The Singing Ice
Skate across new black ice on a frozen lake, and it sings back with eerie sounds, like lasers from a science fiction film.
What was reported
On frozen lakes in Sweden, Canada, Russia and elsewhere, people skating or throwing stones onto thin, clear new ice hear strange sounds: high, sweeping 'pew-pew' tones, whoops and chirps, like the sound effects of a space battle.
Recordings of the sounds have spread widely online, and many people hearing them for the first time assume they are fake.
Explanations offered
Physicists explain it as a natural effect of thin ice. When the ice is struck, high-pitched vibrations travel through the sheet faster than low ones, so they reach a listener first, followed by lower notes. The result is a falling, laser-like sound.
- When
- Every winter
- Where
- Frozen lakes in Sweden and other cold countries
- Witnesses
- Skaters and walkers on frozen lakes
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.