Source: Urbanos en la Red (radio broadcast)
Date: April 25, 2020
Argentina: "The Hum" is on the Rise in Argentina's Cities - an Interview with Luis Burgos by Gustavo Schweitzer
Host: "Let's continue our talk on urbanos regarding these strange moments we're living through, what with the pandemic and the lockdown, and if this wasn't enough, there's also another phenomenon taking place, or at least being reported in various cities throughout the country. This concerns a phenomenon which, while not new, seems to have been on the rise lately, known as el zumbido or The Hum. To learn a little more about this phenomenon and understand it better, we have Luis Burgos on the line. He is a researcher of unconventional aerial phenomena, and he's here with us to discuss his perspectives on the situation. Hello Luis, greetings from Gustavo!
Burgos: Hello, Gustavo. Good evening.
Host: How are you doing?
Burgos: Good. All's well.
Host: You were telling us that in recent days or weeks there have been reports of situations in which people describe an intense sound in early hours of the morning, something that's known internationally as el zumbido or The Hum, and which is one of the phenomena you've been researching for some time.
Burgos: Yes indeed, mainly we've been following it since the 24th of March, last month, when the first case occurred coincidentally here in the city of La Plata, and from there it extended to other cities and provinces, bringing it right up to tonight, this very morning, marking 32 consecutive nights of Hum sounds in various locations in Argentina. Sometimes in isolation, sometimes persistently, in the eighteen provinces that make up our nation, where the phenomenon has been reported. The intensity isn't always the same, nor is it the same humming sound or noise; rather, there are variables within this sort of phenomenon, and we are studying them. What at first appeared within a time frame of midnight to four in the morning began extending itself, so we now have The Hum at eight in the evening [all the way] to six, seven in the morning. Practically all evening into morning.
Host: Mm-hm. Could this have anything to do with the lockdown, lessened activity, in a way that it can be better heard in some locations?
Burgos: Yes, this could be the case in some very specific situations. The thing is that this buzzing sound is not new, not restricted to the March 24th. It has been heard for years in the country and worldwide. So we have a record of Hum sounds all the way back to the year 1968 in Argentina, where the first case occurred in the city of Salta on July 20, 1968, and the latest one in late 2019. Throughout that entire period of 52 years our database held only thirty reports, thirty one cases, which is to say it was very sporadic, once every three years a single evening. So now you have it that on March 24th in the city of La Plata up to last night we've recorded 450 reports throughout virtually the entire country. We have a voluminous database completely unrelated to The Hum from years past, and that is what's most disquieting about it. It has prompted us to study it in depth.
Host: A-ha. So we can say that not everyone has heard this, and is it true that it's hard to capture, or are there trustworthy recordings that can be used to study it?
Burgos: Yes, there are many compelling recordings. Many, a wide array of them, and even after debunking, we're left with twenty to thirty per cent that are interesting. But with regard to your last question, I forgot to tell you, Gustavo, that we have spoken with rural people in the heart of the Argentinean provinces - Córdoba, La Pampa, Entre Rios - who have been born, lived and almost surely will die there, having spent 50-60 years of their lives in the countryside, and well, this is the first time they are hearing [these sounds]. In other words, while there may be noise and pollution in the cities, in the countryside, on a quiet night, they tell me, you can hear a feather drop. These people are giving us highly trustworthy reports that it's evidently something strange and new to them having nothing to do with wind, thunder or anything of the sort, as scientists have suggested.
Host: Of course, it's important to stress this, as when it comes to offering an answer, there are those who say it is a meteorological phenomenon, those who find a mystical connotation, and some who may have another answer, so what can the likely answer be based on studies, or the possibility of finding an answer to this phenomenon?
Burgos: Gustavo, we're big fans of statistical analyses. We pour everything into our database because numbers do the talking. This is evident, and we cannot go against the evidence. We have poured our four hundred plus cases in the Republic of Argentina, and the first surprise we had is that The Hum - in 80% of the events have taken place in a specific area, ranging from the Province of Cordoba on the 32nd parallel to the 34th parallel under the Andean region. In this main section of the country, we have recorded 80 per cent of the cases. So then we try to find the reason for why 80 per cent of this case history occurs in the area. So we're examining the causes, but there is something that causes The Hum to operate there, and in very specific areas too. We find The Hum for several nights in a row in a location like Andean Region, the Bahía Blanca Region, and Greater Buenos Aires. In the past days we have found that the epicenter has been around the urban area, whether north, west or south.
Host: A-ha. You know, Luis that we also follow events from Mar del Plata and Rosario, and that Hum events have occurred there too.
