The Hum

by D. W. Brown

  “Be patient. I’m getting there. Some of the hearers claimed the hum caused dizziness, insomnia, pressure on the ears similar to traveling through the mountains, headaches and even nose bleeds. According to the August 23rd, 1993 Taos Hum Investigation informal report, most hearers initially experienced the hum with an abrupt beginning, as if some device were switched on. This is why many of the hearers believed there was a connection between the hum, the military installations in and around New Mexico, and the Department of Defense. There was also a theory that the hum was caused by the U. S. Navy’s Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) stations in northern Michigan.”

  “Did you say northern Michigan? What part?” Kevin asked, wondering if there was a connection to his father’s desire to move there. At the time, he’d thought it strange his old man would settle down in the north, after being born in and living in the heat for most of his life.

  “It didn’t say. Why…? Oh, I understand. You lived in Michigan after you left here. I never made that connection.”

  “So, let me get this straight. The entire town is part of some military experiment? Will we all turn into zombies here soon?” Kevin tried making light of the situation, because truth be told he was having a hard time understanding it all. He seriously began to wonder if his father and maybe everyone else involved were in on the experiment for the military. Was he also part of the experiment? Had they injected him with something to make him kill his brother and the others?

  Continuing, Amanda said, “Hey, anything’s possible, but that’s not what I believe. Can I finish now?” “You’ve got the floor, but could you at least throw a

  few more interesting facts in every now and then? The technical stuff is killing me.”

  “How about I throw my cup at your head? Would that keep you awake?”

  “Uh, that’s not necessary. I’m all ears, Miss Billingsley.”

  “Thank you. The investigation ended up surveying over 1,440 residents, leading the team to extrapolate that roughly 2% of the Taos population actually heard the hum, while everyone else did not. With such a large number of hearers, they focused on external possibilities for generation of the low frequency hum. To make a long story short, and to keep you from falling asleep, some believe the key to understanding the mysterious Taos Hum may be hidden in a technology invented by Dr. Patrick Flanagan, called the NeurophoneTM. He came up with it, when he was just fourteen years old.”

  Kevin was having trouble focusing. The hum, the murders, the move to Michigan—they were all a little too convenient. What was the tie, he wondered.

  “The NeurophoneTM was developed based on an understanding of sound transfer using different “hearing” pathways to the brain. The standard sound measuring and diagnostic equipment used today would be ineffective in locating the source of our hum. Patrick Flanagan’s NeurophoneTM is a low voltage, high frequency, amplitude modulated radio oscillator. It acts on the skin of the listener by converting radio waves into a neural modulated signal that bypasses the cranial hearing nerve and transmits intelligence directly into the brain. In other words, the NeurophoneTM allows the listener to hear things without using the ear canal or the bones and nerves to do so.

  “Sounds like a pretty amazing machine, if it works. But I still have to ask the question: What bearing does it have on the way people are acting here in Taos?” Kevin asked, still focused on his father’s possible involvement, the headaches, and the other things he associated with the sound.

  “Even though the findings of the investigation were inconclusive even with the use of the NeurophoneTM, the report got me thinking about the people that were interviewed. I decided to do a little snooping around, and you won’t believe what I found.”

  “Is this your way of keeping me in suspense? Well it’s working. Tell me already.”

  “My, my, you are an impatient one, aren’t you? Everyone that heard the strange hum is either dead, in jail, or in a mental institute. And none of them still reside in the great town of Taos. I’m not sure what this thing is, but I can tell you it’s causing people to do some pretty crazy things.”

  “Are you suggesting that the hum is causing people to...?”

  The door suddenly opened, and in walked the extra pleasant nurse from the front desk. “What are you doing in here, Mr. Black?”

  “I…I just stopped in to see Miss Billingsley.” Kevin replied caught off guard.

  “Only family can be in here, and since you’re not, you need to leave.”

  “It’s okay, Nurse. He’s a good friend of mine.”

  “Be that as it may, he still needs to leave. We can’t have visitors here at all hours of the day, especially ones that sneak in.”

  “And why is that, Nurse? Is it because I’ve been asking too many questions around town? Is that it? Is Judd’s family getting a little nervous? Well they should be. I won’t stop until I find out who’s responsible for Jordan’s murder.”

  “Don’t make me call security, Miss Billingsley. He needs to go now, and if you keep it up, I will be forced to give you a sedative to calm you down.”

  “Go ahead and try it!” Amanda said, daring the nurse.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  “Hold up. Stop just a minute. Look, I’ll leave.” Kevin said to the nurse. To Amanda, he said, “It’s alright. Just keep calm and do what they say. You’ll be out of here soon.”

  “If they come at me with another needle, I can’t

  make any promises.” Amanda replied defiantly.

  As Kevin turned to leave, the nurse said, “Don’t come back here again, Mr. Black. If I catch you sneaking back into this room, I’ll have to bring in Sheriff Bowman.”

  “That’s nice. The Sheriff and I have been getting pretty close as of late. We’re having tea and biscuits later this evening.”

