Secrets behind mysterious Cold War radio stations revealed
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Subscribe for new episodes every Thursday: bit.ly/19jUASK
There’s a lot of weirdness floating around the atmosphere between the radio stations you jam to in your car.
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Digging up the pop culture peculiarities and nonsense that exists in the darkness on the edge of town.
Fun fact: the Lincolnshire Poacher was found again in 2013 as a telephone number and, after so many people called it, it was revealed that it was owned and run by MI5. I called it myself and yes, it was creepy as shit.
Matt99J TOO CREEPY.
what`s the number
Austin Garza I can't remember but it doesn't really matter anyway. They closed the phone line down years ago.
Matthew Jones happened in 2013 > closed down years ago though
Art Murder It has been 2 years since 2013
"You know, I'm bored. I'll go find one of his creepy videos."
*never moves again*
I am 75% sure the thumbnail is a Human Transmutation circle from Fullmetal Alchemist
Thats what I thought
+death becomes her u don't like the same thing as him? no one fucking cares
omg i how did i miss that
Trolling is for mindless gits.
it's a transmutation circle, but not from fullmetal alchemist, just a transmutation circle
"The numbers Mason, what do they mean?!"
I mean they way number stations work, Mason wouldn't know the numbers. As they are ever changing and the one time pad is destroyed as soon as the message is written down. So the agent would be to busy writing the numbers down to remember the sting of numbers. It's even less so when the numbers change daily
Sure do miss this channel. It was comfort viewing during a bad time in my life. Every couple years a return to marathon em. Always a great decision…
Yes... yes! MORE VIDEOS ABOUT STUFF LIKE THIS! I've known about numbers stations for quite some time, but I still like learning about them because whoever is covering it always manages to bring up some stuff I never heard about. Like, I didn't know about the Cuban one that was cracked. There were also one or two others you mentioned that I'd never heard of.
hermionebubble Awesome, thanks!
"...and you dress something like this."
Did... did you just call yourself a hipster?
But it was ironic so it's cool.
+pinksock1337 hipster fashion is basically what 1:10 is. He was just ahead of his time.
I've heard weird stuff like this on shortwave before... I've always gotten scared the shit out and end up not being able to sleep at night..
I can just imagine it, we're making a big deal out of these radio stations and there's just a couple people sitting behind a desk saying "Ha we just make these random numbers and weird sounds and everyone thinks it's weird spy stuff!" But those signals were spooky as shit.
Dude you deserve more subscribers. Awesome vids! Keep 'em coming!
Vicky Ponchinlan Thanks!
I was in a physics group in high school and there was this guy that REALLY loved radios. There was this night we were late at school getting ready for a robotics competition the next day then this guy plays some of The Buzzer recordings he had and it scared the shit out of us.
But the funny part of this story is that he actually bought that recordings, and from many other stations, by mail (No internet in Brazil during the 90s)! At that time I was wondering why would a guy buy a CD by mail filled with 'the best hits from the best mysterious weird stations around'... and at this exact moment I realized now I really want that CD ahahaha
have you heard of the lost cosmonaut? i believe it was a pair of italian radio hobbyists that picked up a signal of a female 'cosmonaut' in transmission while she crashes/ flys out of orbit. theres a lot of controversy as to whether or not its a true broadcast but i found it interesting.
Lucas Van Bakel Never heard of this before. So weird. Probably will steal this for an episode. Thanks! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judica-Cordiglia_brothers
Umm that was a real broadcast wtf?
It probably is true.
Number stations always remind me of the SCP Foundation. Some deeply unnatural, inexplicable thing is being beamed through our very bodies, and upon noticing our best response is to sort of look at it and go "huh, that's creepy" before moving on to learning shark facts or whatever. Faced with that sort of response it's pretty easy to believe a shadow organization could keep a load of paranormal horrors out of the public eye.
Meaning, of course, that we're all gonna get eaten by a murder-lizard sooner or later.
That random noise and music is played so that bandwidth can be reserved until it's really needed.
I decoded the one of the number station broadcast, it reads "W-O-U-L-D Y-O-U K-I-N-D-L-Y."
