Articles
THE REALITY OF INSTRUMENTAL TRANSCOMMUNICATION
VOICES SCIENTIFICALLY
DEMONSTRATED ON 5TH DECEMBER 2004 DURING
EXPERIMENTS WITH MARCELLO BACCI AT GROSSETO
ITALY, EUROPE
Dr Anabela Cardoso*, Dr Mario Salvatore Festa**, Prof David
Fontana*** and Dr Paolo Presi ****
This report details experiments conducted with Marcello
Bacci at his laboratory in Italy on the evening of 5th December
2004 in the presence of a team of experienced investigators
from Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Marcello Bacci
(e.g. Bacci 1985) is one of the leading researchers into
ITC phenomena, a field in which he has been active for more
than 30 years. It is not the purpose of this Report to provide
a survey of the impressive evidence that has accumulated
for the ITC phenomena since publications by Jürgenson,
Raudive and others in the middle years of the 20th Century
as this has been fully documented elsewhere (e.g., Brune
1993, Senkowski 1995, Brune and Chauvin 1999), so suffice
it to say that the subject is concerned to study the anomalous
communications received, often under controlled conditions,
through electronic media such as audio tape recorders, radio
receivers, computers, fax machines and telephones. Many
of those working within the field have become convinced
not only of the reality of these communications, but that
they appear to originate with the deceased, and therefore
to provide strong support for the hypothesis of survival
after physical death. Marcello Bacci, who has been consistently
successful in obtaining these communications in his own
experiments, is principally dedicated to working with bereaved
parents, but he is also concerned to co-operate with scientists
in order to demonstrate the credibility of his results (e.g.
those from Il Laboratorio in Bologna, Italy, the only laboratory
in Europe devoted entirely to the scientific testing and
analysis of apparently paranormal phenomena). An experienced
Radio Technician himself, he takes no money for any of this
work and does not seek to attract publicity.
In his ITC experiments Marcello Bacci uses the Direct Radio
Voice Method (DRV), i.e. the method that seeks to obtain
anomalous communications directly through the loudspeakers
of radios, and such voices frequently refer to listeners
by name, respond to questions put to them, and sometimes
provide relevant and lengthy items of information. For this
purpose he favours a valve radio, tuned to white noise in
the short-wave band, rather than solid-state technology.
The experiment detailed in this Report was a sequel to a
number of earlier successful investigations carried out
into the voices received by him using this Direct Radio
Voice Method. Two of these earlier carefully controlled
investigations are of particular relevance to the present
experiment. In the first of them, conducted in the presence
of Dr. Eng. Carlo Trajna, a second radio was set up beside
that used by Bacci, connected to the same power lead, with
independent aerial, and tuned to the same short-wave frequency.
While Bacci’s radio was heard to receive the anomalous
voice communications, the second radio was found to be receiving
only normal white noise (e.g. Trajna 1985). This experiment
strongly discounts the possibility that the anomalous voices
were fraudulently produced. In the second and equally ground-breaking
investigation, Professor Mario Salvatore Festa, professor
of Physics and Physical Radio Protection at Naples University,
and Radio Technician Franco Santi removed the two valves
ECC85 (the FM valve) and ECH81 (the AM/SW converter valve)
from Bacci’s radio during the receipt of anomalous
voices, and established that even without these valves (in
the absence of which no normal broadcasts can be received
in the short wave band), the voices continued unabated.
During this experiment Professor Festa also measured the
intensities respectively of the electric field and of the
magnetic field adjacent to the radio with the radio switched
off, and both during normal radio transmission and during
the period when the voice phenomenon occurred, and found
that these fields did not show any variation when the voices
phenomenon started and also that the values measured after
the valves were removed but the voices continued were practically
identical to the values measured when the radio was turned
off (see Festa 2002 for full details). The demonstration
that the voices continued even in the absence of the valves
and that there was no variation in electric or magnetic
fields during their reception provides further convincing
evidence that such voices cannot be accounted for by fraudulent
transmissions.
