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Maybe it was this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_vortex_street

This has been cited as a possible explanation for strange noises in the mountains at various locations and also as a possible cause of the infamous Dyatlov Pass incident.



I was getting ready to post this. The empirical equation for the frequency of the oscillation is on Wikipedia, which should allow easy testing of the hypothesis that a Karman vortex street is responsible if any particular object is thought responsible. As I recall, if the Reynolds number is too high, the oscillation will become broadband, so it won't sound as described.

Of course, other fluid dynamical instabilities could be responsible, so discounting a Karman vortex street doesn't eliminate fluid instabilities in general. A more general fluid dynamical instability is the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin%E2%80%93Helmholtz_insta...


Why would a humming noise make people go crazy and leave their tents naked, cause a skull fracture and two chest fractures, remove one's eyes and tongue, etc.?


Infrasound can cause weird psychological effects. Fractured bones can be caused by carelessly scrambling over uneven terrain which the campers may have done in terror. Vortex streets can also supposedly be composed of large vortices which are like tornadoes. Maybe the fractured bones could be explained by this as well. Missing eyes and tongues can be caused by wildlife.

Edited to remove snark


This article references one of my favorite anecdotes about infrasound and "hauntings": https://gizmodo.com/some-ghosts-may-be-sound-waves-just-belo...

It's early in, look for the part about Vic Tandy.


Are there any other records of infrasound making people panic like this while camping in the mountains?


This is great! It's all outside my area of knowledge, but basic physics led me to the idea. At least now I know a name to describe my thought. Thanks!




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