Havana Syndrome: the truth behind the illness

A mysterious illness began striking down diplomats, spies and government officials a few years ago, and the only cause seemingly a strange noise in the night.

The Hotel Nacional in Havana, one of the locations where Havana Syndrome has reportedly been experienced.

A mysterious illness began striking down diplomats, spies and government officials a few years ago, and the only cause seemingly was a mysterious noise in the night.

The afflicted suffered vertigo, nausea, headaches, vertigo, nose bleeds and had difficulty seeing and hearing.

Testing found the officials had suffered brain injuries but all the sick had in common was hearing a noise described at different times like the buzz of insects or a screech.

The phenomenon was first identified in the Cuban capital Havana in December 2016 – earning the illness the moniker the Havana Syndrome – but cases were later diagnosed around the world and even in the US capital Washington.

Then US president Barack Obama had just opened an embassy in Havana in 2015, more than half a century after the last one was shut in 1961 amid the high tension of the Cold War.

Rumours of the use of a covert sonic weapon spread, reportedly heard at The Hotel Nacional in Havana (pictured), amid the chaos of the early days of the presidency of Donald Trump. How could something seemingly so ordinary – a background noise similar to the summertime hum of insects – injure the brains of those unfortunate enough to hear it?

The story could be out of the X-Files.

Two new podcasts investigate the mystery of Havana Syndrome and the political forces that possibly prevented the world from discovering the truth behind the illness.

The Sound: Mystery of Havana from Brazen and PRX opens with one of the first cases detected in Havana. IT specialist Doug Ferguson moved with his wife to Cuba to work as a communications manager at the US embassy in Havana. When Ferguson started hearing a persistent buzzing at his home at night time, he dismissed it as an insect.

“If you’ve ever heard a cicada in a tree on a summer night it sounded a lot like that,” he tells listeners.

At the same time Doug and his wife began experiencing headaches, nausea, vertigo, and had issues with their eyesight and hearing.

Later testing found their eye movements were disjointed like patients with mild traumatic brain injuries.

Host journalist Nicky Woolf tells listeners the issue ignited a political firestorm when news of a mystery illness was striking down Americans on Cuban soil.

The US embassy alerted the Cubans to the use of a possible acoustic weapon against US officials. The Cuban government said it was gobsmacked and the island ruled by the Castros opened their doors to US investigators.

Only the FBI came to Cuba, says Woolf.

The Sound: Mystery of Havana is an elegant podcast that ties together the enigma of Havana Syndrome and the latent geopolitical tensions the phenomenon exposed.

The sparse but highly effective audio production heightens the inherent eeriness of the story. The second podcast, Havana Syndrome from Vice World News, is rawer, less stylised and feels more conspiratorial.

Journalists Jon Lee Anderson and Adam Entous have taken a gonzo approach to the story and take listeners with them into their investigation.

The podcast is fun but the production is a tad rough and the music might have come from an elevator.

Entous is a straight talker with a background in intelligence reporting while Anderson spent years living and reporting on Cuba and wrote the definitive biography of Fidel Castro.

Can the two men with their vast experience crack the mystery of Havana Syndrome? No spoilers.

In the Queue

History of the Cuban Revolution – For history buffs who want to know more about Cuba and the island nation’s storied history with the US.

True Spies – The SPYSCAPE series takes listeners into the world’s greatest espionage and detective operations.

The History of the Cold War Podcast – For listeners who want to enhance their knowledge of the Cold War