In the late 1970s, shortwave radios around the world were all sounding "thump thump thump"

In July 1976, shortwave radio enthusiasts around the world suddenly discovered a new sound in their radios: "thump thump thump thump thump thump," about ten times per second, a fast rhythm, like a woodpecker pecking at a hollow tree. It was very loud, drowning out many stations.

This sound occurred every day, appearing on one frequency and then jumping to another, interfering with civil aviation communications, amateur radio, and broadcasting. Americans, Europeans, and Japanese were all guessing what it was. Amateur enthusiasts gave it a name: "The Russian Woodpecker."

Some said the Soviet Union was conducting some kind of experiment to affect the human brain; others said it was a machine for jamming radio stations. The Soviets never explained.

Until the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, people learned that it was a radar called "Duga," a huge radar capable of seeing beyond the horizon, specifically used to monitor missiles launched by the United States. Its signal was repeatedly fired into the sky and reflected back by the ionosphere, so shortwave radios around the world could hear it.

Its antenna array stood 150 meters high and several hundred meters long, row after row, like an iron wall, built near Chernobyl in Ukraine.

In 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, and the base where the radar was located was also forced to evacuate. A few years later, the radar system was officially abandoned, not dismantled, just left standing there, rusting.

Now, tourists entering the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone can see that row of iron frames from far away, standing high above the forest.

#Paranormal #网络转载 #冷战