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Number_6_uk said:
While searching about for more info on the vids I came across a thread on another site discussing the sound.
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum ... 750775/pg1

A video dated 19th October 2011 taken in Colorado in the US sounds quite similar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ZS5LThoj0#!
One of the ones linked in the first link is almost assuredly someone playing the sound of the aliens from the recent War of the Worlds movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpQQ7UZ7brA&feature=related
 
kamalktk said:
One of the ones linked in the first link is almost assuredly someone playing the sound of the aliens from the recent War of the Worlds movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpQQ7UZ7brA&feature=related

Yep, definitely. I hate the way the people who do that kind of thing don't seem to know or care that by releasing these hoaxed/parodied/teasing videos they're muddying the waters significantly. Don't they want to find out what the sound is themselves?
 
Number_6_uk said:
kamalktk said:
One of the ones linked in the first link is almost assuredly someone playing the sound of the aliens from the recent War of the Worlds movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpQQ7UZ7brA&feature=related

Yep, definitely. I hate the way the people who do that kind of thing don't seem to know or care that by releasing these hoaxed/parodied/teasing videos they're muddying the waters significantly. Don't they want to find out what the sound is themselves?
It's the Kiev one. That may just be someone playing the sound, thinking it would be funny, and another person not knowing what it is, recording it. Then the poster at the other site groups it in with the other hums, they were probably over-eager in their grouping.
 
Greylian, I live in Norwich and certainly hear Norwich Hum! Sometimes it's definitely in my head (all's quiet and if you make a noise the hum turns down) but I've noticed that when there is snow on the ground (and the world sounds different anyway) there can be a very loud hum that other people can hear too. Have long suspected the water works.
 
I think this might fit here as it sounds like the noises. Somewhere it has been suggested that this might be the instrument used in some videos to create the eerie sounds. If not, it is still interesting as I didn't know about it:

Meet the Waterphone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRB3CbvQBJA
 
Over the last week I've been posted a couple of these "strange sounds from the Earth" videos by my chums asking what it is. Thanks to "kamalktk" I've been able to send most of them to watch the trailer for Speilberg's War of the Worlds to ease their worries.

On other threads we're discussing the demise of the UFO photograph and the demise in all things Fortean due IMO that a majority of them are explainable.

I find it interesting the shift from UFO/Sasquatch/Nightcrawler videos to audio films where in the Fortean subject is now a noise not a object/thing. It got me thinking that hoaxers have changed tactics or...

...isn't that nature of the trickster ultraverse, just when we achieve a point where we can look at an image and say "Fake / Photoshop / simulacra" the trickster ultraverse comes along and says "Oh yeah, explain this." Cue sounds from the Earth.

These new videos and they are new...(if the Earth was going to shift poles I think somewhere deep in the human primeval psyche there would be the recognition that sounds from the sky indicate great upheaval to come)...do vary. From Dingo's Waterphone to drilling which could be carried from afar on still night air to promising the neighbours they'd been an internet sensation leading to them coming out of their house and asking "What's that strange noise?" at the appropriate moment. I saw one from London where the hoaxer's dog was given a role.

I wonder if these noises will be remembered as hoaxes or will a majority of watchers today, in years to come, still talk about with them with hushed tones and if that is the case it leads me to think that essentially it's human nature that creates Forteana adopting the role of storyteller.

On the flip side of that would the debunker, the sceptic ready to explain the unexplainable.

It's been on mind all week and I found it interesting the shift in Fortean media from pictures to numerous videos of noises from the earth.
 
It is probably easier to create a video with a funny noise on it than one with a weird visual. Not that funny noises don't happen (ooer), but you can see the appeal to the hoaxers and amateur special effects enthusiasts.
 
Locals seek explanation for near-constant hum
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 22709.html
Tue, Apr 17, 2012

Residents of the mid-Kerry area where a humming noise has been experienced for a number of weeks say they believe there is a rational explanation to the annoying sound.

Sound tests they have carried out have determined the note is fairly constant, usually E flat.

Barry Lynch of Kilgobnet, near Beaufort, said it was more noticeable at night, but perhaps this was because there was no other distracting noise around. He said the hum was concentrated over a 16km (10-mile) radius. Mr Lynch said he was keeping an open mind on the source, whether wireless, electrical or drilling. Since highlighting the matter on local radio, he has received reports of a similar sound from Tralee, Moll’s Gap, Kilgarvan and Sneem.

