Numbers stations
I first heard about these sometime last year.

For those who don't know, numbers stations are radio stations which generally broadcast constantly, with a continuous tone, or some sort of repeating pattern, for example a voice reading out numbers. Some have been broadcasting for fifty years without ever stopping. One in Russia has been traced to some sort of bunker, and the solid tone it broadcasts has only ever been interrupted twice, by a voice reading out a set of numbers quickly in Russian.

I'm not sure why, but the idea of these things being broadcast with nobody there, of signals happening entirely on their own, and of hearing disembodied voices generated by computer really creeps me out. When I first read up on them, I spent the best part of the next two days curled up in a corner of my room, unable to speak coherantly or anything, out of blind terror. For some reason, it just sets something off in me - when I get that sense of fear, and immense loneliness, I can't look at a computer, I can't pick up a phone, or listen to a CD. I keep thinking the people around me aren't even real if I'm not looking directly at them.

That happened once more, though not nearly as bad, when someone asked me about them. Thankfully I managed to distract myself enough early on that it didn't have the same impact. I'm starting to get the jitters just writing this, though...
(epinephrine, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 15:53, 14 replies)

You've
just prompted me to 'wikipedia' 'Numbers stations' - fascinating stuff!

The frequencies mentioned seem a bit too high for me to able to receive though sadly.
(dchurch bah, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 16:37, closed)

I first heard one a few years ago
They are startlingly unsettling. The Lincolnshire Poacher is one of the most famous, named after the tune at the end.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOe6pij9cGY
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 16:48, closed)

http://www.archive.org/details/ird059
There's a load of recordings of them here. I first heard one when messing about with a shortwave radio as a small me, been a bit obsessed ever since...
( Angry Boss Bee I love horses, death to other animals, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 16:55, closed)

The first one, the Swedish one
sounds like an ice-cream van.


A creepy ice-cream van.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:05, closed)

My brother works alongside the James Bonds at the moment.
I'm totally going to get him drunk and get him to tell me what they're all about. If that doesn't work, I'll wait for him to get Alzheimer's, or have a stroke, and interrogate him when he's vulnerable.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:07, closed)

Careful
or you might end up locking yourself in a holdall in the bath.
(Rsoles, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 1:50, closed)

I find them fascinating.
I think the one you mention is "The Russian Woodpecker" which, apparently, annoys a lot of people in the surrounding area.
The Conet Project has a whole load of them you can download -- so you could really creep yourself out.
Personally, I like to try to identify the language being used and the numbers being read out -- though, depressingly, they tend to be English or what sounds to me like Polish so not much of a challenge number wise. There's at least one Scandinavian one though, if I recall correctly.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:50, closed)

Volga boatmen
Used to freak me out too - with my first radio I picked up a station playing the first phrase of the `Song of the Volga Boatmen' - www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WD0WVL-HjE
(Audax Victor, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:52, closed)

this totally creeps me out, too
also someone told me about a time they called 1471 and it was just a woman listing numbers, for no real reason even the thought of this creeped me out. Couldn't use the phone for a couple of days after that.
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 18:37, closed)

I'm with you.
They are incredibly creepy, when I first read about the worst scenario I imagined was just getting back to the home, turning something like the tv on only for the noise to be a number station. Having it gradually increase in volume until it just stopped dead with loud radio static, and a sense of not being alone.
(Ian_Ex_Machina Has nothing better to do, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 20:51, closed)

Peg it, the Russians are coming!
That Russian station you mentioned (UVB-76) has, after thirty odd years of doing feck all other than buzzing like a mong with a doorbell, come alive. There's been a barrage of broadcasts in the latter part of 2010.

You can listen to a bunch of recordings here soundcloud.com/anonym0us for all your creep-inducing needs.

Enjoy!
( SpackyWomble, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 22:30, closed)

Lost
Reminds me of that series Lost... never did finish that one.
( Bathory, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 15:25, closed)

Aren't these
referenced in CoD:Black Ops?
(kitescreech still here, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 20:02, closed)

So I hear. My housemates played through single player over Christmas while we were all at home, thank god. Not sure I'd have been able to cope with being woken up by the tv downstairs playing BlOps at 3am...
(epinephrine, Sun 10 Apr 2011, 15:15, closed)