Number stations to Jonestown

July 21, 2007 12:16 PM

10 (11) interesting/historical recordings. From List Universe. This site uses the term "Top ten" but as with anything when you talk in absolutes people get pretty ornery, so lets just say here are 11 very interesting sound files, from exorcism to castrato.
posted by edgeways (29 comments total)

The Jonestown recording is pretty horrifying.
posted by empath at 12:36 PM on July 21, 2007

Is that Mado Robin recording really the highest ever? Seems to me that Mariah Carey has squeaked out higher notes than that on her albums, but I haven't been able to track down a definitive highest Carey note.
posted by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg at 12:36 PM on July 21, 2007

Ok, the exorcism freaked me out.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 12:47 PM on July 21, 2007

Georgia Brown has the record for highest notes, she uses the same technique that Mariah Carey does--- the whistle register.
posted by empath at 12:47 PM on July 21, 2007

Adam Lopez's world record high note: a D7
posted by empath at 12:53 PM on July 21, 2007

That video actually features a C#8. That's high.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:58 PM on July 21, 2007

I already used this in a recent AskMe thread, but it seems appropriate here.

Why can't you tell jokes about the Jonestown massacre?

The punchlines are too long.

*rimshot*
posted by brundlefly at 1:04 PM on July 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

This is one of those threads that gets be bouncing around wikipedia and youtube: Minnie Ripperton's high notes.
posted by empath at 1:05 PM on July 21, 2007

Holy shit. "Let me tell you, Christine: without me, life has no meaning." That Jonestown audio is fucked.
posted by brundlefly at 1:19 PM on July 21, 2007

Did Jones have a lisp, or is that some side effect of the drugs he was on?
posted by Liosliath at 1:19 PM on July 21, 2007

The Lambert recording is pretty nifty, in a glitchy way.
posted by Foosnark at 1:25 PM on July 21, 2007

I came across a numbers station on my shortwave several years ago. Not knowing what it was, it creeped me out to no end. Now that I've read up on 'em, I have that same creepy feeling.
posted by The White Hat at 1:35 PM on July 21, 2007

That's some wierd music in that Jonestown clip. If you play the bit at the end (the bit without the talking) at double speed it sounds much more normal, and you can hear what sounds like a woman's voice, backmasked. Reversing it, I can't tell what she's saying though. My guess is that it's the "other side" of the tape bleeding through, or something like that.
posted by BeerFilter at 1:38 PM on July 21, 2007

Another recording of Florence Nightingale. This one has video.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 2:02 PM on July 21, 2007

I wonder when that exorcism was recorded. I mean, it sounds like the stereotype of what you would expect an exorcism to sound like, and I wonder if different directors over the years took it, gave it to their possessed actors and said 'do that.'
posted by quin at 3:19 PM on July 21, 2007

And apparently hell sound a lot like a dinner party with a loud drunk lady.
posted by quin at 3:20 PM on July 21, 2007

Rather appropriate, I think, quin.
posted by brundlefly at 3:34 PM on July 21, 2007

I'm pretty sure this woman hits higher (and lower) notes than Ms. Robin at number 2 in the list.
posted by Herr Fahrstuhl at 4:18 PM on July 21, 2007

(more info.) Great find, by the way!
posted by Herr Fahrstuhl at 4:19 PM on July 21, 2007 [2 favorites]

I've been fascinated by numbers stations since I read about them in Big Secrets. Since I don't have a shortwave radio, I hadn't actually heard one.

And Jim Jones went to my alma mater.
posted by SisterHavana at 5:33 PM on July 21, 2007

Great list!

See also Historic Recordings at the Poetry Archive (includes Robert Browning and Lord Tennyson).
posted by thomas j wise at 5:38 PM on July 21, 2007 [2 favorites]

The voices of babies crying and little kids on the Jonestown recording is quite harrowing.
posted by mattoxic at 6:20 PM on July 21, 2007

The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations is a four-CD set of recordings of numbers stations.

Entire collection is available for download.
posted by PHINC at 6:26 PM on July 21, 2007

Unfortunate Google Ad: "Jim Jones ringtones. No credit card required."

Uh, no thank you.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:44 PM on July 21, 2007

Thanks to everybody for these amazing collections of interesting recordings! These are just truly astounding...
posted by Sangermaine at 7:49 PM on July 21, 2007

Good find, edgeways. Thanks!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:08 PM on July 21, 2007

Can anyone understand a damn thing Florence Nightingale says? If so, please translate.
posted by wsg at 9:46 PM on July 21, 2007

Ah, Florence Jenkins. Sheer mastery. In other news, the blood continues to dribble out my ears. And now to sports...
posted by oxford blue at 2:34 AM on July 22, 2007

Did Jones have a lisp, or is that some side effect of the drugs he was on?

It's the recording, I think. Evidence: It happens to several other people's voices; high frequencies are in general missing or weak. The s sound just happens to depend on those high frequencies to distinguish it.
posted by eritain at 11:58 PM on July 23, 2007