Updated:  Unexplained Loud Booms Persist in United States

© 2013 by Linda Moulton Howe

“At this point, nobody seems to know.
The geologists say it's not in the ground. The Air Force says
it's not in the air. The astronomers say it's not from space.
So we're running out of options.”

- Jeffrey Braun, Ph.D., Physicist, Univ. of Evansville, Indiana

January 25, 2013 Update:  Mystery Booms in Tennessee.

“It sounded like a hand grenade going off underground,
then you could feel the ground vibrate."

- Jimmy Standifer, Hamblen County Deputy Sheriff

Morristown, Hamblen County, Tennessee,
is 48 miles northeast of Knoxville.

On Wednesday, January 23, 2013, between 1:00 and 3:30 AM Central, many West Morristown, Tennessee, residents called 911 to report “loud booms.” In some cases, people said it sounded “like someone was breaking into my home.” Hamblen County Sheriff Deputies could not find the source of the booms and other noises. The only working hypothesis now is that perhaps a cave beneath the Meadows subdivision collapsed. But no one knows for certain what happened and the U. S. Geological Survey has no data of seismic activity at the time.

For more information about ongoing mysterious booms and flashes of light in many regions of the U. S. since early December 2012, please see this report and listen to Earthfiles audio reports at Dreamland Radio Online and in the upcoming Coast to Coast AM radio broadcast January 31, 2013, beginning at 11 PM Pacific.

Original Earthfiles January 10, 2013  Albuquerque, New Mexico - Since the Earthfiles report about the December 3, 2012, Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, mysterious lights and booms [12/08/2012 Earthfiles], there have been many more reports of unexplained booms and light flashes as recently as January 8 to 9, 2013, in Utah; in Salem, Massachusetts; in the Wasatch range of Utah; and the Tri-State region of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. Here is an overview working backwards in time from January 9, 2013.

1)  Utah - January 8 and 9, 2013

January 9, 2013
To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Loud booms heard again in Utah

I see on your website, you have posted an article about the loud, unexplained booms heard here in Utah, on January 8th! I just wanted to share with you, that they were again heard here tonight on the 9th!

I got a text message from a guy I work with, whom I was talking to about last night's booms, and he said that they again occurred at around 9:06 PM this evening! That's 2 nights in a row!

There is no dynamiting going on around here in Utah, as far as the News reports indicate! Nothing is coming from the Kennecott mine south of Salt Lake City - and, the next closest area I know of that might explain it would be the mining area in Elko, Nevada. But that is over 200 miles away.

Something seems to be afoot, somewhere! They are not "sonic booms"! Any ideas? KJ  Riverdale, Utah

Recently Earthfiles.com has received more viewer reports about
loud, unexplained booms in various regions of the United States
for which authorities have no explanation. The latest is headlined in the
Fox 13 Salt Lake City TV news updated January 9, after hundreds of residents
from Weber and Utah Counties in Utah and further north in Rock Springs, Wyoming,
called media and law enforcement Tuesday, January 8, 2013, around 9 PM Mountain,
after their houses shook when loud booms were heard. Also see January 5, 2013
Earthfiles Headline below about the loud, unexplained boom heard |
near Anchorage 26 hours before the 7.5 earthquake.

January 8, 2013, around 9 PM Mountain, loud booms shook residents in Weber
and Utah Counties (black circles) and on up to Rock Springs, Wyoming (upper right white).

2) Salem, Massachusetts - January 8, 2013, at 1:30 AM

The most recent boom report was Tuesday, January 8, 2013, at 10:22 PM Eastern. The unexplained boom was in the Clifton Avenue area, not far from Swampscott.

Before that on Saturday, January 5, 2013, at 1:30 AM, Marblehead and Salem callers called 911 to report hearing a loud crack-of-lightning sound, but there was no rain or thunderstorm. (See Weather Record below).

That January 5, 1:30 AM event is on this video:

SEE BRIEF VIDEO:

http://salem.patch.com/articles/mystery-explosion-caught-on-video-video

WEATHER RECORD - Salem, Massachusetts January 5, 2013:

http://www.friendlyforecast.com/usa/archive/archive.php?region=MA&id=158472&?-Forecast-North-New-Salem-Massachusetts&date=20130105000000&sort=hour

Google pointer at Salem, Massachusetts, forming a triangular
geography with Marblehead and Swampscott.

