© Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian
A mysterious boom rattled windows, and a few nerves, around Hermiston Friday afternoon.
Residents in various part of the city, and in surrounding areas, reported hearing a booming sound, that shook windows and homes about 2:45 p.m. The noise resulted in several calls to law enforcement and widespread speculation on at least one social media group forum on
Facebook.
Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said his department received calls about the incident and he also heard whatever it was himself. "I was in a closed-door meeting in my office and it rattled my windows," Edmiston said.
Edmiston, one of his captains and another officers drove around the city to investigation, but nothing was found to explain the noise. "It would not surprise me if it turned out to be something at a high altitude," he said, like a meteor or a sonic boom from an aircraft.
As of early Friday evening there was no confirmation of what caused the sound, which some people described as sounding like an earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey has not recorded any earthquakes in either Oregon or Washington state over the last 24 hours.
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