Windsor “Hum” Rattling Windows — Again

© 2016 by Linda Moulton Howe

“It's enough that you take notice and say, 'Why would
that be happening?' It's just not natural.”

- Colin Novak, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineer, Univ. of Windsor, June 14, 2016

Windsor, Ontario, Canada, is about 7 miles northeast of Zug Island, Michigan,
the corporation home of U. S. Steel since 2003. On the United States side, Zug Island is
in the town of River Rouge. Another Canadian town where people have been kept awake
by the strange “Windsor hum” is LaSalle about 12 miles south.

June 30, 2016 Windsor, Ontario, Canada - On Sunday, June 12, 2016, a Facebook page for “Windsor hum and rumble haters” suddenly filled up with reports and complaints. “I have never heard it like that in six years that I've been recording. Never have I ever heard it like that,” wrote Mike Provost, who lives in the west side of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, about 7 miles northeast of Zug Island, Michigan, the corporation home of U. S. Steel and the source, say engineers, of the irritating low rumbling that has been keeping many residents awake in the city of 210,000 since the year 2011.

Earthfiles first reported about the Windsor Hum on September 30, 2011, the day after a large public meeting was held in South Windsor Arena. Canada's Ministry of Environment had received some 400 complaints about the persistent rumbling sound. So officials with the provincial Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Canada joined a consultant hired by the City of River Rouge to announce to nearly 200 residents before them that “the source of the Windsor Hum is an airborne sound wave originating from the general vicinity of Zug Island in River Rouge, Michigan, across the Detroit River on the United States side of the border.

Zug Island, Michigan: Home of U.S. Steel

15 seconds of sound from Zug Island, Michigan, recorded in Windsor
across Detroit River, in Ontario, Canada, on September 19, 2011.

Zug Island, Michigan, is about 1 square mile of land along the Detroit River in foreground that in
the early 1920s Henry Ford dug a canal around to transport cars on ships. In 2003, U. S. Steel purchased economically floundering National Steel Corp. and has since then been operating the
big U.S.S. steelworks on Zug Island above. Aerial image © 2012 by Walter Manzig.

Zug Island is about 1 square mile of land along the Detroit River that in the early 1920s Henry Ford dug a canal around it wide enough to allow large ships to pick up and take Ford cars to various ports and auto dealers. Over the 20th Century, Zug Island became increasingly industrialized with iron and steel works for car manufacturing and other big factory needs. One side benefit evolved from the surrounding canal — the island became off-limits to the public and its security level increased. By 2003, one American steel company there went broke and another bought it. That's when United States Steel purchased National Steel Corp.

Today a few hundred people work on Zug Island, including hourly workers at U.S. Steel, who are members of the United Steelworkers Local 1299. During the 2008 global financial meltdown, even U. S. Steel had to halt production, but turned on steel production again in the Fall of 2009.

So it was only two years later that government officials and engineers were trying to solve the "Windsor Hum" and had the public meeting in River Rouge. That was when local city counselor Al Maghnieh announced to the hopeful audience, "This issue has made its way to the Governor of Michigan's office."

Strangely, nothing has stopped or reduced the irritating noise coming from Zug Island, as the June 12th Facebook complaints made clear.

Why not? I took that question to Colin Novak, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering at the University of Windsor who studies acoustics, vibrations and cycle acoustics. Three years ago in 2013, Prof. Novak joined the Windsor Hum investigation and used sound-level meters and pentangular array cameras and microphones to try to precisely identify the sound's source in order for Canadian authorities to ask the perpetrator to fix or seriously dampen the noise. Prof. Novak has hard data showing that the irritating sound averages the extremely low frequency of 35 Hertz and he has traced that 35 Hertz signal right to Zug Island and what he thinks are the furnaces of U. S. Steel. He has even heard the sound rattling his own windows several times.

Interview:

Colin Novak, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada: “The way I describe it — when I’m inside a building and I’ve usually been inside a building when I’ve heard it —  it sounds like a very large diesel engine, whether it be a truck or more like a train locomotive parked outside your house, sitting there idling and causing the windows and doors to rattle or to shake. It’s somewhat disturbing because it makes everything shake and rattle. And you say, ‘Well, why would that be happening?’ It’s just not natural.

