Electronic Harassment: Voices in My Mind

Hundreds of people in the valley say they are hearing voices in their heads, and those voices are being transmitted by microwave or other methods.
Several viewers asked us to investigate what they call "electronic harassment."

Electronic harassment, synthetic telepathy and voice to skull technology: chances are you haven't heard of these terms.
But after searching the internet, we found dozens of websites dedicated to the phenomenon and several valley residents who say they're victims.
"How much more can you invade me, than to go into my brain," said Cathedral City resident, Randall Ringger.
"It sounds like somebody else is reading the book, except it's thoughts," said Twentynine Palms resident, Kevin Bond.
"We're not having a group hallucination, this is actually something that is happening," said Palm Springs resident, Bob Stansfield.
These men all live in the area -- didn't know each other before the voices started -- and say someone is playing mind games with them.
"Mostly its a lot of derogatory comments about whatever you're thinking about," said Stansfield.
"Only time I had a whole sentence, he said this is not about you. Which just frosted me, if it's not about me, what the hell am I going through all of this for?" said Ringger.
Kevin Bond, author of the Electronic Harassment Parent Coalition of Palm Springs, says he used to have a normal life.
"I was living in the San Diego area, I was clerking for a federal judge, and I noticed that I was being followed by a whole bunch of people."
According to the websites, what Bond is describing is called "gang stalking."
He moved to Palm Springs to escape.
"I started hearing as you'll hear, hearing voices and what they'll call voice to skull or microwave hearing," said Bond.
Bob Stansfield says his experience was similar and started a decade ago.
"They were active and following me around here and I started hearing the voices a little bit after the vehicular stalking," said Stansfield.
Randall Ringger says the voices started when he was undergoing chemotherapy.
"The first thing that was said was Randall Ringger, and I sat up straight and I went to the bathroom, and I looked in the mirror, looked myself in the eyes and said did that really happen."
Bond says he's found more than 300 victims locally and is tracking others across the state through billboards.
In Johnson Valley, a freedom house just opened to help people who believe they are being targeted.
"To many of you who find yourselves the object of covert harassment, that there is hope, and that you are not alone and that we are striving to file legislation and we are working towards freedom for all."
Derrick Robinson leads a national group called Freedom from Covert Harassment & Surveillance. He says he knows who is playing mind games.
"Rogue government officials that are sponsoring this, also corrupt business officials, and private citizens," said Robinson.
And he also told us how.
"Most of it is delivered by microwave and I believe it is satellite delivered, whether someone is on a remote location or using a laptop or next door using the desktop," said Robinson.
Bond says neurotransmitter chips that run off body electricity have been inserted into some people.
"And they assign cell phone numbers to them, the cell phone numbers are then run through a computer, and a computer translates your thoughts. This technology has been available to the military for 60 years," said Bond.
We sat down with local psychiatrist, Dr. Alan Drucker to get his professional opinion.
"There's no scientific evidence, there's no objective evidence to show that what they believe to be happening is factually true," said Dr. Drucker.
So what does the doctor believe is behind these voices?
"Information I found on many of these websites really confirms or is consistent with what I see in delusional disorders," said Dr. Drucker.
But these men disagree.
"I've been to a psychiatrist and they gave me anti-schizophrenia medication and it did absolutely nothing whatsoever," said Stansfield.
However, Dr. Drucker says delusional disorder has no real medical treatment, and is believed to start because of disrupted dopamine pathways in the brain.
"These pathways then start to fire or get triggered in the absence of actual stimulation of a person actually speaking or the radio being on, etc," said Dr. Drucker.
Dr. Drucker says dopamine can be disrupted for a variety or reasons, a genetic predisposition, illicit drugs and even chemotherapy.
These men have their own theories why they're being harassed.
"I think I was targeted because I am gay," said Stansfield.
"I reported people, someone for selling, I thought they were selling drugs and they were," said Ringger.
"Nationwide this crime is committed 60% percent white women ages from 30 to 38. But in Palm Springs it is almost 98% gay men," said Bond.
Dr. Drucker said, "It does tend to occur more in populations of individuals who are marginalized or in some ways stigmatized in society."
But these men disagree, and say police and the psychiatric community need to take them seriously.
"I'll tell you when I worked for the government I heard a lot of people coming in saying I'm hearing voices through my tooth, now I look back and I think are they like I am now and I just didn't pay attention," said Bond.
For them, the voices are a waking nightmare.
Kevin Bond says they are working on a book project about electronic harassment and pitching the idea to Dreamworks.