/x/periment #1 The Devil's Toybox

Devil’s Toybox (Built 11/12/13)

Introduction

The Devil’s Toybox is a cube made of inward facing mirrors that has been sealed off and purportedly carries paranormal properties including discarnate growling and the box moving on its own – some claim these stem from its function for the capture of spirits. This claim was most recently put into practice by the TV crew of Ghostland Tennessee in their premiere episode, 02/24/13 on Animal Planet, who traversed a reputedly haunted location with the box and proceeded to explode it off site to get rid of the trapped spirits. While this latest application was showy there isn’t a whole lot of information widely available on the Devil’s Toybox before Joshua P. Warren brought the technique to light post 2010 and after that most sources repeat the same text verbatim. The first ever recording of the sounds alleged to occur inside the box, taken by Warren himself with a stick on telephone microphone, were first heard on Darkness Radio in February 2012 (Original Audio at 19:30, Touched Up Audio at 23:20 and Reversed Touched Up Audio at 39:35). These effects are supposed to happen the box is exposed to areas or items of high paranormal activity or naturally after 6 months.

 Warren himself has alternatively claimed that its roots go back to the Greek concept of the mirrored room, or Psychomanteum, and later that the Wiccan religion adopted the tool, but he also said he may have invented the technique from his personal experiences and is unsure. Many rumors online, stemming from Warren as well, claim that this tool was also the inspiration for Clive Barker to create the Lemarchand’s Box (aka the Lament Configuration) of Hellraiser fame.

Well there definitely seems to be a demon here, but it’s the devil in the details I’m afraid. Firstly, the Grecian Psychomanteum is much older but would operate very differently form the Devil’s Toybox is proposed to. I also skimmed through assorted works of Wicca’s founders and high rollers, Gardner, Valiente, the Farrars, and Buckland, but found no references to a mirrored box, let alone one with the same name. In case it was more modern invention, I consulted two friends, the first, a Gardnerian Wiccan High Priestess for the past 13 years, and the second was a Dianic Wiccan Solitaire for the past 4 years, and neither had ever heard of nor used a similar device. On top of that Hellbound Heart, the first novella of what would become the Hellraiser series, was published in 1986, over 30 years before Warren brought this technique to the public and Clive Barker has not once mentioned it as a source of inspiration in any interviews.

            So what does all of this mean?

            Well it seems that a lot of what is being circulated about the Devil’s Toybox is not accurate but that in and of itself does not discredit it as potentially working on some magical level (albeit the physics principles are faulty too) so I elected to build one as my first experiment.

How to Build a Devil's Toybox

Step 1: Gather Materials 6 square mirrors of equal size 

and duct tape. I bought them from a Craft Store for under $10.

Step 2: Clean the mirrors well. Mine had little foam pads glued to the back that were removed.

Step 3: Begin duct taping the exterior corners but make 

sure to use an  object with a square edge to guide you 

or will  may have a lopsided cube.

Step 4: Secure Final Mirror on top and duct tape the surface 

of the cube to insulate against light getting in or 

spooks getting out.

Step 5: Enjoy your newly made Devil's Toybox and keep an eye out for paranormal occurrences. If you built one and get anything please let me know!

            And then we wait.

            For six months.

           That’s the reason this was my first experiment of the many more to come. I’ll keep all you /x/philes up to date on the occurrences with my Devil’s Toybox but I'd love to hear if anyone has made one themselves.
           This weekend I will also be performing Exercise 1 from the now defunct EsotericAmerican.com “Invoking and Capturing a Yokai Spirit”, specifically tomorrow morning, and then the Asian Elevator Game or “Another World” Friday or Saturday night so expect more blog posts and a video soon.

            Hope to hear from you /x/philes! All the Best.
            HospitalCowboy

UPDATE: Sorry for the wait guys. I got a bad stomach bug and haven't had a chance to leave my place. I'll be doing the two promised experiments tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest as well as a third early this week to make up for it. Stay Tuned.