Tt was the 28th December1959. Around 7:30 p.m. the tape recorder was activated for a microphone recording after Jiirgenson had called "Now'. During playback it was detected that a male voice had pre-empted him clearly interjecting "Poskala" (identified in the book as the name of a Swedish locality). Nine years after this experiment another context became more plausible: in Finnish the word means "cheek to cheek" and should have constituted a meaningful connection to the situation at that tme.) The conversation was In Swedish. At the time, when Jiirgenson answered a question with "Monga, monga" ("many, many"), during playback an older male voice was heard, saying "tanto partis". Jiirgenson interpreted this as a continuation of his question, a combination of the Italian 'tanto' - ‘many’ - and the English 'parties'. After this a lady had asked Dr. Bjorkhem a question, who replied to her. However, on the tape a completely different sound sequence was audible; indeed with Bjorkhem's voice, as a substructure but not spoken by him: "Stackars

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lila Bjork" (‘poor little birch’), perhaps for Jirgenson - an allusion to his severe heart disease. A female voice that had previously called Jiirgenson's son by his nickname, now shouted quite loudly: "Tanner - Tanner" with a Finnish accent. After listening to the tape, Arne Weisse quite piqued by the incomprehensibility, but also worried, asked: "Where is Tanner?". "I Sverige" - 'in Sweden' was supposedly the answer. (Three years later Jiirgenson got the book The Great Problem by the English author L. Johnson, which dealt with messages from the deceased and where on two consecutive pages the word "Tanner", the name of an English medium, was found!2!,)

They decided to let the tape recorder run and to remain silent. From time to time street noise was heard on the tape, and suddenly a male voice saying "Grecola" with an accent on the first syllable. Some seconds later Mrs. Weisse broke the silence and uttered: "If I wasn’t afraid, I would go into the kitchen now". There she had put her little son to bed. (As recently as 1963 it turned out that 'Grecola! means ‘little Greek’ in Latin with the undertone of 'fraidy cat’. fan English expression used by children of someone showing fear]) The experimental evening ended with a kind of dialogue between Arne Weisse, who wavered between scepticism and disconcern, and a voice that said clearly: "So cold is within you." [Editor’s note: this was a direct reply to a comment about the coldness felt that evening].

In his comment Jiirgenson stressed that 'in most recordings the meaning of certain, apparently senseless, words appears only at some remote period, sometimes several years later’ (p. 55). However, it seems that during this session this phenomenon, reminiscent of precognition, occurred prevalently.

Subsequently, Jiirgenson thought, more and more frequently, that he could recognize voices of the deceased in the 'recordings'. Former personal acquaintances came forward, among them Kersten, a friend of Jiirgenson and well known masseur of Himmler, who saved many lives and whose voice was identified by relatives. Even Hitler's voice seemed to be audible on the tapes. Meanwhile Jiirgenson had developed a new method to obtain ‘recordings’: his ‘anonymous friends' had suggested to him to communicate with them through a radio set. His 'radio assistant’, Lena - a [deceased] girl friend from his

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youth - told him in a whispered voice which wavelength he had to tune into. Often it was the position where noise could be recorded on a tape and proved as a ‘carrier’ for the 'recordings'. Sometimes, also more or less distorted radio broadcasts were 'super-modulated' and provided with another text. Jiirgenson sent a lot of examples to the Freiburg Institute. Only in rare cases was it possible to understand the contents without his comments. The role played by the projection of a preconceived meaning into an acoustic signal for its intelligibility remained an open question.

