The Yellowstone mystery: Strange sounds unexplained for 150 years

For more than a century, people around Yellowstone's largest lakes have reported sounds that seem to belong to no clear source. Descriptions range from a steady bee-like hum to distant music, bells and the vibration of metal wires.

The accounts focus mainly on Yellowstone Lake and Shoshone Lake. Lee Whittlesey, a retired professional historian who worked at Yellowstone National Park for 16 years, said written descriptions date back at least to the late 19th century.

In 1895, engineer Hiram M. Chittenden described an unusual acoustic phenomenon that appeared only around the two lakes. He said the brief sounds occurred most often in the morning and resembled ringing telegraph wires or the hum of a swarm of bees. Edwin Linton recorded another account in 1892, comparing the sounds with wind in treetops, distant bells and buzzing insects.

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the most mysterious sound heard in the mountains

Scientist S. A. Forbes wrote in 1893 of a pulsing metallic sound like a harp. It seemed to come from the treetops and sometimes resembled faint voices answering one another high in the air. Forbes said the sound began quietly, grew stronger as it approached and then gradually faded.

One member of Linton's group called the phenomenon a spiral vibration, while guide Elwood Hofer described it as the most mysterious sound heard in the mountains. Chittenden wrote that such sounds might have inspired fear and superstition in another time and place, noting that no logical explanation had been established. An even earlier account came from geologist Frank H. Bradley, who recalled hearing a sound somewhere between a whistle and a horse's neigh during the 1871 Hayden Geological Survey. Despite proposed natural explanations, the source of Yellowstone's strange lake sounds remains unknown.

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an extremely strange and interesting acoustic phenomenon