Idaho Mystery Boom Chasers

Wild ideas are circulating via social media regarding mystery booms reported in Idaho. Labeled “skyquakes”, unidentified booming sounds are not new, but thanks to platforms like TikTok, and guys taking matters into their own hands (and recording themselves doing it), doubtful ideas about mystery booms are raging online.

It’s a Saturday, and for much of the morning, I’m hearing a dull thudding or booming from outside. It’s the National Guard facility about 7 miles away doing weekend exercises. Sometimes it’s barely noticeable, and sometimes it’s like thunder. The world is a noisy place. In the winter, sound carries farther, particularly when it’s dry or when there is low cloud cover.

Mystery booms occur without warning, without storms or explosive holiday celebrations. They have been a cause of concern for people worldwide probably forever. In the age of social media and easy access to law enforcement, people are now reporting their incidents regularly. Often, one large event results in residents in the general area reporting more events or recalling similar past events. It turns into a “flap” (cluster of events) that people assume has some single cause. Suddenly, those who know of the booms become attuned to anomalous sounds they might not have noticed before, making the world scary and mysterious. This is what is happening now in Idaho.

Idaho is booming

The Idaho flap was spurred by events in October and November. A loud boom happened in Rigby on October 1 at 10pm where people called their sheriff’s office, but they got no answers. The Rigby booms reportedly continued after this date. The Idaho Falls Podcast made much of this. On Wednesday, November 13, 2024, there was widespread reporting of an incident at around 11pm in Lewiston, ID. Then, the next night, residents in Twin Falls, ID called their officials to report booms at 7pm and again at 8:15pm. There was no doubt that something anomalous occurred. The booms shook houses and were extremely loud. On November 22, a loud boom was reported at 1:30am in Caldwell, ID. It was speculated that it was a transformer explosion, but this was tied into all the other booms people were talking about.

Answers did eventually come for the Twin Falls event as officials from the Mountain Home air base admitted that aerial maneuvers caused sonic booms. But, again, the individual answers were ignored as the overall wave of interest grew and commenters assumed that the widespread booms represented some other thing that was more mysterious and ominous.

Tik Tok boom trackers

The booms continued. A few TikTokkers in Eastern Idaho deemed these booms enough of a serious mystery that they began their own efforts to find out what was going on. That’s when things went off the rails. It is difficult to pinpoint the location of sounds because waves travel in all directions, get distorted, or reflect off objects. Their source can be very far away and atmospheric conditions and landforms (like canyons) can effect propagation. Nevertheless, these guys embraced their role as “boom chasers” and went at it.

One account, @aaronsbitofeverything (Aaron Belk), says that the booms affecting Eastern Idaho have been reported in several small towns over the past two months. Sometimes they occur multiple times per night. He does not show a record of all the locations and times available that I can find, so I can’t check these claims. He says the media will not cover the story. (What would they cover?) Furthermore, he also says that a person who collected seismographic data to submit to officials died suddenly. He also claimed that a law enforcement friend told him to drop the inquiry because it’s dangerous. Other than his videos, there is no evidence for any of this. Anyone can set up a seismograph. You can’t hide pressure waves. Why is all this info so vague and undetailed? Aaron’s feed also included a scripted video poorly explaining natural explanations that commenters suggested was a forced reading under duress, or he was pretending to be forced to read it. He replied to this comment with an emoji wink. It’s ridiculous why people take any TikTokkers seriously as sources of credible information.

What’s behind the door?

While attempting to track down the location of sounds, Aaron and his buddy found a rusted iron door in a remote mountain side about a half mile from the suspected sound location. They claimed they could hear machinery inside. Shortly after (possibly the same day), another TikTok boom chaser, @WildIdeaswithBrian found the same door. He also said he heard machinery. Brian also claimed he was approached by a person in a vehicle with an unusual license plate whom he thought was lying about his life-long residence in the area (because his accent was wrong). Brian also noted the stranger knew his name (possibly from the videos, maybe?) and that there were suspicious vehicles and traffic in an otherwise deserted area. Thus, the conspiracies started really flying and commenters warned the gentlemen to watch out. Again, the evidence was questionable, subjective, and vague. Wasn’t HE acting suspiciously, too? It sounds like half the traffic were TikTokkers.

The weird door mystery was busted by Aaron a day later as he returned to open it revealing a small room in the rock that an eccentric person created to hide from aliens (identified to be in Howe, ID). He didn’t remark about the lack of machinery in the space. Busted. This seems like a bunch of mystery mongering and drama.

