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Mystery Booms From The Sky (Skyquakes)

Earthquakes and Sky Booms

Charles H. Fort catalogued a large number of stories in which strange things happened during or after thunderstorms, among which are many mysterious booms which fail to be accompanied by earthquakes to explain them away, or meteor showers during thunderstorms.

Mind you, electrical storms are so numerous that coincidence could explain these odd phenomena in many cases, but one wonders if there isn't something unknown as well.

Some scientists have hypothesized that ball lightning (which can be explosive) is a geo-electrical phenomena--the ball may be a sphere of flaming silicon plasma or other.

Perhaps these seemingly connected phenomena have a common element--lightning balls created during a storm might last long enough to explode violently after the storm is past, and being plasma could create mysterious sonic booms over a relatively large area without turning up on seismic records, despite their earthly origin.

On the other hand, perhaps meteors can create ball lightning by feeding silicon and other elements into the electrical fields of storms.

How Fortean would that be? Earth, sky and space linked into one giant exploding ball of mystery! No single explanation, perhaps, but a net of common threads reaching out like forks of lightning.
 
wasnt there a strange big bang asociated with the Japanes cult (aum Shinrinko(sp)) property in OZ?
 
On the news this lunchtime, there was a story of a British backpacker who was struck by lightning while visiting the Blue Mountains, but survived due to the quick thinking of a trainee nurse near-by.
 
Perhaps it was some kind of residual charge from the thunderstorm. Apparently it was quite vicious. (My brother rang round a few people to let them know he was alright, but no-one outside Sydney had heard anything about it at the time.)
 
sidecar_jon said:
wasnt there a strange big bang asociated with the Japanes cult (aum Shinrinko(sp)) property in OZ?

There was also some bizarre story about them testing some sort of energy weapon based on the work of Nikolai Tesla...or am I running two stories together here?

The Sydney event certainly sounds impressive.
 
Timble said:
There was also some bizarre story about them testing some sort of energy weapon based on the work of Nikolai Tesla...or am I running two stories together here?

The Sydney event certainly sounds impressive.

no i think a small nuke was sugested too but no sismic activity was detected.
 
The lack of damage suggests a sonic boom. From a meteor perhaps? But then, why no reports of lights streakng across the sky?

Jane.
 
My theory is that the sound emanated from the lower ionosphere. It has been proved that these layers can be stimulated to produce sound(e.g.The scandinavian 'broadcast') and this might also explain why meteors and aurora occ. produce noises?
 
When I was a kid living at home me and the old folks were sat watching TV when there was this enormous bang that sounded like a truck had hit the side of the house. My dad ran outside to find all the neighbours stood outside too. All wondering where this huge bang had come from. The only people affected were those down our little cul-de-sac road, a way off the main road. This was a HUGE bang louder than the loudest firework, yet no structural damage; no sign of what could have caused it.
 
"this might also explain why meteors and aurora occ. produce noises"

There was a piece about this in FT a few months back - meteors and aurora cause ionisation in the upper atmosphere emitting radio waves. These get picked up by various things down here (eg your hair, pine needles) and turned into sound.

For years scientists had denied that they could make any sound, because there is not enough air up there to carry sound waves.

Weird but true.
 
I asked my brother for his opinion on this event. He hadn't heard of it in a fortean context, but mentioned that a gas main had gone up at some point after the storm.

Boring, I know. And I haven't had it confirmed as the source of the noise as yet. But sometimes these things do turn out to be disturbingly mundane.
 
It was apparently a gas explosion. There was some work being done on some pipes, and after heavy rain that evening, the sides of the hole collapsed and bent a pipe. A cloud of gas formed, and finally ignited. Apparently clouds of gas explode with a lot of noise and light, but as long as they're in an open area, they don't do much damage, and leave no trace.

I live in Sydney but I didn't hear it. There was a lot of thunder earlier that day, so I might have just edited it out.
 
That would explain it, then.

Unless there were two explosions in Sydney that night. Seems unlikely.

I presume that there is some evidence that the gas main caused the explosion. The aforementioned bending, and leaking, etc. And some trace burning or something. (Nothing that would appear obvious to a casual glance.)
 
Hello there Chopstix, with all the construction work on the go around Canary Wharf, it may have been something being dropped into an empty steel barge, or a large, empty container being hit by something - it gives a similar sort of sound to thunder and is easily distorted by the sound passing / reflecting between buildings there.

I worked in Canada Square for years and remember hearing this sort of sound frequently when there were empty barges being manouvered around the docks at the construction sites.

