Staunton - What goes bump in the night has new meaning to some Stauntonians.

Monday night, some residents heard a large boom in and around the downtown area, which is leaving officials baffled.

Officer Lisa Klein, public information officer for Staunton Police, said they received multiple calls on the noise about 9:30 p.m.

Fire, rescue and police officers in the city went out to check the surrounding areas where calls were made, Klein said, but found nothing.

Social media was abuzz with the idea that either an underground cave collapsed or a large explosion of some sort occurred. According to Klein, there are numerous caves under the city, and it's a "huge caving area." But there is no evidence that a cave collapsed.

In situations like this, Klein said, officers check their districts and talk to people to see if additional fact-finding or emergency response is needed.

"If we have an emergency, it would depend on the event," she said. "If there was a sinkhole, we would notify up the chain of command, fire department, close off the area (and) evacuate where necessary. Whatever resources that would be needed - engineers, etc. - would be called."

Marting Chapman of the Virginia Tech Department of Geosciences said he didn't detect anything on the seismic station in the region - which measures things like caves collapsing.

"These noises could certainly be small earthquakes ... too small to be detected at large distances," he said.

Previous reports of loud boom sounds were made March 29. At the time, Staunton Police said those noises were likely fireworks.