Ghost Box

By Ryan Harshbarger

"Nobody knows whether our personalities pass on to another existence or sphere, but if we can evolve an instrument so delicate to be manipulated by our personality as it survives in the next life such an instrument ought to record something..." Thomas Edison 1928

Ghost Box

Frank’s Box, Spirit Box, Ghost Box, Shack Hack or whatever you wish to call it was originally created by Frank Sumption back in 2002 and has become an addition to almost every paranormal team’s arsenal. When I first heard about this I was pretty much dumbfounded to say the least, “How does this thing work?” The concept is actually pretty simple; manipulate AM/FM handheld radios so that they continuously scan the linear bandwidth.  Seems pretty basic but my skepticism immediately kicked in the first time I was exposed to one back in 2004. I was hanging out with some friends and the topic of communicating with spirits got brought up. I have heard and analyzed thousands of EVP’S so that was nothing new to me at all. Then my friend said “Have you ever heard of the Frank’s Box?” I said I had but I’ve never participated in a session. So we plugged in this what looked like a boom box from the 80’s and the show started.

We all started asking questions, there were probably about roughly 500 asked to this boom box that was just going crazy. “Back and forth through radio stations for well over two hours I was subjected to this.” Out of the 500 questions asked there were maybe 3 actual responses that held any shred of validation, but was this coincidence or was our subconscious just making connections to satisfy our need for contact?  

I didn’t really pay too much attention to this device after that because honestly to me the concept made no sense, nor could I comprehend how scanning the AM/FM bandwidth continuously and catching random words from radio stations could be any scientific tool properly utilized during a thorough investigation. Then, I attended a convention where one of the guests was Christopher Moon and from what I was told he was the “Frank’s Box Expert” and he had the gift to properly use this device to make complete and accurate contact with those who have crossed over.

Several of my friends as well as me paid a whopping $175.00 to have this long haired front man from a heavy metal band slowly walk up to a table with a small device in his hands and then gracefully take a seat, pull his long blond hair back into a pony tail and lean in towards the microphone and say “Good evening.” “Just to let you all know that the spirits may or may not choose to communicate, it all depends on their moods.”  Everyone in the crowd began to burst into laughter (except for me) he then proceeded to turn some knobs on his modified Frank’s Box and a loud jolt of white noise took over the room. He then started asking for people in the audience to ask questions and the line began to form. “This whole thing reminded me of a John Edwards Crossing Over episode.”

The microphone that was supposed to amplify the “spirits voices” wasn’t really that great and was muffled so it was really hard to actually hear what was being said by the box because Mr. Moon would also speak into the microphone and repeat the supposed answers. So was the person that was asking the question getting an actual spiritual response? Or was Mr. Moon subconsciously manipulating these people and feeding on their emotions? My personal opinion on Mr. Moon, considering the fact that he charges for his services just like so many others who have tarnished this field,” is a charlatan and a con-man.” Anyone who makes monetary gain for assisting people that are honestly dealing with the death of a loved one and really do want to communicate with their loved ones and are obviously vulnerable when they seek assistance from these buffoons absolutely sickens me to the core. 

“Enough on this guy and back to the topic.” recently I was given a case from Kirby Robinson in my home state of Florida, this case was a supposed demonic case and the client had dealt with numerous paranormal teams that only had made matters worse. I happily accepted the case and immediately contacted the client and let her know that we would come and assist in any way that we could. I talked to Kirby many times prior to us arriving at the client's home and told him that I was going to be bringing a “Ghost Box”, I finally broke down and bought one because I was either going to “debunk it or endorse it”, either way  once and for all I wanted to put this thing to the test. Kirby was also skeptical on the “Ghost Box” which was perfect because that way we both could test our theories together and draw the proper conclusions on it once and for all. I think that I have drawn my own conclusion/theory, I can’t speak for Kirby but he was there and the responses were addressed directly towards him. So let’s break this down: “within the first 15 minutes of plugging in the Spirit Box, we were getting direct responses.”  

I was pretty sketchy at first about the responses because they were vague and again the question remained, "are we really making contact, or is the subconscious making us believe that the scrambled AM/FM signals that we are hearing are voices of the crossed over?"

The second couple of questions that were asked we got exact, to the point, direct responses. “My jaw almost dropped!” Like I said, I have not always been a big supporter of the “Ghost Box”, the voices that were coming through were cussing us out individually by name. The scariest part was the “Ghost Box” also was saying each person that was in the room by their name. “As the prayers began, things really got amped up. As Kirby was praying the voices coming through began to call him a number of choice words and these dark forces defiantly expressed their hatred towards anything that was Holy. “I was at a loss for words to say the least.”

Since this case I have used the “Ghost Box” four more times and two out of the four times I have gotten direct answers to the questions. Which makes me wonder? “Can only certain spirits come through on this device?” I know that many teams utilize the “Ghost Box” routinely and have had great success with it; however there are some teams that have become completely dependent on the Ghost Box, which leads us to another question “ is the Ghost Box the new age Ouija Board?” Could there be possible repercussions from using this device as there are with the use of Ouija Boards? Since they are both considered methods of communication with spirits could the Ghost Box become a portal for malevolent entities and even demonic forces to enter into our realm? 

One suggestion that I have for all paranormal teams that use the “Ghost Box” or any other device used to directly communicate with spirits is to 1. “Educate yourself about how dark forces will try and trick you.” 2. Always say a protective prayer when using any device of communication before and after the session. I personally always say the “Saint Michael Prayer” and last but not least always remember:

“The greatest trick the devil ever did was convincing the world that he doesn’t exist.”

As technology evolves over the next few years I’m sure that there will be even more advanced methods of communication created and with the rise of interest in the field of paranormal research more and more teams will find themselves in situations and face to face with forces that they do not understand and have no business involving themselves in. I being a paranormal investigator and a man of GOD always use my beliefs as a method of protection and whenever there is a “Ghost Box” involved in any investigation that I am a part of, “I make sure to say prayers of protection for myself and my team.” 


Read more about Ryan Harshbarger at our Special Contributors page.