 

3)  Indiana-Illinois-Kentucky Tri-State

Unexplained booms heard Monday, January 7, and Tuesday,
January 8, 2013, over the Tri-State region of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.

January 9, 2013
To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Unexplained Booms in SW Indiana

I noticed you have stories of several states reporting unexplained, loud booms/explosions. We have been experiencing this in Evansville, IN as well.

The first one occurred Monday night, Jan. 7, 2013, just before midnight. It was heard throughout at least 2 counties, some reports claiming it even rattled their windows. I live in Newburgh, Indiana, and heard it while lying in bed. It was such a disturbing sound, it froze me. It didn't rattle the windows, but it was extremely loud. My first thought was that a train had derailed from the tracks about 2 miles from my home. I think one of the most alarming things to me was that it was so loud, but it still sounded relatively far away.

I didn't realize until the next morning that hundreds of people over at least 40 square miles heard it. Nor that there were reports of similar happenings in other parts of the country. People reported hearing it at least once last night [ Tuesday, January 8, 2013] as well. I, however, did not.
People are pretty shaken up about it here... mainly because no one seems to have even the slightest explanation. And it seems to be recurring. [ See media links in Websites below.]

January 9, 2013
To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Update-Booms in Southern Indiana rattle entire region

Hi, Linda,

Here is a follow up to the e-mail I sent to you earlier. The last several days there have been mysterious booms reported across the region. The story has been reported in all of the major media outlets in Southern Indiana, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois. My family, neighbors, wife's co-workers and myself have heard the booms daily and nightly.

[ See Websites below for media reports.]

The Evansville Police and Fire Departments have been dispatched nightly to investigate "explosions in the area" and have found nothing. Even the Regional Emergency Management Office has been receiving and investigating these calls.
The booms have continued throughout the day and into this evening as I write this email.

If you have any questions or would like more information please feel free to email me at any time. G. Evansville, Indiana

January 9, 2013

Geologists say not seismic. Indiana Air Corp says no sonic booms.
Astronomers say no space meteorites. Chemists say not tannerite.
See Evansville, Indiana Channel 14 (NBC) news report.

A lot of Tri-Staters are asking the same question Wednesday night as they were Tuesday - what are those boom sounds they hear and feel late at night?

14 News sat down with USI Professor of Geology, Paul Doss. Doss has been looking at the seismometer for the past several days.
"Earthquake energy is an acoustic energy, but it would not be transmitted out of the crust and into the atmosphere. When I look over the last few days, at these times, nothing, nothing," Doss said.

If it's not underground, perhaps the sounds originate in the sky. A sonic boom from military aircrafts? The Indiana Air Corp says that's also not possible.

"We didn't have any training events. The State of Indiana and the Air Guard, they have A10s based out of Ft. Wayne and they're not capable of executing that type of activity," said Lt. Mark Weaver.

Some residents say the sounds are coming from space. Maybe meteors which would certainly be strong enough to shake homes. But Professor Jeff Braun says the lack of visible evidence quickly disproves this theory.

"Meteors can cause sonic booms when they come in, but almost always they're accompanied by a visible fireball," Braun told 14 News.

Some people say tannerite, an exploding target used at outdoor gun ranges have a loud boom sound. But local gun store owners say it doesn't pack a punch powerful enough to be heard in several different parts of the city, let alone across the nation.

"At this point, nobody seems to know. The geologists say it's not in the ground, the Air Force says it's not in the air, the astronomers say it's not from space, so we're running out of options," Braun said.

4)  Anchorage, Alaska - January 3, 2013

26 Hours Before 7.5 Quake, Unexplained Rumbling
Boom in South Central Alaska

“My (neighbor’s kids) looked for what was making that loud noise
and they could not see anything- just kept hearing the loud noise.”

- KTUU Viewer Michelle Thomas Hanks

Channel 2, KTUU-TV in Anchorage began receiving postings about a loud, rumbling boom on its Facebook page Thursday evening, January 3, 2013, between 8 PM and 10 PM, heard by people ranging from Eagle River 15 miles northeast of Anchorage to the Mat-Su Valley 35 miles north of Anchorage. This was approximately 26 hours before the 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit 71 miles west of Craig, Alaska, in southeastern Alaska. Are they different phenomena, or linked?

