Speaking to loved ones beyond the grave may have appealed to the public, but for Edison this was a matter of strict science. Edison believed that life was indestructible, and that the “quantity could never be increased or decreased.” He theorized that like our bodies, our personalities have a physical form, made of tiny “entities” similar to our current view of atoms. He thought these entities might exist after humans passed away—a personality-based residue of loose memories and thoughts, containing part of who a person was during life.
If these particles existed, he reasoned, they could collect together in the ether around us. Possibly they could be amplified by his device like a human voice could be amplified and recorded by a phonograph.
According to Baudouin, Thomas Edison wrote plans and theories for these devices, though whether he actually built and tested one, and to what extent, is still unknown. He never named the machine, and referred to it as a “valve,” which was highly sensitive to vibration. Later sketches of Edison’s spirit phone by magazines depicted phonograph-like parts, including a fluted horn containing an electrode, thought by some to have been dipped in the conductive potassium permanganate. This horn was attached to a wooden box containing a microphone, which was would pick up the vibrations of these entities because of its extreme sensitivity.
Kanacki
