The Uncanny Archive
Real-Life Signal Intercepts, Experiments, and Inspiration
The novels and music of Velvet Radiation are built upon the idea that there are unseen connections, hidden frequencies, and subtle glitches in the everyday world waiting to be found.
This archive is the evidence folder.
These are highly personal accounts, investigations, and experiences—ranging from adventures with Harley the Saluki in the Dorset landscape to explorations into hypnotherapy, EFT, and other complementary therapies.
These true-life "signals" and experiments have inspired the themes, characters, and uncanny atmosphere found throughout my creative projects.
The science is speculative, the stories are real, and the truth is often stranger than the fiction.
Entry 1 : HACKING THE SYSTEM: The Day EFT Reversed a Decade of Agoraphobia
Tapping into the trapped frequency of memory.
Introduction:
The Velvet Radiation universe often explores themes of finding the hidden signal, the glitch in the system, or the key to unlock a deterministic pattern. My journey into complementary therapies—sparked incidentally by watching Paul McKenna (a former Capital Radio DJ) at The Dominion Theatre in London and his TV show The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna transition into stage hypnosis — was driven by a similar curiosity:
What hidden protocols govern the human mind?
This curiosity led me to train in EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) back in 1999, long before it became the mainstream therapy it is today. A modified version is used today by Paul McKenna and The Speakmans, a British husband-and-wife team of life coaches and therapists who have appeared on shows such as TV's This Morning
The Case File: The Agoraphobic Signal
An instance that has always stuck with me involved a gentleman suffering from severe agoraphobia for many years. He reached out after finding me via a Complementary Health Network, having exhausted many other conventional treatments without relief.
I visited him at his home, and as we went through the standard EFT tapping procedure, something shifted. He broke down, tears coming unexpectedly. When asked what triggered the reaction, he described a sudden flashback: a vivid memory of being out as a boy and his father walking out on the family.
That was the 'Aha' moment—the trapped, bottled-up thought: whenever I leave the house, someone I love will leave me. This became the fundamental trigger for the agoraphobia.
Transmission Complete:
After a few more targeted rounds of tapping, the phobia had gone. A few weeks later, I received an email that confirmed the magnitude of the shift: he was on holiday for the first time in many years. It was a powerful demonstration of the mind’s ability to "re-program" itself once the original, hidden frequency (the trauma) is addressed.
Entry 2 : THE MISDIALLED ANOMALY: HOW A WRONG NUMBER FOUND OUR FIRST DOG
The algorithm of chance works in strange ways.
Before Harley the Saluki became the mischievous star of the Signals Lab and the constant muse for my fiction, there was Timm, an elegant Afghan Hound.
Our desire to become responsible fur parents in the late 1970s led us into the kind of bizarre, pre-internet search that felt less like research and more like a scavenger hunt. The way we found him was a demonstration of the sheer randomness that can guide fate.
The Case File: The Dialed Signal
In an era before Google, the quest for knowledge about Afghan Hounds began with the Yellow Pages and a phone. We were looking for local bookshops, hoping to find a volume on the breed. After numerous calls resulting in the inevitable, "No, we don't have anything like that in stock," we received a highly unusual answer.
I misdialled a number.
The gruff, unexpected response was: "Yes, I have. Who wants to know?"
Immediately sensing an anomaly, I quickly explained my situation. It turned out I had connected not with a bookstore, but with a private individual who, by pure chance, was a former Afghan Hound owner and possessed the very books we sought.
Transmission Complete:
A short ride and a long, fascinating chat later, we left with two key books on the breed, and a rather expensive Mason Pearson brush for grooming.
The accidental transmission—the random misdial—had bypassed the normal, expected channels and delivered exactly the necessary information. A few weeks later, we welcomed our Afghan puppy, Timm.
It remains a powerful reminder that sometimes, the most important connections are found not by following the correct path, but by embracing the interference.