Because of a range of newspaper reports and finally because of his book, published in Swedish and German, the voice phenomena became widely known. Jiirgenson's thoroughly uncompromising missionary idea of 'radiotelephony with the deceased’ inspired a lot of people with hope for a communication with the beyond. Other experimenters signalled success. There were 15 in Sweden alone . In Germany Konstantin Raudive for years applied himself almost completely to the phenomenon of 'recordings'’, at first in solitude, later with increasing publicity in collaboration with the physicist Alex Schneider from St. Gallen and other engineers. His report Unhorbares wird horbar. Auf den Spuren einer Geisterwelt' (Engl. edition Breakthrough) was published in 1968 together with a record. While in the 'recordings' of the polyglot Jiirgenson many European languages were audible and also Yiddish, those of the Latvian Raudive were dominated by Latvian, Latvian-Gallic, Russian and German. As in Jiirgenson's case, words from different languages were often put together in one phrase, causing particular difficulties for understanding.

I. In summer 1964 the Freiburg Institute, together with Jiirgenson, ran the first exploratory experiments in the private institute "Deutsches Institut fiir Feldphysik' (German Institute of Field Physics’) in Northeim. Involved from the Northeim Institute were its head, Dipl.-Phys. B. Heim, and his audio engineer W. Schott, H. Bender and philosophy student G. Vilhalmsson from Freiburg and, as an observer, the physicist Dr. F. Karger from Munich. Different types of tape recorders were used: one Uher Report belonging to Jiirgenson

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and one from Freiburg, as well as a Grundig stereo recorder and, in a room next door, a Telefunken recorder for distant control. Besides very faint supposed 'recordings' only heard by Jiirgenson, there were some that were audible and partially understandable by a number of the participants. It is important also to point out an experiment by Jiirgenson, Karger, Vilhalmsson and Bender run with two Uher Report devices in a hotel room. In a short talk Jiirgenson reported about a peculiar phenomenon, that during the transfer of material from one of his tapes to a tape for the Freiburg Institute new ‘recordings' were detected on the copy. He decided to present the tape to an audio engineer of the Stockholm broadcasting company, who couldn't explain the origin of the voices. At this point in the talk a male voice clearly says, loudly "VON WO", ("from where"), almost shouted into a very short intermission. In a later analysis of the acoustic occurrence with the "Voice-Print’ method the presumed phonetic audio impression, perceptible on both devices, was rendered objective in the Visible-Speech-Diagram.

I. Ina first step the Northeim exploratory experiments served the purpose of clarifying the problem. There was no doubt that on completely new tapes which excluded fraudulent manipulations - and that was, anyway, extremely improbable considering the honourable character of Jiirgenson - acoustic occurrences happened, the origin of which could not be determined. The preliminary study or the discussion of hypotheses restricted itself to microphone recordings, because the clarification of the so-called 'radio recording’ has to take into account the difficulties to differentiate normal radio transmissions, or their fragments, from supposed ‘recordings’. Only clearly identifiable contents of personal information can give some guarantee of the correct evaluation here.

In the decision about the paranormal cause of the microphone ‘recordings’, the following counter-hypotheses have to be excluded:

a. Projection of an illusionary semantic content into normal speech or random noises.

b. Uncontrolled utterances of participants in the form of

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unconscious whispering or unintended interjections.

c. Fragmentary radio transmissions, recorded by a tape recorder working under special circumstances as a receiver.

To exclude the counter-hypothesis a), on the one hand, listening tests with a large number of trained participants are advisable, on the other hand 'Visible-Speech-Diagrams' as an objectifying technique, as reported by Sotschek. Naturally, listening tests are also necessary if there is an articulated acoustic occurrence whose intelligibility has to be established. All 'recording' [EVP] experimenters repeatedly demand permanent training of their auditory capabilities in order to be able to meet the special requirements of the alleged voice phenomena.

From the point of view of Dipl.-Phys. B. Heim, the counter- hypothesis b) at best can be neutralised by using larynx microphones for every participant. He recommends:

"If n participants are present, n+1 identical tape recorders have to be simultaneously controllable by one electrical accumulative switch. ‘To the microphone inputs optional n dynamic or n inductivity-free crystal microphones are connected, which are larynx microphones. ‘The remaining device gets an accumulative microphone. This must be a dynamic or an inductivity-free crystal microphone (optional attachable). If recording experiments, with n participants and with such an arrangement in progress, are implemented, human failure could be eliminated by generating the difference between the recording of the accumulative microphone and the n recordings of the larynx microphones."