Some of the constructions sites were pretty impressive in their scale, especially when the Jubilee Line station was being built.

I hope that helps give one possible explanation.

thanks

Iain
 
It's over two years since that question was posted, even chopper was around then.;)
 
I merged some relevant threads.

--------------------------------
Posted on Wed, Sep. 01, 2004



Mystery boom shakes city’s northeast

By Benjamin Lanka

The Journal Gazette



Fort Wayne’s northeast side is booming, literally.

The city is investigating a series of loud noises along Lake Avenue that has caused a handful of homes to tremble.

“It’s a quick, solid, boom-type noise,” said Justin Brugger, the city’s northeast neighborhood specialist. “One lady described it as a tremor.”

Brugger said he received the first complaint about the noise about a month ago from a resident whose house shook randomly for no apparent reason. He said the city investigated different operations in the area, but determined they were not open at the times the person’s home shook.

He said he dropped the issue until he received similar calls a few weeks later. Brugger said residents describe it as a “pretty violent shake.” Another resident told Brugger the incidents were like someone jumping on the second floor of his home.

He said the city began thoroughly investigating the issue this week, but it has no solid leads on what is causing the sound.

“I thought it might be construction … but that doesn’t appear to be it,” he said.

To solve the mystery, Brugger plans to plot on a map the locations of calls from residents who heard the noise to try to see where they are most heavily concentrated.

Although the city has not yet put that information together, Brugger said the calls are centered mostly on Lake Avenue, but they stretch from Maysville Road to Kensington Boulevard. He said the city has also received calls from homes as far north as Crescent Avenue and Coliseum Boulevard.

“It’s a real long, narrow stretch of land this is occurring,” he said.

Denise Porter-Ross, mayoral spokeswoman, said she heard the noise at her northeast home.

“We’re trying to see what’s going on,” she said.

To add to the confusion, the noises don’t happen at a specific time.

“We’re finding they’re random in time,” Brugger said.

He said he has received four reports about a similar noise, but that doesn’t include incidents reported directly to the police. A police spokesman said the department hasn’t yet tallied the calls.

Porter-Ross said callers haven’t reported damage or injuries , but “it’s just a little disturbing. You’re hearing these noises but you go out to investigate and nothing’s there.”

Brugger asked those who hear the noises or know anything about their origin to call the city at 427-1111.

“If we don’t have people calling in where they hear these (noises), we’ll have no way to pinpoint them,” he said.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/local/9552877.htm
 
Hi

must be the time of year, here's another booming story...

Mystery boom heard in Pakistan capital
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL43353.htm
01 Sep 2004 10:44:32 GMT

Source: Reuters

(Adds quotes from police and emergency services)

ISLAMABAD, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A loud boom was heard in the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad, and its adjoining city Rawalpindi on Wednesday, but police and
emergency workers said they had no indication the noise had been caused by a
bomb.

Police said a possible explanation was that it was a sonic boom from an
aircraft, although a Pakistani air force spokesman said no supersonic planes had
been in the air at the time.

Pakistani cities have been the scene of bomb attacks by Islamic militants since
President Pervez Musharraf joined the U.S.-led war on terror in 2001.

Police said they had no evidence of any new attack.

Islamabad police said they had sent teams all over the city but there had been
no clue as to the cause of the boom.

Marvat Ali Shah, senior superintendent of police in Rawalpindi, said: "There is
no report of any bomb explosion in any part of Rawalpindi."

An official with Pakistan's main emergency service, the Edhi Foundation, said it
had sent ambulances to different parts of Rawalpindi but had been unable to
determine the cause of the noise.

The United States and its allies have warplanes stationed in neighbouring
Afghanistan, but the air force spokesman said these were not allowed to overfly
Pakistan.

(note the denial - they're not allowed to overfly - which leaves open the possibility they did something they weren't sposed to!)

malf
 
Loud explosion in mid Wales Tuesday 14th Sept 2004

Does anyone have any info regarding a massive bang heard in the mid Wales area on Tuesday 14th September, apparently it was shaking buildings!

Are they nuclear testing in Wales :D

Seriously, anyone have any ideas?

Ta
 
Sonic boom blamed for 'explosion'
A sonic boom from a low-flying jet could be to blame for a "loud explosion" which stunned people in a Powys town.
Windows and homes shook in Llandrindod Wells when the noise rang out at about 1100 BST on Wednesday.

