Dialing The Dead: Edison’s Attempt to Communicate With Those In The Afterlife
- Dillion Liskai
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
In an episode of the critically acclaimed series Supernatural, paranormal hunters Sam and Dean Winchester arrive in Milan, Ohio, to investigate the mysterious death of a man who had been receiving phone calls from a century-old number. The man had been hearing from a deceased former lover and, longing to reunite, dies to join her in the afterlife. As Sam and Dean continue their investigation, more residents of Milan begin receiving similar calls from departed loved ones, urging them to cross over to be together again. The brothers trace the eerie phone calls to a demon hiding in Milan, which has chosen Thomas Edison’s birthplace as the ideal cover for its sinister scheme. Leaning into one of Edison’s most unusual experiments—the "spirit phone"—the demon lures more souls into its trap.
Although the characters in the episode mispronounce the name of the village and mistakenly identify one of Edison’s Home Phonographs as “Edison’s Spirit Phone” in their fictional version of the museum, the concept of Edison’s Spirit Phone was indeed real.
As Halloween in 1920 quickly approached, Thomas Edison had quite the “treat” to share with the public. In an October 16, 1920, interview published in The American Magazine with Bertie Charles Forbes, the founder of Forbes magazine, Edison boldly revealed, “I have been working for some time on an apparatus to see if it is possible for personalities that have left this earth to communicate with us. " He further stated, “If this is ever accomplished, it will not be achieved by any occult, mystifying, mysterious, or weird means, such as are employed by so-called mediums, but by scientific methods. " Thomas Edison, the man who tirelessly developed the phonograph, the incandescent lamp, and the motion picture, was now attempting the impossible. He was trying to talk to the dead.
Thomas Edison’s announcement sent shockwaves throughout the American public, which was engrossed in Ouija boards, séances, and other methods to connect with the ethereal realm. Thomas Edison’s “Necrophone,” or “Spirit Phone,” as it came to be known, promised to be the first scientifically viable way to communicate with those in the afterlife. The implications of such a device were immense, and Thomas Edison himself even remarked:
“If those who have left the form of life that we have on earth cannot use, cannot move, the apparatus that I am going to give them the opportunity of moving, then the chance of there being a hereafter of the kind we think about and imagine about goes down. On the other hand, it will, of course, cause a tremendous sensation if it is successful.”
Edison’s reasoning for believing that such a device was possible was rooted in science. He argued that people were composed of incredibly small units. These small units, of course, had mass, and as the famed scientist Albert Einstein recently proved with his theory of special relativity, mass could be converted into energy. Together, these small units would combine in incredibly large bundles, which Edison believed acted as “swarms” of energy. Thomas argued that upon a person’s passing, these swarms of energy would move elsewhere, with that “elsewhere” being the afterlife.
This idea alone is insufficient to justify the development of the necrophone in Edison’s view. He also believed that a person’s personality survived within these swarms of energy and argued that it could influence matter. Thomas stated, “Therefore, if personality exists after what we call death, it is reasonable to conclude that those who leave this earth would like to communicate with those they have left behind. " Thomas Edison, an inventor and scientist at heart, needed to design an experiment to test his hypothesis.
Most experiments leave notes or physical prototypes of the instruments being tested. Additionally, many experiments often had a variety of outside eyewitnesses to corroborate accounts of the experiments, and most of Edison’s experiments also featured members of the press to publish news of yet another success. Thomas Edison’s test of his spirit phone was as mysterious as the invention itself. The word “allegedly” in the following sentences signifies a strong sense of uncertainty regarding Thomas Edison’s experimentation with the necrophone, as there are no lab notes or prototypes to support the idea that an experiment ever took place.
According to various sources, Thomas Edison allegedly gathered a team of scientists and mediums in secret during the winter of 1920 to observe an experiment with the necrophone. It was a small machine that projected a laser beam onto a photoelectric cell connected to a meter. If anything from the paranormal realm were to pass through or interfere with the laser beam, the meter would respond. Even a microscopic obstruction would cause the meter to move. The experiment commenced, and Edison, along with all those present, waited anxiously for a sign that would have significant implications regarding the existence, or lack thereof, of an afterlife.
After many hours, no sign appeared. The meter remained still, and Edison’s great experiment in the realm of the supernatural yielded no results. Thomas Edison publicly stayed silent about the necrophone until almost exactly six years later, on October 12th, 1926, when he announced in the New York Times that his attempt to create a device for communicating with spirits was all in jest. Regarding B.C. Forbes, who had authored that world-famous article, Thomas stated:
“That man came to see me on one of the coldest days in the year. His nose was blue and his teeth were chattering. I really had nothing to tell him, but I hated to disappoint him, so I thought up this story about communicating with spirits, but it was all a joke.”
However, it is evident in his personal diary that despite this public statement, Thomas Edison continued to work in detail on the necrophone throughout the 1920s. Was this an attempt by Thomas Edison to continue to deceive the public long after he was gone, or was he genuinely trying to communicate with spirits? Whether Thomas Edison created such a device has been lost to history. Although Sam and Dean Winchester were able to solve the case of the phone calls from the afterlife in Supernatural, the real-life tale behind Edison’s Spirit Phone remains a mystery.
Sources Used and Encouraged for Further Reading
Debczak, Michele, and CaLea Johnson. 2019. “When Thomas Edison Tried Besting Nikola Tesla by Building a "Spirit Phone."” Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/602456/thomas-edison-nikola-tesla-spirit-phone
Edison, Thomas A. 2011. The Quotable Edison. Edited by Michele W. Albion. University Press of Florida.
Forbes, Bertie C. 1920. “Edison Working on How to Communicate With the Next World.” American Magazine 90 (16). https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112043966909&seq=705
Singer, Robert, dir. 2008. Supernatural. Season 3, episode 14, “Long-Distance Call.” Kripke Enterprises, Wonderland Sound and Vision, and Warner Bros. Television. Aired February 14, 2008, on Netflix.
Tablang, Kristin A. 2019. “Thomas Edison, B.C. Forbes And The Mystery Of The Spirit Phone.” Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristintablang/2019/10/25/thomas-edison-bc-forbes-mystery-spirit-phone/
“Thomas Edison's 'lost' idea: A device to hear the dead.” 2015. Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2015-03-thomas-edison-lost-idea-device.html
Dillon Liskai, a native of Clyde, Ohio, is currently a junior at Bowling Green State University. He is pursuing a degree in Adolescent to Young Adult (AYA) Integrated Social Studies Education with a specialization in History.
For the past three years, Dillon has worked as a tour guide at the Thomas A. Edison Birthplace Museum. When not at school or the museum, he enjoys cheering on the Bowling Green Falcons, spending time with friends and family, and exploring local history.
Have a question for Dillon? Reach out via email at dliskai@tomedison.org!
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