The counter-hypothesis c) can be excluded with most confidence, if the experiments are performed in a reliably shielded room. It is also possible to shield the single tape recorder with the attached microphone in an iron box.

Regarding all these suggestions, especially the inconvenient larynx microphones, it is essential to consider that the spontaneity of the experimental ambience, necessary for the success of paranormal experiments, will be at risk of being impaired.

An additional exploratory investigation of Jiirgenson's voice

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phenomena was performed by Dipl-Phys. B. Heim and audio engineer W. Schott at the end of October 1965 in Nysund near Molnbo (Sweden), the country house of Jiirgenson. With a Revox- device they achieved 22 usually very low tape recordings. They reserved their comments on the interpretation of the investigation, ".In the absence of detailed knowledge about the physical and especially electro-acoustic conditions". In his expertise Heim writes: "Even, after using all our critical faculties, something remains that is still inexplicable, and - in our opinion - seemingly connected with the person of Mr, Jiirgenson."

IV. For the time being, at the Freiburg Institute, further investigations of the complex voice phenomenon had to be held in abeyance because there was little chance of raising the required funds. Meanwhile ‘paranormal voices' became an internationally discussed curiosity. Early in May 1970, a surprising opportunity opened up, with Jiirgenson performing new experiments in Nysund. Participants in this improvised undertaking were the author, Dr. J. Keil (Institute of Psychology, University of Tasmania), philosophy student L. Bélanger and Engineer N. Lemke with his wife (Munich). During the period of the 5th to the 8th of May 1970, in a living room of the house of our host, 25 single experiments with microphone recordings were performed, with a talk time of 4 to 10 minutes. The participants sat around a round table, with Jiirgenson a little aside at his tape recorder (Uher Report 4000).

The following arrangements had been made: in front of every participant at the table a microphone was located, to which, at the beginning of the 12th experiment, a directional aid in form of a 80 cm long cardboard tube was attached. All the way through, high-class moving coil microphones were used. A ‘universal microphone’ hung over the table, connected to Jiirgenson’s tape recorder. The table microphones were connected separately with the two channels of an Uher-Report 4004 stereo device and an Uher Variochord 263. The microphone inputs of the tape recorders were protected by a broadcast lock, the microphone cables were kept short (maximum of 2.5m). Further, a Shibaden video recorder with its own omni-

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directional microphone was provided. It was mainly used to record the reaction of an oscillograph, at which the tele-camera was directed. The oscillograph had its own microphone. That way it should be able to identify the sound recorded by the video recorder with the associated oscillogram.

Before use, the new tapes were rewound unto new metal coils to discharge them statically and to be sure that on the recording heads no sound was induced by static electricity. The room where the experiments took place was tested for strong radio stations and radiotelephony with a ferrite rod by Eng. Lemke and with a receiver we had brought with us. Repeated verifications gave negative results every single time, so that Eng. Lemke completely precluded counter- hypothesis c): fragmentary radio transmissions as an explanation for ‘recordings’.

Always after the conclusion of a test conversation, the recordings were listened to firstly from Jiirgenson's Uher device. The host, temperamentally driven also after many years of experimenting, called attention to supposed ‘'recordings', and the other participants tried to recall what they had understood. The participants were able to decide on 17 more or less clear 'recordings' - with some reservations. In comparison to this there was often a greater number, which Jiirgenson told us of during a subsequent audit of his tapes. At this time they are still not verified in detail.

The most understandable of the 17 'recordings' are shown in their context below:

3rd May 1970: On this first experimental day, during the afternoon, Bender asked if Jiirgenson had received voices on a tape in a language unknown to him, perhaps in Japanese. Jiirgenson pointed out that he had once received a long conversation in a fantasy language.

During the first experiment in the evening, a male voice, inserted into a remark of Lemke, was audible during the replay of Jiirgenson's Uher tape:

Lemke: "You simply take out the antenna"; Jiirgenson: "out yes" (little break) "SO HO HO'; Lemke: "and now you can ..."

