wavePod

Get Wave AI

Voices in the Static: Can Technology Talk to the Dead? - Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel | Wave AI Podcast Notes

Back to Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel

Voices in the Static: Can Technology Talk to the Dead?

Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel

Mon Oct 27 2025

Summary

Episode Summary: "Voices in the Static: Can Technology Talk to the Dead?"

Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel
Date: October 27, 2025
Guest: Tony Rathman, ITC researcher and paranormal investigator

Overview

In this episode, host Rachel Uchitel explores the boundary-pushing work of Tony Rathman, a leading figure in Instrumental Trans-Communication (ITC)—the use of technology to communicate with the dead. The conversation delves into Tony’s journey from skeptic to expert, the development of his breakthrough device "Staticom," and the philosophical and practical implications of real-time spirit communication. Together, they tackle questions about the survival of consciousness after death, the difference between science and spirituality, and the controversial role of technology in bridging worlds.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. What Is ITC and Tony’s Path to the Paranormal

Definitions:
- ITC (Instrumental Trans-Communication): Using technology for two-way interaction with non-physical entities, as opposed to traditional one-way EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon).
  - "EVP is a form of ITC, but ITC is two-way communication." — Tony Rathman [05:06]
Tony’s Origin Story:
- Lifelong skeptic, convinced after a surprise ghost-hunting Valentine’s trip with his wife led to unexplained voices and photos at the haunted Hotel San Carlos in Phoenix.
  - "I expected the weekend to go by... and then when she reviewed the recorder, I was blown away." — Tony [08:31 & 08:52]

2. What Are We Actually Talking To? Understanding ‘Disembodied Consciousness’

Beyond "Ghosts":
- Tony emphasizes that spirit communication is about engaging with surviving consciousness, which he frames as a universal, fractal entity.
  - "We realized through the evidence we got through the research that we were literally chasing consciousness... It survives death." — Tony [13:10]
Nature of Afterlife:
- Consciousness continues; individuality and personal memory persist, but without the physical vessel of the body.
  - "All you lose is the vessel or the container, the body, and that essence ... continues on." — Tony [14:33]
- No linear time or fixed location—spirits exist in a state of "now" and can experience anything by thought.

3. The Ethics and Challenges of Spirit Communication

Limits of Communication:
- Spirits avoid questions about the future or anything that would interfere with a person’s life path—citing a "universal law."
  - "They cannot change that in any way, shape or form because we… are here for learning, we're here for growth." — Tony [19:19]
Purpose of Messages:
- Interactions can range widely: comfort for loved ones, personal details, philosophical musings, or disputes among spirits themselves.
  - "We can sit and listen. It's like a spiritual eavesdropping." — Tony [38:20]

4. From Spirit Boxes to Staticom: The Evolution of the Tech

Historical Background:
- Describes earlier techniques (Ouija boards, spirit boxes) and innovators like Friedrich Jurgenson, Marcello Bacci, and the concept of Direct Radio Voice (DRV).
- Staticom:
  - Eliminates the radio entirely, uses a pure white noise generator filtered in real-time to prevent interference or audio contamination.
  - "We got rid of the radio and we replaced it with a white noise generator ... it worked." — Tony [34:07]
Breakthrough Moment:
- First successful communication with the spirit of Marcello Bacci through Staticom, delivered in English but with an Italian accent.
  - Voice clip: “I'd say glad to meet you.” — [29:59]

5. Validation and Skepticism

Tests for Authenticity:
- Consulted audio engineers, employed voice print and spectrogram analyses, experimented with AI to confirm speech is present, not audio pareidolia.
  - "This cannot happen from random warbles and artifacts of sound. It's not possible." — Tony [32:40]
Addressing Skeptics:
- System sidesteps criticism about stray radio voices; recordings are produced using non-radio sources.
  - "It's not a radio, it doesn't have the ability to decipher RF waves ... white noise contains no vocal data, no words, no sentences." — Tony [34:07]

6. What Are Spirits Saying? Applications and Dilemmas

Personal & Practical Use:
- Comforting grieving relatives, solving cold cases, and potentially providing insights into historical mysteries.
- Example: Helped friend identify the murderer of a loved one; considering uses in police investigations.
  - "All of the answers, including the first and last name, according to them, of the person who did it is there." — Tony [42:31]
- Inspired to try investigations into famous cases (e.g., the Ellen Greenberg stabbing).
Limits for Public Release:
- Staticom isn’t commercially available yet due to ethical concerns, risk of misuse, and fear of weaponization.
  - "There’s also some other dangers. Who's going to use it? What are they going to use it for?" — Tony [41:20]

