Mysterious, Persistent Booms Throughout North America and England
© 2012 by Linda Moulton Howe
“It sounded as if a large, metal railroad car
slammed at full speed into a stone wall.”
– Michael Dinsmore, Chemistry, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia
“There was somebody who lived on a boat right close to downtown
San Diego and they also felt the boom vibration on their boat.”
– Craig Herrera, Meteorologist, Channel 10 TV, San Diego, CA
Return to Boom Updates Part 1.
April 25, 2012 Albuquerque, New Mexico – The bizarre and still-unexplained metallic, jolting booms persist into April 2012, including five new geographic locations from Bath, England, to central Ohio, to Tacoma, Washington, to San Diego County, California, to Columbia, Missouri – all happening within three days.
1) A loud bang over five English counties provoked calls to emergency services in Somerset, West Midlands, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire at 18:10 BST (6:10 PM local and 10:10 AM Pacific), on Friday evening, April 12, 2012.
2) Then six hours later across the Atlantic in central Ohio, a very loud boom – followed by a long rumble for two to three minutes – was heard on Thursday night near 6 PM Central on April 12th. Residents from Marion to Bucyrus to Canal Winchester and Delaware, Ohio, called authorities.
Unexplained and very loud boom was heard by Ohio residents in Bucyrus, Marion,
Delaware, Columbus and Canal Winchester at 6:10 PM Central on Thursday, April 12, 2012.
Detroit, Michigan, on Lake Erie in upper left and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, off the map
to the northeast have been sites of puzzling hum sounds the past two years.
Delaware resident Lauren Osterholt told 10TV in Columbus that she saw a jet after hearing the first loud crack of sound. “I came outside to see what it was and just heard this never-ending sound that felt like it kept going and going and going, but it was really, really loud.” The Ohio National Guard, Wright-Patterson AFB and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had no answers.
3) That same Thursday night at 9 PM Pacific in Lacey, Washington, about 30 miles southeast of Tacoma, loud, periodic, metallic booms were heard until 3 AM on April 13th
4) Then about 6 hours later on Friday, April 13th at 8:45 AM Pacific much further south, there was a huge boom heard all over San Diego County, California.
5) The next night on Saturday, April 14th, at 7:30 PM Central, in Columbia, Missouri, a university professor emailed me, “My neighbor and I are in agreement it was one hell of a boom – far too large to be a vehicle crash or a sonic boom” and compared the sound this way: “Imagine taking a really large, metal railroad car and you slammed it full speed into a stone wall” – a very metallic, concussive sound.
In England, first the MoD said it did not know what the loud boom was and then changed to the sound barrier being broken by a U. K. Typhoon jet responding to an unusual emergency call from a small helicopter over Bath in Somerset County. (See more in report below). In all four American cases, there were no military confirmations of sound-barrier-breaking aircraft and no USGS evidence of local seismic events. As in many other parts of the U. S. and Canada since at least February 2012, one earwitness in Lacey says, “it sounded like the metallic collision of railroad cars followed by rumbling.”
Lacey, Washington, April 12 – 13, 2012
Lacey, Washington (lower left circle), is 30 miles southwest of Tacoma (upper right circle)
with the large U. S. Air Force and Army Joint Base Lewis-McChord in between.
I put together a montage of witness reports, beginning with a husband and wife in Lacey, Washington. For the record, I checked with Lewis-Mc Chord AFB about 15 miles north of Lacey, Washington. The Joint Bases Spokesperson said, “On April 9, 2012, we issued an advisory for April 10, 2012, that 155 mm Howitzers would be firing from 12:30 AM until NOON.”
That was for artillery firing two days before the 9 PM, April 1, metallic booms began. John Ellison is 34-years-old and is an independent physical fitness trainer, who has lived in Lacey, about 30 miles southwest of Tacoma, since 2009. His wife, Kristen, 29, is the manager of a local pharmacy. John begins with the metallic boom sound that started the evening of Thursday, April 12th.
Interview:
John Ellison, Independent Physical Fitness Trainer, Lacey, Washington: “Around 9 PM, my wife went up to bed, and I was downstairs watching TV. And that’s when we heard the first strange noise. It was a loud boom. It was like a loud boom followed by a rumble that lasted between 2 to 4 seconds – so loud that she got up and came downstairs and said, ‘What was that? Did you hear it?’ We had no idea what it could be.
