Has anyone else had mysterious booms in your area?

[dixiegrrrrl]

We have had a series of them here in SW Ala.
One just happened a few minutes ago, the north wall of my house rattled, and there was a dull sound like distant heavy thunder,
but not quite thunder like..it WAS a definite deep failingly echoing sound.
Unlike earthquakes which kind of ...tremor ..( I have been in a lot of those) this was a rattle from a sharp single vibration, like an impact, and after that I heard more fainter deep booms.
My house is a very solid brick house, totally sound proof from most outside noises.
The news has covered the "mysterious booms" and when I googled I found reports from all over the world.
Around here they have ruled out sonic booms, explosions, all the obvious things, we are 90 miles from the gulf of Mexico, no naval activity.

Was wondering if any of you had been experiencing the same thing in the last few months???

Posted here cause I could not figure out where else to ask about it.

[salvorhardin]

1. You might want to give this a read

It might not be the answer to your mystery, but it's always nice to know the back story.

The recent wave of sky noise videos and reports from across the globe have sown concern and copycat hoaxes. Historical observations disclosed here reveal that mystery noises in the sky are not new and have many and various potential explanations. Our urban and industrial society may be contributing to the recent events, if they are indeed genuine.
Link: http://doubtfulnews.com/2012/01/sounds-from-the-sky-reflections-on-historical-observations-and-recent-events

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Skyquakes.....ahhhh..

This sounded more underground, if that makes any sense.
Except I cannot figure out what could call for underground explosions....unless they are doing gas exploring..
at night.

[salvorhardin]

3. I don't know

That's way out of my range of expertise. You might try asking in comments on that post though. The woman who wrote it is a geologist.

[Ohio Joe]

4. Not me

I'm currently in Denver and this is the first I've heard of such things. I'll have to look into it, see if I know anyone where these are going on.

[Amonester]

5. Could be meteorites of different sizes.

Bigger ones 'boom' louder than smaller ones when their terminal speeds break the sound barrier.

I remember hearing one here a few years ago, and its rather small remains were found in a relatively small crater in the forest.

[bananas]

24. Meteors can also cause a hissing, sizzling, or popping sound

"There are two reported types of sounds generated by very bright fireballs, both of which are quite rare. These are sonic booms, and electrophonic sounds. ..."

"Another form of sound frequently reported with bright fireballs is “electrophonic” sound, which occurs coincidentally with the visible fireball. The reported sounds range from hissing static, to sizzling, to popping sounds. ..."

http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/faqf/#6

http://earthsky.org/space/whoosh-can-you-hear-a-meteor-streak-past

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast26nov_1/

[William Seger]

31. I believe I've heard an "electrophonic" meteor

About 1980, just as I was arriving home after dusk, I saw the largest fireball meteor I've ever seen and simultaneously heard a sound like someone opening a soda bottle. It wasn't until later when I told my wife about it that it occurred to me that the sound didn't make any sense: The meteor was so high up that any noise it made would take at least a couple of minutes to reach the ground. So, I decided that it must have been a random sound that my brain associated to the meteor just because they were simultaneous.

Then in the late '90s, I came across a web site that was studying the phenomenon and collecting reports. It's interesting that it's been a controversy for a long time, with astronomer Sir Edmund Halley writing about many reports of a "hissing meteor" in 1719, and then dismissing those reports as "fantasy" because sound can't possibly travel that fast.

There is now at least one claim of hissing meteors being recorded but it's still a very controversial phenomenon, mainly because there isn't any well accepted explanation for how a meteor could create the low frequency radio waves that are believed to cause the "electrophonic" effect. However, the great number of similar reports seems to indicate that the phenomenon is real. In my case, I was wearing metal frame glasses and I have fairly dry hair, which are two fairly common factors in reports, and two things that are believed to be capable of acting as a transducer by vibrating and turning the radio waves into sound.

There are lots of (presumably) natural phenomena that still aren't well understood.

[dem644555il]

32. +1

[Angry Dragon]

6. I have not felt anything in Minnesota

[jberryhill]

7. We seem to be getting the Shaka-laka's here

Just after the booms.

[skippercollector]

8. cincinnati

Mom and I live in Cincinnati. She lives about 5 miles north of me. She heard a loud boom on Wednesday night. It wasn't her imagination--she looked out and all of her neighbors were looking out their doors too! But I didn't hear anything. It was never mentioned in any of the local media.
In the 1980s we all heard a very loud boom when I was still living at home. It turns out it WAS a sonic boom then originating in northern Indiana. The local media did mention it then.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. All of the ones we heard came from same direction-interesting.

Esp as, to our knowledge, there is "nothing" in that direction to normally make that sound.

Very interesting.

[slutticus]

10. Sonic Booms

http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/Sonic_Booms_in_West_Alabama_137730638.html

Jets from the Pensacola Naval Air Station apparently.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. that might have been it..

Right time..
Spurred by your link, I found another local link to booms nearby:
http://www.northescambia.com/?p=80834

coulda been sonic booms..has been a long time since I have heard them..not since early 1970's.