7. Philosophy and the Future: What If Death Isn’t the End?

Potential to Transform Science, Spirituality, and Society:
- Tony argues broader adoption and acceptance could impact fields from science (rethinking consciousness) to grief therapy, religion, and even law.
- Technologies like Staticom might one day allow real-time, non-local communication (comparing to mind-to-mind or internet breakthroughs).
On Personal Thought and Energetic Connection:
- Spirits can hear not only spoken words but also thoughts—demonstrated with Staticom by silent questioning.
  - "They get it through energy of the mind, so it is your consciousness or thought." — Tony [56:15]
On Fear and Life After Death:
- Dispelling fear of death as a fundamental benefit:
  - "If this does end up being something more tangible and real, that would be just the most basic thing to get out of this. Fear of everything, fear of making the wrong decision, fear, you know, to fear of death." — Rachel [63:12]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Tony’s Eureka:
- "When she got the stuff home and started reviewing it, that's when I went, wait, what?" [08:52]
On Afterlife State:
- "Life cannot be experienced without consciousness... and that essence continues on." [14:33]
On Purpose and Free Will:
- "Humans have free will. Spirits have free will to make their own choices." [20:32]
Spirit Tech Skepticism:
- "Science thinks you're absolutely crazy... Religion tells you, you shouldn't be doing that... Non-believers don't believe you." [51:53]
On Challenges:
- "This is a tough project." [51:53]
Rachel’s Playful Moment:
- "Are you on LSD or any weird medication?"
  - "None at all." — Tony [59:13]

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

Intro to Tony’s work and ITC: [01:32–06:10]
Hotel San Carlos story and shift from skepticism: [07:19–10:44]
Concept of surviving consciousness and afterlife detail: [12:28–17:35]
Limits and ethics of spirit communication: [19:19–20:51]
Contacting the dead, mediums vs. technology: [22:59–25:20]
Birth of Staticom and breakthrough moment: [25:46–29:59]
Verification and handling skepticism: [32:40–34:07]
How Staticom works, constant voices, eavesdropping: [34:07–38:20]
Real-life applications (cold cases, grief, court testimony): [41:09–44:39]
Why technology isn’t available to public, fears of misuse: [41:20–46:52]
On personal, virtual demonstrations and user experience: [47:45–53:27]
Spirits can hear your thoughts: [56:15–57:26]
Wrap-up: Philosophy, possibilities, overturning fear of death: [59:53–64:11]
Where to find Tony and more info: [64:22–65:10]
Closing takeaways: [65:21–65:51]

For Listeners Interested in More

Website: entityvoices.com — includes Staticom samples, event updates, ways to contact Tony, and more.
Social Media: Facebook (Tony Rathman), YouTube (search "Staticom"), TikTok, Instagram.

Final Takeaways

Tony doesn’t strive to convert skeptics but urges listeners to keep an open mind:
- "We're not here to influence or change, but take a look, have a listen and decide for yourself what you think is going on." [65:21]
If the technology and its implications are validated and widely adopted, humanity’s greatest fears about death and meaning could be transformed.

This summary covers the episode’s major points, offering a window into Tony Rathman’s unusual technology, the stories behind it, its philosophical implications, and the potential for a future where the line between life and death is not so final.

Loading summary...

Transcript

Tony Rathman (0:00)

Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless. And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should. One, it's $15 a month. Two, seriously, it's $15 a month. Three, no big contracts. Four, I use it. Five, my mom uses it. Are you playing me off? That's what's happening, right? Okay, give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 per three month plan.

Rachel Yukatel (0:24)

$15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first three months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com Want to make a difference.

Commercial Announcer (0:31)

In your community, but not sure how? Go to GoFundMe.com right now and start a GoFundMe. Seriously. Your next fundraiser doesn't have to start in a school parking lot or a church basement. You can start a GoFundMe today in just minutes. Fundraise for yourself, a friend or family member or an organization. All that matters is that you care about them. GoFundMe is the trusted place to fundraise for what you care about. With no pressure to hit your fundraising goal, but tons of tools to help you reach it, you can confidently start fundraising right now. Whether it's creative, local or critical, your cause matters. And there's a reason why. GoFundMe is backed by millions and chosen by fundraisers everywhere. It works and it matters. GoFundMe helps you make a real difference. Start your GoFundMe today at gofundme.com that's gofundme.com G O F U N D me dot com this is a commercial message brought to you by GoFundMe today.

Rachel Yukatel (1:29)

On misunderstood with Rachel Yucatel.

Tony Rathman (1:32)

How do you hear me speak? We realized through the evidence we got through the research that we were literally chasing consciousness. Who am I speaking to? I was a complete skeptic most of my life. But when she got the stuff home, started reviewing it, that's when I went, wait, what? There probably hasn't been an advancement in spirit communication in 75 or more years, but we wanted to capture something that really made people go, wait a minute, how? How did this happen? You know, science would always say they won't look into the paranormal because they can't study it. It's not repeatable. This is. It can be repeated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Those voices are there. They will answer questions. This is studyable. It's working.