RIGHT, AND IS THE RATTLING OF THE WINDOWS AND HOUSES BECAUSE THE AMPLIFICATION OF THE 35 HERTZ IS SO BIG?

Yeah, because of the amplitude of the 35 Hertz sound is so large. It’s an airborne excitation that’s transferred into structure-born excitation.

IS THERE A CYCLE TO IT?

Yeah, it tends to happen more in the night time, early mornings. I’ve heard the hum myself, maybe around 9 or 10 o’clock in the evening. We measured it and heard it several times around  11 o’clock in the evening.

OK, IS THERE A CYCLE IN THE FREQUENCY AND THE DURATION AT NIGHT?

No real change in the frequency. The duration does vary. I heard and measured it for as little as 10 or 15 seconds. Sometimes it’s gone on for minutes. I’ve heard people report that it’s been continuous for hours on end.

AND THE 35 HERTZ SEEMS TO CONTINUE AND BE PRETTY CONSISTENT NO MATTER WHAT THE DURATION OR TIME?

Yes. There are lots of industrial sources that can produce noise at 35 Hertz. What makes this one unique is the amplitude of  the energy simply by the fact that the sound is being heard more than 10 kilometers away from the identified area of the source. That tells you that the energy is enormous! And there are very, very few industrial type processes that can produce that amount of energy at such a low frequency. So that really eliminates a lot of potential sources that can make noise at that low frequency.

U. K.'s The Guardian Headlines the “Windsor Hum”

June 7, 2016, The Guardian, U. K.

WELL, I’M LOOKING AT THE GUARDIAN OF JUNE  7, 2016, AND IT IS SAYING THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LINK THE HUM TO THE U. S. STEEL PLANT AND A COKE BATTERY OWNED BY THE LOCAL UTILITY COMPANY ON ZUG ISLAND THAT IS ON THE U. S.  SIDE, CORRECT?

We’ve surmised that the source of the noise is actually the blast furnaces at the U. S. Steel facility.

HOW DID YOU DO THAT?

Well, we looked at all the different sources of noise that are located on the (Zug) island, and that (U. S. Steel) is really the only potential source of noise that can produce frequencies that low at that great of an amplitude. It requires an enormous amount of energy to be able to do that and blast furnaces are something that can be a little finicky at times. And what we are assuming is that the producer is making a custom product in small, limited batches, which is why when the sound is being produced for only short periods of time — then it seems to disappear sometimes for a couple of years. And then it seems to come back again for several months at various intensities, and then it goes away again.

We’re right now experiencing probably the third phase of the Windsor hum over the last almost six years.

Could U. S. Steel Be Making “Special Objects”
for U. S. Military That Require Hotter Temperatures?

RIGHT.  YOU WERE SAYING THAT IT’S POSSIBLE THAT U. S. STEEL IS MAKING SOME SORT OF SPECIAL OBJECT THAT COULD BE PRODUCING THE   HIGHER AMPLITUDE. COULD YOU EXPLAIN THAT MORE?

Steel manufacturers can make steels with different properties. This is an assumption based on some information that has been given to us from various people that are involved within the industry. They may be either developing or producing small batches of a particular steel with properties for a customer. If it were a special steel, that would explain why they are maybe having to tweak their  operating system beyond its capabilities because their blast furnace is extremely old. That facility has been there for approximately 100 years, so it can be the case just extending what those capabilities are in producing a certain steel  — maybe a certain hardness. Maybe they have to go to a more extreme temperature in the blast furnace. Or introduce more air than normally would be required and that could result in some of these sounds being produced.

ANY EXAMPLES SUCH AS MILITARY OBJECTS?

That certainly could be the case. I don’t have any facts to suggest that they are making products for the military, but there’s certainly also manufacturers of military equipment and vehicles in Michigan, so it’s a possibility.

Why After 5 Years of Windsor
Complaints, No Resolution?

