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Mystery Booms From The Sky (Skyquakes)

i'm still hearing weird booms in colchester, essex, uk.

the other day they were closer and i felt the vibration in the floor of our kitchen.

no fracking is happening in the area as we don't have any round hear.

not as loud as the random explosion sound from several months back early one morning, like a bolt of lightning or a transformer exploding, i swore when i heard that as i was only just waking up....

I was just about to post a link to your thread from earlier this year, here: https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...at-repeats-and-then-stops.65915/#post-1865342
 
Bucks County DA: Suspect Charged With Weapons Of Mass Destruction In Connection To Mysterious Explosions

BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) — Police made an arrest Thursday in a series of mysterious explosions that have rocked Bucks County for months. Law enforcement converged on two locations in Quakertown as part of the investigation – a chemical company on Old Bethlehem Pike and the home of the owner of that company on Spinnerstown Road.

David Surman Jr. is being charged with possession of weapons of mass destruction. He would not speak when entering for his arraignment and made no comments about the disturbing finds in his home.

“This was what we believe to be a large bomb that was capable of mass destruction,” said Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub.

The FBI and ATF have worked the case with Pennsylvania State Police for months. They have been investigating 30 rattling booms which terrorized those living in Upper Bucks County since April 2.

The investigation turned on Thursday as authorities secured search warrants on two separate scenes: the Consolidated Chemical and Solvent Company which Surman Jr. owned on Bethlehem Pike and his home on Spinnerstown Road.

Federal agents conducts four controlled explosions across the street from his business.

Besides other bombs and chemicals, agents uncovered strange drawings and pictures, some with hate symbols, and others showing Surman Jr. and his girlfriend driving away from a bombing scene.

“You can see some of the musings that were found in the defendant’s house,” said Weintraub.

Weintraub says a motive is unclear and warns that there could be more planted bombs.

“I am a little concerned there may be unexploded bombs out there,” said Weintraub.

Neighbors, though, hope this is the end of the frightening booms which have terrorized them for months.

“I’m glad it’s over, for not only me, but the residents out here,” said one person. “We’re a close knit family and I’m just glad it’s over, if it’s over.”

Surman Jr. is being held on $750,000 bond.

To date, police say no one has reported any injuries related to the explosions.

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...ounty-in-connection-to-mysterious-explosions/

I do wonder if at least some of the mystery sounds are caused by someone with a case of 'whatever-the-word-is-for-someone-who's-fascinated-by-explosions'?

Depending on the area, sounds could be heard even if nothing is seen. A hobby taken to destructive extremes!

Edited to add: I did a quick search about the case mentioned by @Wreckless above, the latest seems to be that Mr Surman was let out on bail, then remanded and his trial is due to take place next year https://www.theintell.com/news/20190819/trial-for-upper-bucks-bombing-suspects-pushed-to-2020
 
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mystery solved on massive bang i heard earlier in the year...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-48732642

turns out it was the MOD....sonic boom. i can't of been paying attention to the news that day or i just forgot.

still can't explain the other short sequence of low booms though...looked at seismic data and see nothing in my area.
 
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Wife woke me up about midnight last night asking whats that?
It sounded like someone dragging a wheelie bin down the road but
very loud, nothing going on is the st, I suspect it was someone setting
fireworks off in a bin or something but have no way of knowing.
It was a very strange metallic booming noise, almost a musical
sound to it.
 
Did you hear mysterious 'deafening bang' last night?


A number of Scartho residents took to social media last night to try and find out the cause of a loud bang that was heard across the area. People say that they are convinced that it was not a firework, and were worried that it may have been an explosion.

The noise was was heard at around 11pm last night, and there have been a number of theories about what may have caused it, ranging from a sonic boom to neighbours putting their bins out too loudly - although as it was heard from as far away as Waltham and Killingholme, the latter is unlikely.
(C) Grimsby Live '19.
 
I do wonder if at least some of the mystery sounds are caused by someone with a case of 'whatever-the-word-is-for-someone-who's-fascinated-by-explosions'?

