West Plains, NO sign
© KY3
Did you hear it Wednesday? That loud boom. So loud in fact that people in northern Arkansas and south central Missouri heard it and were all asking the same question around noon Wednesday. What was that boom?

"It was just a loud boom," Richard Harrell said.

"I thought it kind of sounded like a bomb," Sadie Hutchinson added.

"It felt like somebody actually ran into the building," Michael Romero told KY3.

Dispatchers at West Plains Police Department were busy for nearly two hours taking calls from all over West Plains and the surrounding area, with folks asking, what was that sound?

"We received numerous phone calls. Probably in the area of 50 to 60 calls," Public Information officer for West Plains Police, Sean Barrett said.

Phone lines at the sheriff's office were ringing off the hook and not just from Howell County.

"We 35 to 40 calls and even got calls from Arkansas Emergency Management," Howell County Sheriff's Department dispatcher Mike Wade exclaimed.

The sound packed a punch.

"The building shook. It sounded like the ceiling tiles shook inside the building. It was pretty loud. It kind of sounded to me like a double explosion like I normally hear during a sonic boom," Wade added.

Richard Harrell was inside his business when he heard the boom.

"It rattled the windows in my business. A lot of people I noticed driving by were kind of looking around, seeing what was going on."

Michael Romero thought someone had slammed into his apartment building.

"I ran outside to see if someone actually did hit the building and then my girlfriend called not long after and she was on the other side of town and she was at the McDonald's and she got scared because it rocked that whole restaurant. Everybody was coming out of the restaurant over there."

Darrell Wake said it was a sound unlike anything he'd ever heard.

"I was in my truck eating lunch and it shook the truck. It actually shook the truck."

Both dispatchers say there were no emergency calls during the time people were calling in asking about the sound.

KY3 called Whiteman Air Force Base, Fort Leonard Wood and Boeing in St. Louis, asking if it involved any of their planes and only Boeing responded, saying it definitely was not them.

You can watch KY3's video coverage of the event here.