Mystery Boom
© TivertonPatch.com
A number of Little Compton, Tiverton and Wesport residents reported hearing - and feeling - a loud mysterious boom at about 8:40 p.m. on Wednesday.

Little Compton Police Chief Sidney Wordell received two 911 calls about the mystery boom.

"We did receive a couple of calls last night and and we checked in with Westport and Tiverton as well," said Wordell. "They had similar reports as they received a couple of calls as well."

Wordell noted that neither Little Compton or its neighboring police departments received any reports of explosions, and callers who experienced the mysterious boom also noted a lack of noise associated with the brief shaking feeling.

"We were sitting there watching TV and it felt like a full size tree landed right outside the window." said Chris S. Pinkerton, who lives in north Little Compton by the Stone Church. "It was one big boom, there wasn't any noise, but the entire house shook."

At first, Pinkerton and his wife speculated the wind was to blame - that was until a friend who lives five miles away near the Little Compton Commons posted a message on Facebook. She too was wondering what just caused her house to shake.

"I wouldn't have thought anything about it, but between ourselves and our friends, living so far apart - and no noise with it - I've heard a sonic boom before and it was nothing like that," said Pinkerton.

Pinkerton described it as a quick thump and said he felt his whole house shake for a moment.

"My guess is it either had to be some kind of earthquake or fighter jet that broke sound barrier," said Pinkerton.

On Tiverton-Little Compton Patch's Facebook page, residents as far away as Portsmouth also reported feeling the mysterious mid-evening boom.

"We live in So. Tiverton off Crandall Rd. It was a muffled boom and house shook for a second," said Cathleen Ronayne Oblinger. "Too short to be a quake. My daughter and I looked at each other and both said 'What was that!'"

Another Crandall Road resident, Robin Marshall, however, said she didn't feel a thing.

"I'm near the high school off of Brayton Road," said Michelle Maczka. "For speculation, that type of sound/shaking is usually associated with an explosion of some sort."

Within 30 minutes, more than a half dozen readers responded to Tiverton-Little Compton Patch's post about the mysterious boom.

Did you hear the mystery boom Wednesday night? Did you feel it? Tell us in the comments what you experienced.