HW Sonic Attack

[Matt Curtis]

[from a letter to Fortean Times, issue 83 (October-November 1995)]

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SONIC WEAPONS Geoff Holder's questions about sonic weapons [FT77:57]
stirred something in my memory which was more than rememberances of
Hawkwind's `Sonic Attack'.

This song (or more accurately poem) written by Michael Moorcock in the
early 1970s was a mainstay of the band's performances from 1972 until
the present day. The lyrics tell in graphic detail the effects of a
sonic attack on the human body ("You will notice a vibration in your
vertebrae. You will hear a distant hissing in your ears. You will feel
dizzy. You will feel the need to vomit. There will be bleeding from
orifices. There will be an ache in the pelvic region. You may be
subject to shouting or even laughter") - and gives instructions on how
to survive the attack.

Hawkwind are not alone in describing sonic weapons. In 1986 Kate Bush
released a single called `Experiment IV' which describes a secret
research project to record a collection of the most hideous sounds
available to produce panic and untimely destruction of its test
subjects. The experiment goes horribly wrong, causing a powerful and
destructive force to be unleashed with disasterous consequences. Other
fictional accounts range from _The Biggles Movie_ to a 1960s Tin Tin
comic book, _The Calculus Affair_.

The first reference I have to a working weapon is one created toward
the end of World War II as a panicked Third Reich grasped for any
straw to retain power. The weapon, created by Dr Richard Wallauschrek
at Lofer in Austria, consisted of a large parabolic dish, about three
metres in diameter. A series of rapid explosions (about 1,500 per
second of an oxygen/methane mix) at the focal point caused a high
intensity shock wave to be formed. When focused by the dish, the shock
wave could theoretically kill at 60 metres and disable at 300 metres.
The weapon doesn't seem to have been tested on a human being, but
there are sketchy records suggesting laboratory tests on animals.

However, I think the weapon both Geoff and myself are remembering is
described by Dr Lyall Watson in his marvellous book _Supernature_. A
certain Professor Gavraud always fell ill whilst working in his
office. He was on the point of resignation when he tracked down the
cause of his nausea to a low frequency (7Hz) vibration. He
investigated furhter and eventually built a giant device shaped like a
French police whistle, six feet long and powered by compressed air.
Unfortunately, he failed to take precautions and the technician who
gave the whistle its first test dropped dead on the spot, his internal
organs mashed to a pulp.

Despite this, Gavraud pressed on, learning how to control his device.
By aiming two weapons and triangulating their "beams", a resonance was
set up in a target building five miles away, literally shaking it
apart. A disturbing fact is that these weapons can be built cheaply
and although the plans are said to be easily available from the Paris
Patent office, I failed to track them down. Why research stopped is
unclear; perhaps it continued behind closed doors. Indeed, I do
remember rumours of possible sonic pulse weapons being deployed by the
CIA in the Gulf War, as well as the use of CIA psychic weapons in
covert operations.

There were two intriguing news reports in 1994. The Russian extremist
Vladimir Zhirinovsky claimed in February that a new "Elipton" weapon,
which produced a massive pulse "impossible for a man", had been used
to kill Muslim soldiers near Belgrade [FT75:6]; and Cable Bosun Roger
Launder from Plymouth, working on the Royal Maritime Auxilary Ship
Newton off the Florida coast, was killed in July when a "sound bomb"
he was holding exploded prematurely (_Daily Telegraph_ 19 July).

I would like to thank the following FT readers whose replies to Geoff
Holder's queries have helped my research: Steve Croucher, Mike Grant,
Phil Hide, Dean Howard, Shaun Ivory and Anthony I.P. Owen.

    Andy Cobley
    Dundee

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-matt

--
Matthew Curtis (matt at pcmicro.com.au) #612340583175
(R)  IMPENDING DOOM HAS ARRIVED                             page 1 of 1 pages