Google pointer on left is Anchorage, Alaska, not far from Eagle River and the Mat-Su
Valley where a loud rumbling boom was reported Thursday evening, January 3, 2013,
between 8 PM and 10 PM. The red circle on right is Craig, Alaska, where the
7.5 magnitude earthquake hit 71 miles west of Craig at midnight
local time going into Saturday, January 5, 2013.

KTUU-TV Facebook comments from Eagle River and Mat-Su Valley, Alaska Residents On Thursday, January 3, 2013, between 8 - 10 PM local time.

- “I live in Peters Creek and I heard several loud noises outside and then muted the television,” Channel 2 viewer Rachel Lee wrote. “After about a minute of silence, there was a rumble and my chandelier started to shake. I thought it might have been an earthquake but I looked online and there weren't any listed at that time; it was 8:05 p.m.”

- “About the only thing I can compare it to is someone going down a dirt road really fast,” viewer Deb Spaulding wrote. “(I)t was that sort of rumble.”

- “I was in the garage and I heard it. It (lasted) for a while,” wrote viewer Michelle Thomas Hanks. “At first I thought it was the wind until I stepped outside… My (neighbor’s kids) looked for what was making that loud noise and they could not see anything just kept hearing the loud noise.”

Authorities Deny Sonic Boom,
Volcanic Activity, or Noise Complaints to FAA

Elmendorf and Richardson AFB

John Pennell, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson’s Chief of Media Operations, told KTUU-TV the base wasn’t flying any of its supersonic fighter jets capable of causing sonic booms Thursday night, with only subsonic C-17 Globemaster III transports flying until 9:30 p.m.

“Although they are loud, I don’t think anybody’s going to mistake them for a sonic boom,” Pennell said.

FAA

Val Jokela, a Federal Aviation Administration community-affairs representative in Anchorage, told KTUU-TV the FAA’s regional operations center did not receive any noise complaints overnight January 3 to 4, 2013.

Anchorage Police Department

Anchorage Police Department spokesperson Dani Myren told KTUU-TV no noise complaints were listed for Thursday, January 3 to Friday, January 4, 2013. Dispatchers on duty overnight didn’t relay any reports of the booms to the next shift, which came on duty at 7 a.m.

Alaska State Troopers

Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Megan Peters told KTUU-TV that troopers did not receive any noise complaints from the region and that AST dispatchers also did not relay any updates during a 6 a.m. shift change.

“There wasn’t anything there big enough for them to pass on or be told about,” Peters said.

Alaska Volcano Observatory

The Alaska Volcano Observatory told KTUU-TV it had no reports Friday of the noise itself or any volcanic activity that might have caused it. The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center’s most recent listed earthquake was a magnitude 4.6 temblor on Dec. 24, centered 40 miles northwest of Valdez.

National Weather Service

The National Weather Service forecast office in Anchorage told KTUU-TV there was some shower activity in the area Thursday, but no severe weather conditions.

KTUU-TV said that with no immediate answers on the matter Rachel Lee, the Peters Creek viewer, echoed the confusion of many people about the source of the noise in her Facebook comment:

“It's strange no one knows what caused it.”

5)  Verde Valley, Arizona - December 4, 2012

“It was just, ‘boom-boom-boom-boom-boom all over the Verde Valley.”

- Jean Swesey, Resident of Cottonwood, Arizona

Big Bang Theories: Mysterious Booms Rock Verde Valley
Verde Independent 12/5/2012 by Steve Ayers, Staff Reporter:

The Verde Valley includes about 714 square miles located in the geographic
center of Arizona, about 100 miles north of the Phoenix metropolitan area.

VERDE VALLEY - Just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, December 4, 2012, a loud boom, followed by a second blast that shook windows from Cornville to Jerome, rocked the Verde Valley.

By Wednesday, the noises, whatever they were, were all the buzz.

"It was a whole series of booms," Jean Swesey said. "Up to six or seven. It was fast, it went loud. We were quiet and then my daughter down the hall screams really loud, ‘Did you hear that?' I sat there for a second and I heard another set."

"There was a boom and I thought, thunder. But as I was looking around for clouds I heard a second one that sounded like it came from Mingus Mountain. Then I went to see if the spring on my garage door opener had broke," said Camp Verde resident John Stephens.

Kristi Gagnon, fire marshal for the Camp Verde Fire District, said she and fire Chief Clayton Young were in the administrative offices when they heard the noises. Having grown up in California, Gagnon thought it was an earthquake.