The Commission for Communications Regulation has ruled out the source of the noise as wireless. Kerry County Council is investigating.
 
More about the 'Windsor Hum':

WINDSOR, Ontario—Last month, Bob Dechert, a senior aide to Canada's foreign minister, was dispatched to Detroit with an important diplomatic mission: To stop a highly annoying noise.

The so-called Windsor hum, described as a low-frequency rumbling sound, has rattled windows and knocked objects off shelves in this border community just across the Detroit River from the Motor City. Locals have said it sounds like a large diesel truck idling, a loud boom box or the bass vocals of Barry White.

Windsor residents have blamed the hum for causing illness, whipping dogs into frenzies, keeping cats housebound and sending goldfish to the surface in backyard ponds. Many have resorted to switching on their furnace fan all season to drown out the noise.

Even weirder, Americans can't seem to hear it. Canadians find that suspicious—especially since their research suggests the hum is coming from the Yankees' side—and accuse U.S. officials of staying silent over the noise.

"The government of Canada takes this issue seriously," Mr. Dechert said after his recent fact-finding trip, which included a visit to a heavily industrialized area on the American side of the river that some Canadian scientists believe is to blame for the hum.

Unexplained noises have tormented city dwellers for centuries. Residents west of Green Bay, Wis., have been trying to identify an occasional loud boom that they say sounds like a cannon blast—geologists have said earthquakes made the noise. Locals in upstate New York and other places have described similar episodes.

But few such cases have become international diplomatic incidents.

After three months of seismic studies conducted by Canada's natural resources department, scientists said the noise was likely coming from Zug Island, a nearly 600-acre man-made island on the Michigan side of the Detroit River. The coal-blackened industrial zone is dominated by steel mills, including facilities operated by U.S. Steel Corp. and others whose blast furnaces belch out steam and flames.

The area is off-limits to the general public and surrounded by wire fences, with the only access via a guarded gate. A spokeswoman for U.S. Steel didn't respond to requests for comment.

The sound has been plaguing Windsor residents on and off for two years. Last May, a particularly loud eruption shook Windsor resident David Robins as he watched the National Basketball Association playoffs. The room began to vibrate with a loud throbbing noise.

Mr. Robins hit mute, fearing he had gone overboard on volume. But the noise persisted. Stepping outside, Mr. Robins said he found the "entire neighborhood pulsating."

"To be honest, I was scared," he said.

Hundreds of other sleep-deprived locals have demanded action from politicians in Windsor and Ottawa.

Locals blamed earthquakes, local salt mines, an underground river and wind turbines in the past. But Canada's seismic study last summer narrowed the likely source down to approximately 250 acres in the vicinity of Zug Island.

American officials say they aren't so sure.

"It may not be actually emanating from Michigan," said Hansen Clarke, the U.S. Representative for the East Detroit congressional district that includes Zug.

Michael D. Bowdler, the mayor of River Rouge, Michigan, the municipality with authority over Zug, said his cash-strapped government doesn't have funds to investigate further. Mr. Bowdler suggests the city of Windsor pay for a survey that could isolate the noise to its exact location.

American officials contend there haven't been complaints on the U.S. side of the border. Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality looked last year at whether the companies at Zug started up any new machinery in the past two years that might be causing the noise and found nothing.

"The only place I am hearing noise from is Canada—from politicians complaining," Mr. Bowdler said.

Mr. Dechert, Canada's parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, concedes the source may not be Zug Island, given there are a "number of operations" in the vicinity that could be responsible. But he wants his U.S. counterparts to investigate further to help quiet down the border ruckus.

"There is definitely something going on that's affecting people on the Canadian side of the river," he said.

Canadian diplomats formally raised the issue with the U.S. Department of State last September. They took up the cause again at a meeting on Thursday. A State Department spokesman declined to comment on the meeting.

"We do sympathize with the plight of those affected but, unfortunately, the federal government doesn't have regulatory authority over noise pollution," the spokesman said.

Canadian authorities have also hoped the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would investigate. But a spokesman for the EPA said it doesn't have the authority to assist.

If U.S. officials don't help find a solution, "there will be a lot of upset people," said Brian Masse, a Canadian New Democratic Party member of parliament, whose Windsor constituency sits across the river from Zug Island.

Studying the hum, much less its origin, is challenging. It is difficult to capture the mainly nocturnal sound on tape, since it doesn't hum all the time.

During a recent visit to Windsor by a Wall Street Journal reporter, Windsor resident Gary Grosse played several recordings he said came from the noise, which modulated from metallic grating to a pulsing beat.

