The US Navy Secretly Sprayed Bacteria Over American Cities for 20 Years

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Between 1950 and 1969, the US Navy sprayed live bacteria over American cities. The people living there had no idea. The program was called Operation Sea-Spray. The Navy wanted to understand how a biological attack would spread across a US port. So, they used real bacteria released from ships and planes over San Francisco Bay. Shortly after one of the first tests in 1950, a San Francisco hospital recorded a sudden outbreak of a bacteria almost never seen in healthy patients. 11 people were hospitalized. One died. The Navy denied any connection for decades. When the truth emerged in the 1970s, the families of those who died sued the federal government. They lost. The program ran for 19 years. Over 200 cities were exposed. No one was ever charged. The government called it defensive research. What would you call it? Follow the Weird Historian.