8 Creepiest Broadcasts Ever Caught On Tape

4. Operation Wandering Soul

Most of the transmissions on this list are of unknown origin, but Operation Wandering Soul is a different ball game. There is a traditional belief in Vietnam that the dead must be buried in their homeland, or their spirit will not be able to rest. This superstition was turned to the advantage of the American military in 1970 as a psychological tactic in the Vietnam War.

The recording is made up of a cacophony of ghostly moans, disjointed Vietnamese, eerie screeches and traditional Buddhist funeral music and was blasted over loudspeakers mounted on light aircraft as they flew over remote Vietnamese villages, or from within the jungle itself. The message (in Vietnamese) pleads with the listeners to "go home" to their loved ones while they still have the chance. It says, amongst other (equally creepy) things:

My friends, I come back to let you know that I am dead ... I am dead I am in Hell ... just Hell It was a senseless death. How senseless ... how senseless But when I realized the truth, it was too late ... too late

So that's, you know, terrifying. The hope was that the locals and any lurking Viet Cong would believe that the ungodly sound was caused by the lost soul of a dead Viet Cong member wandering the forests, and would follow the instructions to give up the fight. Either that or cause them to flee and give away their positions. Or just wee their pants where they stood because screw that.