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1:07

The world is full

1:10

of stories. Join Cat

1:12

and Jethro Gilligan Toth

1:15

for The Strange, The

1:17

Bazaar, The Unexpected, as

1:19

they lift the lid

1:22

and cautiously peer inside

1:24

the box of oddities.

1:28

In a surprise move last

1:30

night, Stain did a concert

1:32

in Quenka Ecuador. And we

1:35

were curious as to what

1:37

led to that, because Quenka,

1:39

yes, a city, but not

1:41

a large city. No. And our

1:43

stadium is, I mean, okay. It

1:46

was cast out of concrete,

1:48

which appears to have come

1:50

from the Soviet era. We

1:53

have some questions, but it

1:55

was great. And it was only

1:57

$30. Which, which was kind of

2:00

nice. But he was amazing.

2:02

He came out. He had

2:04

great energy. His voice was

2:06

just perfect. You know, sometimes

2:08

you go and you see

2:10

some artists that you knew

2:12

and loved when you were

2:14

younger. And of course, age

2:16

will catch up with all

2:18

of us, and maybe they're

2:20

not quite as versatile. in

2:22

their vocal performance, but sting

2:24

sounded like he did 25,

2:26

30 years ago. Absolutely incredible.

2:28

I've felt, all this morning,

2:30

I've been humming and just

2:32

walking on air, or walking

2:34

on the moon, I should

2:36

say. Yeah, you should. Security

2:38

was interesting there. We were

2:40

afraid they were going to

2:42

take our umbrella because, you

2:45

know, it was outside in

2:47

the stadium and rain was...

2:49

predicted, but no, no, no,

2:51

I had my cell phone

2:53

and the little container that

2:55

I keep my credit cards

2:57

in and stuff in my

2:59

pockets and I had keys

3:01

and I, you know, and

3:03

they just kind of like

3:05

patted my shoulders and said,

3:07

okay. I was expecting a

3:09

cavity search. I had a

3:11

taser on me and no

3:13

problems at all. I loved

3:15

that. It was great. It's

3:17

one of the first times

3:19

that you've had a taser

3:21

on you trying to get

3:23

through security that it made

3:25

no difference whatsoever. It's been

3:27

a problem at all here

3:29

in Quenca. Thank you very

3:32

much. curator at the box

3:34

of oddities.com that is our

3:36

email we get so many

3:38

emails please know that we

3:40

do read them all even

3:42

though we can't respond to

3:44

them all that's why we

3:46

started the inbox of oddities

3:48

which happens every well almost

3:50

every Friday and we try

3:52

to share with you some

3:54

of the most interesting and

3:56

humorous emails that we get,

3:58

and we get plenty. This

4:00

one really caught my eye.

4:02

It came from Adam. Hey

4:04

guys, and more specifically, JG.

4:06

I heard you mention several

4:08

times how you're interested in

4:10

military history. Well, this topic

4:12

may tie in like a

4:14

crossover of military history and

4:16

paranormal. Have you ever heard

4:19

of Radio Ghost transmissions? Having

4:21

been in the Marines, I've

4:23

heard several of my friends

4:25

that served in the communications

4:27

field that sometimes radio operators

4:29

would receive distress calls of

4:31

what sounds like a massive

4:33

firefight going on. And upon

4:35

further investigation, us being in

4:37

the Afghanistan area, that transmission

4:39

came from Vietnam. Apparently, it

4:41

would just get sent and

4:43

never received or something like

4:45

that, just bounce around in

4:47

the atmosphere, whatever the hell

4:49

it does, until it randomly

4:51

gets picked up by one

4:53

of our radios. I was

4:55

infantry, not communications. I didn't

4:57

know if you've heard of

4:59

this, or would like to

5:01

do a deep dive on

5:04

it. I've heard of, like,

5:06

QRF, quick reaction forces, getting

5:08

mobilized, only to realize that

5:10

the coordinates given... We're in

5:12

Vietnam somewhere. What? While the

5:14

receiver was 40 years later

5:16

in Afghanistan. Anyway, thought you'd

5:18

find it interesting. Thanks, Adam.