Worried residents thought they were in the middle of a mini earthquake and called the police and the RAF.

But experts said the noise was unlikely to have been an earth tremor and more likely have been a sonic boom instead.

Powys Council's headquarters was one of the buildings where the bang was heard and workers reported that windows shook.

Council spokesman John Evans said: "We don't have a clue where the noise came from - it's a total mystery.


There are a number of possible explanations and it could have been a sonic boom and maybe even a meteor that people heard.
Glenn Ford, British Geological Society

"It sounded like a lorry rumbling past the window, but our offices are not close to the main road.
"It couldn't have been thunder either as it's a clear day.

"Some people at County Hall reported that windows shook when the noise was heard."

A spokesman for the Metropole Hotel also reported hearing a "loud explosion."

"It seemed to come from the area of the park across the road from the hotel," he said.

Resident Marie Davies said she had been scared by the noise.

Thunder

"It sounded like a loud explosion, although I've never heard anything like it before.

"There were some planes flying over at the time of the bang.

"Everybody in the town heard it."

Pc Clive Rees of Dyfed-Powys Police said the police station's windows shook.

"We have received several reports from people in Llandrindod and others from people living a six-mile radius from the town.

"I initially thought it was thunder, but on reflection there's no way it was thunder.

"I've reported the noise to the RAF as it could have been a sonic boom from a jet."

Meteor

An RAF spokesperson said it had received one inquiry about the noise and would report it to the Ministry of Defence.

However, Glenn Ford, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, said they had had no signals "consistent with an earthquake in the area".

"There are a number of possible explanations and it could have been a sonic boom and maybe even a meteor that people heard.

"But it's more likely to have been a sonic boom."

Like earth tremors, sonic booms can cause loud bangs and can shake windows and homes, he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/3659442.stm

Published: 2004/09/15 15:55:07 GMT

© BBC MMIV
 
Are there any North Koreans living in Wales?
 
Story last updated at 6:59 a.m. Wednesday, September 22, 2004



Unknown noise shakes James Island homes

BY STEVE REEVES
Of The Post and Courier Staff

The cause of a mysterious boom that rattled windows and shook houses on James Island late Tuesday morning remains unknown.

Dozens of people called authorities about 10:30 a.m. when the sound reverberated across James Island.

Officers were dispatched to determine whether the source of the noise might have been some sort of explosion, but the investigation turned up no clues.

"We still don't know what it was," Charleston Police spokesman Charles Francis said.

No severe weather was in the area at the time of the booming sound, and no earthquake activity was reported in the Lowcountry.

Some people speculated that the sound was a sonic boom, perhaps caused by a military jet on a training mission.

But military officials at the Charleston Air Force Base said no planes flying from that facility at the time of the noise would have made a sonic boom, which requires a plane to travel at more than 700 mph to break the sound barrier.

Other nearby military facilities, such as the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, also said their aircraft weren't responsible.

A spokesman for the FAA in Atlanta said no civilian aircraft would have produced a sonic boom.

A similar sound rocked the Lowcountry in August 2003. No cause was ever found, though some opined that it could have been "Seneca Guns," a folk explanation used to describe unexplained booms dating back to the 18th-century.

Some theorize that so-called Seneca Guns could be caused by gases being released from the ocean floor or a sudden rush of cold air hitting the Gulf Stream.

Requires (free) registration:
http://www.charleston.net/stories/092204/loc_22boom.shtml
 
UFO boom - Unidentified Foreign Object

http://tinyurl.com/5e6mb

EDWARD FOSS

08 November 2004 17:50

A suspected sonic boom heard across north-east Norfolk today was not caused by a British aircraft, it was confirmed tonight.

The loud bang, heard at least from Sheringham to Halvergate near Yarmouth, startled hundreds of people going about their daily business at around noon.

But a Ministry of Defence spokesman said it was not a domestic fighter that caused the incident, although he was unable to confirm the source of the sonic boom.

“We believe there was a sonic boom, but it was not a British aircraft that caused it,” said Lt Col Stuart Green. “It was not one of ours.”

Whether the aircraft was European or American was not clear, but they would be the most likely suspects. But it would have been a military aircraft, as no civilian plane is capable of going fast enough to make a sonic boom.

A spokesman for the UK Civil Aviation Authority said the now out of service Concorde was the only civilian craft that had ever been able to travel fast enough to create the phenomenon.

North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb described how he had been sitting in his office in North Walsham when he heard an “incredible boom”.

