Residents of a small Texas town are pleading for help to “save their lives” after being hit by a wave of mysterious illnesses linked to a new Bitcoin mine.
Nurse Deanna Leakey, 55, has been suffering from fainting and nausea since the mine opened in Granbury, outside Dallas. Her husband, Danny, has developed an irregular heart rhythm that puts him at risk for strokes and heart attacks.
Across the street, a neighbour says she suffers constant headaches, while one of her dogs became so tormented that it started pulling out its hair. In another case, a child was taken to hospital four times in four months for an ear infection.
Many attribute the nearly 100 illnesses to the nearby Bitcoin mine and the constant noise emitted by the army of fans used to cool its 30,000 computers.
Deanna Leakey, a 55-year-old nurse living in Granbury, Texas, says she is asking for help to reduce the noise and save her life. She is pictured here with her husband Danny.
Above is the mine, which is run by Marathon Digital Holdings Ltd. Its fans hum constantly as they work to keep the computers cool.
The facility is equipped with tens of thousands of high-powered computers that scan codes to uncover Bitcoins, each worth about $55,000.
The machines are housed in 163 large metal boxes that look like shipping containers and generate a lot of heat while operating.
The only way to prevent them from overheating is to install fans, but these can be extremely loud – sounds in the surrounding neighbourhood measure up to 90 decibels (dB). — equivalent to a chainsaw, blender or hair dryer running continuously.
Recently, locals said the noise (from the mine operated by Marathon Digital Holdings Ltd) was around 70 dB at night, roughly the same noise level as that emitted by a washing machine.
Ms Lakey tearfully told reporters: NBC News:’We don’t complain, we don’t fight, we ask for help to save our lives.
“When I started getting sick, I felt like I was going to die.”
The image above shows the Bitcoin mine (left) and the Texas town of Granbury (right) about an hour’s drive from Fort Worth. Locals say the noise is torturing them.
The map above shows the location of 50 of the 137 crypto mines in the United States. Authorities are beginning to study how much electricity they consume.
He added: “We live very close to the Bitcoin farm and we are definitely exposed to the sounds that occur 24 hours a day.”
For comparison, noise levels in New York City are around 48 dB at night, but can reach up to 70 dB in some busy areas.
However, this is not constant, which can help residents avoid negative health effects.
Her husband, Mr Lakey, described the sound as so intense it was like being “hit in the chest by a baseball”.
Cheryl Shadden, who also lives near the mines, said: “It’s like sleeping with a vacuum cleaner under your bed.
“My ears are ringing 24/7. I have headaches. I have dizziness. I had a dog last year that would pull out all of her hair in clumps.”
Local doctors say they can’t think of anything else that caused the sudden surge in illnesses other than the town’s recently installed Bitcoin mine.
The mine began operations in the summer of 2022 and was purchased by Marathon in December 2023.
Dr. Keith Darrow, an audiologist who treats local patients, said:This summer we have probably seen a significant increase of between 100 and 150 percent more patients complaining of noise exposure.
The CDC says that being exposed to sounds of this level for more than two hours a day can cause permanent damage to the eardrums.
It also says that for sleeping, noises should be below 30dB, roughly the sound of a whisper.
Lack of sleep can lead to health problems, including heart disease and infections, as the immune system is weakened.
Cheryl Shadden, who lives near the mine, says one of her dogs was so tormented by the noise that it began tearing out its fur.
Marathon says they are making adjustments to the mine to reduce the noise it produces.
After the Granbury mine opened in the summer of 2022, residents retreated from their porches into their homes to escape the noise.
But they soon discovered that it reached all the way inside, and many found their windows rattling and their beds vibrating.
Wildlife, including rabbits, coyotes and birds, fled the area, while domestic chickens stopped laying eggs and dogs began to suffer spasms.
In addition to Granbury, cities in other areas of the US, including Bono in Arkansas and Williston in North Dakota, are also struggling with the constant noise from Bitcoin mines.
Their numbers in the United States are rising: there are now 137 in the country, after China asked the mines to leave, which experts say was partly because they consumed a lot of electricity.
The Granbury Bitcoin mine is run by Marathon Digital Holdings Ltd, which has faced repeated complaints from the local community about its operations.
The mine has recently invested more than $1 million to reduce noise at the facility, including installing a new noise barrier.
They also say there are plans to switch half of the computers to immersion cooling, a quieter method in which machines are submerged in a dielectric liquid to lower their temperature.
Marathon said in a statement: ‘(Marathon) is governed by the highest standards of health and safety.
‘Since (Marathon) took operational control of the data centre in April 2024, we have gone above and beyond what is required in a well-established industrial area to ensure our facilities are the best in the industry.’
They added: “There is no established link, medical or otherwise, between (Marathon’s) operations and the alleged ailments.”
The Texas Coalition Against Crypto Mining is leading the local fight against the operations.