On a visit to the area around Zug Island, a fainter version of similar sounds was audible. But Americans nearby said they still can't hear it.

Fishing under the shadow of some of the large mounds of coal that fringe Zug Island, Samson Jenkins says that in 20 trips here he has never heard a noise like that described in Windsor.

"And they say they can hear it all the way in Canada?" said the 45-year-old maintenance worker. "No way."

Nearby, an industrial chimney belched out a twist of sulfurous-smelling smoke. Mr. Jenkins joked the only noise pollution he has heard of late is Canadian singer Celine Dion.

In Windsor, nobody's laughing.

In January 2011, Sonya Skillings's nocturnal baby-feeding sessions were disturbed by what she said sounded like an underground subway beneath the house. Over a year on, it has become so loud sometimes she worries the windows will blow out.

"I just want to be in my rocking chair with my baby asleep on top of me," she said. But "all I can hear is 'vrump, vrump, vrump.' "

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 39816.html
 
More about the 'Windsor Hum':

WINDSOR, Ontario—Last month, Bob Dechert, a senior aide to Canada's foreign minister, was dispatched to Detroit with an important diplomatic mission: To stop a highly annoying noise.

The so-called Windsor hum, described as a low-frequency rumbling sound, has rattled windows and knocked objects off shelves in this border community just across the Detroit River from the Motor City. Locals have said it sounds like a large diesel truck idling, a loud boom box or the bass vocals of Barry White.

Windsor residents have blamed the hum for causing illness, whipping dogs into frenzies, keeping cats housebound and sending goldfish to the surface in backyard ponds. Many have resorted to switching on their furnace fan all season to drown out the noise.

Even weirder, Americans can't seem to hear it. Canadians find that suspicious—especially since their research suggests the hum is coming from the Yankees' side—and accuse U.S. officials of staying silent over the noise.

"The government of Canada takes this issue seriously," Mr. Dechert said after his recent fact-finding trip, which included a visit to a heavily industrialized area on the American side of the river that some Canadian scientists believe is to blame for the hum.

Unexplained noises have tormented city dwellers for centuries. Residents west of Green Bay, Wis., have been trying to identify an occasional loud boom that they say sounds like a cannon blast—geologists have said earthquakes made the noise. Locals in upstate New York and other places have described similar episodes.

But few such cases have become international diplomatic incidents.

After three months of seismic studies conducted by Canada's natural resources department, scientists said the noise was likely coming from Zug Island, a nearly 600-acre man-made island on the Michigan side of the Detroit River. The coal-blackened industrial zone is dominated by steel mills, including facilities operated by U.S. Steel Corp. and others whose blast furnaces belch out steam and flames.

The area is off-limits to the general public and surrounded by wire fences, with the only access via a guarded gate. A spokeswoman for U.S. Steel didn't respond to requests for comment.

The sound has been plaguing Windsor residents on and off for two years. Last May, a particularly loud eruption shook Windsor resident David Robins as he watched the National Basketball Association playoffs. The room began to vibrate with a loud throbbing noise.

Mr. Robins hit mute, fearing he had gone overboard on volume. But the noise persisted. Stepping outside, Mr. Robins said he found the "entire neighborhood pulsating."

"To be honest, I was scared," he said.

Hundreds of other sleep-deprived locals have demanded action from politicians in Windsor and Ottawa.

Locals blamed earthquakes, local salt mines, an underground river and wind turbines in the past. But Canada's seismic study last summer narrowed the likely source down to approximately 250 acres in the vicinity of Zug Island.

American officials say they aren't so sure.

"It may not be actually emanating from Michigan," said Hansen Clarke, the U.S. Representative for the East Detroit congressional district that includes Zug.

Michael D. Bowdler, the mayor of River Rouge, Michigan, the municipality with authority over Zug, said his cash-strapped government doesn't have funds to investigate further. Mr. Bowdler suggests the city of Windsor pay for a survey that could isolate the noise to its exact location.

American officials contend there haven't been complaints on the U.S. side of the border. Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality looked last year at whether the companies at Zug started up any new machinery in the past two years that might be causing the noise and found nothing.

"The only place I am hearing noise from is Canada—from politicians complaining," Mr. Bowdler said.

Mr. Dechert, Canada's parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, concedes the source may not be Zug Island, given there are a "number of operations" in the vicinity that could be responsible. But he wants his U.S. counterparts to investigate further to help quiet down the border ruckus.

