What the hell blew up in the skies over the Maryland-to-North Carolina Atlantic coast last night? Thousands of people supposedly saw terrifying Light Monsters floating down from the Heavens, and then heard horrific booms and thunder and such, and ... well it almost sounds like a summer thunderstorm, SCARY, but it is not summer, or something? Global Warming? Let's quickly & cheaply examine the frightful evidence.

* WAVY is investigating the loud boom and bright flash in the sky witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people around 9:40 Sunday night. People from Maryland to North Carolina have called 10 On Your Side and wavy.com reporting the flash. [WAVY.com]

* Reports of a bright light and in some places, an explosion-like sound, poured into law-enforcement offices across eastern Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina last night. "The phone is ringing off the hook," said meteorologist Sonia Mark at the National Weather Service's Wakefield station. She said Suffolk police were looking into "reports of great balls of fire landing on the ground." [Times Dispatch]

* Were they meteors? A comet? UFOs? People from Maryland to Hampton Roads heard loud explosions and saw brilliant, streaking lights in the sky Sunday night. There was no immediate explanation, the National Weather Service office in Wakefield said. The Virginia Beach 911 center had numerous calls waiting just before 10 p.m., a supervisor said. The Weather Service said reports were made from Dorchester County, Md., to the Virginia/North Carolina border. People said they saw a streak in the sky and heard an explosion. [HamptonRoads.com]

* Emergency crews fanned out across the city looking for whatever caused a loud explosion Sunday night. At around 9:45 911 dispatchers started receiving calls from people reporting a light in the sky followed by a loud boom. Some reported that the explosion caused their homes to shake. However, emergency crews could find no evidence of any kind of explosion. No injuries, fires or damage were reported. The National Weather Service had few answers. Jennifer McNatt, a meteorologist said the service had been in touch with the Navy, Air Force and NASA, but none of those organizations had any unusual activity to report. [WVEC.com]