Reports of an explosive "big boom" heard in parts of the area from Lock Haven to Williamsport, Pennsylvania around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday remain a mystery.

While some residents who contacted the Sun-Gazette on the matter have suspicions, no definitive answers on the source of the noise have been received.

"I was sitting in my living room and I heard a fairly loud but dull boom," explained Kim Owen, a Salladasburg resident.

Owen described the sound as having been "like the neighbor's car was parked on my porch, and then when they shut the door, they slammed it with some super-human strength."

"I heard the boom, and my closed, wooden front door rattled just a little bit," she said. "I didn't think much about it until a friend, who lives several blocks away, posted a note on Facebook asking if anyone had heard a loud boom."

Between the two of them, she said, they have generated 17 reports from others in the Salladasburg, Jersey Shore, Avis, Woolrich, McElhattan, Rauchtown and Williamsport areas.

Among those hearing the noise was Jen Eminhizer, also of Salladasburg, who said the noise sounded like that of a transformer explosion.

Eminhizer said she was in her home at the time and her husband went outside, but found and saw nothing unusual.

Asked what she thought it could be, Eminhizer said, "Honestly, I have no idea."

"I'm a terrible guesser, so I have not a clue what the heck it could've been," she said, and after hearing of other reports from several places, finds it "just really weird."

Michelle Cusick, a McElhattan resident, said she heard what sounded like "distant thunder" but much louder than to consider it as such.

"We knew it wasn't thunder - we just don't know what it was," she said, adding the noise was loud enough to startle her dog, which jumped onto the couch.

The National Weather Service in State College reported no thunderstorms in the area that evening and received no calls about the noise.

David Frey, marketing director at the Williamsport Regional Airport, said he was unaware of the matter.

When asked if a large aircraft above the area could have caused the sound, Frey said there was "nothing out of the ordinary."

"We did have some discussion on whether it was one of the new gas wells nearby, but decided since it wasn't exceptionally loud here, they would have never heard it in Rauchtown," Owen said.

However, Tom Murphy of the Penn State Cooperative Extension for Lycoming County and local expert on the gas well drilling activity in the area, said he hasn't heard any comments or received any reports about an explosion at any of the sites that evening.

Some have guessed the noise might have resulted from flaring, which eliminates or "burns off" wasteful gas rather than releasing it into the air, but Murphy said that only would create a burning sound, not a popping or explosive noise.

Dan Spadoni, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said he was unaware of the event and said there is no known activity having occurred at that time.

Both women said the noise was something reminiscent of the mysterious "sonic boom" that occurred in the area during the summer of 2001.

It was later discovered that noise stemmed from a meteorite crashing through the earth's atmosphere.

As that meteorite fell, the noise, which broke the sound barrier, rattled the ground and left behind "charred" and "scorched" sections in a nearby cornfield on impact, according to news reports of the time.

Attempts to reach the state police for comment were unsuccessful.