'Wi-Fi Refugees' With Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Flock To West Virginia Town

These days, it seems the only place you can escape electromagnetic waves is Green Bank, West Virginia.

That's where "Wi-Fi refugees" are flocking, according to the BBC. Apparently, the town is inside the 13,000 square miles of the US Radio Quiet Zone. The Quiet Zone was designated for a geographically mountainous area, where the topography helps to prevent radio transmissions from interfering with the large number of radio telescopes located there.

As a result, it's become a haven for those who want to live without wireless technology.

Back in 2004, Wired's John Geirland went inside the Quiet Zone, detailing how the site was selected and the great measures that some go through to maintain the low levels of electromagnetic waves. Wi-Fi in the area is banned, and radio stations are instructed to point their antennas away from the observatories and maintain low levels of transmission.

The BBC details how these conditions have made the area an attractive spot for the 5 percent of Americans who believe they suffer from Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS). The highly debated condition seems to manifest itself physically in the presence of extremely low levels of radiation and those who claim to suffer from it experience similar symptoms.

"If I walk into a room or building that has Wi-Fi, my most immediate sign is that the front of my right thigh goes numb," Arthur Firstenberg, 57, of Santa Fe, N.M, told ABC. "If I don't leave, I'll get short of breath, chest pains and the numbness will spread."

Diane Schou, a resident of The Quiet Zone, described a similar feeling. Schou finds it so debilitating that she has been forced to avoid others who carry wireless devices. "It's a horrible thing to have to be a prisoner," she told the BBC. "You become a technological leper because you can't be around people."

As a result, Schou now lives in a space known as a Faraday Cage, which is intended to block out radiation.

However, whether the condition is real or imagined is a topic of much debate. Studies have shown there is little proof that this condition is real. A study published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine showed that in most cases, those who claim to suffer from EHS can't actually distinguish whether or not they're really being exposed to electromagnetic radiation.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that the town of Greenbank was 13,000 square miles, when it is the Radio Quiet Zone as a whole that is that size, and Greenbank is located within it.

Comments

[dbrett480]

04:28 PM on 09/18/2011

This definitely sounds like a psychosomatic disease.

[ThinkCreeps]

03:43 PM on 09/18/2011

OH KAY! LISTEN UP!

Things are getting a bit crowded now in town.

The fielders have arrived, and are going to need some space for them. That means all you different types of nutters who are here now will have to move around some.

Baggers - you all pack in closer. I know you don't place nice together, but suck it up.
Truthers - you'll need to move further into the woods. I know you'll like that, because you'll be further from the airplanes.
Birthers - you guys do seem to be thinning out a bit, so that's some good news.

Remember, we're all mad people in the woods together, let's remember that we are all united by a lack of understanding and education. If that doesn't work, remember that everyone's heavily armed, and a bit fragile in the head. Go listen to some Ron Paul speeches together or something.

[WoodsideCraig]

02:14 PM on 09/17/2011

There is probably something to this. I'm a bit leery of studies done by people who express skepticism from the outset because this can bias the outcome.

We are sensitive to electromagnetic influences and there is a wealth of data on this subject:
I did a blog post on this as a sort of quick introduction to the subject. I deal with psychic stuff, but much of this has its roots in more traditional sciences.
http://weilerpsiblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/psychic-ability-and-magnetic-fields/

"There is converging evidence that consciousness associated with the cerebral volume of the human brain may be identical with or strongly correlated with complex configurations of magnetic fields whose intensities are within the picoTesla (10-12 T) range (Anninos et al, 1991; Persinger and Lavallee, 2010)."

[ThinkCreeps]

05:45 AM on 09/18/2011

Brain activity involves magnetic fields, which doesn't mean that the contention in the link that such fields cause `some sort of cosmic consciousness, man' isn't bunk.

[WoodsideCraig]

10:57 AM on 09/18/2011

You are entitled to disagree of course, which I respect, however the science is on the table and the results are what they are. Just saying it is bunk is all very well and good, but so what?

[David Troyer]

12:51 AM on 09/17/2011

the claim that wifi is not allowed in these 13,000 square miles is absolutely ludicrous.

[Cordell Cameron]

03:08 PM on 09/15/2011

Sounds pleasant.

