It was the early days of summer, 1987 when Till had finished the modifications on his Spirit Box. The Columbus Paranormal Society meetings had been less frequent during that time. Till had promised the members that once he was finished, they would be taking the group into new and exciting places, that they could make a great discovery. Sonia recounted that Till had become closed off and absent while modifying the machine but once finished, returned to his old sociable self. He promised her that it would all be worth it. Their lives were going to change for the better.
On the 4th of July 1987, the group had its official reunion and the machine was switched on. While fireworks crackled in the night sky outside, the society huddled around the box, listening to what seemed to be a synthesized voice. This wasn’t anything like the supposed voices of the dead that they had heard before. The voice was clearly not of human origin, nor was it broken by fragmented pieces of static and white noise. Its tone was flat and monotonous as it delivered a message over and over again.
Most of that message is unknown to me. This is all I could gather that I’m certain of.
It started with a series of numbers. 5 – 7 – 5 – 5 – 7 – 1 – 4…
That’s as much as I can recall on that. What followed after was what was to become The Vault’s creed.
Resurrect Dead Through Digital Life.
Then a series of instructions on how to alter the machine further.
The group listened intently for over an hour before leaving it to play in the background while they discussed the ramifications of what they’d just heard. Some of them decided that it must be some sort of elaborate hoax. They had no way of isolating where the signal was being broadcasted from, so that particular line of thinking remained a theory. Others were uncomfortable with the voice. This was a different ball game compared to listening to the fragmented messages of ghosts.
Till was adamant that it was no hoax. The previous message had after all, led to him modifying the machine in the first place. He declared to the group that he was going to continue the alterations shared by the voice.
Perhaps it was the message of resurrecting dead that decided it for him. Perhaps that was why Sonia stood by his decision. Maybe it was the hope of having a second chance with their lost Abatha that pushed them down this uncertain path.
Some of the group began to grow uncomfortable with the direction their little society was taking and as the weeks fell by, there were fewer and fewer of them returning. Where once there were 15 members, now they were left with only 8.
Till Crawford.
Sonia Crawford.
Ben Bolan: A Mechanic
Mary Ditch: A mother of two.
Larry Ditch: Mary’s husband and a used car salesman.
Gregory Simmons: An industrial cleaner.
Jennifer Mueler: A school teacher
Henry Williams: A tow-truck driver.
They had to move the machine into Till’s basement in order to accommodate for the larger modifications dictated by the voice. Ben assisted Till with these and Henry helped with transport of the bulkier items. It was at the end of July 87 when their work was complete and the 8 gathered around in the evening on the 30th for the initial start-up.
There was a feeling of nervous excitement mixed with trepidation as the switch was flipped and electricity surged through the now numerous vacuum tubes and wires. A voice came through and it wasn’t what they were expecting.
A Recounting of The Vault 