Skyquakes

Aaron and others refers to the noises as skyquakes as if that’s an explanation. But “skyquakes” is only the general name given to mystery booms without an obvious source. I’ve written a comprehensive examination of skyquakes and mystery booms explaining many potential causes for these events. A sonic boom is one of the most obvious disruptive events. They can occur from aircraft and can be identified, and sometimes the source can’t be pinpointed. Considering the map of events in Idaho, there is not just one cause at play.

There are clearly people blowing things up using explosives. There are also meteors that explode with a boom. Thunder and artillery noise can travel through preferential paths in the atmosphere and be heard at one area but not areas in between. Shallow earthquakes, sometimes too weak to be measured, are also common culprits.

It’s also possible that there are undisclosed experiments going on. Presenting it as “secret underground military operations” is exaggeration, though. For every potential mystery, online commenters excel at suggesting absurd and unwarranted causes such as aliens, climate effects, and end times signals.

All in all, while this is an interesting phenomenon and the reaction is fun to watch, these investigators are putting on a show, nothing more. If they are sincere, I don’t fault them for trying to figure it out. I just don’t think they are going to get anywhere. Maybe they should document actual data instead of roaming around the desert. They aren’t going to find a secret underground alien portal that way!

More:

History of mystery booms as recent news

Mystery booms in 2022: A Collection

Mystery boom from December 2023, Council Bluffs, Iowa

The Mystery of the Sky Noises (2013)

#boomTrackers #Idaho #MysteryBooms #skyquake #skyquakes #tiktok #unexplainedBooms

https://sharonahill.com/?p=9054

History of mystery booms as recent news

The phenomenon of mystery booms – that is, unexpected explosive noises heard over a wide area that can’t be traced to an immediate source – are not that rare. They happen regularly across the world and are reported in the news, to police and emergency services, and on social media. Mystery booms of modern times are frequently grouped together by the more metaphysically-inclined followers of natural anomalies who are prone to suggest scary causes relating to approaching natural catastrophes, alien visitations, or religious End Times.

Strange sounds have been reported for centuries. Their descriptions span a huge range – hums, whistles, long rumbling, musical sounds, booms, and, starting around 2011, mechanical and groaning noises. After watching the evolution of reports about noises from the sky for 13 years, I’ve concluded that their recent popularity began as a reaction to the 2012 “end of the world” predictions and were sustained to the present because, quite simply, the modern world is a very noisy place. And, now we pay attention to weird events and share them via social media,

The Kiev video kicked off the hype

In 2011 I was tracking news, videos, and writings about anomalous natural phenomenon when reports of mysterious sky noises took off in conjunction with the proposed, and bogus, Mayan “end of the world” prediction of 2012. At that time, any weird observation, such a mass mortality event, lights in the sky, and various sky noises, were connected together by many superstitious-minded folk as a “sign of the times” and signaling coming doom. As part of my writing on the now defunct daily weird news site, Doubtful News, I followed the reports that were showing up on YouTube, on “odd news” aggregator sites, and in the local news media.

The mainstreaming of sky noises began in earnest in August 2011 based on a video said to have been taken in Kiev, Ukraine. Mechanical-type noises were heard in an urban area. The video, which is likely legitimate, is distinct in that the strange sounds are clearly heard in addition to the normal neighborhood noises in the background. Faking does not seem likely. The unusual sounds had not been adequately explained, partially due to the language barrier. The sounds struck a spooky chord on the Internet.

Copycat videos from various other places appeared on YouTube using the audio taken from this original video. In particular, the Kiev sounds were reproduced on a faked video labeled as being from Conklin. Alberta, Canada. It was obvious to anyone with a bit of critical thinking skills that the Alberta video and the many that followed were faked by dubbing the audio of the Kiev noises.

See Mystery of the Sky Noises

See also Skeptoid: Sky Trumpets (with sound clips)

Expectant attention and rampant speculation

Though the fakery was obvious to many, there was no end to the rampant speculation regarding what might be the cause of actual strange sounds from the sky. In January 2012, people in Costa Rica heard a strange mechanical sound (different than the Kiev event, and most definitely real but mundane) that made the local news. Every weird news story like this was circulated on Facebook and on End Times and paranormal news sites. Often, these stories were then picked up by syndicated news outlets and the story was read worldwide. A “flap” was manufactured due to the expectant attention to strange sounds. At that time, a portion of the population was seriously considering that the misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar meant the world was ending. Reports of rare or seemingly unexplainable events appearing in the news worried people. The anxiety and the exaggerated claims got clicks, thus generating more elevated attention for extreme opinions and conspiracy nonsense. Now that the idea sky noises were in mainstream, real or faked, unusual or normal, people suddenly heard them everywhere simply because they were paying attention.