So she went back up to bed and laid down and it must have been another 10 minutes later when we heard another one and that shook the house a little bit. I went outside and looked, thinking it did not sound like thunder at all. It had no sound quality like thunder.
The sound it most resembled – we used to live near some train tracks and at night they would connect the cars up. That would sound like a large boom as the cars connected and then it would rumble down the tracks. That is the closest thing it sounded like to me. That’s what I first thought of when I heard the boom.
YOU’RE THINKING OF THAT BECAUSE THE SOUND HAD A METALLIC QUALITY?
Yeah, it seemed like metallic, especially in the rumbling aspect of it. It wasn’t like a thunder rumble; it was more metallic.
IN SOME OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY, THERE HAVE BEEN DESCRIPTIONS LIKE TWO TRAINS COLLIDING WITH A METALLIC RUMBLING SOUND.
Yeah, that is right on par with what we heard. And it was sporadic. There was no rhyme or reason. It wasn’t like every ten minutes you would hear it. The intensity and volume of the sound would change and the frequency. So, frequency and volume of it was stronger at the beginning and it continued on sporadically and would happen between every five and fifteen minutes.
EVERY FIVE TO FIFTEEN MINUTES?
Yeah, you would hear another one. It wouldn’t be the same intensity possibly as the one before it, but it continued on until – I fell asleep around 3 AM and it was still making those sounds.
THAT’S SIX HOURS.
Yes.
WHAT IS YOUR NEAREST MILITARY INSTALLATION?
That would be the Lewis-Mc Chord Joint Air Force and Army Base. That is directly between us and Tacoma. We are about 30 miles from Tacoma. It’s a large base and I thought the sound possibly was artillery.
It was not a sonic boom and I’ve heard artillery before and it just did not resemble that sound. And you could kind of feel it reverberate like a really intense sound wave. I’ve just never heard anything like it before, you know. It just doesn’t make any sense.
[Editor’s Note: Earthfiles checked with Lewis-Mc Chord AFB about 15 miles north of Lacey, Washington. The Joint Bases Spokesperson said, “On April 9, 2012, we issued an advisory for April 10, 2012, that 155 mm Howitzers would be firing from 12:30 AM until NOON.” That’s two days before the 9 PM April 12 metallic booms began.]
WHERE YOU LIVE, ARE THERE A LOT OF PEOPLE AROUND YOU IN HOUSES?
Oh, yeah. Lots of houses – very densely populated.
NOW WHY DO YOU THINK YOU DID NOT CALL THE POLICE?
It was such a (laughs) – I guess in my mind, it was like there just has to be a reasonable explanation and my thought went right to the military base, even though it was such a strange sound!”
John Ellison’s wife, Kristen, compared the repeating, loud, metallic bangs to something heavy thrown into a metal dumpster.
Interview:
Kristen Ellison, Pharmacy Manager, Lacey, Washington: “First it sounded like it was really close, and how it sounded was like when you have one of those large metal dumpsters and as if you were throwing a very heavy, very dense object in it – how it would just bang and make the vibration noise on the side (of dumpster) as soon as it hit. Sometimes it was really close by and then sometimes it seemed like it was further away.
HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU HEAR THIS METALLIC BOOM?
I heard it until I fell asleep around 10 or 10:30 PM (April 12, 2012). There were several times in that hour and a half (9 – 10:30 PM) that I was awake.
DID YOU GO TO ANY OF YOUR NEIGHBORS AND ASK IF THEY HEARD THE STRANGE, REPEATING, METALLIC SOUNDS?
I have not myself, no. I have spoken to a few friends, who don’t live in our direct area when we were out the next night talking – ‘Hey, did you guys hear those booms?’ And one of the friends said, ‘Yeah, I heard it.’ And I was like it was kind of unique in itself to hear the boom and slight vibration occur after it.
SO THE IDEA OF SOMETHING BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER OR ARTILLERY WOULD NOT MAKE SENSE TO YOU BECAUSE YOU’VE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE?
Exactly, because I’ve heard – you can tell when they are breaking the sound barrier. I’ve heard it before. And I’ve heard when they shoot the cannons off and this noise was definitely different.
