Viewer Emails about Boom Mystery

© 2013 by Linda Moulton Howe

“I watched the pilot maneuver his AH-64 Apache helicopter
in a very tight, low, banking circuitous pattern over the neighborhood
for the next 15 minutes going up and down over houses from street to street.”

- Fort Knox, Kentucky resident after January 9, 2013, loud booms
in southern Indiana and Illinois and northwestern Kentucky

The Romeo Observer, Bruce, Michigan, north of Detroit on
Wednesday, January 23, 2013, Page 8-A.

February 6, 2013  Albuquerque, New Mexico - Earthfiles has received loud boom reports from at least thirty regions of the United States since October 17, 2012, as residents from the East Coast to Bakersfield, California, and from Verde Valley, Arizona to Anchorage, Alaska, have reported booms associated in some cases with bright flashes of light to local authorities and media. So far no one has a final answer to the eerie boom phenomenon that has been ongoing since the spring of 2011. During the first year of reports, many people described feeling hard thumps against the bottom of their shoes and on the wall next to them while floors shook. Then beginning in mid-2012, most witnesses said the loud booms and flashes of light were coming from the sky.

Since my February 1, 2013, Earthfiles and Coast to Coast AM news reports about “Mysterious Booms and Light Flashes Across U. S,”  I have received more than a hundred emails from people all over the United States about more experiences of booms and flashes of light. In a few cases, one or more aircraft have appeared flying low over neighborhoods as if looking for something unseen.

On January 8 to 10, 2013, in Cedar Hills, Utah, northwest of Provo, Jim and Amy Hill both heard loud booms and saw a bright flash of light. Jim then reported to Earthfiles that in mid-January over “several days there was abnormal helicopter activity in and around my neighborhood. The helicopter would fly very low to the ground, less than 200 to 300 feet over the homes in the neighborhood, and then leave the vicinity, only to return minutes later, with a search-type of pattern ... extremely aggressive, reminiscent of a military-style search and rescue tactic. Flying over an area and then looping back and diving on a location, pulling up and hovering at treetop level for 5 - 10 seconds. This action of diving on a location was repeated around 15 times over areas of the mountainside that would appear to be void of anything worth watching.”
See:  020113 Earthfiles.

Also on January 9, 2013, there had been loud, unexplained boom reports in northwestern Kentucky. Those might have been the same time (he didn't write down the date) in which a former U. S. Army infantryman trained as a special forces medic watched in January 2013 as an AH-64 Apache helicopter flew low over his Louisville, Kentucky, neighborhood “in a very tight, low, banking circuitous pattern over the neighborhood for the next 15 minutes going up and down over houses from street to street” as if searching for something that could not be seen by naked human eyes. 

1)

To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Apache helicopters flying over my neighborhood
near Ft. Knox, Kentucky, southwest of Louisville.
February 5, 2013

Fort Knox, Kentucky (map marker) is 38 miles southwest of Louisville.

Hello Linda,

I am a medically retired soldier. I was retired in 2010 and have been in nursing school since.
I worked in the Army as an infantryman and was in training as a special forces medic when I received injuries that led to my medical retirement  - not combat related. I have worked as a paramedic in a 911 service in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, and I have been around aircraft quite extensively.

About a month ago I was returning home from a clinical day at a local hospital when upon exiting my vehicle in my driveway, I heard the familiar thunk thunk of a helicopter. There was no mistaking that he was low and close. I immediately started searching the sky for him. I grew up with a father who was an air traffic controller and he would always teach me how to identify the various makes and models of aircraft while in flight.

I was initially looking much too high in the sky.  Ft. Knox is approx. 20 miles as the crow flies from my house - so we see the occasional ah-64 [Boeing AH-64 Apache]; UH-60 [Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk]; and ch-46/47 [Boeing CH-47 Chinook], fly over.

Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter.

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.

Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

But this morning, Feb. 5, was different. I finally got a fleeting glimpse of the main rotor and electronics pod of an ah-64 apache attack helicopter above the ridge line of a home just two streets over!!!  I have never seen a military helicopter this low since special forces selection at Camp McKall in North Carolina - let alone in a residential neighborhood!  As a matter of fact, it is illegal.

I watched the pilot maneuver his AH-64Apache helicopter in a very tight, low, banking circuitous pattern over the neighborhood for the next 15 minutes going up and down over houses from street to street.  After this amount of time, he took a very steep climb to about 1,000 feet and flew over the horizon to the northeast away from Fort Knox.