Mechanical “sky” noises were subsequently explained as industrial malfunctions from factories, construction work, train yards, and snow plows. Urban noises are ubiquitous and can be distorted by weather conditions and reflection/refraction of sound off of surfaces. It was difficult, however, to make an immediate connection to a cause, particularly because sound could travel so far. So, people assumed it was unexplainable and framed these incidents as such on social media. Commenters suggested, without any rational or scientific basis, that the causes were related to shifting magnetic poles, secret underground construction, HAARP experiments, atmospheric or inner earth stresses, alien visitation, and most creatively, the trumpets of angels.

In 2012, I saw news coming from a website called “Geochange” run by Dr. Elchin Khalilov. He suggested that “strange sounds” were the result of some sciencey-sounding causes: 1. acoustic gravity waves in the atmosphere generated by volcanoes and earthquakes or powerful solar flares impacting the earth, 2, energy releases from the earth’s core, or 3. sudden gravitational impulses. His mish-mash of speculation was a messy concoction of real phenomena that he connected to the strange sounds reports but it was unsupported by any evidence. No legitimate work was published except via conference proceedings run by Khalilov’s own “scientific” organization. Even though “acoustic gravity waves” are real phenomenon, they don’t behave as he stated and don’t generate the kinds of sounds described. The purpose of the Geochange site was to convince people that earth changes (volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.) were intensifying and that these mystery sounds were associated with those changes. The specious idea of gravity waves generated by solar flares was subsequently reposted all over the web as being from an “acclaimed”, “credentialed” and “renowned” professor – all trumped up hype. The Geochange concepts were a prime example of pseudoscience, some of which continues to circulate to this day as an attention-grabbing insert in articles about mystery booms.

See Scientist states he has explanation for sky noises

After 2012 passed and the world didn’t end, the sky noise craze died down a bit. However, it didn’t go away completely. The prospects of earth changes, End Times, and alien visitation remained in the forefront of people’s minds due to current events.

Even though it appeared that strange sounds seemed to be occurring regularly around the world, this was a function of the availability heuristic: we had been hearing about the phenomenon, so when something similar was experienced in our own environment, we were far more likely to become aware of it, to remark upon it, and to place that event in the same context. Loud sounds from planes, trains, heavy equipment and trucks, often amplified by low cloud cover or other weather conditions, were now noticed and deemed concerning. There are countless examples of people living near airports, train yards and industrial/construction sites experiencing nuisance sounds (including myself). Normal noises were elevated to being abnormal.

Listening for the booms

In the summer of 2013, talk of sky noises was still prevalent in social media and would remain fodder for news and websites. Mystery booms, in particular, were reported frequently all over the world. Those who heard the unexpected booms feared explosions, terrorism, or earthquakes. But most often, there was no immediate and obvious explanation for these incidents, leaving rattled residents feeling unsettled. This lack of closure enhanced the concern and the mysteriousness.

Mystery boom regularly reports appeared on local news sites and broadcasts. With my focus on North American news sources, I notice several incidents per month. When a boom rattles residents across part of a region, some people will call emergency services to report it. The police investigate and check the obvious potential causes, but almost never find anything. Sometimes, a homeowner records the sound or even a flash from a security camera, providing some extra details. Unless authorities can confirm a meteor, an earthquake, or a supersonic jet flyover, the cause is almost never pinpointed.

In 2021, I started noting reported mystery booms appearing in the news from around the world and paid more attention to the speculation over their possible causes – perhaps a pattern would emerge. This closer examination of instances of fleeting “mystery booms” revealed some tangible characteristics that probably reflected upon their origins. When considering the potential causes, I look for notable characteristics such as season, weather, and the report of an associated flash. Was it a weekend, or a holiday that might indicate celebratory explosives? Also important is whether the sound is singular or multiple booms. Booms were more likely to be reported in the cold months. There may be solid reasons for this. People are in their homes during the winter. Sound from various sources travels farther in cold air, when there is less vegetative cover on trees. A structure with closed windows will make the sound waves more noticeable. Low cloud cover can reflect sound waves back to the ground.

In 2022, I kept a spreadsheet of incidents and of what authorities and/or the media noted as the suspected causes of the booms. Some causes are easy to pinpoint if they are associated with other evidence – such as a visual report of a meteor or ground evidence of an explosion. Other events have strong circumstantial evidence due to location or timing – such as military aircraft testing, explosive materials/fireworks, lightning storms, or shallow earthquakes. The main causes determined either by official sources or through the contextual evidence provided were as follows:

Aircraft-created sonic booms or noise. (Military jets, rocket launch or spaceplane) Reporters often call local military bases to ask if they will confirm a supersonic jet flyover. However, it’s reasonable to assume that a spokesperson will not know or will not reveal this happened. We are left with insufficient information to be certain.