WHAT IS PUZZLING, PROFESSOR NOVAK, IS THAT WINDSOR IS A CITY OF 210,000 PEOPLE,

Yes.

IT’S RIGHT ACROSS THE RIVER FROM ZUG ISLAND AND DETROIT,

Yes.

THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA HAVE BEEN ALLIES FOR A LONG TIME,

Yes.

THIS HAS BEEN A COMPLAINT BY THAT CITY FOR AT LEAST SIX YEARS,

Yes.

I AM PUZZLED ABOUT WHY THERE COULD NOT BE SOME RESOLUTION?

Yeah, I share those feelings with you. The phenomena is certainly experienced by a great many people in Windsor. Not everybody in Windsor hears it. It’s only in certain areas, but I would stick my neck out and say at some point in time there have certainly been probably tens of thousands of people, who have experienced the hum.

It seems to be that the people closest to Zug Island in West Windsor and LaSalle seem to be most bothered by the hum. But why?

Why Does U. S. Steel Say “No Comment”?

The only thing I can assume perhaps is because if it is indeed U. S. Steel — it’s a private corporation and a for-profit-company and they simply don’t want to allow access, or don’t want to cooperate with an investigation.

And quite frankly, I don’t know what authority or power any level of the U. S. government would have over that company (U. S. Steel), especially considering that there does not seem to be any complaints or noted adverse affect by U. S. citizens.

BECAUSE IT’S LARGELY AN INDUSTRIAL AREA ON THE U. S. SIDE?

Yeah, exactly. And also the facility is right on the water. And noise will travel very easily and efficiently across water. So, the city of Windsor has essentially an unobstructed acoustic view of the (Zug) island. And that really wouldn’t be the case on the U. S. side because between the island and any densely populated residential areas, they have a very large industrial buffer zone. And within that buffer zone, there are many different sources of industrial noise.

And I think the propagation of this kind of noise is drowned out by the other activity.

I WONDER WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE TERRITORIES WERE REVERSED AND THE HUM WERE COMING FROM WINDSOR AND THE UNITED STATES WAS COMPLAINING?

Yeah, that’s a very interesting question. I don’t know.

DO YOU KNOW IF THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA HAS CONTACTED PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION IN THE LAST SIX YEARS?

I don’t know all the details of that. I know representatives of the Canadian government have tried to work with various levels of government on the U. S. side. I’ve attended meetings at the Canadian Consulate in Detroit. We have met with representatives of the town (River Rouge) as well.

DO YOU REMEMBER IF THERE IS ANY SPECIFIC UNITED STATES SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE WHO WAS IN THOSE MEETINGS, WHO WANTED TO COME TO SOME SORT OF A RESOLUTION WITH THE CITY OF WINDSOR?

There were not at any meetings that I took part in.

WHY DO YOU THINK THAT THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT CANNOT GET A RESOLUTION ON THIS?

I really don’t know. If the source were located potentially it could be very expensive to fix. And then maybe a private company doesn’t want to invest the money to fix.

WHAT ABOUT MILITARY PRIORITIES THAT ARE HIGHLY SENSITIVE IN THE DEPT. OF DEFENSE AND DEPENDING UPON U. S. STEEL IN ZUG ISLAND TO PRODUCE SOMETHING FOR THE U. S. DoD AND THAT ANY INQUIRY INTO WHAT IS HAPPENING AT U. S. STEEL COULD OPEN UP THAT SENSITIVITY?

Yeah, I guess that could be a possibility as well, although I don’t have any evidence of that, but it’s certainly not outside the realm of a possibility.

We really need to get closer to the source. What I would like to do is put some monitors. If we can’t get on the island, put monitors closer to the island on the U. S. side and that would really only require the cooperation of River Rouge. And in the last meeting that I was at, there was a representative from River Rouge.

IN THE U. S. STEEL’S REPLIES TO YOUR GOVERNMENT, WHAT DO THEY SAY IS THE REASON THAT THEY WON’T COMMUNICATE?

They don’t give us any reason. I understand they simply say they have no comment. The town, River Rouge, in which U. S. Steel is located, they’ve all been contacted and the short of it is we have been told that they have no interest in pursuing the matter any further since the hum does not seem to affect anyone on the U. S. side.