"It had that similar sound but nothing was shaking and the ground wasn't moving. It was interesting for sure," said Gagnon.

Gagnon said she did get a report from a resident living near the Camp Verde Library who said the noise actually "shook stuff off the shelf."

Their curiosity eventually drove them outside the building, believing something had hit the roof, but found nothing there.

Chief Joe Moore with the Clarkdale Fire District heard it, too, and reported that it sounded just like dynamite.

Whatever it was, it did not appear to be isolated to the Verde Valley.

Darby Martin with the Camp Verde Marshal's Office said she received a call from her son who was working for a drilling company, core drilling at the Bagdad copper mine, who reported hearing a similar noise two hours earlier.

"He said that around 3 p.m. his crew heard two loud booms. They thought there was an earthquake at the mine," she said.

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office had deputies in the area who either heard it or tried to respond to resident calls. They found nothing.

Employees at the Verde Independent and Bugle's parent company's offices in Yuma reported hearing two loud booms and went outside believing a vehicle had blown a couple of tires on the roadway in front of the building.

Many who heard the noise speculated it was a sonic boom.

However, Luke Air Force Base information office Theresa Walker noted in an email to the Verde Independent that the base had no aircraft in Verde Valley air space at the time the noise was reported. Walker did not, however, comment on aircraft from other military installations.

"Should you wish to pursue the query further, you can call the FAA as they control that airspace and may be able to assist you," Walker suggested.

 

6)  Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island - December 3, 2012

Narragansett Bay from Providence to Conimicut, Warwick and Barrington, Rhode Island.

What's Causing Mysterious Lights, Loud Booms
and Strange Hum in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island?

“The night of December 3, residents from Warwick, Rhode Island,
to Somerset, Massachusetts, heard a loud explosion with a bright light
and a long sustained hum,” the latest in a series of strange lights, booms and hum.

- Don DePardo, Lieutenant, Johnston Fire Department, Johnston, Rhode Island

On Monday, December 3, 2012, first near 6:15 PM Eastern
in Warwick, Rhode Island, an eyewitness saw a “dark sky blue circle
with a black dot at the middle” suddenly appear near the horizon facing
east toward Conimicut Point on the Providence River. Then at
11:25 PM EST, hundreds of people between Warwick, RI,
and Somserset, Massachusetts, reported to local authorities and
media the “loudest explosion I've ever heard” followed by a strange, loud
humming sound. To date, after fire department searches, authorities have no
answer to what happened. Image © 2012 by Sean Daly, FOX Providence.

Also see:

• 12/08/2012 — What's Causing Mysterious Lights, Loud Booms and Strange Hum in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island?
• 10/17/2012 — Loud Boom and 3-D Radar of Mysterious Aerial Object in NW Louisiana
• 08/26/2012 — Updated: More Unexplained Boom Sounds from Sweden to Calif: What's Happening Now in Sacramento? And What Happened August 21st In Oakland, California?
• 05/30/2012 — Updated: Mysterious Booms Heard May 27 and May 28 in Four West Michigan Counties

More Information:

For further Earthfiles reports about unexplained booms, please see Earthfiles Archive.

