Latest news with #HebrideanHum
Time of India
12-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
Aliens or ...: Mysterious Humming sound that has 'disrupted' the lives of locals in a town in Scotland
Representative Image. (Albert Stumm via AP) Residents of the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides are reportedly grappling with a persistent, low-frequency humming noise that has disrupted daily life. According to a report in BBC, the mysterious sound, described as a 'droning, pulsating' disturbance, is audible day and night across the island. Around 200-plus people have reported it, per a Facebook group set up to track the issue. Dr. Lauren-Grace Kirtley, who launched the 'Hebridean Hum' Facebook page, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that the 50hz hum is 'incredibly intrusive and distressing,' causing sleeplessness, dizziness, headaches, and difficulty concentrating. 'It's impossible to ignore – it is like somebody shouting in your face constantly for attention,' she said. Kirtley noted the noise is strongest on the island's east coast and less noticeable in its center. Local resident Marcus-Hazel McGowan, using amateur radio techniques to pinpoint the source, described the hum as inescapable, telling the BBC, 'It is one of those you cannot escape from.' He ruled out Stornoway's Battery Point Power Station, operated by SSEN, as the cause, noting the hum is constant while the station operates intermittently. McGowan also dismissed boats as a likely source. Theories circulating on the Facebook page range from a TV mast to tinnitus, with some suggesting ferry noise carried by persistent easterly winds, which BBC Weather data confirms have been prevalent recently. Similar low-frequency disturbances have been reported elsewhere, including Omagh, Northern Ireland, where a business was identified as the source last year, and Immingham, England, where the cause remains unknown. In 2013, a drone-like sound on England's south coast was speculated to be mating fish calls. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the local council, acknowledged receiving reports from a small number of islanders. A spokesperson told the BBC, 'The comhairle's environmental health team is investigating and will liaise with those who have reported issues.' As the investigation continues, residents like McGowan remain determined to uncover the source, hoping to restore the peace they once cherished on the island. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Daily Mail
02-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Radio waves, aliens, Russian subs... or mating fish! What IS behind the sinister Hebridean hum driving locals mad?
It started quite suddenly, an unwelcome intrusion into an island's natural soundscape. And unlike the ebb and flow of ocean crashing on rock or the storms that soak the lochans and bogs of Lewis, there has been no let-up from this disconcertingly unnatural interloper. To some, it sounds like a lorry's engine idling in the road outside their home. Others complain of a infuriatingly vague but persistent low rumble they cannot escape. Most agree it's worse at night when they're praying for sleep to free them from their purgatory. Yet when they pull open their curtains, there is nothing out there to explain the incessant droning slowly eroding their sanity. Since it first assailed their ears in February, sufferers from Ness in the North to Scalpay in the South-East have tried in vain to locate the source of their despair. So far, all they have come up with is a name for their tormentor – the Hebridean Hum. To the vast majority of the island's residents who can't hear it, that may sound like an overly jolly name for a phenomenon which has blighted the lives of the minority who can. Disrupted sleep is only the start of their unpleasant symptoms: sufferers report difficulty concentrating, headaches, nausea, dizziness, and 'fluttering' in their eardrums. In extreme cases, it can engender feelings of isolation and deep distress. 'It's impossible to ignore – like somebody shouting in your face constantly for attention,' according to Dr Lauren-Grace Kirtley, who has set up a Facebook page to support the dozens of so-called Hummers, who are being driven half-mad by it. Some say they are the only ones in their families afflicted by its constant thrum, while one mother in the coastal hamlet of Shawbost reported being at her wit's end after her baby 'stopped sleeping at night' and her son complained of nausea and headaches. 'It is a very low humming, droning, pulsating noise. It's incredibly intrusive and distressing,' Dr Kirtley, a doctor and university lecturer, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme last week. 'I haven't slept a night through for weeks and have problems concentrating. I get a lot of fluttering in my ears. It's making me dizzy and giving me headaches.' Some islanders say they are so distressed by the noise, they are considering leaving. One posted: 'Awake at 12am, 2am. Sat outside at 4am with a coffee. 