UVB-76

UVB-76 has been freaking out the world for nearly 40 years. A radio signal that occupies 4625 kHz and has been broadcasting since the late ’70s, UVB-76 is Russian in origin and survived the end of the Cold War.

Beyond that, all we know is that it’s incredibly creepy. For decades now, UVB-76 has been broadcasting nothing but a repeated buzzing noise, over and over again. This in itself wouldn’t be that weird, except we know for a fact that the noise isn’t automated. Movements have been heard in the background, as have the opening and closing of doors, and occasionally even muffled voices speaking in Russian.

The buzzing is generated by a microphone being manually held next to a speaker. And someone has been holding it there for nearly 40 years. It gets stranger-still. Every few years, the buzzing is unexpectedly broken by the sounds of a voice reading out a list of names and/or numbers.

One typical message from Christmas 1997 read “Ya UVB-76, Ya UVB-76. 180 08 BROMAL 74 27 99 14. Boris, Roman, Olga, Mikhail, Anna, Larisa. 7 4 2 7 9 9 1 4.” Eerily, the station has actually gotten more active since the end of the Cold War. At one point in 2010, messages were coming out on an almost-monthly basis. They included things like a snippet of Swan Lake, a woman counting down from nine to one, and a question mark in Morse code.

 The station itself has been located at a former military base. But still no-one knows what the signal is for. Given its mysterious Cold War origins, some have speculated that it’s a nuclear retaliation code. If the signal ever goes dark, those listening will know Russia has fallen and it’s time to launch the missiles.

 [LISTEN LIVE HERE]

[words taken from here]