The Case:
A couple in Cincinnati acquired a peculiar phonograph at an antique auction. The machine was labeled “PsychoPhone” and included four, grooved wax cylinders.
Their research makes our contributors think Thomas Edison invented the PsychoPhone to record messages from the afterlife.
As early as the 1870s, Edison and other scientific minds explored psychic phenomena like mediums. They believed every living being was made of atoms that could “remember” past lives.
Did Edison make a machine to unlock the secrets of the dead? The wax cylinders could hold the answer.
History Detectives travels to the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park in New Jersey to find out.
Related Content
Video:
Technique:
Technique:
Technique:
Related Links
Explore
-
Also in Emerging Modern America: 1890-1930
Mexican Currency
What role did this money play in the Mexican Revolution?
-
Also in Emerging Modern America: 1890-1930
Red Cloud Letter
How was a leader of the Lakota people connected with the controversial sculptor of Mount Rushmore?
-
Also in Season 7
Cemetery Alarm
Was this explosive device used to stop a morbid black market trade?
-
Also in Emerging Modern America: 1890-1930
Black Star Line
Is this certificate a rare artifact from the heyday of Marcus Garvey?
-
Also with Gwen Wright
Scottsboro Boys Stamp
Did a penny stamp help save the Scottsboro Boys from the electric chair?
-
Related Investigation
Howard Hughes Crash
Was this the instrument that chartered Howard Hughes' near fatal plunge into Beverly Hills?
Comments
This is a place for opinions, comments, questions and discussion; a place where viewers of History Detectives can express their points of view and connect with others who value history. We ask that posters be polite and respectful of all opinions. History Detectives reserves the right to delete comments that don’t conform to this conduct. We will not respond to every post, but will do our best to answer specific questions, or address an error.