As the US Embassy in Havana prepared to ring in the New Year in late 2016, a CIA officer now known as ‘Patient Zero’ dropped by the station’s health office complaining about an odd sensation of pressure followed by crushing headaches and dizziness.
Two more CIA officers operating under diplomatic cover in Cuba reported strange sensations by February 2017. As there were only four CIA officers attached to the Embassy - and three of them had unexplained symptoms - there was considerable concern but no explanation.
So-called ‘Havana Syndrome’ has since struck down hundreds of US and Canadian government employees in Cuba, Russia, China, and beyond. Many conspiracy theories have evolved - including several offbeat ideas that may yet prove to be correct. SPYSCAPE runs through the possible causes of the mystery illness.
1. Secret sonic or ultrasonic weapons
German police are investigating an ‘alleged sonic weapon attack’ against the staff of the US embassy in Berlin in 2021, one of many incidents of Havana Syndrome worldwide. While military and police forces do make use of sonic weapons to incapacitate opponents, doctors point out that sound is not known to damage the brain. Nevertheless, Berlin is probing what German media outlet Spiegel describes as “an extremely unusual incident”. At least two US officials were unable to work after complaining of nausea, severe headaches, ear pain, fatigue, and insomnia.
As the US Embassy in Havana prepared to ring in the New Year in late 2016, a CIA officer now known as ‘Patient Zero’ dropped by the station’s health office complaining about an odd sensation of pressure followed by crushing headaches and dizziness.
Two more CIA officers operating under diplomatic cover in Cuba reported strange sensations by February 2017. As there were only four CIA officers attached to the Embassy - and three of them had unexplained symptoms - there was considerable concern but no explanation.
So-called ‘Havana Syndrome’ has since struck down hundreds of US and Canadian government employees in Cuba, Russia, China, and beyond. Many conspiracy theories have evolved - including several offbeat ideas that may yet prove to be correct. SPYSCAPE runs through the possible causes of the mystery illness.
1. Secret sonic or ultrasonic weapons
German police are investigating an ‘alleged sonic weapon attack’ against the staff of the US embassy in Berlin in 2021, one of many incidents of Havana Syndrome worldwide. While military and police forces do make use of sonic weapons to incapacitate opponents, doctors point out that sound is not known to damage the brain. Nevertheless, Berlin is probing what German media outlet Spiegel describes as “an extremely unusual incident”. At least two US officials were unable to work after complaining of nausea, severe headaches, ear pain, fatigue, and insomnia.
US intelligence officials weighed in with a report in February 2022 saying a high-tech device shooting pulsed electromagnetic energy or ultrasound waves could be causing at least some of the cases of Havana Syndrome. They noted that concealable devices with ‘modest energy requirements’ could produce symptoms and be effective over hundreds of meters and even through walls.
3. An unidentified weapon
Canadian diplomats and their families who lived in Havana, Cuba are suing the government, accusing Canada of being slow to react to complaints about health problems including severe nosebleeds and brain fog: “The plaintiffs are clearly the victims of some kind of new weaponry, or method of attack, in which the harms, treatment and prospects for recovery are still being discovered and developed,” according to the claim filed by Toronto law firm Waddell Phillips. The Canadian government is defending the lawsuit.
4. Mosquito gas or toxins
Israeli and Canadian researchers released a 2019 report raising the hypothesis that about two dozen Canadian diplomats and their families may have been overexposed to insect spray as a ‘plausible’ cause of Havana Syndrome. Cuba was aggressively spraying for the Zika virus at the time, but those affected said the report raises more questions than it answers and Cuba denies any suggestion of ‘attacks’.
5. Crickets & Stress
Many Havana Syndrome victims report hearing an odd noise before suffering symptoms. Some heard clicks. Others remember a loud noise or whirring. One heard rolling marbles. Could they have actually heard chirping crickets? That’s the conclusion of a US State Department 2018 review by JASON, a secretive group of science advisers who’ve been meeting since the Cold War.
JASON analyzed audio recordings and decided the most likely source was the ‘Indies short-tailed cricket’. They weren’t saying the crickets caused the illness, just the noise, but that wouldn’t explain why US officials still heard noises and fell ill while traveling abroad. JASON had another theory about what caused the symptoms: ‘psychogenic illness’. In other words, mental stresses that cause physical symptoms - a theory that’s been repeated (and rejected) many times over the years.
The term ‘mass psychogenic illness’ has been used to describe a group of people who feel ill at the same time although there’s no physical or environmental explanation. People who fear they’ve been poisoned, for example, may feel nauseous although they are perfectly healthy. The 200 or so patients diagnosed with Havana Syndrome point out that many of them have concussion-like symptoms, however, and dismiss suggestions that it’s psychological.
The idea that sufferers are ‘malingerers’ - pretending to be ill - has also been kicked into the long grass. Havana Syndrome has affected a group of highly motivated people, many of whom want to return to work despite their doctor’s orders to stay home.
7. Functional Neurological Disorders
Functional neurological disorders are illnesses caused by neural pathways that are inhibited or created in such a way as to cause a person pain, loss of motor control, sensory problems, language issues, fatigue, and other symptoms. “Certain things the brain does go haywire,” said Dr. Robert Baloh, a UCLA professor of neurology. “Given that our brain has 100 trillion neural connections, this should not be surprising."
There are plenty of other conspiracy theories - including that Havana Syndrome resulted from some sort of eavesdropping device gone awry - but very few answers about who or which country may be involved, what the cause is, and why North American officials are the target - if they are, in fact, being targeted.
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