Later that week I asked my neighbor, an infantry commander for 3-1id [ 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division "Duke Brigade"]  at Fort Knox if he knew of any training regimens in the area and explained what I saw. He said matter of factly that he did not and that what this pilot was doing over a residential area was not according to any field training exercise protocol.

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
"Duke Brigade," Fort Knox, Kentucky.

A week after I saw this event I saw five ah-64s and two uh-60 Blackhawks sitting on the tarmac at Louisville International Airport. This is not a usual practice because there is a large Air National Guard base at the other end of the airport from this tarmac where they usually are kept. All those helicopters were also accompanied by a Cessna 208 painted in military flat gray of the type that high ranking brass fly around in.

The circumstances and behavior of these aircraft struck me as odd especially after having seen a very large increase in military patrol presence on our streets since the signing of the 2012 NDAA. [ See:  012712 Earthfiles about National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). ]

 

2)

To:  earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Light flashes and booms in Malad City, Idaho
February 4, 2013

Malad City, Idaho, is marked with map pointer
about 140 miles north of the Jim and Amy Brown home
in Cedar Hills, Utah, (small red circle) south of Salt Lake City.

Dear Linda,

I live in Malad City, Idaho, about 140 miles north of Jim and Amy Brown in Cedar Hills, Utah, south of Salt Lake City. I also saw the flashes of light and heard the same booms followed by the low rumble during the same week in January 8 - 10, 2013.

My family and I have also heard what sounds like mortars being launched. We have thought many times that it was our neighbors, but when we try to pinpoint where the sounds are coming from, it seems like it is from the air around us. None of my neighbors remember hearing any of the noises, but one did say that her dog was acting strangely on the days I heard the booms and saw the flashes. I too, have two dogs, and on each of these occasions they have also acted very nervous and scared. The "mortar rounds" have been on going several times per week since about the 9th of January. The last time we heard them was two days ago at around 2:30 in the morning on February 2, 2013.

 

3) 

To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Rumbles and Light Flashes in Lenexa, Kansas
February 1, 2013

Linda,

I live in Lenexa, Kansas, which is a suburb of Kansas City. I listened to your report on Coast to Coast last night. I have seen the flashes of light which looked like camera flashes and heard the rumbles that sounded like distant thunder.  

About 6:30 PM on January 22, 2013, I was driving down the street on my way home from the grocery store and three times, I saw a flash of white light. The best way to describe it is a camera flash. I thought it was distant lightening, or maybe a street light was turning on, or malfunctioning. Whatever it was, it was not lightening. There was no thunderstorm activity in the area.

On more than one night in the past couple weeks, I've waked up in the middle of the night, usually between 12:30 AM and 2:30 AM and heard rumbles that sounded like distant thunder. Never a loud boom, just rumbling that sounded like distant thunder. Again, no thunderstorm activity in the area. I haven't mentioned this to anybody, and I haven't heard anyone else talking about it either.

 

4)

To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Unexplained Booms in Missouri
February 3, 2013

Unexplained booms in Mt. Vernon, Lawrence County, and Ozark
and Nixa in Christian County, Missouri, on February 2, 2013, at 6:30 PM Central.

Hello, Linda,

I wanted to alert you to a possible event of the unexplained boom phenomena. It occurred February 2, 2013, around 6:30 pm Central time. It was reported in Mt. Vernon, Lawrence County, Missouri; and in Ozark and Nixa in Christian County, Missouri. The best I can gather from Facebook reports is that Mt Vernon Police searched for approximately an hour and found no source. Christian County authorities seem to be taking the stance that nothing happened, although that opinion is based entirely on Facebook and may not be accurate. KSPR is the only local television station talking about it although at last check they hadn't published any reports. Other news outlets, both TV and print, seem to be ignoring what folks are talking about.

Most of the reports seem to be of loud booms that rattled windows in some places. No one is reporting lights. There was no report of seismic activity in the previous 24 hours over 1.0 magnitude in a 1000 mile radius. When these booms happen in the area, they are often disregarded as sonic booms because of our proximity to Whiteman AFB in Warrensburg, Missouri, and Edwards AFB in St. Louis. There is also an Aviation Classification and Repair Activity Depot (AVCRAD) at Springfield National Airport that services multiple types of helicopters and sometimes fighter aircraft.

Again, I appreciate the work you do and greatly enjoy listening to your reports on Coast to Coast AM. I wanted to make sure that you were aware of this in case it fits the profile of other reported phenomena.

5) 

To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Hearing BOOMs!!
February 3, 2013

Lubbock, Texas, is 331 miles northwest of Dallas.