Depending on the area, sounds could be heard even if nothing is seen. A hobby taken to destructive extremes!

Edited to add: I did a quick search about the case mentioned by @Wreckless above, the latest seems to be that Mr Surman was let out on bail, then remanded and his trial is due to take place next year https://www.theintell.com/news/20190819/trial-for-upper-bucks-bombing-suspects-pushed-to-2020

In the US, where tannerite is legal, several people do rig such explosions on their property.
 
It may take me awhile to find the article you intended to draw our attention to. I keep getting distracted by all the interesting items such as the one that opens "Do you know anything about cod liver oil?"
 
The link takes you straight to the article - it's the one with key words highlighted in pink.
 
Round here some farmers use propane cannon bird scarers,
they make more of a boom than the one in this video though
the movement of this one could make the sound seem to come
from differing directions, you only hear the farm ones in summer
there's not much to protect in winter but a airfield could be using one.
Look from about 2 min in if bored with the early bits.
 
Round here some farmers use propane cannon bird scarers,
they make more of a boom than the one in this video though
the movement of this one could make the sound seem to come
from differing directions, you only hear the farm ones in summer
there's not much to protect in winter but a airfield could be using one.
Look from about 2 min in if bored with the early bits.

That is another really plausible explanation. The world is a very noisy place. It's really unsurprising that there are so many reports of mystery booms today. Sound is really hard to trace back to a source because it diffuses, bounces, and changes.
 
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The Paducah daily sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1896-1898, March 26, 1897, Image 4


skyexplosion.jpg
 
Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Monday 30 March 1903, page 6

booms.jpg
 
The Paducah daily sun. (Paducah, Ky.) 1896-1898, March 26, 1897

"skyquakes"
I still think that some of these can be shallow earthquakes (especially in KY). Very localized and transmit the energy as sound. See my earlier posts on this thread.
 
I've wondered if they are some kind of standing wave or aerial vacuums created by wind patterns interacting with each other or terrain features.
 
I can understand were they would come from in a port with RoRo trafic,
once you start thrutching "Tech term" about with heavy vehicles in a big
empty steel box you do get some big rumbling booming bangs
but this cant be the cause of them all by any means. We are about half
a mile from one that is no longer in operation but when it was it was
our go to explanation for big bangs, we do get sonic booms from fast
jet testing but that sounds different more a B-Boom.

Just a thought could some be due to large water, fuel, or gas tanks flexing
as they fill up or cool overnight.?
 
Atmospheric "ducting" - where the layers reflect and transmit light (and apparently sound) long distances without affecting the areas in between. It seems this is certainly applicable in a few cases. Not clear how often it occurs but it is plausible. The sounds then get distorted at the output.

New podcast on Skeptoid out on Seneca Guns and Skyquakes. Short, but hits some of the high points.
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4701
 
Atmospheric "ducting" - where the layers reflect and transmit light (and apparently sound) long distances without affecting the areas in between. It seems this is certainly applicable in a few cases. Not clear how often it occurs but it is plausible. The sounds then get distorted at the output.

New podcast on Skeptoid out on Seneca Guns and Skyquakes. Short, but hits some of the high points.
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4701
Ah, hadn't heard it was a real thing! Thanks!
 
Woken by a large bang about 7:30 this morning later traced to a chemical
reactor blowing a seal at a chemical works about 3 and a half miles away
luckily it's down wind.
 
Last night, I heard something. It was like a massive aircraft flying overhead very slowly. It rumbled on loudly for what seemed to be an age.
At first, I thought it was my neighbour making a noise, but I stuck my head outside to check it out. Definitely something rumbling up there in the sky.
Oh, and I'm not in Ireland.
Yeah. I heard something similar around the time the (uk) lockdown started. I remember thinking 'surely there aren't planes flying' (although clearly they are, that was just my thought) and 'what a bloody racket'!
It wasn't a helicopter, very common overhead here and planes big enough to sound that loud don't fly low here.
It was odd.
 