• 12/08/2012 — What's Causing Mysterious Lights, Loud Booms and Strange Hum in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island?
• 10/17/2012 — Loud Boom and 3-D Radar of Mysterious Aerial Object in NW Louisiana
• 08/26/2012 — Updated: More Unexplained Boom Sounds from Sweden to Calif: What's Happening Now in Sacramento? And What Happened August 21st In Oakland, California?
• 05/30/2012 — Updated: Mysterious Booms Heard May 27 and May 28 in Four West Michigan Counties
• 05/10/2012 — Mysterious Horn and Boom Sounds Still Being Heard
• 05/01/2012 — More Unexplained Booms in Boston and Beyond
• 04/26/2012 — Updated: Mysterious, Persistent Booms Throughout North America and England
• 04/22/2012 — Huge Boom Heard in Central California and Northwestern Nevada - Did Meteorite Hit?
• 04/08/2012 — Part 3: Confusion About North American Booms and Man-Made Quakes
• 03/30/2012 — Part 1: Updated 033021 with boom recordings - Mysterious Rattling Booms Expand from Clintonville to Montello, Wisconsin and Beyond.
• 03/30/2012 — Updated with boom audio Part 2: Boom Phenomenon in Several States and Canada
• 03/20/2012 — Two Nights of Mysterious Rattling Booms in Clintonville, WI
• 03/15/2012 — Updated 031512 - High Strangeness Email: Unidentified Aerial Craft, Strange Sounds and Door-Rattling Booms
• 03/01/2012 — Updated 030112: Solar CMEs Hitting Earth's Magnetic Fields - Do They Make Strange, Loud Sounds?
• 02/28/2012 — Strange Sounds in Washington State
• 02/23/2012 — Updated Feb. 23: Eerie, Strange Sounds Heard in Tennessee and Kansas
• 02/04/2012 — Video of Kiev-like Strange Sound in Amarillo, Texas: What Happened?
• 02/02/2012 — Updated: Earthfiles Email About Mysterious “Chorus of Trumpets” and Other Strange Sounds
• 11/13/2011 — Updated: More Loud Booms in Virginia and Missouri; More Quakes in Oklahoma
• 10/27/2011 — More Mysterious Hum Reports from North America to China
• 10/04/2011 — Updated: What Are Strange “Hums” That Keep People Awake?
• 10/03/2011 — Part 1: Viewer Letters About Strange, Loud Booms
• 06/07/2011 — What Are the Mysterious Booms?
• 05/13/2011 — More Viewer Letters About Mysterious Booms
• 05/11/2011 — Updated Reprints: Earthfiles Viewers Reports of Strange, Loud Booms
• 02/08/2011 — More Reports of Strange Booms and Aerial Lights
• 01/29/2011 — Earthfiles Viewers Reports of Strange, Loud Booms

Websites:

January 5, 2013, 1:30 AM Eastern, Salem, Massachusetts Light Flash and Loud Boom VIDEO:
http://salem.patch.com/articles/mystery-explosion-caught-on-video-video

January 9, 2013, Evansville, Indiana, Channel 14 (NBC) TV News, "Loud Booms Continue Throughout the Tri-State":
http://www.14news.com/story/20547612/loud-booms-continue-throughout-the-tri-state

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jan/09/nighttime-booms-have-area-residents-puzzled/

http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=575392

http://www.14news.com/story/20537321/did-you-hear-the-booms

http://www.14news.com/story/20547612/loud-booms-continue-throughout-the-tri-state

January 4, 2013, KTUU.com, "Southcentral Authorities Silent On Cause of Booming Noise":
http://www.ktuu.com/news/southcentral-authorities-silent-on-cause-of-booming-noise-010412,0,3323818.story

December 4, 2012, NBC News10.com, "Crews search bay for reports of explosion, lights":
http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2012/dec/04/crews-search-bay-after-reports-explosion-lights-ar-1263225/

October 25, 2012, NBC News10.com, "FAA: No indication plane crashed into bay":
http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2012/oct/25/police-investigate-report-small-plane-down-ar-1216903/

October 18, 2012, NBC News10.com, "Military officials: Jets cause bang, not boom over RI":
http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2012/oct/25/police-investigate-report-small-plane-down-ar-1216903/

The Sun, England, April 14, 2012, "Sonic Boom As Jets Investigate ‘UFO'":
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4256091/Sonic-boom-as-jets-investigate-UFO.html

10TV WBNS, Columbus, Ohio, April 13, 2012, "Cause Of ‘Boom’ Still Up In Air":
http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/04/13/columbus-cause-of-boom-still-up-in-air.html

10 News (ABC), San Diego, Calif, April 13, 2012, "Loud Boom, Shaking Reported Around County":  http://www.10news.com/news/30888243/detail.html

"Clintonville officials want answers after two nights of mysterious booms": 
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/143450196.html

"Another night of mysterious booms in Clintonville" by Nick Penzenstadler, Post-Crescent Staff Writer:
http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20120320/APC0101/120320005/night-booms-Clintonville

"Clintonville officials stymied by loud booms" by Nick Penzenstadler, Post-Crescent Staff Writer:
http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20120320/APC0101/203200419/Clintonville-officials-stymied-by-loud-booms?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CAPC-News

Loud Booms in Virginia and Missouri; More Quakes in Oklahoma:
http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1910&category=Environment

Strange Booms in North Carolina: 
http://www.ufo-blogger.com/2012/02/strange-booms-sound-reported-in-north.html

Strange Booms in Texas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plsmV4DyAlg

Strange Booms in Florida:  http://www.weirdus.com/states/florida/unexplained_phenomena/booming_sounds/index.php