two machines that don't work
Don't fret: I haven't forgotten about the promised audio from our Labor Day stroll through OSR -- I just haven't been able to physically access it. See, the power supply unit on my PC died, and until the new one arrives tomorrow, I'm sans the computer with the file on it. (As an aside, if you need computer parts, be sure to hit PriceWatch.com -- I scored a $70 PSU for $20, with shipping.)
And speaking of electronics and parts, you should get to know John Murray Spear, a minister of the Universalist church who converted to Spiritualism in 1851, a scant three years after the Fox sisters first claimed they had proof of intelligent communication with spirits who banged on things in their farmhouse in Hydesville, New York. Spear also claimed contact with a "spirit guide," which proclaimed him to be the earthly representative for the Band of Electricizers, a fraternity of philanthropic spirits he said were directed by Benjamin Franklin and dedicated to elevating the human race through advanced technology. It was through this contact that Spear decided to build the New Messiah in High Rock, Boston (the town whose mob had hospitalized him in 1844 for speaking against slavery). Assisting Spear and the Electricizers was a group of area Spiritualists that included the "New Mary," a woman whose true identity was never revealed. Since Spear had no scientific or technical knowledge, the blueprints for the New Messiah -- also known as the God Machine -- were channeled to him by the Electricizers, and when completed, it had cost the modern-day equivalent of some $25,000. The spirits then instructed the New Mary to appear at High Rock on June 29, 1854 for the final stage of the experiment, which included Mary undergoing two hours of "labor" in front of the machine, after which she stood up and touched it. Spear and his friends proudly proclaimed the touch had animated the machine, though others were as quick to point out that nothing at all had happened. Subsequent visitors to High Rock remained equally unimpressed by the "infant" God Machine's animate development. In 1859, Spear changed his tune and began to preach free love, perhaps only after impregnating his lover (he eventually divorced his wife and married his lover). He also dismantled the God Machine and rebuilt it in Randolph, Pennsylvania, where local opinion of the thing (or of Spear) was so inflamed that a classic mob was formed and the machine smashed to bits. No photographs of Spear's God Machine exist.
And I assure you, Tim's GhostBox has nothing to do with God, birth, or mobs. At least, I don't think it does.
And speaking of electronics and parts, you should get to know John Murray Spear, a minister of the Universalist church who converted to Spiritualism in 1851, a scant three years after the Fox sisters first claimed they had proof of intelligent communication with spirits who banged on things in their farmhouse in Hydesville, New York. Spear also claimed contact with a "spirit guide," which proclaimed him to be the earthly representative for the Band of Electricizers, a fraternity of philanthropic spirits he said were directed by Benjamin Franklin and dedicated to elevating the human race through advanced technology. It was through this contact that Spear decided to build the New Messiah in High Rock, Boston (the town whose mob had hospitalized him in 1844 for speaking against slavery). Assisting Spear and the Electricizers was a group of area Spiritualists that included the "New Mary," a woman whose true identity was never revealed. Since Spear had no scientific or technical knowledge, the blueprints for the New Messiah -- also known as the God Machine -- were channeled to him by the Electricizers, and when completed, it had cost the modern-day equivalent of some $25,000. The spirits then instructed the New Mary to appear at High Rock on June 29, 1854 for the final stage of the experiment, which included Mary undergoing two hours of "labor" in front of the machine, after which she stood up and touched it. Spear and his friends proudly proclaimed the touch had animated the machine, though others were as quick to point out that nothing at all had happened. Subsequent visitors to High Rock remained equally unimpressed by the "infant" God Machine's animate development. In 1859, Spear changed his tune and began to preach free love, perhaps only after impregnating his lover (he eventually divorced his wife and married his lover). He also dismantled the God Machine and rebuilt it in Randolph, Pennsylvania, where local opinion of the thing (or of Spear) was so inflamed that a classic mob was formed and the machine smashed to bits. No photographs of Spear's God Machine exist.
And I assure you, Tim's GhostBox has nothing to do with God, birth, or mobs. At least, I don't think it does.
- The full story of Spear's God Machine can be found at the Fortean Times online.
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