'Been awake since. I can't keep going with no sleep, ears constantly pulsing and ringing. Definitely going to relocate back to the mainland God willing, this is too much.' Dr Kirtley, 44, who moved to her dream home in Aignish from Staffordshire two years ago, has teamed up with fellow sufferer Marcus Hazel-McGowan, 52, a physics teacher and amateur radio enthusiast, to find the source of the Hum. M R Hazel-McGowan, who moved his family to the island partly in search of peace and quiet, is a former regional manager for the Radio Society of Great Britain and used to 'chase up spurious emissions and sounds'. He has begun mapping locations where the noise is detected and has found it to be less noticeable in the centre of the island and strongest on the east coast, telling the BBC: 'It's just trying to narrow it down and hoping nobody loses their mind completely over it.' Using a machine called a spectrograph, Mr Hazel-McGowan has measured the Hum at 50 Hertz, which falls below the hearing range of most. Only 2-4 per cent of the population are thought to be able to pick it up. Dr Kirtley said the noise was known to be man-made and was not simply a background hum from appliances. She said: 'It's a persistent, environmental tone that can be heard indoors and outdoors in multiple areas.' Following complaints to environmental health officers, the local authority has pledged to carry out further investigations. However, a council spokesman cautioned: 'Due to the geographical separation of the reports, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is currently considering them unrelated.' While Dr Kirtley presses on, compiling evidence to link the cases, her Facebook page has become a lightning rod for a slew of theories attempting to fathom the cause. From the first report by a householder in Ness who wondered if a recently-installed smart meter might be to blame, contributors have run the gamut from the plausible – power lines, power stations and phone masts – to the downright bizarre, including interference from Russian subs or even the mating calls of amorous fish. It is also clear that Lewis's Hum is creating an international buzz, with interest from as far afield as Canada, the US, France, and Australia. And it's not just armchair conspiracists offering their tuppence worth about sinister interference by government, the military, or, of course, aliens – the Facebook group has also been contacted by eminent names in the field of low-frequency noise pollution offering the benefit of their wisdom. And these experts are as one in their belief that, as incredible as it might seem, the Hebridean Hum is part of a World Wide Hum. Indeed, Lewis is far from the first place to endure low-frequency noise disruption. Last year, council officials informed the residents of Immingham, in Lincolnshire, that the source of a mysterious humming noise that has plagued them for years may never be discovered. Also last year, in a rare victory, a mystery hum dogging people in Omagh, Northern Ireland, was tracked by environmental health officers to an unnamed business premises and dealt with. In 2013, marine scientists argued that an outbreak in Hythe, near Southampton, might have been caused by 'the mating call of male midshipman fish', nocturnal creatures which 'emit ever-louder drones, sometimes for hours' to warn off other males. Midshipman were previously found to be the culprit when houseboat residents in Sausalito Harbour, California, reported strange noises. The truth is that 'The Hum' has largely baffled researchers since the 1970s, when the first widespread reports of the unexplained acoustic phenomenon cropped up around the West Country city of Bristol. In 1977, two of them wrote in the scientific journal Applied Acoustics that low-frequency sound waves generated by distant industrial sources were their best guess. Equally inconclusive was another famous hum which began plaguing the Ayrshire coastal resort of Largs in the late 1980s. The Largs Hum was the same low-pitched drone, inaudible to most but debilitating to a sensitive few. In New Mexico, the phenomenon is known as the Taos Hum after an artists' enclave where the US's first large-scale incident occurred in the early 1990s. A Congressional investigation was ordered, but experts failed to find any conclusive results. In Canada, it is known as the Windsor Hum following a spate of cases in the eponymous town in Ontario. Hopes that the Lewis Hum might be caused by the temporary switch-on of electricity company SSEN's Battery Point Power Station in Stornoway were dashed when it was realised that the energy hub only operated at certain times, while the hum has been reported as constant. In any case, localised industrial sources seem inadequate to explain the worldwide prevalence of the Hum. So what exactly is this mystifying noise? And does it even have an environmental origin, or is it all in the mind? It is fertile ground for research not only for scientists, but science fiction writers too. Last year, BBC One addressed the issue in its four-part drama The Listeners starring Rebecca Hall as a teacher pushed to the brink by a low hum that no one around her seems to pick up. In Drive, a 1998 episode of The X-Files, a man is being driven mad by a painful sensation of pressure building in his head. Agent Scully, played by Gillian Anderson, discovers the cause is a United States Navy antenna array emitting extremely low frequency waves. Certainly, long-distance radio transmissions have been put forward as a possible cause of the Hum. One intriguing possibility is so-called TACAMO aircraft –military planes that employ radio frequencies in the lowest end of the spectrum to track or communicate with submerged submarines. T HE planes often operate at night, and their movements are top secret. Hum hearers in Largs have long suspected it is connected to operations at the nearby Faslane naval base, although no proof has ever been presented. If TACAMO was to blame, it might also explain why many sites are on the coast. The Russian Navy has long operated in the deep Atlantic waters off the Western Isles. However, the theory holds little water with the world's foremost Hum scientist, Dr Glen MacPherson, of the University of British Columbia, in Canada. Dr MacPherson, a