The general span for FM radio stations usually falls in the range of 79kHz to 108kHz. AM stations generally fall in the range of 530kHz to 1750kHz. Within these frequencies 99.9% of audible radio lives. In these parameters you will find talk radio, rock, rap, country, etc. Basically everything you’d generally associate with radio. Outside these areas were military stations used during the wars and some rogue stations that have all been since shut down or discontinued. Those areas are known as “dark frequencies” or “dark radio.” No one with specialized radios have heard anything on dark radio in years, until now.
One day a man came home from the flea-market with a highly sensitive military grade frequency radio. His wife thought it was a worthless piece of crap but the husband being a huge history buff thought it was a wise investment. He had hoped to find an active military station or one that was set up on a constant loop broadcasting Soviet-era information or war propaganda.
He would spend hours a day scanning for stations and hoping he could find something out there that would make his purchase worthwhile. He would pick one precise frequency at a time and scan the entire range for any activity. Several days went by digging through static and he had nothing to show for it, until the day he finally heard something.
It was very grainy at first. He tried to fine tune it as best as possible but he was barely able to make out what was being said. He could hear words but he was unable to understand them. He went out the next day and bought a sound recorder. When he turned on the radio he was shocked how much clearer the signal came in. It was still grainy but he could make out some of it. In a low groan he heard “We have…”
“We have, we have what,” the man thought to himself. The possibilities were endless. The man noticed that the words kept repeating on a loop. He had found exactly what he was looking for, an old abandoned loop station. He turned on the recorder and tried to record the sound as best as he could. The next day he was going to take it to a studio and see if they could find out what exactly was being said.
The man barely got any sleep that night. He was filled with excitement about making such a historical discovery and the world changing effect it could possibly have. He figured it would be best not to tell his wife about the discovery until he knew for sure what it was.
Before he left the house that morning he turned on the radio again. He set the recorder down when he realized he wouldn’t need it. The station was now a lot clearer with minimal static. It was as if the station was reaching out to his radio. “We have 21,” followed by the sound of two bells, one high pitched and one low pitched.
The man sat in awe listening to the loop over and over again. “We have 21…We have 21…We have 21.” He would hear the two bells in between each repeating phrase. “21? Is that a code for something? Do they have 21 objects of some sort?” He was perplexed.
He spent the day doing research but he ended up with nothing. No mention of the phrase “We have 21” played any significance in history. He waited a day hoping that the signal would improve in case there was something he couldn’t yet hear.
When he turned on the radio the next day he was disappointed to hear the same voice repeating the same phrase over and over again with the two bells in between. Although, something seemed different. It took him a few minutes to realize it but a faint clicking was heard in the background. It didn’t take him too long to realize that it was Morse code.
He spent an hour on the computer translating it from scratch and was thrilled to see that it spelled out coordinates. Using his GPS he was able to find the location. It was about a two hour drive from where he was.
After driving down a few side roads and one really long one deep into the woods he had finally reached his destination. It was a large clearing with a massive cube shaped building in the center. It must have been at least four stories tall. All four sides were gray with no marking on the outside as to what the building even was used for. He walked around the entire perimeter of the building and found the only door available.
The door was surprisingly unlocked. He walked into the building and saw a giant empty room dimly lit by dusty rooftop windows with a single wooden desk and a chair in the middle. The place seemed like a giant airplane hangar from the inside. He approached the table and saw a small desk lamp illuminating radio broadcasting equipment complete with a transmitter and a microphone.
It was emitting a deep ominous groaning noise. This makes no sense, there is no one here. Where is that sound coming from? He listened to the groan and noticed that it was changing sound, volume, and length. It didn’t take him long to realize that it was actually saying “We have 21” extremely slowly.
He listed for several minutes until the groaning voice stopped after completing the phrase. None of this made any sense to him. “Who was saying this? There’s no one here. Why is it sounding so slow? Why is it now silent and not repeating? And where are the bell…” At that moment two deafeningly loud bells rang throughout the room. They didn’t sound like small bells anymore, they sounded more like massive church bells being struck with a sledge hammer just inches above his head.
He covered his ears and collapsed to the ground. When the sound finally stopped he uncovered his ears. He looked around the building again, he noticed it was significantly darker than before. The windows on the roof were no more. There was no door nor was there ever a sign of one existing. The lamp on the desk was still lit and all the broadcasting equipment was still there. He was now surrounded by silence and darkness.
Curiosity eventually got the best of his wife later on that day. She turned on her husband’s radio. Clear as day, as if he were standing right there in the room with her she heard his voice, “We have 22.”
It was silent for a brief moment.
Then…
static.