"There is definitely something going on that's affecting people on the Canadian side of the river," he said.

Canadian diplomats formally raised the issue with the U.S. Department of State last September. They took up the cause again at a meeting on Thursday. A State Department spokesman declined to comment on the meeting.

"We do sympathize with the plight of those affected but, unfortunately, the federal government doesn't have regulatory authority over noise pollution," the spokesman said.

Canadian authorities have also hoped the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would investigate. But a spokesman for the EPA said it doesn't have the authority to assist.

If U.S. officials don't help find a solution, "there will be a lot of upset people," said Brian Masse, a Canadian New Democratic Party member of parliament, whose Windsor constituency sits across the river from Zug Island.

Studying the hum, much less its origin, is challenging. It is difficult to capture the mainly nocturnal sound on tape, since it doesn't hum all the time.

During a recent visit to Windsor by a Wall Street Journal reporter, Windsor resident Gary Grosse played several recordings he said came from the noise, which modulated from metallic grating to a pulsing beat.

On a visit to the area around Zug Island, a fainter version of similar sounds was audible. But Americans nearby said they still can't hear it.

Fishing under the shadow of some of the large mounds of coal that fringe Zug Island, Samson Jenkins says that in 20 trips here he has never heard a noise like that described in Windsor.

"And they say they can hear it all the way in Canada?" said the 45-year-old maintenance worker. "No way."

Nearby, an industrial chimney belched out a twist of sulfurous-smelling smoke. Mr. Jenkins joked the only noise pollution he has heard of late is Canadian singer Celine Dion.

In Windsor, nobody's laughing.

In January 2011, Sonya Skillings's nocturnal baby-feeding sessions were disturbed by what she said sounded like an underground subway beneath the house. Over a year on, it has become so loud sometimes she worries the windows will blow out.

"I just want to be in my rocking chair with my baby asleep on top of me," she said. But "all I can hear is 'vrump, vrump, vrump.' "

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 39816.html
 
I scanned the last 2 pages and didn't see this as posted yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDFNM86I2-U It does a great job of debunking just about every earth noise video.

I think this phenomena is a combination of:
1) Hoaxed videos (not to mention none of the people's reactions in the videos seem believable to me).
2) Real noises that people are only now starting to pay more attention to (factories, etc) because of the new interest. This would explain multiple witnesses reporting to news channels.
3) Existing unexplained earth noises that people have been reporting for a long long time.

Are there any earth noise reports with the same sounds as these videos, from multiple credible people, who live in the same super-rural area that has zero industry whatsoever?
 
Human_84 said:
Are there any earth noise reports with the same sounds as these videos, from multiple credible people, who live in the same super-rural area that has zero industry whatsoever?

Dunno if they're exactly the same as the videos, but I'm pretty sure this was the case in rural England back in the 1970s, with cases like the Somerset Bumps, etc. Still doesn't rule out hoaxing or misidentification, of course, and often a feature of the noises was that they couldn't be (or weren't) picked up by recording devices.
 
It is now humming in New Zealand:

Mysterious hum reported in Mt Victoria

A mysterious low-pitched humming sound has been troubling some Wellington residents for the last few days and it seems no-one has any idea what it might be.

The Wellington City Council has had several calls over the past few days with the most recent being about 5am today.

Have you heard the noise or know what it could be?

Spokesman Richard MacLean said the complaints had been coming in from Mt Victoria, Newtown and Mt Cook residents. "We are interested to hear if this starts to become a constant thing. We are keeping our ear to the ground."

One Mt Victoria resident said he and his fiancee had noticed the noise on Saturday and it hadn't stopped since.

He likened it to a low to medium pitched humming sound and said it went all day and all night and was "doing his head in".

The phenomena has also been reported in various parts of the world, including Auckland's North Shore.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/ne ... t-Victoria
 
I think that you can be in a super-rural location and actually hear noises from many miles away, especially if - as in my case - you have a stone built house sitting straight on rock.

I think it acts as a kind of loudspeaker that picks up noises of say, quarrying activity or large scale water pumps a couple of valleys away. This explains why you can only hear the hum inside my house. As mentioned earlier in the thread I've traced one source of 'hum' to a standby generator at a pumping station several fields away. You can't hear it outside unless you get a couple of fields closer - but this particular version of my hum stops when it stops, which is good enough for me!
 
