"the thing"

"the thing" is the name given to a bugged wooden great seal. towards the end of WWIl, the american ambassador to the soviet union was gifted a wooden great seal as a sign of friendship. the seal was hung on a wall in the ambassadors moscow residence where it remained for 7 years, before being discovered that it was bugged.

the bugging device contained no power source and worked via electromagnetic energy, where an external source would be able to power it up when needed. a british radio operator ended accidentally discovering the bug, while overhearing soviet air force communications mixed in with american voices coming from the ambassador's residence.