Sensationalistic reports on the dangers of low-frequency sound originate from the unscientific research of the Russian-born French scientist Vladimir Gavreau in the 1960s. Gavreau used a precarious, let’s-try-it-and-see-what-happens approach to investigate human responses to sound, and it’s unclear whether or not he even was able to study the low-frequency sounds he claimed to. “Gavreau had no device to measure infrasound,” says Jörg Mühlhans, a psychoacoustic researcher at the University of Vienna who has written about the myths surrounding infrasound. “I have no idea whatsoever where he got the numbers for sound pressure levels from, when he could not even measure infrasound at all.”

While Gavreau’s research did indeed show some of the harmful effects of sound, what accounts of his research have overlooked is the difference between volume, which is perceived as loudness, and frequency, which relates to our perception of pitch. The notion that infrasonic frequencies are inaudible is actually a myth, because sounds within this range can be heard if presented at high enough volumes. Based on the numbers in his publications, Gavreau’s exploits involved dangerously high volumes, causing the reported “infrasonic” frequencies to be incredibly loud—levels that would be considered outrageously unethical by today’s standards. They were very likely to have been harmful, regardless of frequency.

Gavreau was effective at aggrandizing his findings regarding such brutally loud noise. For example, he claimed that infrasound is “certainly one of the many causes of allergies, nervous breakdowns and other ‘unpleasant phenomena of modern life.’” He warned that it could lead to “exceedingly unpleasant new weapons.”

Only days after his 1968 publication titled “Infrasound,” a headline in the German newspaper Die Zeit appeared: “New Weapon: Infrasound?” alluding to the development of French infrasonic weaponry. Similar headlines included “Sound Ray developed as a Killer—French Working on War Machine” in the Miami Herald and “Sound as a Weapon of War” in London’s Observer. These false reports were even perpetuated by famed artists such as David Bowie and William Burroughs. Most amusing are descriptions of the famous “brown note”—a frequency said to cause instant defecation. Despite all these reports, such weaponry was never developed, because of the impracticality of creating viable, high-volume “noise guns” of such a deadly character.

Since these early reports, infrasound has been blamed as a source of everything from gag sensations, mental disturbances, and automobile accidents to absenteeism of school children and brain tumors. The case of the British lecturer Vic Tandy is particularly fascinating. In the 1980s, he apparently felt an eerie, dreadful presence at a distinct location in a medical manufacturing laboratory, while witnessing a grey paranormal entity in his periphery. After investigating, he concluded that it was infrasound from a nearby building fan causing both his anxiety and eyeball vibration that somehow resulted in the sighting. Although completely misguided, these conclusions came to be published in the Journal of Psychical Research and have been regarded by enthusiasts as a clever explanation for hauntings.