Story of the day

Associated Press, 4 Nov 03

Amorous ram blamed for mysterious high-frequency signals

LONDON (AP) -- A mysterious transmission that baffled British intelligence analysts for days was caused by a ram rubbing up against an aerial mast, a government agency said Tuesday.

Scientists at Government Communications Headquarters in Cheltenham, western England, an intelligence-gathering station, were baffled by strange high-frequency noises coming from Scarborough signal station in Yorkshire, northeastern England.

GCHQ's in-house paper, the Daily Observer, said the noises were unlike anything staff had encountered before and an investigating team initially thought they were coming from spies or aliens.

Their investigation found the signal only happened in the day time, went across all the high-frequency bands and only Scarborough aerials could pick it up.

Eventually, investigators discovered that a ram was rubbing its horns against the aerial masts "in between servicing some local ewes," the paper said.

"It's possible the ram was attracted to the mast which may have given off some kind of tingling sensation, but it was probably just a post to rub against," said GCHQ spokesman Bob McNally.