W E G O T A J O B T O D O
@@danielclinton3605 T H E N U M B E R S M A S O N
If number stations are really broadcasting cryptic messages to spies it is without doubt the most efficient mean of secret communication. Even if the broadcaster's whereabouts are traceable, the recipient could be just about anywhere and the only thing he needs to receive information is to own such an ordinary device as a transistor radio. The whole concept eliminates the need for hard copies of orders that could be intercepted and grants the field unit practically unlimited mobility in the broadcasting range, which in turn might be of a continental scale. And the creepiest part is that these stations have been around for who knows how long.
Also, the German number station sample heard at the beginning of the video appears in the song 'Even The Waves' by a very cool band called Chroma Key. Check them out if you haven't already.
I remember hearing them as a kid and I was pretty creeped out. They still do to this day. I actually forgot about them for years till they were on Stuff They Don't Want You To Know.
I'm studying to be an audio engineer and my professor was teaching us about the history of radio stations. He ended up talking about number station and how they were setup in the cold war but he basically described what you said in your video, about how it was used for spying and sending secret messages. . .but I have to note that listening to those broadcasts was creepy as hell.
I know how much you love weird internet subcultures, so you should check out Montage Parodys. They're pretty interesting.
parker swensen Thanks for the suggestion!
He should also check out UA-cam poops, as they are fairly similar.
***** Or, considering his taste in music he should check out YTPMVs.
How about all of the above. c:
All of the above.
When I went camping once and had walkie talkies. we heard these weird noises coming from one and it never came back after a while. it was creepy
Probably a smart idea not to come back.
+FaZe Sloth I have an idea why. The walkie-talkies used radio waves for communication. All of them have a radio wave receiver and transmitter. Somehow, one of the receivers picked up a cold war radio station's radio waves.
In short, those were either way high quality walkie-talkies, or you were in a really good spot for radio.
Nickolas Zuliy it was like screaming at stuff it creeped me out
In Soviet Russia, radio listeners to YOU!
..... listens in Russian....
You should open a This Exists bookety book store.
Usually the "mysterious letter broadcasts" are just channel markers. And the letters are just the station's callsign, which is transmitted in morse code. Channel markers pretty much keep the frequency open so info can be relayed there, usually used by maritime stations. But, pirates (Unlicensed broadcasters) also have pirate beacons that send out letters, for no reason..
Also, UVB-76 (Buzzer) is not a numbers station. It's a Russian Western Military District commandment network. So, just a Military station. Technically, it isn't UVB-76 anymore, the correct name as of 2015 is MDZhB. The callsign changed when it switched locations.
Being a avid shortwave radio listener, I hear this stuff often. Number stations sure are interesting, but aren't really as creepy as you think. There is a lot more to shortwave than number stations. Though sometimes at night I turn on my shortwave radio and enjoy a good ol' number stations broadcast. :)
Do you even get nightmares from listening to those creepy ass broadcasts? I mean seriously, do those creepy number station introductions which were probably used to creep people out so they can switch the station, scare you at all? Do you feel like you are being watched everytime you listen to them?
***** No, they don't creep me out. I mean, sure they are odd, but I don't get nightmares from them. I enjoy listening to them sometimes. I guess I'm just used to them. :)
+Michael B Even that ice cream truck music doesn't creep you out
I listen to shortwave as well, I occasionally fly by UVB-76 it goes offline every now and then. It's frequency is like 4625, in USB. I don't find any creepy, I use morse code decoders and if it's still encrypted I'll try to crack it. Fun stuff to mess around in and you occasionally find actual music. Interesting what people still listen to these days
Just checked it's still MDZhB
this is so incredibly unsettling
Number Stations are clearly the failed uploading of human psyche to digital format. These are the varied and painful cries for help from a multitude of lost souls... "I don't know where I am."
His nervous shifting at 5:05 cracks me up. It is the most legitimate reaction to that freaking recording. Brrr.
While watching this video, I kept getting the feeling that someone was standing behind me, even though I'm just sitting in my college's cafeteria eating breakfast. If I mysteriously vanish, I blame this video.
Lizzie Anderson That was me.