Lying in bed last night, I had just switched off my phone (and noted the time as 00.27) and closed my eyes when there was an almighty explosion. It was a huge, flat crack of a detonation. The house didn't shake or anything but I could tell that it was powerful. I jumped up to have a look out of the bedroom window but there was nothing to see.

I picked up my phone again to check to see if anyone in the area started posing about it but saw nothing. I wondered if it was just my imagination and whether I had instantly nodded off.

But checking the local news now I see that there was an explosion last night, the first emergency call came in at 00.29. Something went off at a car dealership about 16km away. That's almost 10 miles away!! A few cars were destroyed and 150 people evacuted from the local area. So God knows what that was about but at least I know it wasn't my dreams/imagination.
 
They've picked the least exciting video for it considering it briefly stopped the French Tennis Open, but here's a mystery boom in Paris:
News story

Apparently it was a fighter jet overhead breaking the sound barrier. Quite why it thought it necessary to do this over the capital puts the mystery in mystery boom.
 
A large data collection and analysis effort is underway to determine what causes mystery booms along the North Carolina seacoast.

I don't understand why the article's author insisted on referring to the North Carolina version as "Seneca Guns" (mystery booms long associated with Seneca Lake in New York).*
What's behind the mysterious, earth-shaking boom of the 'Seneca Guns'?

Enigmatic booming sounds called the "Seneca Guns" have reverberated off parts of coastal North Carolina for more than 150 years, with some powerful enough to rattle windows and vibrate buildings.

Now, scientists are using seismic data to pinpoint where the explosions come from and what causes them.

They presented their findings on Dec. 7 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But spoiler alert: They haven't quite solved the mystery yet. ...

The name Seneca Guns comes not from North Carolina, but from Lake Seneca in upstate New York where a similar phenomenon occurred. The lake's ominous booming sounds, described in 1850 by the writer James Fenimore Cooper in his short story "The Lake Gun," had at the time been heard for centuries. ...

Though the Seneca Guns can cause ground shaking, the scientists didn't find any earthquake records that coincided with the events, effectively ruling out ground shaking as the cause of these booms.

"Generally speaking, we believe this is an atmospheric phenomenon — we don't think it's coming from seismic activity, we're assuming it's propagating through the atmosphere rather than the ground" ...

One atmospheric explanation could be bolides — space rocks that are traveling so fast when they hit Earth's atmosphere that they explode. Another possibility could be events that originate in the ocean, such as the crash of very large waves or thunder far offshore — "the atmospheric conditions could be such that that gets amplified in a particular direction, or is primarily affecting this localized area" ...

Signals associated with booming varied in length from about 1 second to nearly 10 seconds, with the station near Cape Fear picking up the most prominent signals. Anecdotally, the Cape Fear region is also known for having numerous Seneca Gun incidents. However, the sensor array wasn't dense enough to pinpoint where the signals were coming from, and more data will be required to trace these big bangs, the researchers wrote. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/agu-seneca-guns-cause.html

*NOTE: We have a thread dedicated to the Seneca Drums / Seneca Guns

"The Drums Of Seneca Lake"
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/the-drums-of-seneca-lake.16502/
 
A large data collection and analysis effort is underway to determine what causes mystery booms along the North Carolina seacoast.

I don't understand why the article's author insisted on referring to the North Carolina version as "Seneca Guns" (mystery booms long associated with Seneca Lake in New York).*


FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/agu-seneca-guns-cause.html

*NOTE: We have a thread dedicated to the Seneca Drums / Seneca Guns

"The Drums Of Seneca Lake"
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/the-drums-of-seneca-lake.16502/
Do you think her use of "Seneca Guns" is a result of the nonspecific way we can refer to these mystery booms? (Other than as "mystery booms") There is no suitable term except as a description associated with place names.

I tend to prefer the idea of breaking waves offshore amplified by atmospheric conditions. Bolides are too rare to account for these.
 
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