Rachel Yukatel (2:34)

Can you please try to communicate with us? Well, we've all heard ghost stories. Whispers in the dark, voices caught on tape. Fleeting sounds that could be something or. Or nothing at all. Do you remember playing with that Ouija board growing up? Well, for decades, people who wanted to prove communication with the dead turned to device spirits called spirit boxes, scanning radio frequencies in hope of catching a voice in the static. The problem? Skeptics had an easy answer. It's just stray radio chatter. But what if you could strip all of that away? No radio, no frequencies, no chance of interference, just pure static. And yet, out of that noise, full sentences appear. Relevant, timely, intelligent responses to the questions being asked. Voices that sometimes even family members in the room recognize. That's exactly what my guest tonight, Tony Rathman, has spent the last 15 years developing. His system called staticom, slows and filters white noise in real time, creating what he believes is a direct line to disembodied consciousness. It's not just a recording to analyze later. It's live, it's interactive. It's two way communication happening right in front of you. Tonight, we're not just talking about ghosts. We're asking, what if consciousness doesn't die with the body? What if technology can capture proof of something far beyond? And what would it mean for science, for spirituality, and for the way we think about life and death? Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, you've never heard static like this before. Tony, thank you so much for joining me today on Misunderstood. Where are you coming from today?

Tony Rathman (34:07)

Okay, so those were our two biggest hurdles. To take what was known as DRV and elevate it and remove all the low hanging fruit. Okay, so we got rid of the radio and we replaced it with a white noise generator. A white noise generator is a small electronic circuit that allows every sound from 20Hz to 20Khz to be played at a spectral frequency of 1, meaning they're all equal without the possibility of getting radio. Because it's not a radio, it doesn't have the ability to decipher RF waves and turn them into speech or music. When we did that, it worked. We also realized that by other research that when using spirit boxes, because we built them for 12 years trying to improve them, and we could improve the speech, what we couldn't improve was the length of the communication. The reason for that was, was because when the dial scans up and down through the stations, when it hits a radio station, the white noise is gone and they can't speak over the station. So they was only allowing them those short fragments of time to get a message in just through the hundred milliseconds of white noise to get that message through. When we realized that and got rid of the radio and used white noise, a word or two would become full sentences. And then the other thing we noticed was that they would speak so fast that we couldn't understand it. In fact, it would sound like a syllable. But when we realized if we slowed it down by 50%, we could hear the full sentence. Got it. So we changed the name from direct radio voice to staticom. We made all of these processes happen in real time. So no more radio white noise generator. Only all the filters for denoising it, for clarifying, for boosting the sound, all happened live in real time. And what the white noise generator does is a physics principle called stochastic resonance. Stochastic resonance is used to take a weak signal. Everything from audio to the neurons in the brain for picking up signals to just a whole range. Even sight can be used with distortion to improve sight. That's stochastic resonance. So what happens is that when the Spirit speaks, they'll overlap a handful of frequencies in the broadband white noise spectrum. Then it elevates their voice up. But because a white noise generator has a spectral frequency of one, it doesn't raise the volume of the white noise, so their voice shoots up. Then the system automatically cuts the white noise out, leaving only the voice.

Tony Rathman (59:53)

Sure, that's a very good question. I'm trying to just go through what you did ask and what. So I guess the real question is that maybe you haven't brought up yet is, you know, what can this be used for? How can it be made and used in a way that's going to help humanity? Well, obviously grief, which we talked about, obviously cold cases. But being able to get information from an external source can open up minds, thinking and change the way science is being done, change the way maybe religion is being taught, or the points that maybe are not falling in line changed. But the bottom line is what can we learn? What can we learn about ourselves as human beings? About life existing and always existing and it not being something temporary, not being something going away, Everything from what you were saying about thoughts becoming reality, people will say, you know, my life is so difficult, you know, why can't it be easier? Well, are you thinking that every day? What happens when you change that thinking and say, you know what, life's not so bad. Today's going to be a great day. I'm going to accomplish this and not just think it once, but believe it. And then that becomes a reality and things change. The possibilities of are just huge for what information this can bring. I mean, if spirits are speaking from a non locality, meaning anywhere, and I ask a question, the response shows up almost immediately. What could that do to Internet speeds? Can we get rid of cables? Can we now make this so fast that the mind can barely keep up? You know, I don't know. But the, the doors for what this can be done. And even Tesla said many years ago, if science would look at phenomena instead of material based 3D. They would learn more in a decade than science has learned in its lifetime. And if you look at how science is now transforming, you had materialistic science, then you had quantum physics, now they have what they're calling quantum consciousness, where consciousness is becoming part of the model because it is the ontological primitive of life. It is the one process that can't be broken down any further. It has to exist. It has to exist for us to live, to experience something. And it survives after. So, you know, to pick one question that you haven't asked, there are so many questions and a lot of the answers we don't know yet, but we're on the, the edge of hopefully finding out.