The present experiment took place in Marcello Bacci’s
laboratory in Grosseto, Italy, in electric lighting from
a blue coloured, wall mounted, 25-watt bulb, situated just
above and slightly to the right of the radio and bright
enough to allow the investigators to observe closely all
movements by Bacci and by each other. Prior to and subsequent
to the experiment, the laboratory and the radio used by
Bacci were available for full inspection by all those named
below. When the experimental sessions commenced, Marcello
Bacci seated himself directly in front of his radio, a Normende,
Fidelio model, dating from the late 1950s, with Professor
Fontana (professor of Psychology and former President of
the Society for Psychical Research and current Chair of
the Society’s Survival Research Committee) beside
him on his left, and Dr. Anabela Cardoso (founder and Editor
of the ITC Journal and Director of the ITC Journal Research
Centre) immediately behind him and positioned so that she
could look directly over his left shoulder that she could
touch with her chin. Professor Festa, named in connection
with one of the two investigations already described, was
seated on Dr. Anabela Cardoso’s left, and Mr. Robin
Foy (leader of the well-known Scole investigation in the
UK and an expert in physical psychic phenomena) on Bacci’s
right. These four investigators were at all times in close
touching proximity to Marcello Bacci. Aeronautical Engineer
Paolo Presi (a leading member of Il Laboratorio and a long-standing
investigator of the Bacci phenomena) was on Bacci’s
left, separated from him by Mrs. Laura Pagnotta, daughter
of the benefactress Silvana who has been a close collaborator
and observer of Mr. Bacci’s work for 20 years, and
by Professor Fontana. Radio Technician Franco Santi, named
with Professor Festa in connection with the investigation
already described, remained free to move around the room
for reasons detailed shortly, and Mr. Angelo Toriello, also
called Emanuele, and Mr. Sandro Zampieri, both of whom have
also been close observers of Mr. Bacci for many years were
also in close attendance, Mr. Toriello seated on Dr. Cardoso’s
right, and Mr. Zampieri just behind Professor Festa. Lawyer
Amerigo Festa, another researcher who has worked closely
with Bacci for some years, accompanied by his wife Mrs.
Rossella Forte was also seated close by. Sandro Zampieri
(Sandro is the official translator of the group into English)
with his wife Mrs. Maria, Mrs. Carmelina and Mr. Gennaro
Dara, Mr. Franco Grigiotti, a close and old friend of Marcello,
Mrs. Angela and Mr. Luciano Manzoni, responsible for the
tape recording of the sessions and for the transcripts,
were also seated in the vicinity. In the room there were
also a few mothers who had lost their children and other
experimenters exceptionally admitted at the session in a
total of 37 people.
The radio was situated on a workbench placed against the
wall directly facing the investigators, and in a position
that made it inaccessible from the rear except by leaning
over the bench from the front. There is no back to the radio,
and sufficient space was left between it and the wall for
Radio Technician Franco Santi to reach inside by leaning
across the bench, as detailed shortly. Inspection prior
to the experiment had revealed that there was no access
to the radio through apertures in the workbench or in the
wall. Behind Bacci and the investigators and separated from
them by approximately one and a half metres were rows of
chairs on which some of those who attend Bacci’s regular
sessions for bereaved parents were seated. No member of
this latter group took any part in the experiment or approached
the radio used by Bacci at any point in the course of it.
Proceedings commenced at 19.10 hours, with Bacci, the investigators
and those elsewhere in the room all in their places. Audio
tape recorders (analogue and digital) were switched on in
order to record proceedings. Bacci began by turning on his
radio and selecting the short wave band. He then, as is
his usual practice, began slowly to turn the tuning control,
scanning the range from 7 to 9 megahertz. As expected, this
produced a range of radio transmissions interspersed with
white noise. Bacci explained in Italian that he was ‘searching
for good white noise’. This procedure continued for
15-20 minutes until Bacci pronounced, again in Italian ‘I
can feel them – they will come’. At this point
he stopped turning the dial, and the white noise was heard
to change to a vortex-like sound that could variously be
described as wind or the sound of waves. Shortly afterwards
this noise died down (though often it recurred simultaneously
with the voices, as if they were in some way ‘carried’
on its sound) and voices became audible from the radio.
