A house in Wales that became an internet sensation because it bears a resemblance to Adolf Hitler.

Photograph: Rex
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The Latvian pschologist !onstanins Raudive spent the summer of "#$% tring to
contact the dead. &ver da' (ith careful precision' he (ould ta)e a ne( reel of
recording tape from its box' thread the tape through the rollers of the recorder and set
up the microphone next to a mistuned radio. The static hush (as saved on to the
recorder and he (ould spend hours revie(ing the audio' listening for the *uiet (hisper
of the deceased.
+ut the dead (ere frustratingl sh. ,espite his technical s)ills and linguistic abilities
he heard nothing except the fu-- and pop of the radio for months on end. +ut slo(l'
.ign into the /uardian using our Faceboo) account
Wh (e can 0see0 the house that loo)s
li)e Hitler
From seeing shapes in clouds to hearing Bing Crosby in a blizzard
of static, we're all prone to finding things that aren't there. And
there's a name for it: apophenia
Vaughan Bell
The 1bserver' .unda "2 3ovember 45"6
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(ith time and attention' (ords began to form. 78t ta)es at least three months for the ear
to ad9ust itself'7 Raudive (rote later. 7To begin (ith' though :the ear; ma hear
speech<li)e noises' it cannot differentiate the (ords' let alone understand (hat the
mean.7
He amplified and re<recorded his samples to help him find meaningful sounds and
graduall the spirits seemed more present. When Raudive summoned an old girlfriend
from .cotland (ho had since passed a(a' she seemed to repl: 7All sait dein' Aileen7
using a single (ord from &nglish' French and /erman to sa: 7=our Aileen )no(s all7
>except' it (ould seem' the consistent use of grammar?. &ven stranger (as that the
spirits often spo)e in languages the had never )no(n in life. Raudive0s mother' a
firml Latvian (oman b all accounts' seemed to spea) in mixed .panish' 8talian'
.(edish' /erman' standard Latvian and her o(n dialect.
Although baffling to man of his scientific peers' Raudive eventuall published his
discoveries in a boo) that appeared in &nglish as Breakthrough. 8t (as a massive
success and the media lined up to listen to the 7electronic voice phenomena7. The
results (ere some(hat mixed. When the ++@ science programme Tomorrow's World
turned up to film Raudive in action' onl the odd indistinct (ord could be made out.
The left' unimpressed.
A @ambridge parapschologist' ,avid &llis' studied Raudive0s attempts to contact the
dead but all the evidence pointed to the impressions having been formed b the
listeners. Later' pschologist 8mants +aruAs attempted to listen for ghostl (ords using
Raudive0s methods under laborator conditions but fe( could be found and' (hen the
(ere' ever listener seemed to hear something different.
Rather than discovering a form of communication (ith the dead' Raudive had
inadvertentl rediscovered the remar)able human talent for perceiving meaning (here
there is none. !no(n as apophenia or pareidolia' it is something (e all experience to
some degree. We see faces in the clouds and animals in roc) formations. We mishear
our name being called in cro(ds and thin) our mobile phones are vibrating (hen it
turns out to be nothing but the normal sensations of our o(n movement.
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,iane ,user holds a
"5<ear<old grilled cheese sand(ich that she sas bears the image of the Birgin Car.
Photograph: Doe Rim)us DrEAP
8n man (as' this tendenc is the basic ingredient of hallucination and it is present to a
much stronger degree in people (ho have fran) and stri)ing hallucinations' most
notabl as part of the range of experiences that can accompan a diagnosis of
schi-ophrenia. A classic stud b .anford Cint- and Curra Alpert found that more
than F5G of pschiatric patients (ho experienced hallucinations falsel perceived the
sound of +ing @rosb0s White @hristmas (hen as)ed to listen for it amid the sound of
static. Those (ho thin) that people (ith schi-ophrenia are 7out of touch (ith realit7
ma be surprised to hear that H5G of the health participants in the stud heard the
music. The music (as used a decade earlier in one of the first ever lab studies on
hallucinations in everda people. The same approach has been used man times since'
ma)ing +ing @rosb the most hallucinated man in science.
Recentl' the concept has been turned into a test to help detect hallucinations in people
(ith degenerative brain disorders. ,ementia is usuall a disease of old age (here the
brain declines *uic)er than (ould be expected from normal ageing. 8t can lead to
confusion and' in some cases' hallucinations' but because of its impact on thin)ing and
communication' 9ust as)ing people if the are 7seeing things7 is not al(as possible. A
team from Toho)u Iniversit in Dapan created a series of ambiguous photos including
things such as birds in curious formations and shado(s that scatter across the floor.
The found that the number of false perceptions seen in the photos could distinguish
bet(een patients (ith Le( bod dementia' a tpe )no(n to cause a high level of
hallucinations' and Al-heimer0s disease.
Less clinicall' the .(iss neuroscientist Peter +rugger has discovered that this tendenc
is raised in people (ho have greater numbers of supernatural beliefs and experiences
but aren0t un(ell in an sense of the (ord. With increased apophenia' perhaps' the
(orld 9ust seems more imbued (ith meaning.
Raudive dismissed pschological explanations for the 7messages7 he found and instead
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(as steadfast in his belief that the (ere the voices of the dead. To(ards the end of his
life' he began to investigate a budgerigar called Put-i' (hich he believed (as
transmitting spirit voices through its birdsong' unintentionall demonstrating
apophenia in a particularl stri)ing form. Raudive died in "#2H but' rather
appropriatel' he still appears' to his follo(ers' in the hiss and static of their amplified
recordings.
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the placebo effect' sa researchers
Baughan +ell: hpnosis is no laughing matter
4" Dul 45"4
Long derided as a tool of *uac)s and comedians' the science of suggestibilit is en9oing
a revival as a clinical tool' sas Vaughan Bell
L 45"6 /uardian 3e(s and Cedia Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
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