[deric oatez]

02:23 PM on 09/15/2011

Hmm. Given the locality, it begs the question that nearby resonate harmonics emanating from banjo music, snake handling, speaking in tongues, and inter-familial heavy petting might pose a potential frequency band of interference that would obstruct the effectiveness of the radio antennae array. Is there municipal code in Greenbank that also instructs to point the above noted Appalachian stereotypical mating ritual in another direction?

[ThinkCreeps]

04:29 AM on 09/17/2011

Steady on tiger, they grow good people in those small towns!

Good people without enough genetic diversity, and with lots of weird recessive disorders, but good people nonetheless. Moreover, they're heavily armed.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

02:06 PM on 09/15/2011

What we have here is a classic case of "People fear that which they don't understand" mixed with hypochondriacs. It's also likely that they suffer from other mental health issues, but I'm sure it differs from person to person.

While it may be true that holding a device up to your ear can cause problems (but even that's up for debate) there is no way that it causes any issues from a distance even in small quantities.

Why? Look up. We are bombarded by EM radiation every time we step outside, and not all of it is visible light.

But hey, maybe it's best that these people move out to the middle of nowhere. Less for us to deal with, just don't expect to be taken seriously by any health professional.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

01:57 PM on 09/15/2011

...you do realise LIGHT is an Electromagnetic Wave, right?

[ThinkCreeps]

04:31 AM on 09/17/2011

Hush. Don't even think of mentioning the cosmic microwave background radiation.

You know cats can smell color, don't you? Although, there's no evidence for that either.

[wbwbruce]

01:06 PM on 09/15/2011

I get the same feeling every time a teapublican opens their mouth. If I don't leave, I'll get short of breath, chest pains and the numbness will spread."

[blademajere]

03:33 PM on 11/12/2011

ROFL! To bad They all don't just buy an island in international Waters and build there own government :P See how long before conspiracies occur within themselves

[slejames]

12:53 PM on 09/15/2011

So basically people go to live in that town to save money on tinfoil hats?

[ThinkCreeps]

04:32 AM on 09/17/2011

Belt and braces - they still keep their hats on; greenbank is also the most expensive town in the US to buy lead underwear and chickenwire tents.

[Ampoliros]

12:02 PM on 09/15/2011

I can sympathize, I have SBEHS or "Sound-based Entertainment Hypersensitivity Syndrome" when triggers all my anger emotions when I hear people playing things like Taylor Swift or other pop-flavor of the month crap that has been encoded with mental hooks.

My brain is fighting back by literally (ok psychosomatically) developing an allergy to $#!^ 'music'.

[Fodder-wing]

12:18 PM on 09/15/2011

May the Force be with you.

[ThisIsNotThat]

08:52 AM on 09/15/2011

Arthur Firstenberg's credibility is worth checking out. You can follow his 15-year-long pursuit of publicity and failed legal reparations here at The Electrically-Sensitive Trail of Arthur Firstenberg: http://thisisnotthat.com/wordpress/?p=502

[m66]

07:54 AM on 09/15/2011

I believe that these people experience symptoms, but their "belief" about the cause is nothing more than that: uninformed belief. Truly, the sufferers are even more deluded than the anti-vaccination crowd, but at least they only injure themselves. The BBC seems to feel the need to revisit this nonsense on a regular basis... but I'm confident it will find a receptive and dedicated audience here on the Huffington Post. Let the insanity begin.

[jennielake]

10:38 PM on 09/14/2011

Now if we could only have a Religion and Politics Free Zone - then I'm all in.

[DrReve]

11:40 PM on 09/14/2011

That would be amazing!

[jennielake]

12:42 AM on 09/15/2011

I know - I would call the place... Reality.

[Radarman]

10:09 PM on 09/14/2011

Man thunderstorms must suck for the EHS folks. Since a lightening bolt is just the world's biggest arc and an arc covers all radio frequencies including the ones for wifi. So a thunderstorm with lightening popping every 3 or 4 seconds should drop the EHS sensitive to the ground in a stunned daze. 5% of the American population = 16,500,000 people. That's sixteen and a half million. So the next time you are in a crowd and there is a lightening bolt in the sky expect to see at least a few EHS sensitives drop out in a coma.