The first words were in Italian, and these were followed
by words in Spanish. Bacci, again in Italian, informed those
responsible for the voices that they could ‘speak
in Portuguese, English or Spanish’. The invisible
communicators then addressed David Fontana and Robin Foy
in English and Anabela Cardoso in Spanish.
In the ensuing session, which lasted in all for approximately
one hour, what appeared to be five or six separate voices
(one of them possibly female, and the rest male) spoke in
English and in Spanish as well as in Italian, some of them
with a clarity resembling that of normal voices, others
with the sonority that characterises many ITC voices and
that renders them distinct from normal articulation. Also
present in the voices were the strange semantics that are
characteristic of many ITC communications (e.g. when addressing
Dr. Cardoso the communicator referred to her visit to Bacci
with the words ‘Anabela is here, you are going to
the learning boss’), and the parabolic, wave-like
speech rhythms. Sometimes the sound wave carrying the voices
became distorted, but in spite of these features the meaning
of approximately 70 per cent of the vocal utterances was
directly clear to those named above, five of whom are fluent
in Italian and English, and one of whom (Dr. Cardoso, a
senior Portuguese diplomat by profession who lives in Spain
most of the time), is fluent in all the languages used as
well as in her mother tongue Portuguese. The voices referred
to those present by their first names, and addressed Professor
Fontana by both his first and second names (‘David
Fontana’, perhaps to distinguish him from David Pagnotta,
who was present elsewhere in the room), and then added ‘Ciao
David’. Bacci himself was frequently referred to either
as ‘Marcello’ or as ‘Bacci’. All
names were given clearly, and were easily recognisable.
Sometimes the voices replied to questions in a different
language from that used by the questioner, and sometimes
they even changed languages during the course of their answers.
Not all questions were answered, and certain of them only
after a pause.
The most significant incident during the session, and the
one that marks this experiment out as of historic importance
in the history not only of ITC research but also of psychical
research in general, occurred near the end of the session.
As mentioned earlier, the finding by Professor Festa and
Technician Santi that removal of two of the valves from
the radio did not prevent the receipt of the anomalous voices
provided crucial evidence that the voices were not produced
by fraudulent transmissions. However, critics have suggested
that even without these two valves it was still technically
possible for the radio to produce sound in other wavebands.
Therefore, with the consent of Marcello Bacci, it was decided
that in the present experiment all five valves would be
removed during the reception of the anomalous voices. Accordingly,
approximately one hour after the commencement of the voices
and while they were still continuing, Radio Technician Franco
Santi leant over the work bench and removed four of the
valves, followed after a short pause due to difficulties
in handling the hot glass, by the removal of the fifth and
last valve. All five valves, ECC85, ECH81 (the two valves
removed in the experiment of 2002), EF89 (the intermediate
frequency amplifier), EABC80 (the AM/FM detector and low
frequency amplifier), and EL84 (the final power amplifier)
were then visible outside the radio, and were laid by Franco
Santi in full view on the workbench. Despite the absence
of the valves, the voices continued with the same volume
and clarity as before.
When the voices paused Marcello Bacci, without previous
warning and obviously yielding to an impulse, switched off
the radio at the set and the light illuminating the glass
panel at the front of the set disappeared. After 11 seconds
of silence (the timings reported have been taken from the
tape recorded during the experiment) the observers could
hear modulated whistles (sounds similar to those of whip
lashes) and the usual acoustic signal that precedes Bacci’s
reception of paranormal voices which is similar to a vortex
of air. The voice of the invisible communicator, interspersed
with whistles, recommenced 21 seconds after Bacci had turned
the radio off and continued for 23 seconds (as timed from
the audio tape) with the same acoustic quality previously
heard, perhaps a little slower but as clear as before. When
the speech ended the whistles remained for another 6 seconds
while the vortex which was heard at the end of the vocal
utterance became weaker and finally disappeared after 12
seconds. However, the contact did not seem to be terminated
since another 53 seconds later the vortex could again be
heard as well as a very weak male voice which seemed to
arise from it and comment the sentence just uttered by Mario
Festa “Siete grandi!” (You are great!). The
phenomenon lasted for 2 minutes and 20 seconds after the
radio was switched off.
