The Scole Experiment took place between 1993 and 1998 under the direction of researchers and mediums Robin and Sandra Foy and Alan and Diana Bennett in the cellar of Foy’s 17th century farmhouse located in the village of Scole in northeast England.

During one session in November 1996, their guests included researchers Montague Keen, David Fontana (Professor of Psychology) and the Arthur Ellison (Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering).  An anonymous spirit scientist instructed them through one of the mediums to build a device. It was to incorporate a piece of the metallic element, germanium, which would be put under a small amount of pressure.
 
The spirit discussed the technical issues with Professor Ellison.  The germanium device was a receiver which would be attached to a battery-run amplifier and tape recorder. The device did not receive radio signals but worked on an unknown principle that would help them communicate with the spirit world. There was no microphone attached so only communication from the spirit world could be recorded, not the Scole participants.

At first, when they played back the recorder, all they heard was white noise and occasional faint voices. They received more information in the form of a diagram that appeared on sealed film once it was developed.  It showed an additional two coils added to the device. Three letters were inscribed near the diagram, T.A.E. Professor Ellison was brought in to modify the machine.

On January 21st, 1997, they proceeded with the experiment. At first there was only white noise. Then they heard a faint voice calling, “Hello.” There continued to be problems and the amplifier appeared to have been turned off at some point. When they decided to listen to the tape after the session, they heard a voice.

“Hello?” a man’s voice said. “Can you hear me? Can you hear me. This is Thomas calling. Can you hear me? Hello.”

The voice continued, “I have for some time been involved with this experimental communication system, and it is this system that we are using now. It is hoped that in the future, this system will help us communicate with distant dimensions…(voice fades)… and with all those we are calling upon will make themselves to be of service.”

The communication ended after approximately 20 minutes. At that point they realized that the T.A.E. could be Thomas’ initials, Thomas Alva Edison.

On February 14th, the team received messages through the tape recorder without the germanium device attached. Foy later suggested that their recordings were not unlike those documented by modern day ghost hunters. He wrote, “Perhaps there are ‘doorways’ involved here, if so, it would be a possible explanation for EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) which many people report experiencing.”
 
​Additional reading:

Foy, Robin P. (2008) Witnessing the Impossible. Torcal Publications, Diss, Norfolk, U.K.

https://www.thescoleexperiment.com/trans-dimensional-communication-experiments.html