VOICES OF THE DEAD Channel Four Television Directed, Written & produced by David Monaghan Music 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 S