I'm simply going to repost a comment I left of the "Are you listening to music wrong" video
"I just listened to the episode of Stuff You Should Know on numbers stations. I think they could probably make a pretty cool topic for a video. They are short wave radio transmissions that are probably used by governments to communicate with spies, but know one knows for sure. They can be quite creepy and groups have dedicated themselves to figuring them out. There is even a album featuring nothing but numbers stations recordings called The Conet Project that has been sampled by Wilco on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and used in the movie Vanilla Sky."
Which Sam responded with
"+theraider222 Great idea. Such an interesting concept."
Not saying this episode exists because of me.... but it totally does.
theraider222 I couldn't find this comment when I was putting the script together, but you're absolutely right. Always been fascinated by this but that comment totally prompted me to write this. THANK YOU!
This Exists Sweet. Day is made.
Oh fu... Golly wow... I got chills when I heard the swan lake clip. My daughter did a dance at a school talent show last year. It was short notice that she wanted to do it and in the minutes before the "audition", I scrambled to pick a piece of music less than two minutes long. I plucked The Dance of the Four Swans from Swan Lake. I love that I will now associate that beautifup piece with two very differently beautiful things. I had heard of "the buzzer", but somehow not the Swan Lake bit about it. This is what I love about the internet.
Yay! Numbers stations! Always thought that they were interesting.
I just found this channel and I can't stop watching. This is my favorite episode so far. My sister and I used to play on my grandmas CB radio and we would talk to (I assume) serial killers who were passing through. Can't wait to do more research on number stations!
One of the biggest problems with switching keyboard layouts is that shortcut keys are implemented inconsistently. Some programs will use the QWERTY key locations, while others use the updated locations. The kind of person that's even aware that alternate key layouts exist likely uses a whole lot more shortcuts than most. I have multiple friends who tried to switch and gave up because of this alone.
I used to love the hell out of number stations. They fascinate me to no end. I'm sorta surprised the Max Headroom Hijacking Incident didn't come up, though maybe TV Hijackings are a topic for a whole other episode because the incidents of TV broadcast hijacking get pretty crazy.
Keep up the great work on this series, you're awesome.
***** That's a great idea. And thanks!
Sam has himself set up for the best pick up line.
"Hey baby," *points to his junk*
"Did you know THIS EXISTS!?!"
Lance Swishie Also exists: drink that gets thrown in my face.
Numbers stations fun to pick up because they're creepy, bizarre, and totally random due to their mysterious nature. ¡Atenciòn!, or V-2(A) as it's classification is, isn't that hard to pick up in the American Southwest and it usually broadcasts near religious stations. There is something called the oddities station, which is what UVB-76 is by technicality, broadcasts nothing but noise. Another one that still broadcasts to this day, XSL, sounds like a slot machine.
But, this was a cool video.
The stations were meant for "sleeper agents" agents who are spies in america but don't know it the numbers were meant to "wake" the agents the icecream sounding music was kinda like a alarm and the only reason the station still plays is because they were set on sortof a repeat
YES!!
I ran across one of these a few years back while at work it was a constant loop and strangely enough had interrupted a npr broadcast
I just had to watch this before going to bed
The one at 2:41 is in german. It goes "nine, seven and... nine seven and...."
neun, sieben, fünf which yes is German with a capitol G
Stuff You Should Know did a really good podcast talking about and going somewhat indepth about the number stations. go check it out
That podcast is the only reason I knew about number stations coming into this video.
JamesTheSuperGeek agree
Wow, looking through these comments, you're really interactive with your viewers. That's great.
Of course. It's awesome that people take time to share their opinions.
Well keep it up, not many people do this. You're doing this the right way. :P
I'm not saying it's spies, but it's spies. The Lincolnshire Poacher is named after the tune that plays after each number sequence, it's an old English folk song. An alternative theory to the one-time pad is that the sequences could be used with a specific edition of a specific novel or book to construct a message. I can't provide any references, but it's a cool theory, non?
the second i heard a station saying
Yankee
Hotel
Foxtrot
i'd suspect some shit
The station on Green Mountain in DayZ always creeped me out way more than the zombies.I was always drawn to it, and reread the wiki article over and over.
As a short wave user I've heard a lot of strange things including numbers they're creepy
2:22 I SWEAR these numbers are something to do with Webdriver Torso. One guy converted the weird audio you hear in one of the videos and they were the same numbers as that idk
just sounds familiar
This just gave me a musical idea!