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The table microphone had at this point no directional tubes; also the oscillograph was not switched on. The ‘recording’ was clearly audible on the Shibaden video recorder, less distinctly on the other sound tracks. In the 'Visible-Speech-Diagram' a voiced 'S' and three times the vocal 'O' are identifiable. This sound formation, objectified in this way, suggestive of the impression of an infantile notion of Chinese, could have a relationship to the previous conversation with Jiirgenson.

Because it was still impossible to exclude the counter-hypothesis b): 'Uncontrolled utterances of the participants’ through technical provisions - like larynx microphones - this case remains inconclusive, although the interjection of a normal spoken "SO HO HO" is unlikely.

In the same session, during a short conversation about the lake near the county house at Nysund, a tape voice was audible, saying - inserted in a comment by Jiirgenson - "ABER ZUSS" (English, 'but sweet’). A participant declared for the record that earlier, he had on the tp of his tongue to ask if the lake was salty or sweet. He understood the 'recording' immediately. It was recorded on all devices except for a tentatively 'magnetized'! track of the Varicord device. Some minutes later, again between two words of a comment by Jiirgenson, a "HA HA HA" was audible, recorded in the same way. We could not achieve agreement on the meanings of three other whispered ‘recordings’.

4th May 1970: At a second session the cardboard tubes for the table microphones (Jiirgenson, Bender, Keil and Lemke) were in place and the oscillograph in use. In the morning Jiirgenson demonstrated former radio 'recordings' to us: To all participants the voice of the ‘radio assistant’ Lena was noticeably emotional and expressive. The author speculated about special expressive voices and in this context thought about a female co-worker. On the telephone she used her name 'Rasmus' with pointed impersonality and without a forename, which is rather unusual for a woman. The author started the test conversation with a comment about the impressive voice of Lena. He had to cope with coughing attacks and a throat irritation. Instantly, at the beginning, there was a clear audible ‘recording’, which was observable on the oscilloscope and visible to everyone: B.: "I was

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very impressed with" - "TSCHAPPA" - "the ...". A verification of the sound tracks connected with the directional microphones resulted in: very low on all, on the threshold of perceptbility, only loud on Jiirgenson’s Uher (overhanging ‘universal microphone’) and on the Shibaden video recorder. The microphones of the oscillograph, which reacted heavily during "TSCHAPPA" 4, and of the video recorder were standing together on the table under the hanging ‘universal microphone’.

The author, who articulated with difficulty because of his throat uritation, continued his remark about Lena's voice: another ‘recording! was heard a moment later: "emotion ..." - "RASMUS' - "Td like to ask you ...” ("emotion ... - RASMUS - ich méchte Sie gerne fragen ..."). The directional microphones on the table were positioned in the following arrangement: Jiirgenson, next to him, Bender, obliquely opposite Keil and Lemke. The other three stood as described above. At first Jiirgenson and Keil understood the 'recording' as "VON UNS" (English: 'by us’). Then sound track 1 (Bender) was replayed in the Variocord. A little earlier, L. Bélanger had joined the group of participants. He and the author independently and at lightning-speed understood "RASMUS". The 'Visible-Speech-Diagram' in_ the following article[Sotschek's]!5| gives indications for the correctness of the literal sense.

The verification of the separate sound tracks showed: Jiirgenson loud, Bender somewhat softer, Keil and Lemke very low, universal microphone and video recorder good audibility. The oscillograph gave a short deflection.

