psychophony means vocal communication with the dead or with spirits. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “psychophony” is a great word
PSYCHOPHONY — [Noun] The phenomenon of apparent vocal communication from the dead or spirits, often manifesting as unexplained voices or sounds in electronic recordings. From the Greek psykhē ("soul, spirit, mind") and phōnē ("sound, voice"). Earliest attested use in English from 1876 in a translation by A. Blackwell. Unlike "electronic voice phenomenon" (a modern, technical term for captured audio anomalies) or "necromancy" (which implies ritual and active conjuration), psychophony denotes the disembodied utterance itself—the spectral leak, the whispered trespass from a silent world. It is the pleading syllable caught between radio stations, the fragmented whisper on a blank cassette, the faint, familiar cry sealed inside a forgotten toy—a faint signal from the other side of silence, the human ear straining to hear a reply in the static after the question.
Etymology
From psycho- (“mind”) + -phony (“voice”).
noun
- Vocal communication with the dead or with spirits.“Their motives are perhaps not entirely laudable and probably they are being fooled; but even if they are not getting authentic messages from the dead, yet some queer things have happened and are happening as a result of psychophony.”
- The appearance of voices or meaningful sounds in the white noise on electronic recordings; electronic voice phenomenon (EVP).“They started their own research at the beginning of the seventies, after hearing of Jürgenson's voices, and since then they have indefatigably dedicated a lot of their time and energy to research, particularly in the field of psychophony, as the phenomenon is known in Spain.”