# Thomas Edison's Ghost Telephone **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 18, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111 "2012-09-18T22:47:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/1 "2012-09-18T22:47:38Z")
My interest in the paranormal has led me to a bizarre story: that is, Thomas Edison had supposedly been working on a telephone to talk to spirits on the other side. If anyone could’ve done it, it would have been Edison. Does anybody here on the board know what prompted him to do this, assuming that the tale is factual? How did he hope to accomplish this? Was Edison one to attend seances? Does anybody know how far Edison actually got in his quest to do this or why he may have abandoned this project? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/2 "2012-09-18T22:49:18Z")
I thought he was just going to stick his head under the ground and yell. ---
**Author:** ![hussain1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hussain1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hussain1987)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/3 "2012-09-18T22:55:03Z")
Afterlife is Truth. UFO’s are Truth. Intelligent beings live inside all planets including Moon, Earth etc. The sad fact is that those in power know it all, hide it from us all who have right to know. Shame to so called intelligent humans. Never mind what they do. You still can have faith and progress!!! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/4 "2012-09-18T23:11:02Z")
Moved from Cafe Society --\> GQ for a factual description of Edison’s actions. **hussain1987** , if you want to discuss your own beliefs about psychic phenomena, please start a new thread in Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/5 "2012-09-19T00:49:16Z")
I have heard this also, but according to [this](http://www.rockymountainparanormal.com/edison.html)it was never true. Remember that during Edison’s time séances were common, and lots of people were trying to communicate with the dead, most of them hucksters. I heard somewhere that Marconi was trying to create a radio that would be sensitive enough to hear the voices of the dead. I don’t know whether that is true either, but it makes a good story. ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/6 "2012-09-19T00:59:59Z")
First, a real scientist would have had to do it so Edison could steal it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/7 "2012-09-19T01:28:28Z")
> [@Lazlo](#): > > First, a real scientist would have had to do it so Edison could steal it. That’s unfair. We’re not talking about Bell here. A real scientist would have to do it for Edison, believing he would be paid more than he’d actually receive. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/9 "2012-09-19T02:54:25Z")
If it were possible, George Westinghouse would also have done it, and Edison would have gone around saying that Westinghouse’s phone led to demonic possession. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/10 "2012-09-19T04:22:46Z")
It wouldn’t be necessary for a real scientist to do it. Tesla could just do it instead. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/11 "2012-09-19T05:05:25Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > If it were possible, George Westinghouse would also have done it, and Edison would have gone around saying that Westinghouse’s phone led to demonic possession. Who could have known (at the time) whether A/C or D/C would be the way to go? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/12 "2012-09-19T05:09:15Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Who could have known (at the time) whether A/C or D/C would be the way to go? Maybe they could find out by [electrocuting an elephant](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkBU3aYsf0Q). > [@Chronos](#): > > It wouldn’t be necessary for a real scientist to do it. Tesla could just do it instead. In fact, the project sounds a bit more up Tesla’s alley, dontchathink? ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/13 "2012-09-19T10:58:23Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Maybe they could find out by electrocuting an elephant That would have been a trunk call, presumably. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/14 "2012-09-19T11:54:42Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I heard somewhere that Marconi was trying to create a radio that would be sensitive enough to hear the voices of the dead. I don’t know whether that is true either, but it makes a good story. The story I heard was that Marconi was trying to pick up sounds from the distant past - not the dead talking, but people talking a long time ago who were now dead. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/15 "2012-09-19T12:05:14Z")
The following link is a response to an Edison-bashing article but is an eye-opening read in its own right. Like most people I initially believed the legends of Edison as super-inventor, until it was widely debunked, but unfortunately the common debunk goes too far and needs to be tempered also. [nikola-tesla-wasnt-god-and-thomas-edison-wasnt-the-devil/](http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/05/18/nikola-tesla-wasnt-god-and-thomas-edison-wasnt-the-devil/) (obviously this is a hijack, but its in the same context as most of the responses in this thread) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/16 "2012-09-19T12:13:15Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Who could have known (at the time) whether A/C or D/C would be the way to go? Malcolm and Angus Young? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/17 "2012-09-19T13:07:08Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > That would have been a trunk call, presumably. Wow, did you make a telecommunications joke? I may have been the only person to get it, since I used to work in the field. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/18 "2012-09-19T13:15:11Z")
History Detectives did a piece on a [PsychoPhone](http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/psychophone/) that they thought was a device Edison invented to record the afterlife. Honestly I can’t remember how it turned out, but there’s a video in the link. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/19 "2012-09-19T13:16:16Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > That would have been a trunk call, presumably. > [@Revtim](#): > > Wow, did you make a telecommunications joke? I may have been the only person to get it, since I used to work in the field. Gee, you two make a twisted pair… ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/20 "2012-09-19T13:16:42Z")
Not an answer to the OP, but if the OP is interested in the paranormal and Thomas Edison, I think s/he’d like the novel, [Expiration Date](http://www.amazon.com/Expiration-Date-Tim-Powers/dp/0812555171), from Tim Powers. The ghost of Thomas Edison plays an integral role in the plot. Slow-starting—it is Tim Powers, after all—but a decent read. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111/21 "2012-09-19T14:10:38Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Not an answer to the OP, but if the OP is interested in the paranormal and Thomas Edison, I think s/he’d like the novel, [Expiration Date](http://www.amazon.com/Expiration-Date-Tim-Powers/dp/0812555171), from Tim Powers. The ghost of Thomas Edison plays an integral role in the plot. Slow-starting—it is Tim Powers, after all—but a decent read. Also an episode of the Simpsons. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thomas-edisons-ghost-telephone/635111.md?page=2)