Hum hearer who set up the World Hum Map and Database Project to record instances, said: 'I rejected that theory years ago after physical experiments ruled it out.' So, what does Dr MacPherson, who has undertaken years of research, think it could be? His study appears to show that fully ambidextrous people, and those with a family or personal history of ADHD or autism are over-represented in the data. He said: 'We are reasonably certain that the Hum is an internally generated perception of sound – that is, it is not actually a sound, just as tinnitus is not actually a sound. It is likely caused by some combination of specific anatomy, environmental exposure, or prescription/over-the-counter drug use.' It seems astonishing to contemplate that all these reports of debilitating symptoms might simply be people's brains playing tricks on them. Back in 2009, Dr David Baguley, who was a leading audiologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, told BBC News the Hum might be due to our sense of hearing becoming greatly heightened during times of stress. He suggested hearing about the Hum could lead sufferers to fixate on a perceived background noise, with it becoming a source of increasing frustration, causing additional stress which tricks the brain into turning up the volume even further. With his own Hum patients, Dr Baguley said he had some success with simple relaxation techniques borrowed from psychology. However, noise and vibration expert Geoff Leventhall, who has studied similar incidents for more than half a century, received short shrift when he advised the Lewis Hummers to try cognitive behavioural therapy to help them 'relax and desensitise themselves'. 'It is draining, debilitating and incredibly distressing and disruptive,' Dr Kirtley told one newspaper. 'Telling people to get used to it is not an acceptable solution.' For that, they must wait and hope as the source remains, maddeningly, just out of reach.
ITV News
30-04-2025
- Health
- ITV News
'The Hebridean hum': Islanders investigate mysterious humming noise
Residents of the Outer Hebrides have reportedly been plagued by a mysterious low-frequency hum, which they say has caused people to suffer from headaches and dizziness. A support group on Facebook, which now has more than 500 members, was set up to support residents of the Isle of Lewis who have been affected by the noise, dubbed the "Hebridean Hum". Islanders have taken it upon themselves to investigate the cause of the constant hum, which residents say can be heard day and night. Dr Lauren-Grace Kirtley, a senior educator at NHS Scotland Academy who set up the support page, said the sound, which has been "intermittent" since February 2025, has recently become "loud, constant, and intrusive." "The sound has been measured at 50 Hertz using a spectrograph. This frequency falls below the hearing range of many people, but is known to be man-made in origin and can be extremely disturbing for those who are sensitive to it," Ms Kirtley wrote on Facebook. "This noise is not just a background hum from appliances - it's a persistent, environmental tone that can be heard indoors and outdoors in multiple areas." Residents have made spectrograph recordings at various locations across the island where the hum has been reported. They detected much weaker signals in the island's interior, suggesting the sound is not originating from the centre of the island, Ms Kirtley said. Desperate to identify the issue, the group has also contacted multiple organisations for advice and investigation support, including the local council for the Isle of Lewis, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar,Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Ofcom, the power station, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), and others. The local council for the Isle of Lewis told ITV News: "Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has received several reports relating to low frequency sounds from members of the public. "As with any other reports of this nature, Comhairle's Environmental Health Team is investigating and will liaise with those who have reported issues. "Due to the geographical separation of the reports, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is currently considering them unrelated." With the source of the noise still unknown, residents of the Isle of Lewis have taken matters into their own hands, sharing a mix of theories in an effort to solve the mystery. While some are grounded in logic, others are more outlandish. Marcus-Hazel McGowan, who has been using amateur radio techniques to trace the source of the noise, originally moved his family to the island for its peace and quiet. Now, he's part of the growing effort to solve the mystery of the hum. He initially suspected a local power plant but ruled out SSEN's Battery Point Power Station in Stornoway after some testing, noting it only runs occasionally, while the hum is constant. 'It's just trying to narrow it down and hoping nobody loses their mind completely over it,' he told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland. Meanwhile, one group member floated the theory that the sound might be linked to whales - and even said that residents could be 'undergoing a transformation into sea creatures.' "Whales are known to employ humming and clicking sounds as a means of communication; perhaps we ourselves are undergoing a transformation into sea creatures," they wrote. "Submarines are equipped with sonar jammers that emit loud humming noises; perhaps they are endeavouring to conceal something far more sinister from our knowledge…?" Another member, from Inverness rather than Lewis, said she has been hearing the "Hum" for around 15 years and has recently come to the conclusion that the sound came from a local sewage plant. "In the beginning, I thought I was hearing a plane circling overhead. It almost sounds like you're hearing the earth turning, as ridiculous as that sounds," she said.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Islanders say they cannot escape mysterious humming