  CHAPTER 18

  Making his way over to his car, Kevin noticed another piece of paper tucked underneath the driver’s side windshield wiper. Two notes in one day? My, my, I’m popular today. Plucking it out, he slowly opened it, scanning the area as he did so.

  Mr. Black,

  You don’t seem to understand what we discussed. Let me make it a little clearer for you. Get out of my town, before some unfortunate accident befalls you!”

  Shock quickly turned to anger as Kevin wadded up the note and threw it onto the ground. Hopping into his car, he pounded his fist against the steering wheel over and over again.

  Once he finally calmed down, Kevin replayed in his head what Amanda said about all of the people that heard the hum either being in jail, dead, or in the nuthouse. This gave him new hope that he might not be the murderer he thought he was, that maybe the hum was behind it all, or the military. But even if he hadn’t acted of his own accord, how would ever prove such a thing? He was after all, one of those same people that had spent time in a mental ward. Who would listen to him? He had to figure out what was behind the humming sound, had to find out what Taos was hiding. And he knew exactly where to start. He had to involve Father Gregory. Surely the priest had the needed connections to get to the bottom of this thing.

  Pulling out his cell, Kevin scrolled down to Father

  Gregory’s number and hit send. “What’s up, Kevin?”

  “Good afternoon, Father Gregory. I seem to have run into a few road bumps here in Taos, and I’m hoping you can help me out.”

  “I’ll do my best. What is it?”

  “This might sound crazy, but I met a friend down here named Amanda, and she’s been doing a little investigating into that mysterious humming sound I told you about. It seems that I’m not the only one experiencing it. Her sister dealt with it for years, until she actually left Taos. Well, she came back to the area not too long ago, and Amanda claims she was murdered by one of the locals here.”

  “That’s some pretty big allegation
s. Does she have any proof?”

  “Not exactly. It seems there was an investigation conducted back in 1993 about the humming noise people were hearing here, and Amanda learned that all of the participants in that study are either dead, in jail, or in an insane asylum.”

  “Now you’ve definitely got my attention. These people from the study, did they experience the headaches and the nose bleeds as well?”

  “Yes, they did. The nurse ran me out of the hospital before Amanda was able to finish telling me about everything, but from what I gathered, they went...they went off the deep end.”

  “You’re not crazy, Kevin. Don’t you see? This proves you weren’t acting on your own volition. Did your friend Amanda say what the investigation concluded? What were the findings?”

  “It was inconclusive. Look Father Gregory, I don’t want to get my hopes up here, but I would like for you to check out the participants in that study. Find out everything you can: their names, surviving family members, what they did to get put in the mental ward, everything. Oh, and one more thing. There was some sort of connection between northern Michigan and the hum here in Taos. I’d like to know where exactly in northern Michigan—for obvious reasons.”

  “You’re obviously assuming I have the connections to be able to do this.”

  “I am indeed. You seem to be plugged in with a lot of people. If anyone can find something on this town, you can.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. The warden at the prison here in Michigan owes me a favor or two. He might be able to talk to someone in the police department. Changing gears here now, tell me a little bit about this new friend of yours.

  “It’s not like that, Father. She was attacked in her apartment, and I happened to be the one who found her. She was stabbed numerous times, but from talking with her, you wouldn’t know it. She’s a feisty one.”

  “Sounds like there are some pretty crazy things going on down there.”

  “You don’t know the half of it. The Sheriff is trying to run me out of town, the owner of the hotel where I was staying just kicked me out onto the street, and the nurse in Amanda’s room just sent me packing as well. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I almost choked a bus driver out, because he thought he’d order me to stay away from Amanda.”

  “Well I’m glad you didn’t take out a bus driver; might make it hard for the kids to get to school. Should I be concerned?”

  “No, I’m okay. I plan on finding a place to stay in the town next door, so I can still keep an eye on Amanda’s recovery. I really don’t think she’s safe around here, Father.”

  “Listen at you. You’re starting to sound like one of the good guys. Mind if I say, told you so?”

  “I do. I’ve killed too many innocents to ever be called one of the good guys. Even if this strange hum somehow drove me to it, I know the feelings that I had in my heart at the time.”

  “Give it a rest, Kevin. You’re not an evil man. I believe this mysterious humming sound that I’m about to look into will pay credence to my belief in you. Now try your best to steer clear of those people, and keep this Amanda woman that you’re so fond of safe.”

  “What? I never said...”

  “Goodye, Kevin. Talk to you when I have something.”

  Kevin smiled as he closed his cell. Was Father Gregory right? Did he have feelings for Amanda? So soon? Did he dare? The last two women that he’d let into his life ended up dead at his own hands. What if I did the same to Amanda? Kevin knew he couldn’t let himself go there—he wouldn’t fall for Amanda, because he feared what he might do.

  Knowing he needed to find a place to rest his weary bones for the night, Kevin fired up the car and headed over to the same grocery store where he’d met Amanda. He needed to pick up an atlas or state map, to help him find his way around, and it was the first place that came to mind. He’d seen an entire section dedicated to books and magazines, so he naturally assumed it would carry a map as well.

