Strange Sounds
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Seismograph

Changing environment: 'Aurora sounds' recorded in Sweden

auroras sounds
© Oliver Wright /oliverwrightphotography.com
For centuries, Arctic sky watchers have occasionally reported strange sounds filling the air as Northern Lights danced overhead. Hisses, crackles, and even loud "claps" have been heard and recorded. It may be time to add a new sound to the menagerie: blaster fire.

Photographer Oliver Wright sends this report from inside the Arctic Circle:
"On Christmas Night 2016, I was standing beneath an intense display of auroras in Abisko, Sweden, when I heard something that sounded like Star Wars blasters."
As the lights danced overhead, a series of rat-a-tat 'swooshes' emanated from a nearby set of power lines. "Other bystanders heard it, too," he says. "I rushed closer to the power lines and was able to record a sample using my iPhone."


Comment: Strange sky sounds, aurora sounds, meteors heard just before they light up the atmosphere... they're all electrophonically transduced. Question is; what has changed in the atmosphere/environment to make what were once inaudible... audible?


Dominoes

Arizona's White Mountain residents report loud boom, house shaking

Mount Baldy in the White Mountains
© US Forest Service Mount Baldy, the highest peak in Arizona's White Mountains.
What was that noise? That is the question people started asking from Snowflake to Show Low.

Though people now are saying they heard the same loud boom sound on Monday, Dec. 26, they did not really start talking about it or asking real questions until it happened again the next day.

Facebook users started chiming in with their two cents about hearing the sound in Taylor, but when people from Linden, White Mountain Lake and Show Low said they heard it or felt it too, the speculation and desire to find out its origin was exacerbated.

Comments such as persons saying they thought a family member slammed the door, or thought their propane tank exploded were common. One person said they saw smoke coming from the wind turbines. Many even said their houses shook like Show Low resident Charles Tupper.

Tupper wrote on Facebook, "Shook my house halfway back to Show Low. No idea what it was."

Bizarro Earth

'Big boom' heard from 3.0 earthquake in southwest Nova Scotia

Digby, Nova Scotia
© Natural Resources CanadaA 3.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded about 42 kilometres soutwest of Digby on Tuesday at 10:40 a.m.
If you were in southwest Nova Scotia on Tuesday you may have felt the earth move.

At 10:40 a.m., a 3.0-magnitude earthquake was recorded about 42 kilometres southwest of Digby, according to Natural Resources Canada. The centre of the quake was about 18 kilometres below the earth's surface.

Brenda Small of Weymouth North felt it.

"I heard a very loud bang, just a big boom and then it was over," she said of the "shiver" she felt in her house.

"It wasn't anything to be a afraid of or think, 'Oh my, it's the end of the world,' nothing like that. It was just a big boom and then it was over."

Donna Gaudet was at her cousin's basement in Little Brook, N.S., a few kilometres from the epicentre, enjoying a coffee.

"We went flying up the stairs. If it wasn't an earthquake, we thought maybe a plane crashed. It was loud, it was louder than thunder," she said. "It wasn't really that exciting once the initial impact happened."

Attention

Creepy trumpet sounds rattle residents of Spokane Valley, Washington

booming sounds
Thousands of people are scratching their heads about an eerie sound that's been heard all night long in the Spokane Valley but no one seems to know for sure where the sound is coming from.

Linda Pennfield from Spokane Valley and her husband have one theory on what the noise might be. She says the sound was so loud and so persistent last night, her husband actually got out of his bed and jumped in the car to track it down. His conclusion? The sound was coming from all the snow plows, as the metal plows scraped against the ground.

Comment:






Evil Rays

Mysterious sounds cause concern in Washington DC suburb

Basement
© Flickr/Gnusam
According to locals the mystery of the unusual sounds is not new, but has, in fact, been going on for years — decades even.

For Cheverly mayor Mike Callahan the mystery is undefinable, and he accepts the phenomenon as a "fun fact" that brings the town together.

"The booms are one of our amazing little mysteries that drive us closer together," Callahan told local station NBC4. "You know, every community has its lore, has its myths."

While the mayor looks on the brighter side, not all residents feel cozy about the mysterious noises.

Cheverly resident Nikki Greco has taken matters into her own hands by keeping track of the booms, which, according to her, sound like a Mack truck ramming into her house.

Question

Texas residents report loud boom, house shaking - cause unknown

Lake Jackson water tower
© lakejackson-tx.gov
People living in and around Lake Jackson took to social media to report hearing a loud boom around 2 p.m. Tuesday.


