In the pantheon of Thomas Edison’s inventions, few are as enigmatic—or as controversial—as his so-called “spirit phone.” The fabled device, rumored to connect the living with the dead, has captivated historians, paranormal enthusiasts, and technologists alike.
Yet, for nearly a century, it has remained one of Edison’s more mysterious and speculative elements. Did Edison honestly believe science could reach beyond the grave, or was this yet another experiment lost to time?
Thomas Edison’s name is synonymous with innovation. Known as “The Wizard of Menlo Park,” he was the mastermind behind the phonograph, the electric light bulb, and numerous other groundbreaking inventions.
But in the 1920s, Edison reportedly turned his attention to something far stranger: a device he believed could communicate with the dead. This so-called “spirit phone,” however, remains shrouded in mystery and intrigue, offering a tantalizing glimpse into Edison’s lifelong fascination with the unknown.
Edison was a scientist to his core, but he was also a businessman and, perhaps unexpectedly, a spiritual seeker. The early 20th century was an era ripe with a fascination for the paranormal. Séances, Ouija boards, and psychic mediums had captured the public’s imagination, promising answers to questions about the afterlife and the mysteries of human consciousness.
While Edison held a public skepticism toward mediums and other supernatural claims, he also believed that science might eventually make communication with the dead possible, given the right equipment.
In 1920, Edison revealed in an interview with The American Magazine that he was working on a device capable of contacting the afterlife.
“I have been at work for some time, building an apparatus to see if it is possible for personalities which have left this earth to communicate with us,” Edison told B.C. Forbes in the October 1920 issue of The American Magazine. “There are two or three kinds of apparatus which should make communication very easy. I am engaged in the construction of one such apparatus now, and I hope to be able to finish it before very many months pass.”
This so-called “spirit phone” would not involve ghostly apparitions or the theatrics of a séance. Instead, Edison speculated that if the human spirit persisted after death, it might exist as “subtle particles” capable of affecting the physical world, albeit on a microscopic level.
In his diary, Edison theorized that life, like matter and energy, was indestructible. He envisioned tiny life-based particles continuing to exist after death, forming a personality-based residue—memories, thoughts, and impressions that once defined a person. If these particles persisted, Edison speculated, they might gather around us within the space-time continuum, or what he called the “ether.”
Edison believed these particles might produce vibrations detectable by sensitive instruments—a scientific approach that he thought could bypass the subjectivity and unreliability of mediums and psychics.
He envisioned the “spirit phone” working like a finely tuned electrical device, capable of detecting the subtle “etheric” forces that supposedly linger after death.
Edison’s concept reflects his deep understanding of physics and an earnest curiosity about life’s mysteries. However, despite his reputation for bold experimentation, Edison left little documentation or blueprints for the spirit phone. As such, it remains one of his most debated—and questioned—inventions.
Edison wasn’t alone in his intrigue. The early 20th century witnessed an unprecedented intersection between science and spiritualism. With the recent invention of radio waves and other invisible forces, scientists of the time began to ponder whether these same energies could account for paranormal phenomena. Figures like Sir Oliver Lodge, a respected physicist and engineer, were vocal proponents of this idea, believing that communication with the dead was within the reach of science.
Edison’s spirit phone, had it materialized, would have been a technological counterpart to the séance tables and Ouija boards that had already found popularity in households across America and Europe.
While Edison’s take was mechanistic, it still sought to answer the same fundamental questions that spiritualists had posed for decades. Lodge and others argued that the soul could transmit information even after death, an idea that, while radical, found a surprisingly sympathetic audience in the scientific community of the day.
Even before Edison’s pronouncement, there had been attempts to quantify and measure spirit interactions. Psychologists like William James conducted experiments in parapsychology, while engineers began designing “spirit detectors” that claimed to identify supernatural activity through electromagnetic fields.
Some of Edison’s inspiration may have stemmed from Nikola Tesla’s accounts, in which he described eerie encounters with strange, seemingly otherworldly noises while experimenting with a crystal radio powered by electromagnetic waves.
“The sounds I am listening to every night at first appear to be human voices conversing back and forth in a language I cannot understand,” Tesla wrote in 1918. “I find it difficult to imagine that I am actually hearing real voices from people, not of this planet. There must be a more simple explanation that has so far eluded me.”
Edison’s spirit phone, although distinct in design, resonated with these efforts, hinting at a larger cultural interest in combining scientific rigor with paranormal inquiry.
Although Edison claimed he was designing a spirit phone, skeptics have long wondered whether he genuinely believed in its feasibility or simply enjoyed adding to his mystique.
Biographers note that Edison was known to make provocative claims to reporters, and some historians speculate that his spirit phone announcement may have been a calculated move to capitalize on the era’s paranormal craze. Others have gone so far as to consider whether it had been a joke he had been playing on reporters who held such interests themselves, although there is no evidence that this had really been the case.
Still, contemporary accounts vary widely on the seriousness of Edison’s project. Some reports from Edison’s lab suggest he instructed his engineers to test prototype devices that might detect changes in the electromagnetic spectrum—changes he hypothesized could indicate a spirit presence.
Adding to the mystique, no prototypes or sketches for the spirit phone have ever been found. Edison was also known for his rigorous standards, and the lack of documentation on the spirit phone could indicate that he ultimately considered the project a failure, or possibly a personal curiosity rather than a serious scientific endeavor; if it had ever been a serious venture in the first place.
So was it a publicity stunt, a sincere but ultimately fruitless pursuit, or perhaps even a combination of both? The absence of evidence leaves these questions unanswered, but it hasn’t stopped enthusiasts and historians from speculating.
In recent years, the story of Edison’s spirit phone has resurfaced, capturing the interest of modern technologists and paranormal enthusiasts alike. With digital recording devices and ghost-hunting gadgets, the idea of a scientific device for communicating with spirits has regained cultural traction.
Paranormal investigators today use a suite of devices that might be seen as the spiritual successors of Edison’s invention. From electromagnetic field meters to digital voice recorders, some modern ghost-hunting equipment resembles Edison’s hypothesized spirit phone; one of several ways the idea has made its way into popular culture, inspiring films, books, and art that imagine Edison’s spectral invention.
Whether or not Edison’s spirit phone was a serious scientific endeavor, it reveals a rarely discussed side of the famed inventor. While he famously scoffed at the spiritual side of existence, Edison did remain open to the mysteries of the universe, frequently stating that science had not yet unlocked all of nature’s secrets. In his twilight years, Edison’s interest in life after death became an unexpected part of his legacy, reflecting a blend of skepticism and openness to the unknown.
As paranormal investigations and new technologies continue to evolve, Edison’s vision—whether real, imagined, or somewhere in between—lingers on, sparking the imagination of those who wonder if science might one day give us a window into worlds yet unseen.
Tim McMillan is a retired law enforcement executive, investigative reporter and co-founder of The Debrief. His writing typically focuses on defense, national security, the Intelligence Community and topics related to psychology. You can follow Tim on Twitter: @LtTimMcMillan. Tim can be reached by email: tim@thedebrief.org or through encrypted email: LtTimMcMillan@protonmail.com