Ghost box

A Ghost box (also known as a Frank's box) is a device used to supposedly communicate with the dead. In reality, it's just an intentionally-damaged radio.

It's fun to pretend
Paranormal
Fails from the crypt
v - t - e

How it's made

Ghost busters get a radio with a frequency scanning function, disable the bit that stops it scanning when it finds a station — and presto, instant ghost box. The radio then permanently jumps though available frequencies, playing each one for a fraction of a second. The various sounds from snatches of transmission, static, white noise and interference are then interpreted (using some of the most extreme pareidolia and a big dose of imagination) as words and communication from spirits on the other side.[1]

Why they think it works

The spirits are seemingly unable to just pick one frequency, stick to it, and speak clearly, but must instead speak on lots of different ones in quick succession in cryptic syntax.[2][3][4]

The inevitable app

This is NOT a toy app! It is intended to be used for serious paranormal research. That is why we have decided NOT to publish this app in the Play Store for the masses. If you are here, you are probably more serious about the paranormal than most...
—"Jason Profit"[5]

Instead of buying an intentionally malfunctioning radio in order to pretend you're communicating with spirits, you can buy a smartphone app that creates the same effect. This small miracle of pseudoscience is marketeered by the aptly-named "Jason Profit".[5]

gollark: um.
gollark: I think there are *at least* two good couples.
gollark: In many cases, children may be a net positive, and it is hard to know when this is or is not the case.
gollark: Idea: philosophy, but with orbital laser strikes.
gollark: Orbital laser strikes on any pregnant people.

See also

References

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