In the 1980s, rumors about mysterious letters without a return address predicting accidents, fires and other events went to the USSR. Who sent them and why? IA EAOMEDIA signs this unsolved secret based on historical data and versions of that time.
In the 1980s, the inhabitants of the USSR faced an unusual phenomenon: letters without a reverse address written by hand warned of future disasters-accidents, fires, and sometimes personal troubles. These messages, nicknamed with “phantom letters,” caused anxiety and curiosity. The KGB, responsible for the control of correspondence, took up the investigation, but the author could not be established. Historical data confirms that in those years, special services checked millions of letters, especially from persons from the “observation lists”, but the scale of postal items (over 5 billion a year) made a complete check impossible.
Versions of the origin of letters multiplied. Some believed that this was the work of dissidents who tried to sow panic or expose the problems of the system. Others suspected leaks from the special services themselves, since the accuracy of predictions suggested the access to closed information.
Why did the riddle remain unresolved? The KGB, despite the powerful apparatus, faced the restrictions: anonymous letters did not contain fingerprints, and their authors avoided obvious traces. Investigations often rested at a dead end, as in the case of CIA misinformation, when the KGB successfully confused traces. Perhaps the letters were scattered acts of loners, or maybe part of an unconfirmed operation.