For the author this 'recording' was the most evidential in regard to a paranormal presumed origin. The sound track "RASMUS' was the loudest and the clearest in the ‘directional’ microphone of Jiirgenson who did not know this name. As Sotschek pointed out in his analysis of the 'Visible-Speech-Diagram' it was not possible that the author (the next clearest recording) had produced it by whispering, because it seemed impossible to shift the voice from a breathed, very low whispered remark to a sonant and loud spoken 'l' of the word "ich" in a short period of less than 0, 05 sec. In addition, his constant throat uritation is taken into account, forcing him to bring the intended

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remark to an end. The recordings of Keil and Lemke, to whom the name "Rasmus" was not known, are so low that they were below the threshold of perceptibility. This result indicates that Jiirgenson is the Initiator of the 'recording’. Because he did not know the name, we have to consider whether he gained knowledge of it telepathically from the author, who sat beside him. By means of this interpretation the mysterious influence should arise primarily in the microphones of Jiirgenson, Bender, the universal microphone and the video recorder.

For the following experiment in the same session it was stipulated that after the end of the test conversation, there should be a silent break of one minute, while the recording devices continued to work. The arrangement of the microphones was the same as in the last experiment.

For this break the participants stipulated a strict discipline - abstention from all vocal utterances. They watched the oscillograph, which suddenly - 22 secs before the end of the break - showed a deflection: a ‘recording’ recognized as a remark in English by all participants. Understandable to all: "STOP - AS YOU LIKE...", then it became fuzzier, but it could be identified, after repeated listening, as "ONE PAUSE". The word "STOP" was pronounced the American way, confirmed by the diagram analysis, which showed an 'A' instead of an 'O'. This ‘recording’ was visible on all sound tracks. It was indistinct only on the video recorder. The word "PAUSE" was spoken like the German word "Pause", however, without the final 'E’.

This ‘recording’ also indicates a paranormal origin. It is extremely unlikely that the words were uncontrolled whisperings by one of the participants (counter-hypothesis b), considering the agreed mutual supervision during this silent break, and also in regard to the phrasing - especially the German sounding last word. Counter-hypothesis c) - radio fragments - should be excluded because of the situation of being in silence, independently also of the statement by Eng. Lemke. This time it was not possible to analyse the probable origin by comparison. It is worth noting that Jiirgenson never pronounced English words the American way.

In a subsequent verification, Jiirgenson indicated 16 'recordings' in the experiments from the 5th of May. Some of these were also

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perceived as sound formations by the other participants, but they could not achieve agreement about the probable meanings.

6th May 1970: In the last experiment to be described here, Jiirgenson, Bender, Keil und Bélanger participated (named in the order of their places around the round table) with one ‘directional microphone' per person. One ‘recording’ was fully fitting in a remark by Jirgenson: "Any suggestion," he said - "do you understand?" - "NEIN MEINE FREUNDE' (English: "no my friends') - so ..."

This 'recording' was immediately understood by Keil and Bender. In a rating of clarity, which we had created in the meantime, we determined the result as: Jiirgenson's Uher universal microphone 6, Jiirgenson's directional microphone 1, Bender 2, Keil 3-4, Bélanger 3. If an utterance had been whispered by a participant it would have to be accentuated by the ‘directional microphones’. In this case also, the counter-hypothesis b) seems implausible because of the meaningful inclusion into the context. The same applies to the counter-hypothesis c). Here, too, paranormal origin is most probable.

V. ‘In collaboration with J. Sotschek, member of the research team 'Acustik' of the Telecommunication Techniques Central Office, Berlin, and author of the following “ article, audibility measurements were performed with 5 ‘recordings’ (TANNER, TANNER; VON WO, ABER ZUSS; RASMUS and STOP - AS YOU LIKE ONE PAUSE). The Experimental ‘listeners’ were 7 members of an ‘audio squad' collaborating with the research team and 6 ‘listeners’ without experience in speech discrimination measurements. Language skills in English existed at different levels.

The questionnaires prepared by the Freiburg Institute initially allowed for a free interpretation and then a ‘multiple-choice’ rating, where the ‘correct’ meaning of every ‘recording’ should be found from 6 alternatives, which were all phonetically very similar. The interpretation for which the highest probability was determined after the session in Nysund and during the exact analysis in the Freiburg Institute, was considered as the right one. Every ‘recording’ was presented at least 20 times.