  Five minutes later, Kevin pulled into the parking lot. When he went to open his door, the car next to him did the same, smashing his hand in the process.

  “Crap! What the...?”

  “Sorry about that, Mr. Black. Guess the wind ripped it out of my grasp.”

  The young punk smiling over at him, made Kevin grit his teeth to hold back some of the anger building inside of him. First, the wind wasn’t blowing, and second, Kevin wondered how Mr. Smiles knew his name. He couldn’t have been more than twentyone, twenty-two years old, and Kevin knew he’d most likely run for cover if he got in his face. But he chose the higher road, even though he wanted nothing more than to teach the kid a lesson.

  Nursing his wounded hand, Kevin exited his car and went inside without saying a word. Father Gregory had cautioned him to steer clear of the locals, and he planned to do just that. If he ended up in jail, Amanda would be an even easier target for the psycho’s, not that she wasn’t already. If the entire town was against her, what would stop them from sneaking into her room in the middle of the night and killing her?

  Feeling like a total outcast, Kevin grabbed his atlas and headed to the checkout counter, amid many disapproving looks from the workers in the store. With his head down, he didn’t realize he’d gotten into the checkout lane of the same man that had turned his back on Amanda two days prior.

  “Ah, Mr. Black, I hope you’re buying this map to chart out your trip to another state.”

  “Is everyone here against Miss Billingsley? She’s only trying to find out what happened to her sister for crying out loud. Wouldn’t you want to know how your sister died?” Kevin tried to reel in his temper, because he could tell from the looks on the faces of the shoppers gathered around in the store that they wanted him gone.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Black. Jordan Billingsley wasn’t killed. The coroner ruled her death a suicide. If you would’ve seen her body, you’d know that she had enough cut marks on her arms and legs to alleviate the doubt I now see on your face.”

  “Amanda said Jordan called her from here, scared out of her mind. What do you think scared her so, Mr.…uh Mr. Rupert?” Kevin asked, looking down at the man’s name tag on his shirt.

  “My guess would be that the drugs the coroner found in her system were messing with her mind. That girl was taking every pill on the market. I know she has you fooled, Mr. Black, but Amanda is trouble just like her sister. Do yourself a favor and get away from her, before she gets you both hurt.”

  “Is that a threat, Mr. Rupert?”

  “I don’t threaten people, Mr. Black. You can call it friendly advice. The map will cost you five dollars and thirty-five cents.”

  Handing the money over, Kevin ‘accidentally’ dropped the change on the floor next to the cashier. He smiled as the older gentleman threw out a few expletives and bent over to retrieve it.

  He was about five feet from his car when he felt something slam into his back. Before Kevin had a chance to turn around, it hit him again. He went down clutching his kidneys, and managed to turn just in time to see what hit him. The same young man that had smashed his hand in the door earlier stood over him wielding a four foot piece of 2X4, smiling. Kevin started to give him a tongue lashing, but that same board connected with the side of his head, sending him to the concrete. He looked like a newly cut tree slowly falling to the ground, picking up speed as it went. Strangely, he wondered if anyone watching yelled timber.

  * * *

  “Hello again, Mr. Black. It seems you keep making more and more friends around town. Your friend requests on all the social media sites from my fellow townspeople have to be maxed out.”

  “Yeah, the locals here just love hanging out with me. I guess they can’t get enough of my charm and good looks. So what’s your story, doc?” Kevin replied. His face and kidneys both hurt greatly, and he winced in pain as he tried to sit up
in the small gurney, in the back of the ambulance.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Everyone else around here can’t stand Miss Billingsley, and in turn, me. But you actually seemed concerned for her well being when I talked to you last.”

  “I’m an EMT, Mr. Black. We’re supposed to help people in need. I’m just doing my job.”

  “No, I think it’s more than that. I’ve dealt with the nurses at the hospital, and they act nothing like you.” “The people here just take a little getting used to. They don’t like the way Miss Billingsley has been going around town basically accusing everyone in sight of killing her sister.” Noticing the EMT’s name tag, Kevin said, “Josh Wilkinson? Are you kind to Judd, the boy who raped Amanda’s sister?”

  “Those charges were dropped, Mr. Black. And yes, I’m kind to him. We don’t talk much, but he’s still my brother.”

  “He’s your brother? Is that the reason why you were so concerned for Amanda? What’s going on around here, Josh? Are you involved in the mystery surrounding this town and the strange humming noise?”

  “Humming noise? What do you know about the hum, Mr. Black?”

  “Just the history surrounding the investigation by the government. But I am curious to know why the town council members are still talking about it today.” “The best advice I can give you is to take Miss Billingsley and leave town immediately, Mr. Black. Go now, before…”

  The back door of the ambulance suddenly opened and Kevin looked out at what appeared to be an exact replica of Josh Wilkins. “What? Twins?” Kevin asked turning from Josh to Judd Wilkinson.

  CHAPTER 19

  “What do you want, Judd?” Josh Wilkinson asked.