Given that, though, you have to keep in mind that this area is highly industrialized and there aren’t a lot of residential areas that can be affected. But because people on the U. S. side are not being bothered from it, they have no interest or motivation pursing the matter any further.”

If anyone has more information about the 30 Hertz signal periodically emanating from Zug Island, Michigan, please contact [email protected]. All requests for confidentiality are honored.

Also click to: 093011 Earthfiles - What Are Strange “Hums” That Keep People Awake?

More Information:

For further reports about strange booms, hums and metallic and eerie trumpet sounds around the world, please see reports below in the Earthfiles Archive:

• 05/05/2016 — Mysterious Triangular Craft, Strange Booms and Creature Encounter Like Varginha, Brazil
• 03/16/2016 — Unexplained Booms in Alhambra, California
• 02/02/2016 — Another Huge, Ground-Shaking Boom in New York — Not Sonic and Not Seismic
• 01/18/2016 — Mysterious Booms Hit South Wichita, Kansas, On January 16th. “Sky Quakes” Were Linked to UFOs in 1950s.
• 01/10/2016 — “A Big Boom” Mystery in York County, PA., Panama City Beach, Florida, and Ardmore, Oklahoma
• 12/07/2015 — Part 3: Booms, Metallic Scraping and Bright Light Flash
• 12/03/2015 — Part 2: Booms, Metallic Scraping and Bright Light Flash
• 11/30/2015 — Part 1: Booms, Metallic Scraping and Bright Light Flash
• 10/24/2015 — Mystery Booms in Minnesota, Nevada, Maryland and Ottawa
• 09/23/2015 — Unexplained Booms Again from Virginia to New Brunswick, Canada.
• 05/01/2015 — Imitation “Jets”?
• 03/27/2015 — Part 2: Are Inner Core Changes Causing Mysterious Booms and Magnetic Field Changes Leading To A Pole Flip?
• 03/27/2015 — Part 1: Mysterious Booms Provoke American Businessman to Investigate Possible Link to Earth's Core
• 03/19/2015 — Long Rumbles Shook Houses March 16th from North Carolina to Delaware, Followed by Huge Fish Kill and Dolphin Stranding On Outer Banks.
• 03/02/2015 — Updates on Bird Deaths, Booms and Siberian Craters
• 02/10/2015 — Updated: Mystery Booms and Inner Earth Core Changes?
• 02/09/2015 — Part 8: Boom Mystery — More Frequent and Intense?
• 01/30/2015 — Part 7: Mysterious Loud Booms In At Least 15 States Since Jan. 1st.
• 01/19/2015 — Part 6: Scientists Mystified by Unprecedented Quake Swarm in Connecticut Associated with “Explosive Sounds” and Preceded by Loud, Unexplained Boom in December
• 01/14/2015 — Part 5: 12 States Have Reports of Mysterious, Loud Booms in First 12 Days of January 2015
• 01/10/2015 — Part 4: Oklahoma Booms and Quakes - 2015 and 2014 Updated 5 PM Mtn, January 10, 2015
• 01/09/2015 — Part 3: More House-Shaking Booms Heard and Felt — Comments from Remote Viewers.
• 01/05/2015 — Part 2: More House-Shaking Booms Heard and Felt Beyond Pennsylvania
• 01/02/2015 — Loud, House-Shaking Boom Heard and Felt Throughout Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
• 12/18/2014 — Could Earth's Magnetic Poles Flip This Century?
• 12/03/2014 — Strange, Loud Sounds from U. K. to U. S., Europe and Australia
• 12/01/2014 — Update: Mystery Cracks Near Cedarville, California. 4.7 Magnitude Quake Near Sedona, Arizona.
• 11/20/2014 — Part 2: Are the 2014 Seismic Swarms and Strange Rumbles in Cedarville and Surprise Valley Related to the Yellowstone Hot Spot?
• 11/20/2014 — Part 1: Hundreds of Earthquakes, Low Rumbling Sounds and Aerial Lights in Surprise Valley and Cedarville, California