THIS WAS DEFINITELY DIFFERENT?
Yeah.”
San Diego County, Calif., April 13, 2012
San Diego County, California, covers 4,526 square miles, has 70 miles (110 km) of coastline,
three million people and 16 significant naval and military locations of the United States Navy,
U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Coast Guard, including Naval Base San Diego, Marine Corps
Base Camp Pendleton, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and Naval Air Station North Island.
John Ellison remembers that the last metallic bang sound he heard before he went to sleep was around 3 AM. What he and his wife, Kris, did not know is that about 6 hours later at 8:45 AM on April 13, all of San Diego County, California, was jolted by a huge and unexplained boom sound.
San Diego’s Channel 10 TV news meteorologist, Craig Herrera, first thought it was an earthquake. But the U. S. Geological Survey has no record of a seismic event in San Diego County on Friday morning April 13th.
Interview:
Craig Herrera, Channel 10 ABC TV News Meteorologist, San Diego, California: “It was just before 8:45 AM – about 8:43 AM – and I remember because I was lying in my bed and I was playing with my dogs and all of a sudden, I heard a loud thump – like someone was banging on the wall outside and the windows started rattling and shaking. It lasted about 3 to 4 seconds.
I thought it was going to be an earthquake. I was waiting for the rumble of the ground to start rolling, but that never happened. The dogs jumped up and started running around the house barking and going to each window trying to see if someone was at the window.
THAT THUMP – WHEN YOU SAID IT SOUNDED LIKE SOMEBODY HIT THE WALL OUTSIDE – IT WAS JUST ONE SINGULAR JOLT?
One singular jolt.
AND THEN, WAS THERE ANY VIBRATION LIKE IN YOUR BED OR THE FLOOR?
It happened so fast that I jumped up and got out of the bed because the windows were rattling for about three or four seconds. I went to grab the dogs and then all of a sudden, it stopped. No more shaking, no more rattling, no more loud noise.
FROM A METEOROLOGIST’S POINT OF VIEW, WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION?
I honestly thought it was an earthquake. I didn’t think it had anything to do with the storm that was moving in because it was still in Los Angeles and we didn’t get the storm until about 4:30 PM that afternoon. So I knew it was not thunder and I knew it was not lightning. I don’t think I have ever seen or felt that kind of vibration with any kind of thunderstorm.
WAS THIS EXTREMELY PUZZLING TO YOU THAT IT WAS JUST ONE THUMPING JOLT?
It was – just figured it was some little tremor.
BUT THE USGS CONFIRMED LATER THAT THERE WAS NO SEISMIC EVENT.
Correct.
WHAT ABOUT MILITARY?
We spoke with some military spokesperson from Miramar (Marine Corps Air Station near San Diego), who informed us there was nothing they knew of that would have caused the boom.
WITH THAT INFORMATION, WHAT DID YOU THINK?
I was still puzzled. I had no idea what to think. I didn’t know what could cause it, especially since there were other reports around the County.
RIGHT, I UNDERSTAND IT WAS ACROSS SAN DIEGO COUNTY. THAT’S A LOT OF GEOGRAPHY AND PEOPLE.
Absolutely! And not only in lower lying areas, but in the mountains and different areas of the county. I mean the topography and the geography here varies, so (the boom) was felt throughout various places.
NOW IN YOUR DISCUSSIONS WITH OTHER PROFESSIONALS AND PEOPLE IN THE MEDIA, WHAT IS THE CURRENT SPECULATION ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED?
No one knows. It’s still one of those questions where people are still wondering what it was. It’s just puzzling. No one really seems to know what happened. We don’t know what it was, but it was certainly felt – even in the water. There was somebody who lived on a boat right close to downtown San Diego and they also felt the boom vibration on their boat.
SO THEY HAD VIBRATION OF THEIR BOAT IN THE WATER?
Correct.
THAT MEANS THE WATER WAS VIBRATING.
Absolutely!
AND WHAT WOULD MAKE THE WATER VIBRATE?
I’m not certain (laughs)! It’s strange. So many puzzling questions. We’re not sure.”
