11/14/2025
# The Oracle Method
# # # An Acoustic Capture method
Created by Jeromy Jones
---
# # 1. 📜 Purpose & Overview
**The Oracle Method** is a double-blind Spirit Box protocol designed for verifiability. Its structure ensures that no single investigator has all the information, requiring the team to analyze the evidence together.
The method is built on three distinct roles:
* **The Oracle** is "blind" to the questions (via headphones).
* **The Questioners** are "blind" to the Spirit Box audio.
* **The Technician** is isolated from both but captures all audio for a final group review.
This protocol produces a single, complete recording of the entire session from one source.
---
# # 2. 👥 Participant Roles
* **The Oracle (One Person):** Sits in the investigation area, wearing noise-canceling headphones. They are "blind" to the Questioners' questions. Their *sole job* is to listen to the Spirit Box feed and verbally repeat any distinct words or phrases they hear.
* **The Questioners (One or More):** Sit in the same area as the Oracle. They ask questions into the empty air and listen for the Oracle's verbal responses. They cannot hear the Spirit Box.
* **The Technician (One Person):** Sits in a separate, isolated location (e.g., a "command center," different room, or vehicle). They receive a "master" audio feed of the entire session, which they record using a smartphone or video camera.
---
# # 3. 🧰 Equipment Required
* **1 x Spirit Box**
* **1 x 3.5mm Y-Adapter** (Headphone Splitter)
* **1 x Set of Noise-Canceling Headphones** (for the Oracle)
* **1 x Microphone**
* **1 x Audio Mixer** (at least 2 inputs, 1 main output)
* **1 x External Speaker**
* **1 x Smartphone** (or video camera for recording)
* All necessary audio cables (e.g., mic cable, 3.5mm-to-mixer, mixer-to-speaker).
---
# # 4. ⚙️ Hardware Setup
This setup creates two separate audio paths that are combined at the mixer and sent to the isolated Technician.
1. **Investigation Area Setup:**
* Place the Oracle and **The Questioners** in the main investigation area.
* Place the **Microphone** in a central location where it can clearly pick up the voices of *both* the Questioners (asking questions) and the Oracle (repeating words).
* Plug this **Microphone** into **Channel 1** of the mixer.
2. **Spirit Box / Oracle Setup:**
* Plug the **Y-Adapter** into the Spirit Box's "Audio Out" port.
* Plug the Oracle's **Headphones** into **one side** of the Y-Adapter.
* Plug an audio cable into the **other side** of the Y-Adapter. Run this cable to **Channel 2** of the mixer.
3. **Technician Setup:**
* Place the Technician, External Speaker, and Smartphone in a separate, isolated location.
* Run a cable from the **Main Output** of the mixer to the Technician's location.
* Plug this cable into the **External Speaker**.
* The Technician aims their **Smartphone** at the speaker, opens their video/audio recording app, and prepares to record.
---
# # 5. 🎙️ The Session Procedure
1. **Start Recording:** The Technician starts the **smartphone recording**.
2. **Headphones On:** The Oracle puts on their headphones.
3. **Begin Session:** The person at the mixer turns up the levels for **Channel 1 (Microphone)** and **Channel 2 (Spirit Box)**.
* *Result: The Technician's speaker is now playing a "summed" mix of the Spirit Box and everything the microphone hears.*
4. **Questioner's Role:** A Questioner asks a question (e.g., "What is your name?"). This is captured by the microphone and sent to the Technician.
5. **Oracle's Role:** The Oracle (who cannot hear the question) listens to their isolated Spirit Box feed. If they hear a word (e.g., "Charlie"), they say it aloud.
6. **Recording:** The microphone also captures the Oracle's verbal response ("I just heard 'Charlie'") and sends it to the Technician's speaker.
7. **Technician's Role:** The Technician's phone is now recording all three elements in real-time: the Questioner's question, the Spirit Box's raw audio, and the Oracle's verbal response.
8. **End Session:** When complete, the session ends, and the Technician stops the recording.
---
# # 6. 🎧 Post-Session Analysis (The Audit)
1. **Begin Group Review:** The Technician gathers the Questioners and the Oracle for the playback.
2. **Playback Session:** The Technician plays the **video recording** directly from their smartphone for the entire group to hear.
3. **Listen and Verify:**
* As the recording plays, the group will hear the Questioner's question (e.g., "What is your name?").
* A few seconds later, they will hear the Oracle's voice (also on the recording) say, "I just heard 'Charlie'."
* **This is the test:** The entire group must listen *very* carefully to the Spirit Box audio on the recording at that *exact* moment. Does the Spirit Box feed *also* sound like "Charlie"?
4. **Classify Evidence:**
* **Verified Hit:** The group consensus is that the anomaly on the smartphone recording clearly matches the Oracle's report.
* **Debunked:** The group cannot hear the reported word in the Spirit Box feed.
This method is much more reliable than the Estes method because it has a third party technician to verify that the Oracle, or person with headphones on, is not making up the words. It is still a blind study on both parties but the 3rd party endures there are no false positives and also at the end the review is much more rewarding.