“The building shook and like many people I was shocked. I thought 'has there been some sort of gas explosion?'”

Mr Lamb said he felt the “disturbing” incident begged questions that needed to be answered. He pledged to approach ministers for an explanation.

Ben Dunnell, assistant editor of Aircraft Illustrated and formerly from Norfolk, said sonic booms were rare in the UK. “There are regulations governing supersonic flight, but it is not clear what happened on this occasion.”

When the sonic boom was heard, windows and homes shook while some people were reported to have been running for cover.

“I heard this enormous explosion,” said John Hilton, who was in Stalham at the time. One or two people were very worried, although most realised fairly quickly what it probably was. But I don't feel things like this should be happening.”

Police and RAF bosses received scores of calls from those concerned at the explosion.

A sonic boom is a loud noise generated when an aeroplane travels faster than sound waves, which move at approximately 750mph at sea level. Pressure waves merge to form shock waves, which are heard as sonic booms when they hit the ground.

Although there has been no official confirmation of the noise being a sonic boom, a spokesman at RAF Coltishall said there had been an assumption it was. He added that the Ministry of Defence in London was handling the investigation into the incident.

A spokeswoman for Norfolk police said it was possible the noise was a sonic boom and that the investigation was in the hands of the RAF.

The noise was heard in Overstrand momentarily before it was heard in Cromer, suggesting it came from an aircraft travelling east to west.
 
"Boom" is Back



(Fort Wayne-WANE-November 10, 2004) - After about a month of silence, Fort Wayne's mysterious "boom" has returned.

"You can't describe it," said Helene Lilly, who heard it almost 10 times Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. "You think you're in a war."

Newschannel 15 and the Fort Wayne Police Department have each received dozens of phone calls about the noises. This time, the loudest ones seem to have come from near Parkview Hospital on eEst State Boulevard.

The people in that neighborhood said their houses were rocked and their windows were rattled repeatedly sinceTtuesday night. According to residents, there were four loud booms between 9:30 p.m. and midnight, and another round of four between 6 a.m. And 8:15 a.m. Wednesday.

As of right now, neighbors are concerned. "I need help because I can't sleep, it scares me, and it scares my whole neighborhood and the children over there, they're upset, too. And it just isn't right you know?" Lilly said.

The Fort Wayne Police have no answers. "It's a rabbit we're still trying to chase down the hole right now," said PIO Michael Joyner. "We don't know what the source is." Joyner said the FWPD has already increased patrols of the area to try to identify the source.

http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=2546862&nav=0RYbSy3m
 
Mystery booms?

If you're anywhere near a marsh with reedbeds, it could be the boom of a Bittern. Their mysterious cry can carry for several miles they say. Never heard it myself but I live in hope!
 
Re: Mystery booms?

sifaka said:
If you're anywhere near a marsh with reedbeds, it could be the boom of a Bittern. Their mysterious cry can carry for several miles they say. Never heard it myself but I live in hope!

The people in that neighborhood said their houses were rocked and their windows were rattled repeatedly

That would have to be a monstrous Bittern. :)
 
That would have to be a monstrous Bittern.

True. But palaeontologists have sometimes discovered giant penguins, sloths etc. And have you heard the Cambridgeshire legend of Old Bumpy, the Devil's Bittern? He is/was supposed to be around 8 foot tall. Don't know if the Fens could still support such a large bird though. Not these days.
 
Ricmond's Mystery Booms

Strange Booms



Many of you called our newsroom over the weekend telling us about the mysterious booms coming from your neighborhood. Sunday, residents reported four booms in the Hermitage area sparking a community meeting with city officials to talk about the ongoing problem.

The Hermitage House was packed with residents hoping the city could tell them what was causing the loud booming noises, but officials could only say what they knew was not the cause.

The city has ruled out sewage, water or gas problems and say it doesn't appear the booms are related to military exercises. They aren't however ruling out the possibility of criminal activity.

"Is this mischief, vandalism, or some type of criminal behavior? We're going to be working all of those furiously to see where it all goes and that's the best we can do at this point," said William Pantele, 2nd District Councilman.

Until the city can find the source of the problem, they will beef up fire and police patrols in those areas.

Police are asking residents who hear and feel the booms not to call 9-1-1. Police tell us they received so many calls on Sunday that their emergency lines were jammed. A special hotline has been set up just for calls related to the mysterious booms.

Emergency officials are asking that when you feel a boom, call 646-5100 as soon as possible. We are told police will immediately be dispatched to your area.

Source
 
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