I like weird mystery ones that are real like this, just discovered your station hope I find more on interesting topics like this one
CPU Gamer here: As far as keyboards are concerned, I don't think QWERTY is the most important part, as the keybindings for most games made after 2008 could be dynamically set. For example, advanced FPS players actually use esdf rather than wasd to give an extra string of keybindings to the left of your movement keys rather than just to the right. As far as keyboards are concerned, gaming keyboards add a lot of functionality, such as programmable macro keys, that can assist in more advanced, pre-written maneuvers. I'm a huge advocate of them.
these scare the hell outta me.. makes me think of some post apocalyptic communication device.
For most of us the QWERTY keyboard isn't going away because most of us can move crazy fast on QWERTY. Very few of us use those gaming keypads, what matters to us is mechanical switches and NKRO (N key roll over (you can press all the keys and they'll all register)).
I'm sure your rapid fire Canadian "aboat" medley at the end was a coincidence, but you really did me in. I couldn't pour these shots quick enough! Perfect start to my Friday afternoon. And I'm sure there will be hundreds of comments about the Lost series number station, I haven't looked yet. I'm gonna do some searches for online streams for number station frequencies, when I get the chance. Loved this vid!
Regarding the gaming keyboard question, I use a gaming programable keypad (Razer Nostromo to be more specific) to give me quick acsess to many shortcut keys and functions commonly used in digital art software. I dont have to let go of the pen and look down at the keyboard to save or switch from eraser to pen to one of the selection tools
ok coming back in 2020 and... the buzzer is active again. like, really active.
3:59 that’s a old AT&T long lines microwave tower, used from the 50s to the mid 80s for long distance phone calls.
It's pretty interesting to think of that numbers can sound so creepy but I guess it's the way that they are presented with them being so mysterious and random.
There's a movie involving DMT and numbers stations called The Banshee Chapter, and it will make you either terrified of numbers stations, laugh hysterically, or wonder what Hunter S Thompson is doing there.
I don't know were you get your content or how you come up with what to research... but it's AMAZING!!!!!!!!! This channel is awesome!!! So many mind blowing stuff. Great job!
Thanks!
I've heard of numbers stations a bunch of times before, but for some reason this video creeped me out when no other mention or use of it has before
That the 1 channel only says numbers in german is creepy and that it only says 975 over and over again is Even creepier.
The only number stations I ever listened to were in Fallout 3 when trying to find the crashed UFO or access the DLC Mothership Zeta. If I remember correctly it was Morris code, but it was always creepy when the game first came out cause there was just this white noise radio station with occasional beeps.
And like that I have listened to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco. Thank you so much!
"the photos are convincingly desolate, and Russian looking"
RACIST!
I slowly find out where "Welcome to Nightvale" get their random content from...
This episode was really rad. Now I know what Huck (from the show Scandal) was doing late at night when he would sit in the bathroom and listen to a gibberish radio station. Judge me.
Ps. I'm really stoked that this is the one channel on UA-cam where commenters can have ACTUAL intelligent discussions. Without racism, trolling, or ignorance. Well done, sir.
Jonathan Trejo No judging. Scandal is one of the more recent pop cultural uses of numbers stations. And I know, I'm amazed how great the comments are. I learn tons of stuff every week.
Thanks to Wheezy Waiter for sending me over here, because this channel is fantastic. I love random trivia, and deeper dives into off beat topics. I've already watched about 5 videos and hit that subscribe button. Looking forward to more vids & info!
Jess Enright Thanks for coming and checking things out!
Wheezy Waiter brought me here. Totally worth it
k
Peyton Ellis Nice!
I love Wilco! I got really excited when I heard Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
THE NUMBERS MASON WHAT DO THEY MEAN
Varkota
+Detective Derpy (Chris Tun) NO, NO, NO! REZNOV WAS NEVER AT VOKUTA MASON! WE'RE ALREADY AT DEFCON 3!
Nick Dawson I am Victor Reznov and i will have my revenge
Now I know a little something about Neil Cicierega's "Transmission" from his second mashup album "Mouth Silence!"