Columbia, Missouri, April 14, 2012
Larger red circle near center of United States marks Columbia, Missouri. The smaller red
circles mark sites of the loud, metallic booms reported largely between early March and end
of April 2012, that include four Canadian provinces and twenty-one American regions in
which there have been one or more boom reports, such as Clintonville, Montello
and Baraboo, Wisconsin; and five counties in Georgia.
The next day, Saturday, April 14, half way across the country in Columbia, Missouri, the supervisor for the university’s chemical storage in the Chemistry Department and his wife were alarmed by a tremendous crashing metallic boom at 7:30 PM Central.
Michael Dinsmore is 59-years-old and has worked in the University of Missouri Chemistry Department for twenty years. He compares the sound to a railroad car slamming at full speed into a stone wall.
Interview:
Michael T. Dinsmore, Supervisor, Chemical Stores, Chemistry Department, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri: “All of a sudden we heard this tremendous explosion, a crash-like noise.
WHAT WAS YOUR WIFE’S REACTION?
(laughs) Well, she jumped. She was real startled, and I’ve never – we’ve been married 30 years, and in all of the various storms and sounds that you hear, I’ve never had her say, ‘You better go outside and see what that is.’ So I know she saw the sound as something really unique and also something that was disturbing to her.
It was not thunder. I know what thunder is. The best way I can describe it is if you can imagine taking one of the really large railroad cars – the big metal ones. And if you slammed it at full speed into a stone wall – it was a very concussive sound with the metallic tone in it. There isn’t even a railroad in Columbia, Missouri. The nearest railroad tracks are five to seven miles away.
The sound only lasted between 1 and 2 seconds. It was very brief, much more like an explosion-type sound, very loud! And I went out to the front yard to see if I could deduce what it might have been. The sound was over and I didn’t hear any emergency sirens like from the fire department or police department.
And as I was standing there, I noticed across the street my neighbor and his wife came out. The first thing he said to me was, ‘Did you hear that?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why I’m out here.’ And he goes, ‘Any idea what in the world it could have been?’ And I said, ‘No, it was so loud. Do you think it could have been a car wreck up here on the main road?’ He goes, ‘No, no, it was way too loud for that.’
I came back in (the house) and over the next few days, I checked the local news stations, checked the local newspapers in the hopes there would be some kind of reference or explanation, but nothing was ever printed. I really don’t know what could account for it. I have never, ever heard anything like this before.”
Another Boom Mystery on April 12 in England
Earthfiles has received information from an English mother whose adult son with good eyesight watched a silver disc above a small helicopter in the Bath, Somerset, sky at 6:10 PM local time on Thursday evening, April 12. The young man also saw a large Typhoon jet loudly zoom in and slow down into tight rotation around the small helicopter. It is not clear if the silver disc “blinked out” or rapidly moved off.
Sounding puzzled themselves, the U. K. Ministry of Defence first told media the MoD was investigating what the loud boom could be that was heard throughout five English counties: Somerset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Warickshire and West Midlands.
Loud boom heard throughout five English counties (black circles): Bath in Somerset, Wiltshire,
Oxfordshire, Warickshire and West Midlands at 6:10 PM local time on Thursday, April 12, 2012.
Then after at least one (possibly two) large Typhoon jet showed up and circled around the small helicopter, the MoD issued another explanation for the loud boom as reported by the BBC: “The MoD revealed it (huge boom over 5 counties) was from a Typhoon responding to an emergency call. A sonic boom is created as an aircraft breaks the sound barrier, causing a high-energy shockwave. … A spokesman said the emergency frequency was only used when an aircraft was in particular trouble, such as a hijacking.”
What the MoD did not mention was the silver disc above the small helicopter seen by the young man in Bath. Could the helicopter pilot have deliberately set off the emergency alarm, afraid of the nearby silver disc’s intent? What really happened over Bath, England, on April 12, the same date that the large, metallic booms were heard on the other side of the world over central Ohio and then in Lacey, Washington?
BBC News
Typhoon sonic boom behind mysterious bang reports – MoD
12 April 2012 Last updated at 21:24A loud bang which sparked a deluge of calls to emergency services across a large part of England was a sonic boom from a Typhoon aircraft, the MoD said.
Mystified residents across the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire reported hearing a loud boom at about 18:10 BST (6:10 PM local and 10:10 AM Pacific), on Friday night, April 12, 2012.