• 10/12/2014 — More Strange Metallic Sounds, Booms and Black Pyramid
• 09/09/2014 — Mysterious Shockwaves and Booms Persist
• 07/31/2014 — Two More Mysterious Deep Holes in Siberia's “End of the World.”
• 07/14/2014 — More Mysterious, Eerie Metallic Sounds — Invisible Conflict? Or Warning?
• 06/26/2014 — Eerie Metallic Scraping Sounds Heard from Michigan to Alaska
• 05/29/2014 — More Strange Booms in Idaho and Wisconsin
• 04/25/2014 — Infrasound, Booms and Quakes
• 02/27/2014 — Eyewitnesses in California and Idaho Link Aerial Triangle to Trumpet and Metallic Sounds
• 02/15/2014 — Strange Metallic Horns and Boom Reports Persist In 2014
• 02/13/2014 — Update About Metallic Horn Sounds in St. Paul, Minnesota and Loud, House-Shaking Booms – Even Horn/Trumpet Sounds – Persist in U. S. and Canada
• 02/04/2014 — Feedback About Mysterious Booms and Horn/Trumpet Sounds
• 01/09/2014 — Part 1: More Mysterious Explosive Booms in Arkansas, Toronto, Kentucky, Central Virginia, Texas, Missouri, Illinois and Vermont
• 12/28/2013 — Updated: Booms and Horn Sounds Continue
• 12/01/2013 — Updated: High Strangeness Before and After Montreal Boom and Blue Sky Flash
• 11/27/2013 — Booms Continue from Montreal to Arizona
• 11/24/2013 — Mysterious, Loud Booms - Indiana School Evacuated
• 11/22/2013 — More Loud, Mysterious Booms in Kentucky and Illinois
• 09/13/2013 — More Mysterious Boom Reports
• 09/08/2013 — Mysterious New Boom Reports
• 08/05/2013 — More Unexplained Booms - Earthfiles Viewer Letters
• 06/07/2013 — More Unexplained Loud Booms
• 05/13/2013 — Persistent Sinkholes and Unexplained Booms
• 03/28/2013 — Updated: Woodland Hills, CA “Sound of Glass Breaking”; Loud Booms in Louisville and Fort Knox, KY
• 03/23/2013 — Mysterious Booms Over Multiple Counties in Florida and Illinois
• 03/10/2013 — UPDATED: “Sound Guns” - Viewer Comments
• 03/07/2013 — More Loud, Unexplained Booms in Bowling Green, KY, Elizabethtown, ILL, and Flint, MI
• 03/01/2013 — Mysterious Booms - A Secret Military Weapon?
• 03/01/2013 — After Mysterious Booms, Why Do Military Helicopters Fly Search Patterns Below 500 Feet Over Residential Houses?
• 02/20/2013 — Part 2: Unexplained Loud Booms and Light Flashes Persist in U. S.
• 02/16/2013 — Part 1: More Earth-Shaking Booms in Morristown, Tennessee and “Shock Wave” Booms in San Manuel, Arizona
• 02/06/2013 — Viewer Emails about Boom Mystery
• 02/01/2013 — Mysterious Booms and Light Flashes Across U. S.
• 01/25/2013 — Updated: Unexplained Loud Booms Persist in United States
• 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?
• 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
• 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
• 10/03/2011 — 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
• 11/13/2011 — Updated: More Loud Booms in Virginia and Missouri; More Quakes in Oklahoma
• 05/11/2011 — Updated Reprints: Earthfiles Viewers Reports of Strange, Loud Booms
• 01/29/2011 — Earthfiles Viewers Reports of Strange, Loud Booms

Websites:

Windsor Hum, CBC Radio, April 19, 2016: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.3543092/windsor-hum-is-louder-than-ever-and-boy-is-it-annoying-1.3543098

Zug Island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zug_Island

"The 'Windsor Hum': Where is the noise plaguing a city of 210,000 coming from?', June 7, 2016, The Guardian, U. K.: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/07/windsor-hum-canada-zug-island-united-states