Residents on the Waterside say mystery vibration is giving them sleepless nights
7:41am Wednesday 16th October 2013 in News

IT starts at 10pm and drones on all night, making sleep impossible.
People living on the western side of Southampton Water say they are being driven to distraction by a mystery vibration noise that keeps them awake and is starting to affect their health.
Experts have launched an investigation into the cause of a low-frequency drone that began several months ago.

One woman desperate to escape the din has taken to visiting a friend who lives several miles away and sleeping on their sofa.
Teacher Val Cacchi said: “It’s a pulsing, droning noise, rather like an aeroplane that never quite goes over.
"Over the past week it’s become considerably worse and lasts all night.”

Mrs Cacchi lives near Fawley refinery and initially thought the huge petro-chemical complex might be to blame.
“However, I discovered that a number of my colleagues were suffering in the same way.
They live all along the Waterside and I realised it was unlikely to be Esso because of the distance involved,” she said.
“So I contacted the port authority to find out if they were dredging, but they said they weren’t.”

She added: “I’ve been to the doctor in desperation and got some sleeping tablets. I also spend some nights on a friend’s sofa to try and get some sleep. I’ve also lost days at work through feeling so awful.

“Other people have been to the doctor believing they’ve got tinnitus. One person is seriously considering early retirement as she feels she’s no longer able to cope with day-today life.
“It’s got to the stage where you almost dread going to bed at night because you don’t know if you’re going to get any sleep or not.”

Christine English, who runs the allmobility shop in Hythe, lives in Fawley.
She said: “It’s a very loud humming noise that only happens at night.
“I notice it when I go to bed and all the other sounds have stopped. But no one can pinpoint where it comes from – that’s the weird thing.”

A refinery spokesman added: “There is a lot of industry in the Waterside area apart from us. We are aware of the issue and know that New Forest District Council is trying to identify the source of the noise.”

A council spokesman said it had received ten complaints, mostly from people living in the Hythe and Dibden Purlieu area.
She added: “Due to the large amount of heavy industry along the Waterside area the Environment Agency and the council’s environmental health teams are working together to establish the cause of the noise.
“Out-of-hours monitoring is to be carried out as part of the investigation.”

Anyone affected by the noise can call the environment protection line on 023 8028 5411 or the Environment Agency hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/1074096 ... ghtmares_/
 
All night long: Residents losing sleep thanks to the droning mating call of RANDY FISH
23 Oct 2013 23:25

Approximately 30 people have complained about the noise - which can go on for hours as competing males attempt to outdo each other's sexy drone
A droning noise keeping families awake at night has been blamed on randy fish.
Around 30 people have complained about the din which usually starts up at 10pm – and some even had to move out.

Experts said the noise could be caused by male midshipman fish which produce a droning from their swim bladder to attract females.
The noise can go on for hours and often increases in volume as competing males attempt to out-hum each other.
Scientists say the sound can be amplified by bouncing off buildings and ships.

Linda Zammit, of Woolston, Sothampton, who is one of the people affected, said: “I thought I was going mad. I hear it every night unless it’s windy or raining.”

Maria Dennett, from Sholing, added: “We regularly experience a humming noise at night.
"A few times we put it down to a neighbour’s washing machine or dishwasher but it’s happening so frequently that we know it’s not the case.
“It’s a really low pitched sound that literally pulsates through the house.”

Midshipman have left people sleepless in Seattle in the US and marine scientist Dr Ben Wilson said fish may be to blame again at Southampton Water, Hants.
He said: “It’s not beyond the realms of possibility. There are certainly ‘sonic fish’ in the north Atlantic and the approaches to the English Channel.””

New Forest council has put in monitoring equipment to find the source of the noise.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news ... ll-2486013


Southampton Water mystery droning prompts more moaning

The number of complaints from residents in part of Hampshire who say they are being disturbed at night by a low-frequency noise has tripled.
New Forest District Council and the Environment Agency say they still do not know what is causing the drone that has been going on for several months.
More than 30 complaints, mainly from people in Hythe, Holbury and Fawley, have been received by the council.

Some reports have suggested it could be calls from mating fish.
But Davina Miller, from New Forest District Council, said it was not yet known what was causing the noise and added it was unlikely to be the mating of midshipman fish.

She said: "A number of suggestions have been put forward by the public which include dredging in Southampton Water, noise from the refinery or other industrial processes along the waterside, power cables, circling aircraft and even mating fish.
"At the moment we are keeping an open mind as to the source of the noise, particularly as low frequency noise can travel considerable distances.
"The midshipman fish is not commonly found within the inshore waters of the UK.
"As far as we are aware there are no other marine fish native to this country capable of creating widespread noise disturbance of this nature."

