Hello all, and Mr. Morgan and Mr. Taylor.  Firstly, thank you for
your comments and information regarding Tombstone, Arizona.  I think
it is too bad there currently aren't any automatic instruments there,
and think that they deserve at least one or two.  (If for nothing else,
at least for the ghosts to scare tourists and employees with!)

I have listened to the clip/EVP over and over again on that Myspace
video of the episode.  I might consider asking TAPS if they can send
me a sound file (mp3?) of that EVP with the music.  Not a big file,
just the 10 seconds or so with the music, plus a little before it fades
in, and a little after it ends.

After transcribing what I could, and listening to it via my music
notation software, I had a friend of mine listen to it.  They suggested
it might be the "Sextette" from Lucia di Lammermoor (by Gaetano
Donizetti).  Now, I know all you piano roll collectors out there are
probably groaning because you see at least one roll of this tune in
every large roll collection you visit, right?  It was _that_ popular
back in the 1910s-1920s (and, I would assume, much earlier than that
too, since Lucia di Lammermoor was written in about 1835!).

Having heard similar vintage music (especially overtures, selections
from opera, and other classical and salon music) as typical cylinder
orchestrion fare, I would hazard a guess that if what is audible in the
recording is close enough, this could be the "Sextette".  (In which
case, any number of orchestrions, surviving and perished, could be the
"culprit", unless someone hears a really distinct tone quality).

As to the kind of instrument (since the date of probable haunting
is between 1881-1889), the only other explanation besides organ-type
orchestrion I can think of is a large harmonium (pressure reed organ)
with many varied stops, whether hand-played or cylinder-operated is
hard to tell from the sound, but something in the phrasing tells me
it is mechanical.  Someone in the reed organ society (who would be
very familiar with the subtle differences in tone quality and timbre
of the various types and makes of instruments) might be able to help
better.  My money says that if it is not a Black Forest cylinder
orchestrion like an early Welte, Imhof, etc., then it might be
a U.S.-built cylinder orchestrion, such as one by Bernhard Dufner (a
large example of which is currently owned by a prominent New England
collector).

Does anyone have any cylinder Welte/Imhof/Dufner clips to post to
familiarize us with the different sounds?  How 'bout that Philipps at
Knott's Berry Farm?  I know that the web site of the Nationaal Museum
van Speelklok tot Pierement has a short clip of their Heizmann
orchestrion playing a march (a clip you can use as a cell phone
ringtone!).

I have made a score of my short transcription, and also will make a
MIDI or sound file.  I will try to send these to be posted on the MMD
site pretty soon.  I will also try to eventually get on the TAPS forum
with the transcription and my guesses, but I won't do this until I hear
a little more feedback/opinion from other MMD members who have watched
the clip and heard the music.  What do you think?

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2996508

(The music portion is near end, about 4/5 of the way through.)

Andrew Barrett

P.S. I know there are those who think otherwise, but I believe the
Ghost Hunters show is real, and that it is either a crass marketing
move, or a big mistake that they just happen to be on the Science
Fiction channel.  I dunno, they just seem too level-headed and willing
to debunk everything they can to be made-up.  Also, there have been
several episodes where hardly anything happens, as well as at least
one where nothing at all happens, and they find that the homeowners'
problems were (probably) being created by an unshielded, unsafe
electrical box giving off high EMF, excessively moldy ceilings/floors,
and a couple of shelves full of noxious chemical containers, placed
right near a central air intake!

P.P.S. By the way, Mr. Katz, if you know of a CD of cylinder organ
orchestrion music, please do tell us about it; I have been looking for
such a CD for years.