During this time Radio Technician Franco Santi inspected
the interior of the radio with his pencil torch, the beam
of which was briefly visible through the glass panel. This
part of the experiment was unplanned, and occasioned particular
surprise on the part of the observers. In all three parts
of the experiment (radio switched on with valves in place,
radio switched on with valves removed, and radio switched
off with valves removed) the voices came out unequivocally
from the loudspeaker of the radio, and apart from what may
have been a slight loss of quality after the radio was switched
off, with the same volume and clarity. The radio was then
switched back on for a short period, but no further voices
were heard during this time, and the experiment was concluded.
Franco Santi then turned the radio through an angle of
90 degrees so that the inside could be closely inspected
by all present, with all the room lights now switched on.
Dr. Cardoso and Professor Fontana both took photographic
evidence of the inside of the radio and of the five valves.
Lawyer Amerigo Festa, who also documented the event with
his video camera, made a detailed written account of the
incidents surrounding and consequent upon Franco Santi removing
the valves and Bacci switching off the radio, and this account
has been signed as correct by all those present.
In the view of the authors of this Report and of all other
knowledgeable observers present, this experiment is of momentous
importance in the history of psychical research because
the persistence of the voices in the absence of the valves
and during the interval when the radio was switched off
conclusively discounts any possibility either of fraud or
of the reception of stray radio transmissions. The experiment
was conducted in the presence and with the participation
of investigators with many years of experience of ITC and
of other areas of psychical research (together, in the case
of Professor Festa, Radio Technician Franco Santi and Aeronautical
Engineer Paolo Presi, with experience in radio technology
and in addition Paolo Presi is an experienced Short Wave
Listener with SWL Licence No. 2330), and this leaves no
room for charges of mal observation or of other forms of
experimenter error. The results of this experiment, taken
together with those yielded by the 2002 experiment of Professor
Festa and Franco Santi, provide firm evidence of the authenticity
of the Bacci voices.
A résumé of the acoustic events as perceived
from the recorded tape follows:
t = 00 sec Bacci switches off the radio.
Silence.
t = 11 sec The modulated whistles start (sounds similar
to those of whip lashes) and the conventional recurrent
signal similar to a vortex of air starts to be felt.
t = 21 sec A voice starts to be heard among the whistles.
t = 44 sec The voice finishes but the whistles and the vortex
continue to be heard.
t = 50 sec The whistles finish.
t = 56 sec The vortex finishes.
Silence.
t = 109 sec A new vortex starts to be heard.
t = 127 sec Faint male voice in the background that seems
to reply to Mario Festa’s comment “Siete grandi!”
(You are great!)
t = 140 sec End of vortex and end of contact.
Silence.
*Editor ITC Journal, Director ITC Journal Research Centre;
**Professor, Naples University; ***past President Society
for Psychical Research; **** Aeronautical Engineer, leading
ITC researcher. All four authors are Associate Members and
Researchers of ‘Il Laboratorio’, Interdisciplinary
Laboratory of Biopsychocybernetic Research, Bologna, Italy
References
Bacci, M. (1985). Il Mistero Delle Voci Dall’Aldilà.
Roma: Edizioni Mediterranee.
Brune, F. (1993). Les Morts Nous Parlent. Paris: Philipp
Lebaud.
Brune, F. and Chauvin, R. (1999). A L’Ecoute de L’Au-Delà.
Paris: Philippe Lebaud.
Festa, M. (2002). A particular experiment at the psychophonic
centre in Grosseto, directed by Marcello Bacci. ITC Journal
(Cadernos de TCI) 10, 27-31.
Senkowski, E. (1995). Instrumentelle Transkommunikation.
Frankfurt: R. G. Fischer Verlag.
Trajna, C. (1985). Introduction in Bacci’s Il Mistero
Delle Voci Dall’Aldilà. Roma: Edizioni Mediterranee.
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