A Vietnamese cameraman and 2nd Lt. Robert J. Serry of the 6th Psychological Operations Battalion work with television equipment during a psychological operations program in Vietnam on Sept. 1, 1966. The 6th PSYOP Battalion later became one of the Army units associated with the eerie “Wandering Soul” broadcasts. (U.S. Army photo by SP4 Jerome McCavitt/National Archives)
Some of us who have wandered the forests often have had the unsettling experience of hearing strange unexplainable sounds. I for one have recorded children laughing, my name being called, and a horse’s neigh on an old cart road. We know how disorienting this can be. As it turns out so does the US military. On Feb, 10th 1970 during the Vietnam War, American psychological operations played eerie audio recordings over loudspeakers at night near Viet Cong and North Vietnamese positions. These tapes mixed traditional Vietnamese funeral music, wailing ghost sounds, and simulated voices of the dead.
This operation was referred to as “the wandering soul” or Ghost Tape 10. This video is just a short 30 second piece of what they actually played out there.
They would use helicopters or ground units to make it sound like it was coming from the forest around them.
The end goal was to disrupt sleep, increase anxiety, and encourage desertion or surrender.
The military studied folklore, superstition, and spiritual fears to use as weapons. The Military’s own Tropic Lightning News described the mission as “Groaning Ghost Haunts VC.”
I for one would have been running out.
Link below to listen to the Wandering Soul recordings…
https://youtu.be/4d9H_1ygEv8?is=8FycVcxc-ik-NmR8
