Observations placeholder
Szalay, Attila - I was lying in bed when I heard a series of flutelike sounds
Identifier
023479
Type of Spiritual Experience
Inter composer communication
Synaesthesia
Hallucination
Background
Complex. There is the possibility that this was synaesthesia, furthermore because Mrs Consetta Marro ‘had shown mediumistic ability’, she might have received her version via inter composer communication, the alternative is a shared hallucination, which seems unlikely given they were not together. But who knows?
A description of the experience
A casebook of otherworldly music – D Scott Rogo
Case No. 74 - Attila von Szalay
Von Szalay claims to have heard music twice. As to individual music sounds, we have the following account, which has never before been published. The statements of those concerned were taken from Mr. Bayless's file. This is Von Szalay's statement:
On July 18, 1956, I was lying in bed when I heard a series of flutelike sounds, I held my breath, listened, and found they were about one foot from my face. I heard the sounds for about ten to fifteen minutes. I was going to call Mr. Bayless' attention to this phenomenon (he-had-stayed at my studio overnight) but was afraid it might be inhibited in its action or disappear entirely if I did so. It was a sweet, silvery tone, but played notes at random rather than a melody. I encouraged it to increase in amplitude, but to no avail.
As I made an effort to reach the tape recorder on the other side of the room, the sounds diminished and finally died away entirely. While I was listening, it would play and cease intermittently. Apparently any movement would disturb it. After Mr. Bayless awakened, I related these events to him.
When we went out to have breakfast, Mrs Consetta Marro (who had shown mediumistic ability and with whom we have been experimenting), who worked at this restaurant, came to our table. I asked her if anything unusual had occurred to her last night and she replied that nothing happened except that she had heard a flute playing. I questioned her as to the melody it played without revealing that I had heard the same sounds. She then told me that it did not play a melody, but just sounds notes at random. She whistled in an attempt to emulate the sounds, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were practically identical with the notes I had heard.
Mrs. Marro wrote out her own statement as follows:
On the morning of July 18, 1956, Mr. Attila von Szalay and Mr. Raymond- Bayless came into the restaurant where I work and ordered breakfast. When I came to their table to take their orders, Mr. Von Szalay asked me if anything unusual had happened during the night. I then described a very strange event which had taken place. About I:00 or 1:30 a.m. I heard a flute being played. It sounded various notes but did not play a melody. I-had not gone to bed at the time but was in my living room.