Feraliminal Lycanthropizer

Feraliminal Lycanthropizer

Cover of 1990 pamphlet"Feraliminal Lycanthropizer"

Cover of 1990 pamphlet
"Feraliminal Lycanthropizer"

The Feraliminal Lycanthropizer is a fictional machine invented by American writer David Woodard, whose 1990 pamphlet of the same title speculates on its history and purpose.[1] The brief, anonymously published work describes a vibration referred to as thanato-auric waves, which the machine electrically generates by combining three infrasonic sinewaves (3 Hz, 9 Hz and 0.56 Hz) with concomitant tapeloops of unspecified spoken text (two beyond the threshold of decipherability, and two beneath the threshold).[2]

“ This combination of drastically contrasting emotional trigger mechanisms results in an often profound behavioral enhancement which occurs strikingly soon (within moments) after the user enters and remains in the auricular field of the machine.[1] ”

The premise is that a mind-altering technology has for decades, at the behest of American intelligence during the Cold War, been withheld from scrutiny. Dispensing with sensitive information in the interest of enhancing civilian life, the author shares his own notes as well as those left by earlier researchers.

Legacy and influence

Despite the pamphlet's brevity and obscurity, its story has acquired mythic overtones, and readers have since made extraordinary attempts to replicate the Feraliminal Lycanthropizer and/or invoke its described "animalizing effects on human subjects tested within measurable vibratory proximity."[3] The machine's neologistic name has thus appeared in conjunction with disparate music groups and artists, as indicated:

FL-themed works also include:

"During WWII, a group of Nazi scientists under the command of a high-ranking SS officer secretly transforms Viktor Huelen and a trio of other men into werewolves. The items they use to perform this are an audio device called a Feraliminal Lycanthropizer, a pungent all-body salve, and a wolf-hide girdle with a pentagram of iron rivets."—Fantastic Reviews[9]

Scientific and historical inconsistencies

Apart from its title and the term thanato-auric, other hitherto unknown coinages introduced in Woodard's text are, in order of appearance: Plecidic, aurotic, nucleopatriphobic and Eugenaestheticus. Moreover, journalistic coverage appears to have roundly debunked the myth of the machine.

According to Fortean Times, "[L]egends about the machine challenge belief; besides being credited with sparking unrestrained orgies, it has...been blamed for the sex-and-strangulation deaths of six youths. Some, who claim to have used the machine, have felt themselves become mentally stronger and their will more focused. [The] essay claims that 'a Catalonian national using the machine daily over a period of five or six weeks eventually managed to ingratiate himself to Adolf Hitler [and] persuade his quarry to adopt the swastika as high totem and emblem of the burgeoning National Socialist Conference.' Such stories are, clearly, beyond belief. There is no evidence that the Feraliminal Lycanthropizer exist[ed] or could have such effects."[2]

In TechnoMage, a compendium of writings on technology and the occult, author Dirk Bruere relates, "The recording '...contains two infrasonic frequencies, 3hz and 9hz, which, combined, generate a lower, third frequency of 0.56hz.' They do not."[10]:369–370 Paranormal expert Michael Esposito opines, "I’m not sure the Feraliminal Lycanthropizer is as effective as a woman leaning against the spin cycle of a Maytag."[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Woodard, D., "Feraliminal Lycanthropizer" (San Francisco: Plecid Foundation, 1990).
  2. 1 2 Sergeant, J., "Sonic Doom", Fortean Times, Dec 2001.
  3. ↑ Anon., "Inaudible sound that kills", Украина Криминальная, Jul 31, 2012.
  4. ↑ Uncertainty Principle, Acoustical Weapons Division (2004), MA.
  5. ↑ Champion Fine Art, The Feraliminal Lycanthropizer, May 6–28, 2005.
  6. ↑ Posthuman, "Feraliminal Lycanthropizer" (2011), Bandcamp.
  7. ↑ Blood Rhythms, "Feraliminal Tremens" (Chicago: Land of Decay, 2012), Discogs.
  8. ↑ Independent Publisher, "2013 IPPY Awards Results", May 2013.
  9. ↑ Hughes, A., Review of Wolf Hunter, Fantastic Reviews, Feb 9, 2014.
  10. ↑ Bruere, D., TechnoMage (Bedford, England: Dirk Bruere, 2009), pp. 369–370.
  11. ↑ Zylo, A., "Interview with M. Esposito", WFMU's Beware of the Blog, Mar 14, 2013.
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