Burgos: Yes, from the Buenos Aires coast we have cases from Mar del Plata and the entire Atlantic littoral. It also strikes us that in the Province of Santa Fe, 90 per cent of the Hum cases occurs in southern Santa Fe, from Rosario to the border with the province of Buenos Aires. Venado Tuerto, Casilda, Gregorio...night after night, practically the entire area yields reports. What I'm trying to say with this is that we have set aside any natural explanation, and disagree with any explanation put forth by science. This is a highly selective and specific matter on the artificial level, and we are seeking out the culprit, trying to find out who's causing this so many nights in a row. So we'll know when the events extinguish themselves and no further Hum reports are received.
Host: This is significant, and what you're saying is important, as some have tried to explain it away as something called a 'skyquake', having to do with earth movements. But these would be sporadic instances, while here we're taking about something constant.
Burgos: In this case continuity is absolute. We're talking about sounds heard simultaneously. We're getting reports out of Mendoza at three in the morning while at the same time we're hearing about the sound in Bahia Blanca or Rosario or in Greater Buenos Aires, that is to say, scientific explanations about the clash of air masses, wind, and sounds associated with tectonic plates would evidently have to be widespread throughout the country. This [situation] is concentrated in a very specific area, thus telling us there's something that is guided, something being guided. We have no doubt that it's a low-frequency operation; we do not know the motive force, but we are hazarding theories, and perhaps one of [these theories] is the right one, but it is still too early to venture one of them. This will go on, I don't know if will come to an end at some point, and it stops being interesting to turn into something disquieting.
Host: M-hm. We have seen some recordings in which people and animals were alarmed, as tends to be the case when inexplicable phenomena come about.
Burgos: Yes, yes. The behavior of pets is a constant in these matters, mainly dogs. Sometimes there are cats or even birds, but with dogs, they are seconds in advance of humans [hearing the sounds]. We have reports of people stepping outside because the dogs are howling, and that's when they starting hearing the sound. You understand? This is also a great source of concern for people who start feeling symptoms of the hum getting inside their head, getting earaches, headaches, dizziness...there are symptoms in humans that we are also studying. It's not a child’s game, a matter of "I want to go outside to hear the lovely sounds in the night" - no, this is a source of concern, as it has been going on for over a month, with such an intensity - according to reports - that it becomes unbearable.
Host: This also dismisses other hypotheses that suggest...mmm....people who are prone to hallucinations of this sort. There are many, many explanations.
Burgos: Yes, quite so. It is also striking to find that in a given area where The Hum is being heard, we find people who can hear it and those who don't. Oddly, we even have couples who have gone outside to hear it, and one of the spouses can hear it while the other does not. The sound does not reach the same auditive frequency for everyone - some will say 'you heard it over there, but we didn't get it here'.
Host: And this is also associated with some sightings of lights, and other phenomena complementary to The Hum?
Burgos: At first we didn't want to associate them, as other variables would then come into play. But we were surprised that as The Hum began to emerge from March 24th onward, there was an increase in reports of people seeing lights, dark objects, triangular objects...well, we're now attaching them to the Hum reports, since in recent nights both phenomena appear to be hand in glove. Another of the striking aspects we've noticed over the past two, three weeks has been explosions, explosions in the upper atmosphere. People who heard The Hum would also add hearing explosions in the upper atmosphere, as well as vibrations in house walls and windows. In fact, this occurred last night in La Plata at four in the morning, in a broad area of the city. There was a sort of explosion in the sky right before the storm, after which the storm started, but having nothing to do with thunder. At that time, the hum was also being heard in the vicinity. There are many aspects to this - it's almost like a jigsaw puzzle, we have all the pieces, yet we're finding it hard to put together. Just when we think we have it figured out something else --
Host: -- turns up
Burgos: Exactly. And this is what we find so striking. So we continue with our studies, asking people to keep sending us reports, because evidently, the more reports we receive, the bigger the database gets, and the more case histories we have. Statistically, I believe that numbers will tell us where the truth lies and what can be debunked.
Host: Well, Luis, your views on this subject are highly interesting, and we'll be contacting you again, as the matter is still in the study phase, reports will be coming forward and comparisons will be made at the international level, as the comparative aspect is always interesting, and we'll see how it turns out.
Burgos: Of course, Gustavo. It's a pleasure. My best regards, and may people keep sending us their reports, as we may be able to see when this ends, yield a final report and conclusions, since people ask us for conclusions. We cannot hazard any guesses, but we're more or less on the right track. We may be able to say what's behind all this.
Host: Our thanks, Luis, and our microphones are always open for you. We'll see you then. We have been listening to Luis Burgos, a researcher of unconventional aerial phenomena, who was discussing The Hum phenomenon being heard in many parts of Argentina and around the world at large.
[Special thanks to Mr. Gustavo Schweitzer, host of Urbanos, and Luis Burgos of ICOU. Translation & transcription (c) 2020 S. Corrales, Inexplicata]