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Result: In the case of the free interpretation not once was agreement reached in the evaluation. Often only single noises were understood and no coherent words.

The evaluation of the 'multiple-choice' ratings showed that three of the 5 'recordings' were properly identified with statistically significant majority. This is the matter of the 'recordings' "von wo" (54% correct), "aber ziiss" (46% correct), "stop - as you like - one pause" (62% correct). Indeed the percentages are far from 100, but the remaining 8 alternatives achieved far smaller approval ratings. (According to the binomial distribution of 13 classifications and 9 alternatives a percentage of 38% on the 5% level is already significant).

Among the remaining two ‘recordings’ was the interpretation, defined as correct, of a proper name unknown to the classifiers ("Rasmus'; "Tanner, Tanner"). That is the reason why here the interpretation was naturally more difficult and the number of correct classifications accordingly small. Nevertheless, at the free interpretation of the word "Tanner" some quite similar syllables were stated like "thunder, thunder’, but never the correct wording. However, also at the free interpretation, the word "Rasmus" was entirely misunderstood and was identified e.g., as "horch noch" or "hatte".

Comparing the results of the [personal] classifications with the Visible-Speech analysis, it is noticeable that the greater the differences in the free interpretation tests, the less precise the Visible-Speech analyses are. The letters that can be identified by the analysis, on the whole occur also in the interpretations of the [free] ‘listeners’, which are usually very different. For instance, one of the clearest 'recordings' ("von wo') has been freely interpreted as "wa go / war o / war so / bravo / wang ho". On the other hand, the Visible-Speech analyst writes: "... initial sound clear ’, very clear second 'O'’, first 'O' rather tends to 'A'

In his paper Sotschek comments on the results of the audibility measurements. He shows the difficulties that result from the usually inconvenient distance between useful and disturbing signal (the 'signal- to-noise ratio’) in the ‘recordings’. It is possible to offer the suggestion that the experimenters in voice phenomena have evolved special

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differentiation abilities for the 'recording’ through long training; on the other hand, it is necessary to consider the number of projections in their statements. For future researches, which are urgently required in view of the encouraging results of these exploratory experiments, a room with low reverberations would be desirable; furthermore, a shielded tape-recorder and uni-directional microphones are essential, which could substitute the larynx microphones recommended by Dipl.-Phys. Heim to exclude the counter-hypothesis b). Likewise, there is a need to make arrangements to achieve an increasing control of the working point, beginning at the microphone. Various possible working points (including electronics, tape head etc.) could be examined simultaneously by usage of adequate numerous devices.

For paranormal research the most pressing problem is most likely the awareness of the paranormal origin of certain 'recordings' and the clarification of the working point of the supposed psychokinetic influence. The psychological interpretation, in particular also the reaction to the spiritist supposition, is a cura posterior.

Friedrich Jiirgenson deserves the credit for his unconditional willingness to volunteer unselfishly for the parapsychological research.

Summary

The analysis of extraordinary voice-phenomena on tape- recordings. Pilot studies on the «play-back-phenomena» of Friedrich Jtirgenson.

Since 1959 the Swedish painter and film producer Friedrich Jiirgenson reported extraordinary voice-phenomena on tape; he was the first to expose such findings. He interprets these voices as "messages from the dead". As an initial approach, the Freiburg Institute in 1964 made an exploratory experiment to determine whether the voice phenomena were normally explainable or evidence of paranormal effects. A second examination with better technical equipment in May 1970 made the paranormal hypothesis of the origin of the voice-phenomena highly probable. The analysis of the sounds with Visible-Speech-Diagrams proved to be very helpful for the objective documentation of the supposed meaning.

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(This summary was inserted in English at the end of the original German papcr)

Note:

In the title Bender used the German word "Einspielung" ("Recording") with quotation marks.

{1]. An English translation of Friedrich Jiirgenson's book entitled Voice Transmissions with the Deceased, a translation of the German edition is available free at http:/Avww.fargfabriken.se/hf/

[2]. Vgl. dazu im folgenden Artikel von J. Sotschek Bild 8, S. 248.