5:20

Okay, Adam? Yes, oh yes,

5:22

that is right in my

5:24

wheelhouse. And I remember hearing

5:26

something about this, but I've

5:28

never done a dive on

5:30

it. Let's go. Did you

5:32

ever hear of ghost transmissions

5:34

from Vietnam? Oh yeah, yeah,

5:36

because I mean as you

5:38

know I love war and

5:40

so I... Sure, and radios,

5:42

so... And I totally understand

5:44

how radios work. Well again...

5:46

None of that's true by

5:48

the way. These are referred

5:51

to as ghost transmissions. They're

5:53

radio signals that are picked

5:55

up long after the original

5:57

broadcast. The ones out of

5:59

Vietnam have been identified as

6:01

either Morse code or voice

6:03

signals, and they were received

6:05

years, sometimes decades after the

6:07

transmissions were first sent. Now,

6:09

there is a logical scientific

6:11

explanation for this. How is

6:13

it possible? It's something called

6:15

radio wave propagation. It turns

6:17

out that radio waves, they

6:19

don't travel in straight lines.

6:21

They can bounce off the

6:23

ionosphere, and that makes, which

6:25

it's like a giant mirror,

6:27

almost. According to a guy

6:29

named Dr. Andrew Latham, he's

6:31

a physicist. that specializes in

6:33

radio wave propagation. He said,

6:36

quote, radio waves can travel

6:38

in strange ways under the

6:40

right conditions. They can be

6:42

reflected off the ionosphere and

6:44

get caught in loops. And

6:46

these signals can travel far

6:48

beyond their intended reach. Wow.

6:50

And time frame causing them

6:52

to be received years later.

6:54

That blows my mind. That's

6:56

so wild. It's like a...

6:58

Well, ghost transmission is a

7:00

great way to describe it.

7:02

It's like hearing from the

7:04

past. Now when you factor

7:06

in also that, and I

7:08

did a little digging into

7:10

this, the technology that was

7:12

used. in the Vietnam era,

7:14

particularly military radios, had extremely

7:16

powerful transmitters and of course

7:18

they were designed to cover

7:20

long distances, but also a

7:23

lot of the fighting took

7:25

place in deep thick jungles,

7:27

so they wanted to make

7:29

sure that their walkies could

7:31

transmit and the radio transmitters

7:33

were strong enough to get

7:35

to them. So of course

7:37

these high-powered signals could easily...

7:39

have made their way into

7:41

the ionosphere and bounced around

7:43

for years. Who knows what's

7:45

up there. It's crazy. It

7:47

reminds me of, you've heard

7:49

stories like this, that, you

7:51

know, we've only been broadcasting

7:53

television signals since like 1939,

7:55

1940. So those really early

7:57

episodes of say Milton Burrell

7:59

or Jack Benny or whoever

8:01

was on at the time,

8:03

are now... 80 light years

8:05

away. That's so wild. Just

8:07

out. somewhere. God, I hope

8:10

that whoever intercepts that doesn't

8:12

think that's what comedy is

8:14

still like. I have this

8:16

image in my mind of

8:18

some extra terrestrial higher intellect

8:20

creature on a distant planet

8:22

watching reruns of the honeymooners

8:24

and going, we gotta kill

8:26

those people. This is not

8:28

good you guys. In the

8:30

vast expanse of radio frequencies,

8:32

it is entirely plausible that

8:34

these signals were simply out

8:36

of sight, but still very

8:38

much alive. And the strange

8:40

thing is, it seems like

8:42

the, this is what really

8:44

blows my mind. It seems

8:46

like the vast majority of

8:48

these ghost transmissions were distress

8:50

calls coming out of Vietnam.

8:52

Horific moments in a very

8:55

bloody war. that are somehow

8:57

stuck in time. Moments that

8:59

seem to live on far

9:01

longer and more powerfully than

9:03

simple day-to-day radio communication. Really?

9:05

Like for real, for real?

9:07

Or like, you might say

9:09

that it... Do you know

9:11

what I mean? Does the

9:13

data show that these really

9:15

are in greater numbers than...

9:17

Well, yes, but I will

9:19

add a caveat to that.

9:21

That's based on the ones

9:23

that have been reported. Okay,

9:25

okay. You know, I'm sure

9:27

there have been others where

9:29

people, it just didn't really

9:31

seem to be of much

9:33

interest and so they just...

9:35

That makes sense. Yeah. But

9:37

one of the most famous

9:39

cases of these mysterious transmissions

9:42

did come from Vietnam. It

9:44

was a case called the

9:46

Ghost Flight Incident Incident. And

9:48

it involves a US pilot

9:50

named Major Jack E. E.

