BOOK REVIEW: Strange Frequencies

I just finished up "Strange Frequencies: The Extraordinary Story of the Technological Quest for the Supernatural" by Peter Berbergal. I have owned this book for many years but recently someone recommended the book and I thought it was time to dust it off and read it. I have read many books about the paranormal and in recent years a lot of the books that you can buy are regurgitated details of old psychical researchers, spiritualists, and anecdotal evidence from the authors friends or colleagues. I will say that most of the 'evidence' we can get is anecdotal but in many cases people within the paranormal field rarely share how they arrived at an answer. I digress, back to the book.

There are a significant amount of praise quotes on the book regarding it's comprehensive nature, the author's deft ability to explore the topic, how the information equates history of diverse phenomena to magic, and how it can be a guide to exploring technology as it pertains to finding ghosts. What I found was the book hops and skips from topic to topic attempting to put them together but rather seems more of a trip across the parapet at Basgiath. Dodging darts of information that seemingly appear out of nowhere and are hardly acquainted with each other. I found myself skimming some of the information not really feeling the author was pulling his work together to make this book a reliable guide to using technology in today's world, but rather a history of technology used from the ancient age to when it was written in 2018.

As for the content there are mentions of individuals like William James, William Mumler, Raymond Bayless, Frank Sumption, Steve Hultay, Thomas Edison, Nicola Tesla, Aldous Huxley, Friedrich Jurgenson, Konstantin Raudive, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and more that can be found in various other texts with a more extensive and comprehensive detailing of their technological contributions to the paranormal. Reading about these individuals separately may not be for the faint of heart, so if you want to be tied in knots with a smorgasbord of information, definitely read it for the resource section in the back. If you didn't know I usually tab my books as I read them with these little plastic markers so I can refer to the book content that is of interest so I will share below the things I marked....

*Berbergal discusses a lot about creating a Golem in the beginning of the book. A golem is a creature formed out of a lifeless substance such as dust or earth that is brought to life by ritual incantations and sequences of Hebrew letters. In one section he states that "modern occult practitioners engaged in the creation of 'magical servitors' as a symbolic representation of a simple command. This can often be an aspect of one's own psyche being given autonomy, often with a start and end time, to help manifest a desire." Kind of reminds me of familiars, which I have some experience with. He mentions the golem throughout the book offhandedly which doesn't quite hit the mark when it happens, but there is a quote from a rabbi that is interesting. "And so, wise men of different generations knew how to use these godly powers of creation in the letters to sort of create.... bringing something into existence out of absolute nothingness." It just caught my interest. I will leave you hanging why, just like the author did with a lot of topics. An additional topic of similar line of discussion is from a person named Nico "What are the creative capacities of human beings versus God? What is to be part of a spiritual realm? If we can imagine it, can we create it? What are our creative and cognitive capacities as humans compared to a divine creator?" We have chatted a lot about Tulpas, Egregores, and Thought Forms; this entire subject reminds me of these.

*He goes into discussion regarding mediums and mentions "The requirement of some instrument or mechanism to function as an extension of the medium's gift gives rise to the use of technology for supernatural purposes, particularly as it relates to communicating with the dead or other spirits." Our team has always considered the possibility that individuals with known or latent extrasensory abilities or PK could influence or be a condition of the experiments. We feel that these individuals equipment could by extension be more useful and their experiments more rewarding. However it is important to remember that any experiment should be done honestly and with detailed documentation in order to be considered a reliable source. You can't just say you are a medium and that your results are legit, you have to show your work.... Berbergal mentions that one of his peers refers to individuals with extrasensory perception as lighthouses or "beacons that bring the spirits onto the ports of the physical world." Weird that I've said this same thing for years.

In the end do I recommend the book? Maybe. If you want a jumping off point for research into the technical side of things he does mention a few of the pioneers and how they got started. I do not recommend it if you are of a fantasy prone personality. It does offhandedly support orbs and certain scrying techniques that could be called questionable. If you can separate yourself from the information and view it in a clinical and objective fashion, by all means, read away.

Rebecca Boyer

Co-Founder/ Case Manager

Antietam Paranormal Society