11. The Plan to Terrify the Viet Cong With Ghosts
Per Vietnamese folklore, dead people who are not properly buried wander the earth as tormented souls, unless and until their corpses receive the appropriate last rites. Furthermore, those tormented ghosts can supposedly communicate with the living on the anniversary of their demise. So US forces in Vietnam decided to use such superstitions against the Viet Cong. Known as Operation Wandering Soul, the plan sought to “frighten and demoralize the enemy … and compel many to desert their positions“. To accomplish that, high decibel speakers on helicopters and backpacks were used to blast recordings of wailing “ghosts” in areas infested with insurgents.
The tapes used had messages in eerie-sounding Vietnamese, purportedly from dead Viet Cong or North Vietnamese Army soldiers. They warned their comrades in hair-raising voices: “My friends, I have come back to let you know that I am dead … I am dead! It is hell! I am in hell! Don’t end up like me. Go home, friends, before it is too late!” Other creepy recordings included a bewildered “ghost” asking: “Who is that? Who is calling me? My daughter? My wife?” That was followed by another damned soul responding: “Your father is back home with you, my daughter“. Eeriest of all might have been the ethereal voice of a child wailing “Daddy, daddy, come home with me. Daddy! Daddy!”
