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PENINSULA POLL BACKGROUNDER: Mystery booms and rumbles are surprisingly common around the world — and there’s more than one possible explanation

by Peninsula Daily News
Sunday, March 15, 2015 12:01am
News

LOUD RUMBLES AND unexplained booms are not unique to the North Olympic Peninsula by any means.

HERE’S AN ARTICLE we ran in late February after the last set of mystery booms.

(See today’s story, “Mysterious booms continue to shake houses in west Port Angeles, Joyce while defying explanation” — https://giftsnap.shop/article/20150312/NEWS/303129974%3Cdiv class='code-block code-block-17' style='width: 655px; white-space: nowrap; max-width: 100%;'>

(And our Feb. 26 story, “What was that noise? No explanation found for booming sounds heard from Port Angeles to Joyce” — https://giftsnap.shop/article/20150226/NEWS/302269979 )

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DO AN INTERNET search with the keywords “mystery booms,” and you’ll turn up thousands of stories and YouTube videos and dozens of websites devoted to the subject.

Here’s a selection of recent articles on the phenomena — with lots and lots of speculation about their cause:

A BBC report done Dec. 2, 2014:

“Mystery booms: What’s the cause?

“The beginning of Armageddon, or an alien invasion?

“Over the weekend, people in the UK and parts of the US were awoken by loud, rumbling noises that were reportedly powerful enough to shake the glass of windows. It wasn’t long before alarmist hashtags, such as#omgwereallgoingtodie, began to appear on Twitter.

“There’s no real need to panic, though; mysteriously loud noises have been reported for hundreds of years across the world.

In Italian they are called ‘brontidi’ (thunder-like); in Bangladesh they are ‘Barisal guns.’

“US citizens call them ‘skyquakes,’ ‘moodus noises’ and in North and South Carolina, ‘Seneca guns.’

“The writer Washington Irving even wrote a story about the mystery booms, which he playfully attributed to ghosts playing nine-pin bowling in the mountains.

“But, what actually causes them?

“There are many potential explanations, according to David Hill, a scientist at the US Geological Survey, who wrote a recent scientific review paperrounding up the causes of ‘mystery booms.’

“In coastal regions, for instance, large bangs may accompany humungous waves hitting the cliffs; reports of thunderous sounds are apparently common among big-wave surfers in the US . . .”

READ MORE: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141202-mystery-booms-whats-the-cause

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“THE EARTH IS a complex place and there is a lot about it that we don’t understand,” says the U.S. Geological Survey In an April 2014 article.

“Perhaps someday we will understand what causes Seneca guns [i.e., mysterious booms], but right now we don’t understand what makes them.

“However, they do not seem to pose a threat to anyone . . . “

READ MORE: “Earthquake Booms, Seneca Guns, and Other Sounds,” http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/booms.php

AND FROM NBC News’ “Our Amazing Planet” in 2012:

“Mysterious booming sounds are occasionally heard on the North Carolina coast, often powerful enough to rattle windows and doors.

“They cannot be explained by thunderstorms or any manmade sources — their source is a mystery.

“Such dins are not unique to North Carolina or the modern age.

“People living near Seneca Lake in upstate New York have long known of similar booming sounds, which they called ‘Seneca guns.’

In coastal Belgium, they are known as ‘mistpouffers,’ or fog belches; in the Ganges delta and the Bay of Bengal, ‘Bansal guns;’ in the Italian Apennines, ‘brontidi,’ or thunder-like; and by the Harami people of Shikoku, Japan, ‘yan.’

“‘What’s going on is an interesting challenge, whatever it might be,’ said seismologist David Hill, scientist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey office in Menlo Park, Calif.

“A host of plausible explanations may now exist for these enigmas, including earthquakes, rock bursts, mud volcanoes, explosive venting of gas, storm-driven waves, tsunamis, meteors, distant thunder and so-called booming sands.’

“‘It seems there is quite a range of processes in nature that might be responsible,’ Hill told Our Amazing Planet.

READ MORE: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44550343/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/mysterious-booming-sounds-perplex-scientists/#.VO_knDq64q8

AND A NOV. 29, 2013, news story from the Hartford (Conn.) Courant newspaper:

STONINGTON, Conn — Police have stopped actively investigating explosive sounds that shook homes in Old Mystic Friday after being unable to find the source of the booms.

Officers conducted an “extensive” search but were not able to explain the noises, police said. The investigation included calls to the electric company and the military. No one was injured, and there were no reports of damage.

“No damage, no injuries, no source,” Lt. Bryan Schneider said Friday afternoon.

First Selectman Edward Haberek Jr. said Friday morning that there were “possible explosions” in Old Mystic, which straddles Stonington and Groton. Police officers and firefighters were investigating, he said in a Facebook post about 10 a.m.

Residents are reporting that their houses shook from the booms.

“People are out looking at their chimneys,” said Nancy Peta of Main Street. “It’s very mysterious.”

She said the booming sounds started about 9:15 a.m. The first was a deep, explosive sound that sounded as though a propane tank blew up, she said. But there was no smoke, she said.

The second boom was not as loud, but the third was the worst, she said.

“It was physical. You could feel it through your body,” she said. She called 9-1-1 for the second time after that one, she said.