
Miss Velma Lyrae relaxes in her tinfoil-lined pup tent
“Radio-allergic” fruitcakes flock to radio-free mountain town.
A small remote town where Wi-Fi is banned has become an unlikely haven for people claiming modern technology has been making them ill.
The so-called ‘Wi-Fi refugees’ are flocking to the tiny settlement to escape painful symptoms including burning skin, chest pains and acute headaches.
The sufferers argue the affliction – a condition known as Electromagnetic Sensitivity – has been eased by the move and report feeling much better.
Many have relocated to Green Bank, West Virginia, from across America to avoid mobile phones, Wi-Fi hotspots, TV and radio transmissions. As of 2013, 36 people have relocated to Green Bank.
One, Diane Schou, travelled nearly 1,000 miles from her former home in Iowa to join the isolated town of just 147 residents.
Diane said: ‘I used to be sick all the time when I lived in Iowa. I was in constant pain.
‘If anyone came near me with a cell phone or a device with Wi-Fi I would be in agony.
‘But since I’ve moved to Green Banks the illnesses have cleared up.’
50-year-old [Californian Deborah Cooney] said her symptoms developed after hundreds of Wi-Fi enabled smart meters were installed next to her home in 2011.
Deborah said: ‘It began with a constant ringing in my ears. I couldn’t sleep in the house anymore and felt sick all the time.
‘Any food I brought into the house would make me feel ill. I got heart palpitations.
‘It was like I was slowly being poisoned.’
Even her pet cat Mimi, a purebred Himalayan, became ill from the harmful radiation she believed had been emitted from the smart meters, she added.
Deborah added: ‘Mimi went from being a typical house cat to one that would never stay home and eventually she ran away and never came back.’
My guess is that Mimi was running for her life from her owner, but whatever works.