A Open Response to Recent Discussions on The Box
By way of introduction, my name is Rick Moran and I am the Coordinator of the Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon, a 35 year old research and educational organization that by our own corporate charter is dedicated to seeking proof of the survival of the human spirit after death. We are a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation that is now based in Texas, and was originally founded in New York City. We have been involved in dozens of major cases, from Amityville and Mothman to our present day work on cases like the Skinwalker Ranch, not to mention a few hundred more that never got any media coverage. In the past I have counted folks like Scott Rogo, Peter Jordan and Paul Hoffman old friends. I continue to write for Fortean Times, Fate, and yes, Haunted Times on a regular basis. I am pleased to say that the ASUP is a very serious group with serious aims.
Two years ago a member of our group came to me with a report he prepared on ITC or more commonly known as Spirit Comm. I was intrigued and began to look a little deeper, which led me to the work of Frank Sumption and his creation, Frank’s Box. I reached out to friends in our field for the purpose of securing a Box for testing and then I waited and waited. Finally I found the flow chart for Frank’s Box on the Internet. I have been a ham radio operator for longer than I have been researching the paranormal, so the layout was easy to interpret. Later I came into the possession of a schematic diagram, courtesy of Frank Sumption and became even more intrigued but still even more puzzled about how this device could possibly communicate.
The ASUP has several divisions, all of which rely on each other to operate as a team. The smallest of these groups is the Research and Development team, headed by an electrical engineer and fellow ham, Ron Ricketts, a no-nonsense kind of guy who I would categorize as a skeptical, show-me kind of person. The purpose of R&D is simple; they take common tools and make modifications to them, based on feedback from the field investigators. When a device like the K-II is found to be too broad, or lacking a simple on-off switch, the R&D team would modify and test the devices to make them better. It might be noteworthy here to explain that all of our directors and many of your ranking members are all licensed amateur radio operators, so it can me assumed that when they ask for the R&D teams help, they fully understand the technical aspects of what they are requesting. This approach has always worked well for us, be it in creating new lighting systems for night vision or as mentioned before the modification of the K-II meters.
I went to Ron to ask if we could not create a similar device to Frank’s Box, based on the schematics I had secured. Ron was, as always skeptical about the outcome, but set the team in motion to create a Box. The first design was noisy and lacked discrimination, as Ron expected, but over the next several weeks, with a lot of pushing and cajoling from myself, Ron worked on a succession of new devices, each building on the prior. The final design was decided upon when Ron was sitting at a lab bench, contemplating what else he could conjure up, when the device, at that point a mass of wires, a speaker and bread-boarded components with a new battery attached snapped his attention with a single word, “Ricketts!” The word came across loud and clear, no noise, no static, unlike any recordings of other Box communications we had heard. Ron asked the rhetorical question, “What?” and the Box repeated, “Ricketts!” The Box repeated the word one more time, when I was in the room to witness it!
We built our little box and made further enhancements, a better antenna, a new printed circuit board made to our specifications, several better, but more expensive components. The final device was created and was set out before a group of ASUP members. Both Ron and I gave the Box to our Director of Research with some very short instruction on how to tune it and then moved to a neutral corner, about 20 feet away. The remaining members of the team circled the Box and began to ask questions. One member asked, “Who built you?” and the Box responded “Ron Rick.” The member attempted to correct the Box, “You mean Ron Ricketts?” to which the Box answered, “NO!” in a loud, clear tone. The group worked with the Box for about 40 minutes. Some questions were clearly answered, others totally ignored. Then the Box said loudly, “Go Home!” When another member began to formulate another question, the Box said again, more loudly, “GO HOME!” Followed by “Get Rick” I walked over to the group and the box again said, “Go Home!” and so I ended the session.
Similar results were found when the Box was sent to the Stanley Hotel that weekend, where Frank Sumption finally got to see and work with the Box and gave it a rave review. Frank had been in contact with both myself and Ron Ricketts and had helped us along, but he was amazed at what parts we had eliminated and what circuitry we had added. He told those in the room, “This device works better than any Box I have ever built.” He also admitted that he had hopes that the pressure would now be removed from himself.
This of course, brings us up to the point at hand. How does the device work. Well it simply scans the AM broadcast band, cutting little slivers from all the broadcast signals. You can change the tone, the cycle rate, and volume as you wish, you can use a speaker (the larger the better we find) or a headphone, hook up a mic so that you can record your questions as well as the answers and of course plug in a recorder. The unit uses a rechargeable power source, which you can plug in to recharge and will last about 40 hours on a charge. It is totally portable.
The larger question is WHY it works, and I do not have an answer for you on that. The Box does communicate, it answers some questions and seems to project an intelligence. The answers are rational, but I have no idea how they are being generated or by whom. Remember, the reason that the ASUP built this device was for research to answer just those questions and an in depth study will begin in January with the help of a university grant. No one in the ASUP is making any claims of the paranormal at this point. Remember, when Marconi first sent radio signals from one side of the Atlantic to the other, there were those who pronounced his accomplishment as magic and obviously that was not the case. Our hope is that other serious researchers will join in this study and gain some insight to how it works, but I will go on record to say that those who can successfully operate the device are certainly not limited to a select few nor are they someone blessed, anymore than when a person turns on the TV set.
I have read dozens of pop-theories about what is being heard from the Box and I have a long list of things that it is not. It is not interference from ham radio, CB or FRMS radio signals, we have checked diligently for that, it is not simply noise or static, there is none from our box. It could be matrixing, but some of what I have personally heard seems to rule this out, although we will be doing more testing in that area shortly. I simply can’t offer a good explanation for what is being reported from the Box at this time.
There was of course one other problem. How do we get these devices into the hands of those who want to study them? A non-profit corporation can’t go into the business of marketing, so the ASUP gave Ron Ricketts the full rights to the device and he in turn gave it to an electronics producer for mass production. This is not a cheap device to build, there are no Radio Shack parts inside, we demanded only top components and our design has been strictly adhered to in every way; the circuit board is our own design. The device is now available through www.paranormalsystems.com and you have my word it is being sold at as close to cost as it can possibly be. If in the future we find a less expensive way to do it, we will, but for now the device is at least available to everyone, without the need to gain Thomas Edison’s permission, or pay an hourly fee. What the device says is now open to your own interpretation.
The Mini-Box, as it is now called, is now available and those who are interested can go to the paranormal systems site to hear some audio clips, see the device itself and if they want one, can order it. This is not a fund raiser for ASUP. We are not getting anything out of this, except for the Boxes we need to do the research. We have always attempted to support our fellow researchers and will continue to do so. We have also spent a lot of time trying to debunk the snake oil salesmen of our field and will continue to pursue them as well. I hope this answers some of the questions you have and hopefully clears the air of the smoke and mirrors that seem to be popping up since we announced our device. If you have any questions, I’d love to have the opportunity to try and answer them.
Rick Moran
Coordinator, ASUP
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