September 2026
The War You Don't Notice You're Losing
In Havana in late 2016, American diplomats began hearing a sound they couldn’t place. It was described as pressure in the head, or ringing in the ears, followed by headaches and trouble concentrating that did not go away. Over the next few years more than a hundred cases were documented in several countries, with neurological findings that persisted after the acute symptoms faded.
Then a different explanation arrived. A report commissioned to review the cases suggested the sound matched a cricket — Anurogryllus celerinictus — and that the injuries might have been psychogenic. The Army’s discussion of the cases was quietly removed from public view.