THE STONE TAPE THEORY.

THE STONE TAPE THEORY.

Can everyday object like stone and bricks really record and hold sounds and images which can randomly be played back by their own means? It is a very interesting question and the subject itself if true could hold the answer too many of the reported ghost sightings and hauntings which have been reported for many years.

The Stone tape theory was the idea of British parapsychologist and archaeologist Thomas Charles Lethbridge. Lethbridge’s idea in 1961 was that electrical mental impressions released during a very traumatic or emotional time such as a murder or war could be absorbed by inanimate items like moist rock and stone. These images Lethbridge surmised could then under certain conditions be replayed over and over again for many years, just like those sounds and images recorded on magnetic tape.

This idea has since 1961become quite a popular explanation for many of the reoccurring sightings of events that have taken place in the past and had previously been labelled as ghost or hauntings, even though there is no scientific explanation for this. Scientists have never been able to prove that such items like stone or rock can absorb sounds and images, never mine have to ability to re-play them over again and again.

An argument against the stone tape theory is that we now live in a world where we a surrounded by concrete, stone and bricks, we cannot walk 50 meters in most towns and cities without passing something that is made of these materials. If as Lethbridge suggested these items can record traumatic events, then surely we would be seeing many more of the more modern day horrific tragedies replayed over? The 9/11 attack on the twin towers for instance.

On the other side of the argument is that we as humans may still be at a very early stage in our development and understanding, we have little to compare ourselves to in terms of our advancement during our time on earth, as such there is still an awful lot we have to learn and discover. Science by no means have discovered the answers to all the questions and mysteries of the world and what we believe to be correct today, could in years to come be proved incorrect.

The following is a couple of reported paranormal sightings that have been put down to the theory of stone tape by certain people.

The Prince of Wales Pub.

In the small town of Kenfig Mid-Glamorgan there is a pub called the Prince of Wales, the inn itself dates back to around the 15th century and was previously called Ty Newydd (New House) Tavern, it was renamed to the Prince of Wales during the late 18th Century in honour of George, Prince of Wales, who, in 1820, was crowned George IV.

During 1982 the landlord at the inn reported experiencing some paranormal occurrences after he had locked up for the night, he said once the pub was locked up for the night and he had retired to his living quarters he could hear organ music being played in the pub area and sounds of merriment, the clinking of glasses and loud talking in an old Welsh dialect, there was no organ in the pub. The landlord would of course go to the pub area and inspect the place to ensure that nobody had broken in but once he got there all was quiet and secure.

Tow gentlemen got to hear about going on at the inn and with the permission of the land lord agreed to carry out some experiments into what may be making these strange noises at night. John Marke an electrical engineer and Allan Jenkins an industrial chemist visited the pub to carry out an experiment which may well have never been tried before and that was to connect some electrodes into the stone walls of the pub. So one night they set up their equipment which comprised of electrodes (which has been stated were around 20,000 volts) being fed into the stones of the wall of the pub and then connected to some audio recording equipment, the gentlemen then left and the pub was locked up as normal and the landlord retired to bed.

The following day the two men returned to the inn to investigate what results they may have discovered from their experiment and to their surprise they found that their audio recoding equipment had actually picked up the sounds of organ music, they heard a clock ticking (there was no organ or clock in that room) and even more surprising was that they head people speaking in an old Welsh dialect.

Although since that time there have been doubts raised over this evidence at the time the two gentle concluded that the sounds that had taken place over years past in the inn had in fact been recorded in the very fabric of these old stones just like recordings on magnetic video or audio tape and at night when the inn is all locked up and quiet these recording are somehow being played back.

On this occasion it appears that the stones of the walls of the inn have over time absorbed the sounds of merriment and joy that have taken place over the years and at night these sounds are somehow replayed and can be heard not only by the human ear but also recorded onto tape.

But is it only sound that can be captured within the stone and brick of building or indeed other object or is it possible that visual events of yesteryear can also be recoded for playback many or even hundreds of years later?

Treasurers House, York. 

This building was originally the home of the treasurer of York Minster, who occupied the site from 12th Century until 1539, when Henry VIII's officers stripped the Minister of it's assets during the Dissolution of the Monasteries

Not to long after this the property past in private hands and was largely rebuilt during the 17th century, there are however parts of the original building survive in the cellar of the house.

It is in the cellar of this property in 1953 that a young apprentice plumber by the name of Harry Martindale witnessed a sight that would change his life forever. He was working up a ladder in the cellar when he heard the sound of a distant trumpet, his puzzlement was intensified when he heard the trumpet again much closer this time and coming from behind him. Turing around he was astonished to see the head of a horse emerging from the wall behind him, then emerged the rest of the horse's body together with a ghostly rider dressed in full regalia of a Roman Soldier.

Young Harry was so shocked by the apparition that he fell from his ladder to the floor, while sitting on the floor looking up he witnessed, in all he counted 16 soldiers all who were cut off at the knees, he described them as all walking with their heads downcast, giving them an aura gloomy aura of utter dejection, and their appearance was grubby and dishevelled.

Once the soldiers had crossed the cellar and vanished into the opposite wall Harry picked himself up and ran from the cellar in fright, by chance on his way out he bumped into the curator of the building who took one look at Harry's terrified face and said "You've seen the Romans haven't you?"

It transpires that Harry Martindale was just one of many people to have witnessed the same ghostly patrol of Roman Soldiers in the cellar of the Treasurer's House.

Later excavation of the property discovered a section of Roman road approximately 12 or so inches beneath the cellar floor, this would explain why the soldiers Harry witnessed were cut off at the knees.

So was what Harry Martindale and many others reported as seeing a replay of Roman Soldiers retreating from a lost battle which had been recoded in the stonework of the old roman road to be replay hundreds of years later?

The story of what Harry Martindale and many others witnessed at the Treasurer's House in York is interesting in that they have all seen the same thing, the same event keeps replying it’s self over and over again to different people. So does the Stone Tape Theory apply to this property? Has the very stone work that made up the old Roman road recorded the events that took place hundreds of years ago and are now to this day playing back the sound and vision of the event over and over again when there is someone present to witness it?

This theory also raises the question, is it only stone and brickwork that could have the capability to record events like those above? There are after all many reports of objects being haunted, so could an object made out of clay or wood have the structure and ability to record an event that can be replayed again later?