[Bolo Boffin]

12. No, just the same old booms I always seem to get.

Ahem.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. Hmmm..did the earth move?

[BB1]

14. Beamquake?

Let's ask Stephen King...

[mzteris]

15. Is there a quarry

or a military base, anywhere near your house?

I've had both and they will both produce "mysterious booms" and sometimes shaking - especially the quarries.

If the base is far enough away, you won't usually "hear" the noises unless the wind is just right - thus the arbitrary nature.

[MineralMan]

16. Could be lots of things.

Is there any bridge or other heavy construction going on nearby? Pile driving can create booming noises that can carry a long way, depending on soil type. I don't know just where you are, but pile driving is pretty common in areas where there is shipping, rivers, etc. Lots of times, people don't know about that kind of construction that may be going on not far from them.

If you're in the Mobile area, Google Pile Driving Mobile, AL. You'll find three major companies that do that kind of construction work. Give them a call and see where they're working right now. Could be something not too far from your home.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. I am now thinking sonic boom..see # 11 upthread.

[MineralMan]

19. Could be, for sure.

Could be that, too, of course. I'm of the opinion that when I hear booms, I don't think of weird stuff. I think about things that cause booms and that are known. Around here, we get lots and lots of booms, starting around July 1 and going on until a week or so later. Then, if it's not that time of year, it's usually someone shooting a gun at someone else, since I live in a big city.

There were some unexplained big booms last year that didn't coincide with a major holiday or gunfire. I wondered what they were, so I called the local fire department. They knew what they were. It was a big fireworks display for a high school football game. The fireman I spoke to said that they'd had lots of calls about it that evening. It was loud enough that people came out of their houses and were trying to figure it out. After I called and got an answer, we all stood around and chatted about other stuff.

It's way too easy to try to figure out some weird explanation for things we hear or see infrequently. Usually, a bit of inquiry turns up the real reason for it.

[ZombieHorde]

17. Yes, and always around a Taco Bell.

Some of the booms sound a little wet.

[chrystle00]

20. Booms!

I live on the NC coast and we have been having strange booms for over 100 years. Lately they have been stronger and more frequent. The one 2 weeks ago was the loudest I've heard and the ones on Tuesday felt like an Earthquake and were felt 100s of miles. No explanation. As usual they say "Seneca Guns" which means nothing.

[William Seger]

22. Well, there are speculative explanations

I'd agree there's not enough data to put forth a convincing explanation, but saying there's "no explanation" implies that you reject explanations that sound plausible to me. Why?

[chrystle00]

28. No explanation

"No explanation" were not my words. Sorry, if I wasn't clear. "No explanation" is what the media is giving us. The plausible causes that are stated in the link are sonic boom and earthquake. In fact, the link states that “Seneca guns is just a name, not an explanation". Sonic booms have been ruled out (so we are told) and there has been no earthquake activity in the area. These were felt over a huge area and were not the typical "Seneca Guns" that we are used to. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/us/2012_001/us/index.html

Military is another plausible explanation. I don't definitively reject any of the explanations but it would be nice to know what is shaking our coastline.

[William Seger]

30. How were sonic booms ruled out?

Were there no military aircraft flying at that time? If there were, I don't think you could depend on individual pilots reporting all incidents.

[chrystle00]

33. Not sure

I'm not sure why they are saying it wasn't a sonic boom. Possibly because of the large area that it covered. I don't think it's legal to be booming here anyway so I doubt the military would confirm responsibility, especially with the frequency that it's been happening. Also maybe because we have been having the booms since before there was military aircraft.

[frogmarch]

21. All the time.

During football games and on holidays and other special days, including the college dean's birthday, the state college here in Chadron, NE fires its Napoleon cannon replica, much to the delight of everyone.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Wow...that is interesting....

to think that people there get to hear what an "old" cannon sounds like.

[frogmarch]

25. It's very loud, and even though

my house is about a half mile from the college, the booms shake our house.

As to your OP, could the booms be from earth tremors? Even here in western Nebraska we get tremors and even small quakes from underlying geologic rifts that aren't visible on the surface of the ground. Sometimes we hear and feel booms when these occur. Late one night a few months ago, my husband and I were both awakened by a thunderous boom and we felt the house shake. We both wondered what the college people thought they were doing by firing the cannon at that hour. The next day we learned there had been a small quake from the rift shifting on the NE/SoDak border about 20 miles from here.

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. Perhaps..they DO come fron the same direction.

Over the course of a year there have been 7-9 of these window rattling, house vibrating booms, all from the NE.
couple of times there were slightly milder booms & rattles before the bigger one.

to me, it felt like a 4.0 range of earthquakes from when I lived on the West Coast...just enough to rattle the windows and house, maybe 2-3 seconds duration. Except in all the earthquakes I have been in, there was never a BOOM noise.

[agent46]

27. Obviously

There is a nuclear war going on deep underground in the subterranean alien bases that the government originally set up for the Greys before they betrayed us. This is the endgame people. Things going boom. Disclosure is imminent.

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. Oh noes!!!!!!! And I don't have anything to wear!!!!!!!

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