Islanders in the Outer Hebrides say their lives are being disrupted by a mysterious low frequency humming sound that can be heard day and night. Lauren-Grace Kirtley, who has set up a Facebook page dedicated to the "Hebridean Hum", said about 200 people on Lewis have reported hearing the noise. Ms Kirtley said the sound had prevented her from sleeping properly for several weeks, adding: "It's impossible to ignore - it is like somebody shouting in your face constantly for attention." Marcus-Hazel McGowan, who has been using amateur radio techniques to try and find the source, added: "It's just trying to narrow it down and hoping nobody loses their mind completely over it." The local council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, said it had received reports relating to low frequency sounds from a small number of islanders. A spokesperson said: "As with any other reports of this nature the comhairle's environmental health team is investigating and will liaise with those who have reported issues." Ms Kirtley told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme the hum could be heard across Lewis, adding that it was less noticeable in the centre of the island and strongest on the east coast. She said it had been recorded at a low frequency of 50hz. "It is a very low humming, droning, pulsating noise. It's incredibly intrusive and distressing," she said. "I haven't slept a night through for weeks and have problems concentrating. "I get a lot of fluttering in my ears. It's making me dizzy and giving me headaches." Mr McGowan, who moved to the island partly because of the peace and quiet it offered his family, is determined to find the source. He said electricity company SSEN's Battery Point Power Station in Stornoway had been ruled out as a cause, and he believed it was unlikely to be coming from boats. The power station is only operated at certain times, while the hum has been reported as a constant problem. Mr McGowan has heard the noise himself and told Good Morning Scotland: "It is one of those you cannot escape from." Theories posted on the Facebook page include the cause being a TV mast or tinnitus, a condition that causes ringing and other noises in a person's ear. It has been suggested the noise of ferries operating between Lewis and the mainland could be carried on a persistent easterly wind. Data used by BBC Weather suggests there has often been an easterly component to the wind over the past month. Low-frequency noise has disturbed residents in other places in the past. Last year, North East Lincolnshire Council said the source of a mysterious humming noise that plagued residents of Immingham may never be discovered. People said they had heard the low-level sound for a number of years. In 2013, New Forest District Council investigated reports of a drone-like sound heard on the south coast of England. One theory advanced at the time was that it might be the mating calls of a certain species of fish. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
The National
28-04-2025
- General
- The National
Scottish islanders investigating 'mysterious humming'
Around 200 people on the Isle of Lewis have reported hearing the noise, which locals say is 'impossible to ignore' and is louder nearer the coast of the island. Lauren-Grace Kirtley, who has set up a Facebook page dedicated to the noise which has been dubbed the 'Hebridean Hum', said the sound has prevented her from sleeping properly for several weeks. 'It's impossible to ignore - it is like somebody shouting in your face constantly for attention,' she told BBC Scotland. READ MORE: 'Powerful' BBC staff behave 'unacceptably' without punishment, report finds Marcus-Hazel McGowan, who has been using amateur radio techniques to try and find the source, also told the broadcaster: 'It's just trying to narrow it down and hoping nobody loses their mind completely over it.' Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the local council, said it had received reports relating to low-frequency sounds from a small number of islanders. A spokesperson for the local authority said: 'As with any other reports of this nature, the comhairle's environmental health team is investigating and will liaise with those who have reported issues.' Kirtley said the hum could be heard across Lewis and that it was less noticeable in the centre of the island and strongest on the east coast. She added that the Hebridean Hum had been recorded at a low frequency of 50hz. 'It is a very low, humming, droning, pulsating noise. It's incredibly intrusive and distressing,' she said. 'I haven't slept a night through for weeks and have problems concentrating. 'I get a lot of fluttering in my ears. It's making me dizzy and giving me headaches.' (Image: Getty) McGowan, who said he is determined to find the source of the mysterious hum, has ruled out SSEN's Battery Point Power Station in Stornoway and also believes it was unlikely to be coming from boats. The power station on the island is only operated at certain times, while the hum has been reported as a constant problem. McGowan, who moved to the island partly because of the peace and quiet it offered his family, told Good Morning Scotland: 'It is one of those you cannot escape from.'
