This is perhaps off topic, but it's about a SW related topic that held my fascination for years.

Does anyone here remember the big "mystery" about numbers stations? From say one, SWLers have called them spy stations. But, no, some said there was a deeper, darker mystery about them.

My own pet theory: I'd read that the IRS had set up ways to collect taxes after a global thermonuclear war. I figured numbers stations were just a test of that system. Yeah, that was crazy, but some of the other ideas out there were just as bad.

And then, sure as anything, some of the transmissions were translated, and... they really are just that: spy communications.

I preferred the wild stories. Now, it's like reaching the end of a mystery novel: there were so many possibilities, and the actual solution is a bit of a letdown.

[scifibeer.com]