[footnote from original text -Tr. See picture 8, page 248, in the article by J. Sotschek.]

[3]. Bender wrote in the ori inal: “ma netges est”; this word doesn’t exist in German.

[4]. Das Visible-Speech-Diagramm dieser Einspielung la&t eine eindeutige Identifizierung der Konsonanten offen. Im Diagramm erscheinen die beiden «A» als erkennbare Vokale. Der dazwischenliegende Konsonant la8t sich als Doppellaut deuten (Wiederholungsintervall zwischen den beiden gleichen Einzellauten 40 msec). Die Berliner Gruppe glaubte «“SASCHA» zu héren: Jiirgenson interpretierte das Wort als einen derben Ausdruck in Mailander Mundart: «CIAPPA» (gesprochen: «TSCHAPPA») statt «CHIAPPA» (gesprochen: «KIAPPA»).

[footnote from original text -Tr. The Vistble-Speech-Diagram of this record does not allow an unequivocal identification of the consonants. In the diagram the two 'A' appear as recognizable vowels. The consonant between them can be construed as a diphtong (interval between the two single equal parts 40 milliseconds). The group (of listeners) from Berlin believed to hear 'SASCHA' Jtirgenson interpreted the word as a vulgarism in the idiom of Milano 'CIAPPA' spoken 'TSCHAPPA' instead of 'CHIAPPA' spoken as 'KIAPPA'

[chiappa = bottom]

[5]. Sotschek was the author of an article published in the same

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Journal in 1970 immediately following Professor Bender’s paper. Not printed here (see References: Year 12)

References

Der Bericht "Zur Analyse auSergew6hnlicher Summphanomene auf Tonband" von Hans Bender entstammt der Zeitschrift fiir Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie, Jahrgang 12, Nr. 4, 1970, S. 226 - 238.

[Tr. The report "Zur Analyse au8ergewohnlicher Simmphdnomene auf Tonband" (On the analysis of extraordinary voice-phenomena on audiotape’ of Hans Bender originates from the Zeitschrift. ftir Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie, Year 12, Nr. 4, 1970, S. 226 - 238. Journal of Parapsychology and Border Areas of Psychology... |

Weitere Artikel aus der Zeitschrift fiir Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie, die sich mit dem Tonbandstimmen- Phanomen befassen:

[Tr. Articles in the Zeitschrift fiir Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie dealing with the EVP-phenomena:]

Year 12, Nr. 4, 1970

H. Bender: Zur Analyse auSergew6hnlicher Stimmphanomene auf Tonband - Erkundungsexperimente tiber die "Einspielungen" von Friedrich Jiirgenson

J. Sotscheck: Uber Méglichkeiten der Erkennung von Sprachlauten - Zur Anwendbarkeit des Visible-“Speech-Verfahrens und anderer Methoden auf die Analyse von Tonband-"Einspielungen"

Year 13, Nr. 4, 1971

U. Timm: Vorschlag einer modifizierten Versuchsanordnung zur Verifikation unerklarlicher Tonbandeinspielungen

Year 21, Nr. 1, 1979

J. Sotscheck: Uber Tauschungsméglichkeiten bei der Beurteilung von Ergebnissen aus Abh6rversuchen von ‘Tonband- Sprachaufnahmen

78 ITC JOURNAL

Year 21, Nr. 3/4, 1979

E. Senkowski: Tonband-Sprachaufnahmen - Ergebnisse und Einordnungsversuche

Year 22, Nr. 3, 1980

J. Keil: Tonbandeinspielungen: Mehr Schwierigkeiten als Moglichkeiten?

* Translated from the German by Uwe Hartmann with additional amendments by Ernst Senkowski, Anabela Cardoso and Ann Harrison.

The Editor is very grateful to Professors Uwe Hartmann. and Ernst Senkowski for their invaluable cooperation with the ITC Journal, as well as to Ann Harrison for her generous and constant assistance.