Another mysterious boom rattles small NC towns in the night

[bathroommonkey76]

Another part of North Carolina is reporting the sound of a mysterious explosion that echoed in the night, rocking homes and frightening neighbors.

The latest claims are coming out of Brunswick County on the Carolina coast. Residents reported a “loud boom” on Wednesday between Southport and Oak Island, reported TV station WWAY.

Residents of Winston-Salem — 240 miles to the west on Southport — reported the same thing on the night of Oct. 7, when an “ear-splitting boom” rattled windows and shook homes.

In both cases, the source remains unknown.

Some witnesses in Brunswick County questioned if the noise came from Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point. However the agency’s public affairs office said they were not doing testing that night, TV station WECT reported. The Camp Lejeune military installation, which is about 85 miles from Southport, said it was doing artillery training the night, according to media outlets.

However, reports on social media said the noise was more like an explosion than the distant booms typically heard during military exercises in the region.

“Almost like a pressure wave. Our sliding glass doors bowed out, almost broke,” tweeted Tom Miller of St. James.

Another coastal resident likened the noise to “a tree hitting the house. Windows rattled and nerves.”

The explosion in Winston Salem, heard about 10:45 p.m. on Oct. 7, was also reportedly felt for miles. Authorities there sent out a news release asking for help finding “the origin of the sound and shaking of the ground,” it was reported.

Media outlets in Australia have written about the mysterious noise in Winston-Salem, noting it was “an eerily similar phenomenon” to what happened the same night in Cairns, Australia. One investigator quoted by the Cairns Post said there were “uncanny parallels” between the two incidents.

Read more:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article179762226.html

[bathroommonkey76]

1. James Fenimore Cooper wrote about these booms in the 1800's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lake_Gun

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Sounds very scary! Wondering if any DUers have experienced this?

I've spent time in NC since my grandmother lived there for many years, but she was on the West Coast near Asheville and I don't remember hearing about anything like this. It would be reassuring if they could get to the bottom of it.

[bathroommonkey76]

3. I have on numerous occasions.

My time in North Carolina has been sporadic over the years, but when I was younger we would hear these booms all the time. My family farm was outside of the Raleigh area. Ft Bragg and Camp Lejeune can both be ruled out for artillery b/c they were a couple of hundred miles away from us. Today I live outside of Holly Springs and have heard similar sounding booms during the day and night.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. With all the technology we have, there must be a way to get to the bottom of it

If it's happening this frequently and during both the day and night it would have to be pretty disturbing and impossible to ignore.

My grandmother was in Black Mountain, a really lovely town near Asheville where I spent a lot of time, and I never remember hearing anything about this.

[bathroommonkey76]

5. The booms mostly happen

on the coast between Oak Island and Cherry Point. My ex gf had a place at St James a few years ago and the locals there would talk about it all the time. I think some of them can be explained for aircraft breaking the sound barrier in international waters. The Navy plays a lot of war games in the graveyard of the Atlantic.

Black Mountain is a nice area to live - I always enjoy the drive down the mountain on 40.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. I haven't spent time near the coast, though I'm told it's another lovely area

And it does make sense that there would be a lot of Navy activity near the ocean. But with today's technology I'm surprised there hasn't been a demand to get to the bottom of the frightening noises. Tonight Rachel was talking about the efforts to use new technology to learn was on the infamous missing 18 minutes of the Nixon tapes!

Black Mountain is an especially nice area. My grandmother chose it because there is still "a change of seasons," but Black Mountain itself is a really nice community, lots of art and music and I really liked the people I got to know there. They have a "sister city" high up in the Caucasus Mountains of what was then the USSR and I went with my grandmother and her peace group on their initial visit there in the late '80s before the USSR fell. I was kinda anxious about it since I grew up during the Cold War, but it turned out to be a pretty amazing journey. I was the youngest by several decades, LOL, everyone was senior citizens except for one other woman - and me. I realize now that I was among liberals - and I learned a lot from them - and the dedicated peace advocates we met there. Of course, that was during Gorbachev and people had hope. I can't imagine how the people there are faring now...