Dear Linda,

I live in Lubbock, TX, and I have been hearing crazy loud booms between midnight and early morning hours, so loud I have jumped out of bed from a dead sleep very scared and confused. This has been happening frequently since the beginning of January.

I was driving to work one morning about 3:00 AM and from an overpass saw a bright, blinding flash of white and blue light, no more than 100 ft off the ground with a violent cracking boom, almost like thunder - but very crisp and direct. I have not heard any rumbling whatsoever.

Nobody else seems to notice anything. I am very curious about this strange activity. Wonder if it's static electricity caused by some change with Earth. ... who knows?

 

6)

To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Bright flashes & loud booms also in Akron, OH recently.
February 2, 2013

A couple times in recent weeks, I have seen some of these unexplained flashes here at my home in a semi-rural area about 10 miles southeast of Akron, OH. Heard some odd, unrelated booms, too.

My home is on seven mostly private acres, of which about five acres are wooded. Both times I was enjoying some evening TV in my basement rec room. There is a staircase heading upstairs about 10 feet to the left of the TV screen. At the top of the stairs is an outside door with a window about 24" square. I keep room lights quite dim. Last week - and once a few weeks previous - I was startled to see a bright quick flash of white light shine down the stairs. My cat saw it, too, and looked at me as if I had caused it.

The flashes were not quite like lightening.....which tend to have a flicker-effect and sustain for a bit. This was very stable and quick and very bright-white, like a camera flash. I swear I did not hear any booms with either incident. The weather was calm. It was your typical mundane wintery night, probably between 8 pm and 11 pm.

The booms I have heard at other times, usually in bed at night, maybe 2-3 times this winter. I am surrounded by gun enthusiasts and in this township, shooting is legal. So needless to say, I am familiar with all sorts of frequent firearm concussive sounds. Likewise, as most of us have larger acreage yards, lots of fireworks go off during the summer months.

These recent booms were unlike either. I work on old cars and no car engine backfires like this. They did not seem terribly close, so the house did not tremble, but they were very low-frequency, rumble-y, and resonated for several seconds without any echo like a gunshot or firework would have.

I figured I would hear or read about a local explosion damaging a nearby home, business or industry.....but I saw nothing.

 

7)

To: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Booms Heard in Oregonia, Ohio
February 5, 2013

Oregonia, Ohio, is between Cincinnati and Dayton. Mt. Vernon, Missouri
in upper right is location of unexplained booms on February 2, 2013.

“We have heard 3 booms in the Oregonia and Fort Ancient, Ohio area since November 2012. I didn't realize that this was significant until I saw the video on your site. See:  020113 Earthfiles.

My friend is a former special forces Green Beret demolition engineer and he says it sounds like a low BOOM (not C-4, not tetrol). He lives here on our farm in Oregonia and both of us have heard this. He says the amount of explosive that would be needed to accomplish this sound would be physically impossible to hide from the public.

The first one in November 2012 sounded like it came from the sky, sounded like a train crash and rattled the windows. I know Linda Moulton Howe was giving a report on Coast to Coast AM about booms heard in northern Ohio at about the time we heard it.”

If any Earthfiles viewer has more information about mysterious booms, please email:  earthfiles@earthfiles.com. All requests for confidentiality are honored.

Also see:

• 02/01/2013 — Mysterious Booms and Light Flashes Across U. S.
• 01/25/2013 — Updated: Unexplained Loud Booms Persist in United States
• 01/11/2013 — Part 1: Could Computer-Interfaced Communication with Other Realms Be Linked to Strange, Unexplained Booms?
• 01/11/2013 — Part 2: Could Computer-Interfaced Communication with Other Realms Be Linked to Strange, Unexplained Booms?
• 01/11/2013 — Part 3: Could Computer-Interfaced Communication with Other Realms Be Linked to Strange, Unexplained Booms?
• 01/05/2013 — 26 Hours Before 7.5 Quake, Unexplained Rumbling Boom in Southcentral Alaska
• 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

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More Information:

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

• 01/25/2013 — Updated: Unexplained Loud Booms Persist in United States
• 01/11/2013 — Part 1: Could Computer-Interfaced Communication with Other Realms Be Linked to Strange, Unexplained Booms?
• 01/11/2013 — Part 2: Could Computer-Interfaced Communication with Other Realms Be Linked to Strange, Unexplained Booms?
• 01/11/2013 — Part 3: Could Computer-Interfaced Communication with Other Realms Be Linked to Strange, Unexplained Booms?
• 01/05/2013 — 26 Hours Before 7.5 Quake, Unexplained Rumbling Boom in Southcentral Alaska
• 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

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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