Did the earth move for you last Wednesday night?

It did for quite a few Bridlington residents who contacted the Free Press to find out if we had another earthquake.

In fact, local phone lines were red hot as friends and neighbours rang each other to see if they had also heard and felt a loud thud or bang.

Dave Garrity was at home in Wentworth Road at 8pm when he heard a noise like someone jumping up and down on the top of his bay window.

"I went out to have a look and found practically the whole street had come outside to see what was going on."

Friends living in Brookland Road rang to say they had also heard and felt the noise and his mother-in-law who lives in Greame Road also called to say she wondered if there had been another minor earthquake.

Across town Patrick Tibble was watching TV at his home at the top of Bempton Lane.

"I thought my six-year-old daughter Ruby had fallen out of bed or something. I went upstairs to find her fast asleep," he said.

He also rang friends and others rang him about the same experience at various addresses across Bridlington.

The sonic boom theory from some high speed military aircraft was a favourite explanation.

The police and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service received a few calls from people about the mystery noise, and coastguards confirmed there had been a military air exercise going on over or near the coast last Wednesday evening

"A sound barrier boom is the most likely explanation," said a spokesman for the fire and rescue service.