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: "It could be anything. We can't set anything in stone just yet as we're still eliminating all the possibilities."

The number of complaints has risen from 10 a week ago to 30.
The council has been conducting out-of-hours monitoring, but did not detect the sound because background noise levels in the area were too high.
Ms Miller said monitoring equipment would now be deployed at a number of properties over the forthcoming weeks.
Everybody who has complained will also be asked to keep a diary to record of the dates and times they are affected by the noise.

Ms Miller said a small number of complaints had been received from people as far away as Lymington, Marchwood, Totton, Shirley, Swaythling and Sholing.

Some people believe that the noise is constant, but is particularly noticeable at night. Others say it occurs from late evening until early morning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24658172
 
Lengthy article on the Hum and its possible causes.

The opening paragraphs:

A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane — And Nobody Knows What's Causing It

Dr. Glen MacPherson doesn't remember the first time he heard the sound. It may have started at the beginning of 2012, a dull, steady droning like that of a diesel engine idling down the street from his house in the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. A lecturer at the University of British Columbia and high school teacher of physics, mathematics and biology, months passed before MacPherson realized that the noise, which he'd previously dismissed as some background nuisance like car traffic or an airplane passing overhead, was something abnormal.

"Once I realized that this wasn't simply the ambient noise of living in my little corner of the world, I went through the typical stages and steps to try to isolate the sources," MacPherson told Mic. "I assumed it may be an electrical problem, so I shut off the mains to the entire house. It got louder. I went driving around my neighborhood looking for the source, and I noticed it was louder at night."

Exasperated, MacPherson turned his focus to scientific literature and pored over reports of the mysterious noise before coming across an article by University of Oklahoma geophysicist David Deming in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, a peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to exploring topics outside of mainstream science. "I almost dropped my laptop," says MacPherson. "I was sure that I was hearing the Hum."

"The Hum" refers to a mysterious sound heard in places around the world by a small fraction of a local population. It's characterized by a persistent and invasive low-frequency rumbling or droning noise often accompanied by vibrations. While reports of "unidentified humming sounds" pop up in scientific literature dating back to the 1830s, modern manifestations of the contemporary hum have been widely reported by national media in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia since the early 1970s.

Regional experiences of the phenomenon vary, and the Hum is often prefixed with the region where the problem centers, like the "Windsor Hum" in Ontario, Canada, the "Taos Hum" in New Mexico, or the "Auckland Hum" for Auckland, New Zealand. Somewhere between 2 and 10% of people can hear the Hum, and inside isolation is no escape. Most sufferers find the noise to be more disturbing indoors and at night. Much to their dismay, the source of the mysterious humming is virtually untraceable.

While the uneven experience of the Hum in local populations has led some researchers to dismiss it as a "mass delusion," the nuisance and pain associated with the phenomenon make delusion a dissatisfying hypothesis. Intrigued by the mysterious noise, MacPherson launched The World Hum Map and Database in December 2012 to collect testimonies of other Hum sufferers and track its global impact (he now also moderates a decade-old Yahoo forum along with Deming).

MacPherson quickly discovered that what to him was a strange rumbling was actually having pernicious effects on hundreds of people, from headaches to irritability to sleep deprivation. There are reports that weeks of insomnia caused by the Bristol Hum drove at least three U.K. residents to suicide. "It completely drains energy, causing stress and loss of sleep," a sufferer told a British newspaper in 1992. "I have been on tranquilizers and have lost count of the number of nights I have spent holding my head in my hands, crying and crying." Thousands of people around the world have shared similar experiences of the Hum; some, like MacPherson, are devoting their time to finally uncovering its source.

Tom Moir, a professor at the Auckland University of Technology and Hum investigator, first started looking into the Hum after an Auckland resident called Moir's office at Massey University in 2002. Moir, a professor of control engineering, placed an ad in the local paper after receiving a visit from a Hum sufferer who desperately wanted to find the source of the racket. He received dozens of responses within days, all describing a mysterious droning noise matching the one described in Deming's landmark paper. Residents of Auckland's northern shore claimed that the Hum was so intense that it was preventing them from sleeping or concentrating. "When it's loud, it's like there's vibrations between your ears, that your brain is vibrating," one resident told local TV in 2011. Another Auckland resident said that the noise had been so disruptive to his life that he'd deafened himself in one ear with a chainsaw so he could sleep through the night. Many had lived a life of vibroacoustic agony, unsure if what they were hearing was real or not.