The MoD revealed it was from a Typhoon responding to an emergency call. A sonic boom is created as an aircraft breaks the sound barrier, causing a high-energy shockwave.
Eurofighter Typhoon.
A Coventry resident called Gary said: “I thought somebody had thrown a brick at the house.” He added: “When I went out there were quite a few people in the street wondering what it was.”
The Ministry of Defence initially said it was investigating what was behind the loud noise, but a spokesman later confirmed it was from one of two RAF Typhoons that had been launched following an emergency call from a helicopter.
Flood of Calls
The MoD said the Typhoons, from the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA), based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, were scrambled and authorised to go supersonic after the small civilian helicopter had emitted an emergency signal.
A spokesman said the frequency was only used when an aircraft was in particular trouble, such as a hijacking. He said the aircraft were already on their way to the helicopter by the time the helicopter pilot realised he was transmitting on the wrong frequency and switched to the correct one.
“There was no actual threat to the civilian aircraft and they soon rectified their mistake,” the MoD spokesman added.
Richard Coglan, who was in Bath at the time of the incident, said: We saw the Eurofighter [Typhoon] circle the helicopter at very slow speed using full thrust just to stay up. “The helicopter was a small one and totally dwarfed by the typhoon we thought it was filming the Typhoon.” It was doing really tight, slow circles and it suddenly put on full power and the noise was unbelievable
Before the MoD explained the cause, a number of organisations said they were investigating the origin of the sound. Among them were Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, which received a flood of calls, and the British Geological Survey. Avon and Somerset Police also said they had received reports of a loud bang in the area.
Some of those who heard it said the sound lasted a few seconds. Tom Sykes, from Highworth, Wiltshire, said: “I was sat at my desk doing some work and it felt like someone had put up a massive bass speaker at my feet. I’m sure that they didn’t move up in the air but they felt like they were with the vibration. I thought the window had come in.”
Terry Organ, from Oldfield Park, Bath, said he saw the Typhoon. “I thought [the sound] was a commercial airliner and then I thought ‘no way,’ he said. We watched for a while and then we saw this aircraft appear and it was a Typhoon but it was flying amazingly slow and we thought it was going to come down.
‘Shook the building’
“It was doing really tight, slow circles and it suddenly put on full power and the noise was unbelievable, it was really blasting it out, and then it moved a bit further on and it did another slow turn. My impression was that it was struggling to stay up but then he put on full power again and you just couldn’t hear anything. The noise was terrific, I imagine you could hear it for miles.”
Another person who reported hearing the boom, who gave his name as Dave, from Warwick, described the sound as “like sitting on a hard shoulder and a big lorry going past. It shook the building and the windows popped,” he added.
It is the second time this year that a sonic boom has been created by a Typhoon aircraft. In January, the MoD confirmed that a loud noise heard by people across the north of England was caused by an RAF fighter jet breaking the sound barrier. See: BBC News.
Also see Bristol TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azhbtOj0LbQ
Return to Boom Updates Part 1.
If Earthfiles viewers and radio listeners have more information about loud, unexplained, wall-rattling, feet-jolting boom sounds, please email: [email protected]. All requests for confidentiality are honored.
More Information:
For further reports about strange booms, sounds and hums that have also been reported in 2011 to 2012, please see reports below from Earthfiles Archive.
• 04/25/2012 — 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
• 10/04/2011 — 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:
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
BBC News, England, April 12, 2012, “Typhoon sonic boom behind mysterious bang reports – MoD”: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17697328
USGS/Seismological Society of America 2012 Meeting:
http://www.seismosoc.org/meetings/2012/
Hydraulic Fracturing, “Fracking”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing
Inhabitat: Fracking Emissions Harmful:
http://inhabitat.com/study-shows-air-emissions-from-fracking-sites-could-cause-health-problems/
“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
Unexplained Booms, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexplained_boom#cite_note-0
Loud Booms in Virginia and Missouri; More Quakes in Oklahoma:
http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1910category=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
December 1977 Newspaper Reports:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JBRIAAAAIBAJsjid=
mAANAAAAIBAJpg=2018,5070585hl=en
USGS Booms and Seneca Guns: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/booms.php
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