9:52

Arnett. In the early 80s

9:54

amateur radio operators all over

9:56

the US started reporting strange

9:58

Morse code signals that appeared

10:00

to be coming from a

10:02

The signal seemed to be

10:04

originating from the same location

10:06

where a U.S. pilot Major

10:08

Jackie Arnett had gone missing

10:10

in 1968. The signals were

10:12

received at irregular intervals as

10:14

though the transmission was somehow

10:16

caught in a loop. And

10:18

this wasn't just like a

10:20

quirky glitch. It seemed like

10:22

echoes of a tragedy being...

10:24

just broadcasting themselves across the

10:27

void of time and in

10:29

an interview one amateur radio

10:31

operator said I heard it

10:33

myself it was just weird

10:35

like a ghost from the

10:37

past sending out a signal

10:39

for someone to hear it

10:41

felt like the pilot was

10:43

still out there trying to

10:45

get help even though decades

10:47

had passed now there were

10:49

many reported incidents of these

10:51

messages being received by several

10:53

amateur radio enthusiasts. Some of

10:55

them were hurt on a

10:57

very specific frequency, around 5

10:59

megahertz, and they became something

11:01

of a legend within the

11:03

amateur radio community. These signals

11:05

weren't just isolated incidents either.

11:07

Other operators in different parts

11:09

of the world began picking

11:11

up the same type of

11:14

signals. Of course, the most

11:16

unnerving part... The signals came

11:18

through at seemingly random intervals,

11:20

months or even years apart,

11:22

they were identical, and it's

11:24

though the broadcast had been

11:26

trapped in the atmosphere, unable

11:28

to escape the force of

11:30

the Earth's magnetic field. Many

11:32

of these signals contained repetitive

11:34

patterns that seemed urgent in

11:36

nature. Some of the messages

11:38

were described as including the

11:40

following phrases. We'll start with

11:42

this one. This is Jack

11:44

E. Arnett. Come in. Please

11:46

respond. M.I.A. Requesting assistance. Coordinates

11:48

1020. And his plane was

11:50

lost back in 1968. And

11:52

was Jack. lost with it.

11:54

Yeah. Yeah. And so the

11:56

story of Jack E.R. Net

11:58

is probably one of the

12:01

more famous Vietnam ghost transmissions,

12:03

but it certainly isn't the

12:05

only one. So like I

12:07

do when I'm obsessed with

12:09

things, I over-researched this, but

12:11

I've got it down to

12:13

a few more. There was

12:15

an incident... In 1971, when

12:17

a series of strange beeps,

12:19

Morse Code-type messages were received

12:21

by an amateur radio operator

12:23

in California, the messages seemed

12:25

to repeat a certain phrase

12:27

over and over and over

12:29

again, including what sounded like

12:31

a distress call, quote, come

12:33

in, please respond. They could

12:35

not identify the source of

12:37

this transmission, but it was

12:39

on a military frequency. The

12:41

operator. A man named Bill

12:43

Thompson recorded the transmissions. I

12:46

tried to find them. I

12:48

can't find them anywhere. Because

12:50

he submitted them to several

12:52

government agencies and they don't

12:54

know where they are. No

12:56

one could explain the occurrence.

12:58

He said, I kept getting

13:00

the same message over and

13:02

over. It sounded like it

13:04

came from deep within the

13:06

atmosphere. It was like the

13:08

signal was stuck in time

13:10

and I was the only

13:12

one who could hear it

13:14

gave me chills. So that's

13:16

when he sent the recording

13:18

in to the government and

13:20

they never responded and so

13:22

we still don't know what

13:24

that was all about. Interesting.

13:26

Now there was an incident

13:28

called the Lost Navy Signal

13:30

of Denang and it is

13:33

by far one of the

13:35

most mysterious transmissions tied to

13:37

the Vietnam War. In 1968,

13:39

during the height of the

13:41

conflict, I mean, well, it

13:43

was really ramping up at

13:45

this point. A US Navy

13:47

communications officer stationed in Denang

13:49

in South Vietnam sent out

13:51

a distress signal that was

13:53

never received by its intended

13:55

recipient. They sent it out.

13:57

It was a call for

13:59

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