Can an old building contain sounds embedded in walls?

Cindy Buckley

New Member
Messages
3
I wonder a lot about whether "if these walls could talk" could really mean something. If sound can be recorded purposefully onto vinyl, tape, digitally, etc., why couldn't ancient sounds have been embedded naturally in old stone walls, for instance? Sound is nothing but vibration, so couldn't it somehow be extracted from walls?

I read this online:

- In past times, people sometimes thought that all sounds that ever existed were still present, hovering like ghosts. Guglielmo Marconi, who sent the first radio message, in 1902, believed that with a microphone that was sufficiently sensitive he could hear Jesus delivering the Sermon on the Mount, and in 1925 a writer for the Washington Post speculated that a radio was capable of broadcasting the voices of the dead. A radio transmits vibrations, he wrote, and the voices of the dead “simply vibrate at a lower rate.”

Does anyone have any thoughts about this, or sites for further research you could direct me to?
 

Harte

Senior Member
Messages
4,562
Old buildings can't contain sound in the walls, or in anything else for that matter.

Harte
 

The_Observer

Member
Messages
183
I wonder a lot about whether "if these walls could talk" could really mean something. If sound can be recorded purposefully onto vinyl, tape, digitally, etc., why couldn't ancient sounds have been embedded naturally in old stone walls, for instance? Sound is nothing but vibration, so couldn't it somehow be extracted from walls?

I read this online:

- In past times, people sometimes thought that all sounds that ever existed were still present, hovering like ghosts. Guglielmo Marconi, who sent the first radio message, in 1902, believed that with a microphone that was sufficiently sensitive he could hear Jesus delivering the Sermon on the Mount, and in 1925 a writer for the Washington Post speculated that a radio was capable of broadcasting the voices of the dead. A radio transmits vibrations, he wrote, and the voices of the dead “simply vibrate at a lower rate.”

Does anyone have any thoughts about this, or sites for further research you could direct me to?
There was a Fringe episode where they extracted sounds from glass to recreate the occurrences at a crime scene. It worked the same as you described. Sound is just vibrations, and these vibrations have embedded themselves in the glass as ripples which could then be read by a device and extracted to recreate the sounds that occurred in that location in the past.

This link to a Quora post is describing these events as impossible in the real world - because it's just a pseudo-science TV show focusing on the paranormal sciences.

Can sound really stick to glass like a record, like I saw on the Fringe TV show? - Quora

As mentioned in the post, there are laser-based tools that spies can use to actively listen through glass and walls at a distance as it picks up these minute vibrations and decodes them into audible frequencies that recreate speech and sounds.

 

Element115

Member
Messages
165
Oh yeah? Where's the saying "if these walls could talk" come from? Yeah that's what I thought.

Punk.

I'd imagine the saying comes from the fact that the walls were standing since day 1 and if walls were sentient and had the ability of speech, they'd be able to tell you everything that occurred in the building or room in which you stand and ponder about past events.

I know you are being rhetorically facetious in order to throw a jab at a fellow conspiracy theorist/nut job. However, for the sake of this being a forum and for future readers, I present to you exhibit A: if these walls could talk (phrase) definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary

The above link describes this saying as a phrase that means interesting things may have occurred in this location although you're unaware of the details. It's just an old adage.
 

Kairos

Senior Member
Messages
1,103
They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son.
 

Element115

Member
Messages
165
They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son.
The walls of the fortress would say that, or Kal-el's dad would? Wait... or IS the dad the walls? Now I'm confused.
 

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