Our guest this time is one of the first guests to share the airwaves with me. His name is Peter Bebergal, and he’s written maybe the coolest book you’ll read this year. Actually there’s no maybe about it. It’s the coolest. It’s called Strange Frequencies: The Extraordinary Story of the Technological Quest for the Supernatural, and it’s a journey through the attempts artists, scientists, and tinkerers have made to imagine and communicate with the otherworldly using various technologies, from cameras to radiowaves to maybe even something like this here podcast.
Which makes sense, because technology has been used for centuries to bridge the gap between the material and the mystical, revealing that the workshop and the séance parlor have more in common than we might think. And if technology is the bridge between worlds, then I say we’re living in the most magical time in recorded human history.
PATREON EXTENSION
Listen at patreon.com/occulture
Performance and it being the most potent form of magic
The role of emotion in magic
Stage magic, technology and Harry Houdini
Peter’s trip to a seance in New York
Phantasmagoria and the television as the new phantasmagoria
The dream reality, the subconscious and a contraption known as the Dreamachine
Audio frequencies inducing out-of-body experiences
Peter’s experiments with EVP for the book
More about the analogy Peter made between magicians and hackers
RESOURCES
Strange Frequencies on IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780143111825
Strange Frequencies on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2CfOETq
Peter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/peterbebergal
Peter’s previous appearance: https://www.occulturepodcast.com/archive/occult-imagination
DONATE
If recurring monthly support via Patreon isn’t your thing, we do accept one time-donations via PayPal, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. Every little bit helps. Click here if you’re interested: https://www.occulturepodcast.com/donate
MERCH
We recently released new merch! Check it out: https://www.occulturepodcast.com/merch/
MUSIC
Vestron Vulture - “I Want to Be a Robot (Tribute to Giorgio Moroder)”: https://soundcloud.com/thevulturex/2-i-want-to-be-a-robot-tribute
PRODUCTION & LICENSING
This podcast is produced in the Kingdom of Ohio and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode
Executive Producers: Mike K., Carter Y., Mauricio G., Alyssa S., Daniel R., Kelly C., Kaleb H., Bruce H., David B., Corey T., David G., Jeremy V., Marcelo T., Christopher B., Colleen F., Leonidas, Timothy W., Caleb C., VH Frater RC’s Hermetic Study Group, Nick F., Michael Q., Jamaica J., Mute Ryan, John W., Paul S., Maginfinit, Andy E.
REMINDER
Love yourself. Think for yourself. Question authority.