"For my entire life, I was a perfect sleeper," says Steve Kohlhase, 60, who first started to experience the Hum at night in his Brookfield, Connecticut home in September 2009. A mechanical engineer in the chemical industry, Kohlhase, like so many other Hum sufferers, has devoted his free time to searching for the source of the noise. "I immediately felt the effects in my head: It feels like your fingers are in your ears. Other people have different experiences: Sometimes the floorboards in the house have a distinct vibration to them, or they they feel it in their feet in their bedsprings. Many people find their ears ringing."

So what's behind the Hum? After nearly four decades, Hum investigators may finally have some idea. The general consensus among sufferers is that the Hum is comprised of very low frequency (or 'VLF', in the range of 3 kHz to 30 kHz and wavelengths from 10 to 100 kilometers) or extremely low frequency (or 'ELF', in the range of 3 to 30 Hz, and corresponding wavelengths from 100,000 to 10,000 kilometers) radio waves, which can penetrate buildings and travel over tremendous distances.

Both ELF and VLF waves have been shown to have potentially adverse affects on the human body. While the common refrain about ELF radiation in popular culture normally involves your cell phone giving you cancer, research by the World Health Organization and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers has shown that external ELF magnetic fields can induce currents in the body which, at very high field strengths, cause nerve and muscle stimulation and changes in nerve cell excitability in the central nervous system. And VLF waves, like other low-frequency electromagnetic radiation, have also been shown to have a direct impact on biological functions

Finally, there's a body of empirical evidence that makes this theory more appealing. A study funded by the Canadian government and led by University of Windsor mechanical engineering professor Dr. Colin Novak spent the last year listening to the "Windsor Hum" that's been torturing residents in the Windsor area of Ontario since 2011. A previous study had confirmed the existence of the low frequency noise in the vicinity of Zug Island, a highly industrialized island located on Michigan side of the Detroit River. The researchers used specialized equipment to capture and develop a sonic "fingerprint" of the mysterious sound. The study concluded that not only does the Windsor Hum actually exist, but its likely source was a blast furnace at the U.S. Steel plant on Zug Island, which reportedly generates a high volume of VLF waves during its hours of operation. "It sounds like a large truck or a train locomotive is parked outside your house, buzzing away, causing the windows to shake," Novak, himself a Hum sufferer, told Canada's CTV News. "It can be quite uncomfortable at times."

Dr. Novak's study caps off decades of Hum theories, but given the inconsistent experience of the phenomenon around the world, cataloguers of the Hum still aren't quite sure if it has a single, definitive source. While ELF and VLF waves may cause people to experience the incessant droning, not every local Hum appears to have an easily traceable source. What about the Aukland and Taos Hums? And why does the Hum seem to appear and disappear for months at a time?

http://mic.com/articles/91091/a-mysteri ... causing-it
 
A strange noise is 'keeping people awake all night' but nobody knows where it's coming from

Swansea council is investigating the source of the noises which residents say has sounded for more than a year but have become more frequent recently.

A mysterious siren noise is causing upset in Swansea with people complaining it is keeping them up all night.
Swansea council is investigating the source of the noises which residents say has sounded for more than a year but has become more frequent recently.
On Tuesday, a woman from Gwynedd Avenue in Swansea’s Townhill housing estate contacted Swansea council to complain about the aggravating sound.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said it sounded like a “war siren or an old factory siren”.
She said the noise had been heard off and on for around a year and could be heard in neighbouring Mayhill.
She added: “The daytime doesn’t bother me but the night time ones go off all hours of the night and early hours.
“It wakes me and my husband up. I work late evenings and my husband works late evenings and early mornings on shift work. It’s not good when we can’t sleep.”
Stella Elphick told the South Wales Evening Post: “I’ve heard it too in Cockett. Been going on for at least the last two summers and through the winter. Day and night.”

And Pete Rose added: “It drives my mother insane and I often hear it when visiting Elphin Road. I hear it in Cwmdu.”
Some people claim the sound is coming from Marquis Arms at Fforestfach Cross while others have claimed it is coming from the Cwmdu Industrial Estate.

Damian Holt said: “Can hear it in Port Tennant also. Every morning around 4.30/5am till 6am or 7am most mornings.”
Julie Fuge added: “Can hear it too on Carmarthen Road, Cwmdu. Sounds like the one they used to have in Cave Street Council depot years ago.”
Swansea Council is looking into the matter.
A spokesman for the authority said yesterday: “Investigations into a possible source are on-going, but we’d still ask members of the public to contact our noise pollution team if they have any information that could be helpful.”

