SEALED WITH A CURSE

Alice

through the App Store

The perfect ghost hunting gizmo or just another rabbit hole? tttt

The Alice box, computer software borne out of the mind of Joanne Saul, a software engineer whose work didn’t initially lend itself to the paranormal. After becoming an avid fan of Most Haunted in the early days like so many of us, she became captivated by the Ovilus. For the uninitiated, the Ovilus is an Instrumental Trans Communication device, a slightly sketchy concept of encouraging intelligent entities to purposefully interact with electronic equipment. I say sketchy because I will tell you right off the bat that it is unlikely to stand up to scientific scrutiny or study. And yet, why should it become such a useful tool for an investigation? “The prototype Alice code was written during some extended downtime whilst I was posted overseas in my day job” Joanne explains, “and this threeweek period proved to be the strangest I`ve known. Each day I`d begin my work on the computer, steadily building and adjusting the routines within the code. Time slowly seemed to become detached, meaningless. Hours would whizz by in what felt like an instant. I hardly ate very much, preferring instead to get back to the job in hand. It was as if I was being driven, or possibly influenced, by someone, or something, to accomplish this. And things became stranger. I would look back at the lines and lines of data that I`d previously written just to check for any errors or inconsistencies. Some of it just seemed alien. I didn`t recognise it, and certainly didn`t fully understand it. This seemed like stuff that was ten levels above my own in terms of technical ability! I doubted that it would even compile and run, never mind perform as intended.” As an investigator with HauntedLive, I’ve used the Alice box though many of its iterations. First as a Windows based program often yielding remarkable results on tablet PC or laptop. Whether revealing accurate place names or a complex series of words forming an apparent narrative of events from the probing questions asked of it, there just seemed to be something different about Alice. She WAS unpredictable; sometimes the sound would just fall silent of its own accord; sometimes she would just freeze forcing you to re-start the program, frustratingly losing the transcript of the night so far… Although it’s fair to say you allowed for these quirks as the software really did seem to justify its existence. In a quiet investigation, you found yourself in moments of relatively clear and intelligent conversation, sometimes with often quite moving responses.

Initially Jo was reluctant to make an App based version. When engineer and HauntedLive favourite Andy Bailey approached her to make a standalone version of the software in a project box without the need to lug a laptop or Tablet on an investigation, it seemed the next logical step. We are fortunate to own one of the initial concept boxes and whilst you can’t save a transcript of its words from the night’s investigation, it more than makes up for that in useability, often switching the dynamic of an investigation. After many minutes of calling out into “dead” air at a location with very little activity, Alice can inject a bit of life and energy into the night prompting discussion and conversation. And that is when Alice is in its element. Those fleeting moments where the words seem to connect either to an environment, a person or a life event. After several investigations using the hardware, it really did become a weapon of choice. Yet even after the hardware had been developed and produced, Jo was still receiving many requests for an App based version of the software. Significantly though, the app stores now have several alternative apps and being mobile based they are somewhat more convenient to use.

Jo made a promise to herself that if an Alice app version was in any way inferior to the original program, she would simply shelve the project and acknowledge that it was not the right platform for the software. After working with a software developer, the beta version was released early 2022 and confidence in the project quickly ensued. The polished version subsequently hit the app stores at an extremely affordable price of just £4.99.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to!” said the (Cheshire) Cat.

The Prototype Alice DNA Box

As a fan of Alice, the app I am pleased to say does carry on the mantle of its original counterpart.

Loading time is quick and the app gets to work from the moment the power button is toggled. The display is clear – the familiar typewriter graphic now has animated mist, and this can be toggled for a simpler list display.