We start out with the bio/background of Dr. Stephen Rorke and how he got interested in this aspect of the paranormal. He then details the popular version of the Spiricom story for folks who haven't been brought up to speed yet on this well-known esoteric tale. He also tells us about the emerging branch of esoterica, Instrumental Trans Communication (ITC), which includes EVPs and other means of "communicating" with otherworldly beings.

Rorke goes on to tell us about how the Spiricom story has become popularized over the years, despite a serious lack of investigation into the claims of the story, and why that seems to be the case. This leads to him giving the true background to the infamous "Thomas Edison attempting to communicate with the dead" story that has been a tenet of esoterica for generations. Next, he tells us about the "Best Evidence Standards" that served as the prism through which he researched the Spiricom story.

He reveals some of the information that he has uncovered which suggests that the Spiricom story is not quite what many in esoterica have been led to believe for the last 20 plus years. He starts by detailing some of the background on George Meek, who was the founder of Metascience Foundation (the organization behind the Spiricom), beginning with an interesting connection with rumoured CIA agent Andre Puharich, who, in turn, had a connection to writer John Fuller, who wrote "the definitive work on the Spiricom story" in the book The Ghost of 29 Megacycles.

This segues into Rorke telling us about John Fuller's book The Ghost of 29 Megacycles which was the catalyst for the Spiricom story becoming an esoteric stalwart. We find out about William O'Neil, the developer and operator of the Spiricom device. Rorke details what may have driven O'Neil to perpetuate a hoax around the Spiricom story and also reveals the starling information that O'Neil was an accomplished ventriloquist, which puts the veracity of the story in a whole new light.

From there, Rorke explains how some of the Spiricom results have been replicated in recent years, as a means of seeing if the results could be "falsified." He provides us with a few sound clips of the "fake Spiricom" results as a way of comparing them to the original Spiricom recordings. The first clip uses an electro larnyx to re-produce the Spiricom voice. We then hear clips that reproduced the Spiricom voice using technology that would have been available during the era in which the story allegedly takes place. Rorke then goes on to detail how there is evidence that an electro larnyx device was used as part of Metascience's Spiricom studies and was in William O'Neil's possession right up until he gave the Spiricom device back to Metascience.

We next hear about some more background on George Meek, founder of Metascience and Rorke details some potential motives behind what may have been a Spiricom hoax. We find out if Metascience ever sold versions of the Spiricom device and/or if anyone has created their own Spiricom device and attempted to replicate the infamous communique.

Up next, we cover the "ghost" that was purportedly speaking via the Spiricom device: Dr. George Mueller. Rorke details the bizarre "double Mueller" confusion and how the Spiricom proponents ascribe false NASA credentials to the "ghost" Mueller when, in fact, there was a still-living Dr.Mueller who did possess such NASA credentials. He also explains how the double Mueller conundrum acted as a form of disinformation which led him down a year-long rabbit hole of sorting out the confusing situation.

The following layer to the story is Rorke's proverbial indictment against current Spiricom proponent Mark Macy. Rorke lays out a detailed case against Macy for knowingly perpetuating the false Spiricom story. Rorke alleges censorship and false claims of copyright ownership over the Spiricom audio by Mark Macy. He has a harsh criticism for Macy's "Philosophy of Collaboration" and details some of his run-ins with Macy over the findings of his Spiricom research.

We find out what the reaction from the ghost field has been to Rorke's work debunking the Spiricom story. After that, we find out what sort of information Rorke has been able to uncover via FOIA requests re: Spiricom and the players involved in it.

Rorke then lays out some of his theories on what may have really been going on behind the scenes of the Spiricom study. For starters, he details his "psy op model" which suggests that Spiricom was some kind of government sponsored operation. He also proposes other models for what may have been going on: a form of corporate espionage or the strange goal of discrediting the still-living NASA Mueller by linking him to the Spiricom story.

After that, Tim takes a "Devil's Advocate" point of view on the Spiricom story, asking why, if it was all a hoax, were the Spiricom conversations so bland and technical and not fantastic and esoteric. We also ask Rorke why the Spiricom folks would have used Dr. Mueller as their "ghost" contact, since the information on him that was proven false (the NASA connection) could be so easily ascertained. Rorke uses this to forward another potential psychological operation being done via the Spiricom device, shockingly perpetuated by the Catholic Church.

Rorke then looks at the eventual meme-like quality of the Spiricom story that has been going on since the original release of the information in the early 1980's. We also find out what's become of the actual Spiricom device since George Meek passed away.

Closing out the show, we find out what's next for Dr. Stephen Rorke and if he foresees publication of his Spiricom findings in the form of a book. He also directs listeners to his newly formed website spiricomstudy.com where they can find all of the actual documents cited by Rorke during the interview. He also teases a new development at his other website gobeyondnow.com, which will feature a "Devil's Advocate" style of examining paranormal mysteries.

Dr. Stephen Rorke has experience as a Professor of Physics for Loyola College, instructing Masters of Science courses at the university level, has undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees, and is currently pursuing post-doctoral research in the cognitive sciences. He has lectured on developmental psychology, cognition, theoretical and applied physics, and EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) as a subset of ITC (Instrumental Trans-Communication) with potential implications for the theoretical physics community regarding the existence of multiple dimensions beyond the standard model.

Dr. Rorke’s most recent studies include the application of information theory, persuasion theory and certain aspects of psychology to the paranormal. Dr. Rorke proposes best-evidence standards in paranormal research, and leads the way with his conclusive investigation of the enduring Spiricom mystery found at spiricomstudy.com. Dr. Stephen Rorke has advocated for nearly a decade that "The role of science should be to investigate the unexplained, not explain the uninvestigated".

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2 hr 1 min
11.3.08
402
Dr. Stephen Rorke