Lake Jackson police posted on Facebook that they got calls on the boom and reached out to the industrial plants and were trying to find the source, but hadn't been able to.


Plants in the area also report having no problems.

Police are still working to figure out what caused the issue, but no damage or injuries have been reported.

UFO

Chinese astronauts spooked by unexplained knocking sounds during spaceflights

Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei 2003 spaceflight
© China.org.cn
China's first astronaut says he heard mysterious knocks during his first flight in space - but no one has been able to explain the cause of them.

Astronaut Yang Liwei said the strange noises left him feeling very nervous and he looked out into the vast emptiness of space but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Mr Yang, now a major general in China's Air Force, said it sounded like someone was knocking the body of the spaceship, comparing the noise to that of a hammer hitting an iron bucket.

The 51-year-old's unexplained experience has raised all kinds of theories, including aliens , and he said he has never heard the sound again since returning to earth.

Question

Loud boom, house shaking reported along Charleston, South Carolina coast

James Island, SC
© jamesislandsc.us
A loud booming sound was reported Tuesday morning along Charleston County's coast, and the National Weather Service says it was most likely caused by a sonic boom.

The weather service started receiving reports of the boom and shaking around 8 a.m. A James Island resident wrote on Facebook that the boom shook her house. A man said he heard it in West Ashley.

The United States Geological Survey has not reported an earthquake in the area.

"At this point, we're pretty confident it's not an earthquake," said Carl Barnes, a meteorologist with the weather service. "Unfortunately, we really can't say with any confidence what it was. ... If it is military testing, which is certainly a possibility, they don't let us know."

Otherwise, Tuesday in Charleston started off with cool temperatures, but more comfortable weather is ahead. The high is expected to be near 69 with sunny skies.

Question

Sonic boom over South Dakota remains a mystery

Leonid Meteor
© Wikimedia CommonsA meteor during the peak of the 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower. The photograph shows the meteor, afterglow, and wake as distinct components.
Spearfish — The mystery of what caused Monday's loud boom remains.

Some theories have been refuted, while more mysterious references have appeared.

Shortly before 2 p.m., the boom was heard throughout the Black Hills. Some people said it shook their homes or businesses, rattling windows, and scaring them in several instances.

But the noise was heard in a much larger area than the Black Hills. Responses to Tuesday's Black Hills Pioneer story reported hearing the noise from Western Nebraska to Southeast Montana.

Kathy Griesse reported hearing the noise near the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument south of Harrison, Neb. She said it sounded like the noise came from the north and west of her. Additionally, she talked to people in Crawford, Neb., where people told her windows rattled at the sound of the boom; people in Whitney, Neb., also heard the noise.

On the northern end of reports, Lane Pilster said he heard the boom at his ranch, 14 miles west of Alzada, Mont.

This is about a 200-mile straight-line distance between the two reported locations.

Pilster reported that he and his dad both heard the noise to the south of them.

"The beginning of it was intense, but then faded off with a dull rumbling like a jet was flying by. The sound probably lasted about 8-10 seconds," Pilster said.

He also said he felt a moderate vibration around 5:30 a.m. Monday, and that it lasted 15-20 seconds.

He wasn't the only one to hear a strange noise apart from the 2 p.m. event.

Brad Scott, of Spearfish, heard a loud boom in downtown Spearfish around 7:30 a.m. Sunday

He described it as the "sound of about 8 shotguns going off at once."

So what was the noise?

Question

Loud, unexplained boom startles residents, rattles windows in South Frontenac, Ontario

Mystery boom
A loud and still unexplained boom startled South Frontenac residents on the evening of Saturday, Sept. 24.

The boom, first reported at around 8:50 p.m., was heard throughout the county, including Inverary, Sydenham, Glenburnie and Sunbury. Several residents of Rutledge Rd, Railton Rd, Greenfield Rd, Perth Rd, Freeman Rd, Unity Rd, Round Lake and Silverwood Dr reported what was described as "a window rattling explosion".

While South Frontenac fire crews and OPP quickly responded to the reports, they reported nothing visible and were unable to find a cause. Some theorized that a jet may have caused a sonic boom, however no jet noises were reported prior to the sound. Another theory, an earthquake, has not been corroborated by recent seismographic records. There are some unconfirmed reports of a visible meteor streaking across the sky north of Kingston at approximately the same time, however, as well as areas of the GTA and Northern USA.

Some residents jokingly pointed out that the boom coincided with Brad Marchand's goal against the Russians, giving Canada the lead in the World Cup hockey game. The investigation continues. More to come...

Comment: On September 22nd, a meteor fireball shot across Eastern Canada and US night sky