This scares the shit out of me ever since I saw The Banshee Chapter
Your channel is so interesting and im really liking how you engage with your fans unlike other youtubers. You seem to actually take the time to read comments, and to that i say kudos man. Keep on keepin on dude!
5:10 The ice cream truck here! *runs outside to find out there never was an ice cream truck*
I'm curious about the people saying the messages more so than the purpose of the actual message. It seems that the person would have been recorded and distorted and the message put on a permanent loop. If so, who would sit there to be recorded saying such apparently random sayings? Or would it be explained away by the person behind the entire station as some sort of top secret government program? And how would you go about hiring an apparently female person to sit there saying those things?
4:53 - im watching this video today at 2022 and as soon as i heard Sam saying this, i can awkardly say: dude, apparently it isn't hahahahaha
LOVE the segment on black MIDI
Numbers Stations actually interest me rather than creep me out... Does that make me weird?
But I will admit that there are some that genuinely feel as though you aren't supposed to be listening... Ever.
Cat The Singer Since they're not actually, you know, being broadcast by ghosts, I think that's fair.
idk man but my dad tells me that in cuba as a kid the radio would always start counting for no reason at every hour and its terrifying to me
I'm absolutely certain I heard The Lincolnshire Poacher and the Buzzer here in Australia about two nights ago.
Mission in life = Accomplished
I wonder if any of them come form a friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful and mysterious lights pass overhead while they all pretend to sleep...
All hail the glow cloud!
LinconSHIRE?!
It's pronounced linn-con-shir.
Ultradalek7 Thanks for the correction!
This Exists Don't worry, thats how you tl lronounce it in Canada.
0:04
is that Sad Satan I hear? Depressed Devil? Unhappy Antichrist?
First time I've heard it without Mutahar dry heaving in the background.
Have you ever heard eletromagnetic pulses coming from space? Once, one sounded to me like "a frog with a sore throat", that was terrifying!
I love listening to numbers stations, does make it hard to sleep though.
This reminds me of the AFI Charlotte Mystery back in 2006 to pump up their Decemberunderground album. There was a clue in the mystery that related to Number Stations. That shit creeped me out.
Well, now I know the inspiration for the mysterious number station from Welcome to Nightvale.
Yes! Another fan of Nightvale!
Back in the seventies and eighties, there was a signal on the fifteen meter ham band that called 'The Woodpecker.' It consisted of a bunch of clicks that sounded like, well, a woodpecker. It was suspected to be an over the horizon radar system.
The Conet project used to update a soundcloud with new recordings. It's still up: soundcloud.com/the-conet-project
As a kid, I would stay up at night listening to SW radio. My favorite signals were what I called the "frog men". Probably scrambled military transmissions?
COOL! Tonight, I may just have to search for my global band radio with AM/FM and 8 extra frequencies and do a little hunt when the ionosphere opens up! :D
Not many things scare me but holy balls this creeped me out
Hotel charlie foxtrot went really well with the song that you played by that band
So fucking creepy... I am now afraid of radios...
Another great episode, keep it up man!
Klar Ave Thanks!
Did this remind anyone else of that movie "The Banshee Chapter"? The opening number station clip is the one they use for when the movie's monster shows up to take over someone's body.
HunterOfTheBass Saw the trailer, want to see the movie now. Recommended?
Once, I was listening radio on phone, and it catched high-pitch noise at exactly 100 MHz. After some walking around the room with earphones in hand, I learned that the reasone is power wire in wall.
This video was pretty enjoyable, even though it somewhat borders on that myth/urban legend line. There's a lot of crazy business that gets caught up in the white noise. I do like your more solid "this crazy shit is actually a thing" videos than the "who knows what this is" videos, but I suppose you'd have to make more of the latter for me to have a fair comparison.
My home state has an actual myth about the Green Man, who ended up being a real person (Raymond Robinson). Seeing an episode like that where urban legends that are actually realities would be super awesome. Either way, keep up the dope stuff.
The German child counting random numbers with the music box is very freaky... If I do say.
Re: qwerty keyboard with FPS gaming
Grew up on it, so I have never seen the need to get some custom gamer keypad crap. I could see it being nice to arrange things ergonomically, especially if you have pain issues (I have back pain and occasional find myself in awkward positions). Great channel, GG.