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/strange-noise-keeping-people-awake-10114846
 
I'd have thought you could sort that out in a couple of days with a directional microphone, a map and a compass.
 
A scientist listens to the Hum in Wales.

I came across this today and recalled that both water and Wales had featured in Hum-related threads on FTMB.

Actually, I see the Welsh case above was down in Swansea, albeit (curiously) in Gwynedd Avenue. This piece refers to my old haunt of Bangor, Gwynedd. I don't recall being disturbed by humming there, though. :cool:
 
Interesting that he partially blames water. Is the hum spreading? Will there come a time when most people can hear the hum? Do visitors to hum areas think, "what's that noise?" or is it mainly for locals?
 
Could mystery noise causing sleepless nights be the Camborne Hum?
By wbchris | Posted: November 21, 2015

A FRUSTRATED resident says that she is at a loss to explain a strange humming noise that is keeping her awake at night.
Christine Downing, a 40-year-old receptionist from Camborne, says that the noise first started around a year ago and over the last few months has become noticeably louder, peaking at around 4am near enough every day.

Ms Downing, who lives in College Street, says the noise is most noticeable indoors, a factor consistent with the mysterious Earth Hum phenomenon that has been widely reported on the internet with well documented cases in Bristol and Plymouth.
She said: "The drone sounds like a diesel engine idling or an electrical transformer or a water pump that is struggling to cope. It is a throbbing drone rather than a hum.
"I can hear the drone in my house, in the house across the road and in the flats next door, but nowhere else. I can hear the noise outside but I can only be certain that I'm hearing it when there is no wind or traffic noise as it is a similar frequency to a large vehicle when it is changing gear.

"It is not tinnitus because I can partly block-out the sound with ear plugs. The problem with wearing ear plugs at night is that I risk sleeping through my alarm, so I only use them on my days off.
"I also have also purchased a white noise generating machine that masks the drone and although the white noise is more bearable than the drone, it still means I don't sleep very well."

The Earth Hum Ms Downing alluded to has baffled scientists for nearly 40 years with numerous cases, with similar descriptions as the one heard by Ms Downing, reported around the UK with one instance even being quoted in a suicide case.
Scientists have since linked the Earth Hum to the pressure of the waves on the seafloor that generates seismic waves that cause the Earth to oscillate.

Ms Downing says that she is refusing to rule out the mysterious Earth Hum as a cause of the noise.
"I have checked that it is not the water heaters, dehumidifiers or fridges in my house," she added.
"I have contacted Western Power (the electricity suppliers). They did a full investigation and have said it is not the power grid making the noise.
"I have contacted South West Water. They say it is not their pumping stations or water network making the noise.
"I have contacted Wales and West Utilities (the gas suppliers). They say it is not the gas network making the droning noise and I understand there is no work, not even pump is being undertaken at [South] Crofty [mine]."

Ms Downing says that she is keen to hear from people who can also hear the noise, anybody with information can email West Briton reporter Chris Matthews at [email protected]

http://www.westbriton.co.uk/mystery...s-Camborne/story-28212336-detail/story.html#1
 
I hear it although now I think of it I've not noticed it for months. It generally only happens in summer for some reason. I live near a railway line AND the River Clyde so it's possibly some machinery connected with those. The wife can never hear it though, it's only me. I even came down and turned off all the electricity one night because I was convinced it was something in the house but it made no difference.
 
Might be late night road resurfacing.
I had something similar happen to me a couple of years ago, when they resurfaced the A1.
 
i live in wigan and occasionaly i do hear a humming sound, particularly at night. i can only describe it as a low level hum- like a slow revving diesel engine on idle? now, i only hear it when im in bed and relaxed,its as though its coming from underground? even my wife can't hear it as i have asked her. it is really really annoying. i have often wondered if its some kind of "'working" going on in the old mines that are all over this area?
 
i live in wigan and occasionaly i do hear a humming sound, particularly at night. i can only describe it as a low level hum- like a slow revving diesel engine on idle? now, i only hear it when im in bed and relaxed,its as though its coming from underground? even my wife can't hear it as i have asked her. it is really really annoying. i have often wondered if its some kind of "'working" going on in the old mines that are all over this area?
So your wife can't hear it, nor can Xeper's missus. Might be a man thing.
 
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