Meteor airburst or sonic booms. It is now possible to confirm meteors entering the atmosphere and exploding. Security cameras captured streaks across the sky. Weather satellites sometimes catch the bright flash. People across the world report their visual sightings to databases on the internet. A check on websites can confirm if a meteor was noted where its demise may have resulted in a loud boom. A tiny meteor can make a big noise. But if atmospheric entry occurs in the daytime, it is less likely to be spotted. 

Shallow small earthquakes. Much of the US is covered by an array of seismic detection equipment. Small, shallow quakes, however, may not register unless the seismograph is very close-by. Seismic signals are distinct from surface blasts (from mines/quarries or explosives) and from airborne explosions. Shallow quakes will be noticed only in a very localized area may account for some of the booming sounds. However, with increased local seismic arrays, even tiny quakes can be recorded.

See also Peabody’s booming earthquake swarm and Moodus: The place of bad noises

Frost quakes. Sudden drops in temperatures can create frost quakes. This natural phenomenon is not that familiar even to those in northern areas where they may occur each year. The freezing of water inside rock fractures can break the rock with force, creating a sound and sometimes visible physical damage. But it may go unnoticed. Identification of frost quakes is slowly becoming more common. 

Explosives. Exploding fireworks or tannerite (used for exploding targets) are easily available and readily used, particularly in rural areas. They are legal means to make a big noise, and some people love to dramatically blow things up (recall the several gender reveal stunts using explosives with pink or blue additives). Unfortunately, a few also experiment with homemade explosives. These may or may not have an associated flash when they detonate. Unless the event is directly witnessed, people who hear the noise may not see any obvious source and, because explosions may have occurred on private property, no evidence may be available to definitively point to the source. Controlled explosives, such as mine or construction blasting, military testing, and artilliary practice sound different – that is, more or less annoying – under different atmospheric conditions.

Lightning storms. Severe thunderstorms can produce sound waves that travel very far and may sound like an unnerving constant rumble for many minutes. Without the ability to connect these to lightning flashes (which may be too far away), observers may be confused. The potential for atmospheric ducting, where sound gets transmitted for long distances and is experienced in far away areas (but maybe not in between), means that thunder or explosive booms are felt unevenly across the geographic areas.

Industrial noise/malfunction. As I mentioned earlier, construction and industrial facilities produce disruptive sounds, particularly related to wind direction, cloud cover, or during temperature inversions.
Many mystery booms remained of unknown origin because of insufficient information. A residual number of mystery booms remain mysterious because observations may have been missed or lost. It is very difficult to locate the origin of an unexpected and low-frequency sound. Atmospheric and physical conditions can amplify, transmit, or distort the sound. Therefore, unexplainable events are inevitable but, with all the potential reasonable explanations, there is no justification to promote an extraordinary cause.

See Mystery Booms in 2022.

Sky quakes

In 2021, I wrote a piece for Spooky Geology (now moved onto this website) on mystery booms and sky quakes. “Sky quake” is a dramatic term associated with the noise that people often assume might be from a distant earthquake, but no seismicity is registered in their area. This piece was a look at all the potential causes listed above with a special focus on brontides and noisy earthquakes, which are discussed in Fortean circles. I rather like the term sky quake (or skyquake) even though it’s a bit over the top for some of these events.

I still watch for daily news about mystery booms. Make no mistake, the world is a very noisy place! It’s surprising that news reporters still treat these events as confounding, even though they are so common with several potential causes. We now have better tools that can help us figure out the origin of so-called sky quakes. In the past few months, an early morning boom in New York City was later identified as a localized small earthquake. And mystery booms in Pennsylvania and Iowa were almost certainly tannerite/home grown explosions. Unfortunately, the suspected conclusions come days after the excitement. There is a portion of the population who refuse to accept mundane explanations and prefer to express belief in fabulous and sensationalized ideas instead.

Experienced a mystery boom? Write to me: [email protected]

#anomalousSounds #earthSounds #endTimes #Fortean #MayanApocalypse #MysteryBooms #mysterySounds #skyTrumpets #skyquake #strangeSounds #strangeSoundsInTheSky

https://sharonahill.com/?p=8197

Skyquakes, Upsweeps, and Sky Trumpets | Terrifying Sounds that Signal the End of the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_TTKx9ILi8

#Mystery #SkyQuake #Science #Earth #geology #TectonicPlates #WeirdSounds

The world is a noisy place. But some sounds shake you to your foundation. Mystery booms that come out of nowhere and have indiscernible sources scare people and leave them wondering, “What just happened?”

Every week, we find a few reports of “mystery booms” in the news. People report a surprising, loud noise that shakes their house and rattles their windows. This is not a new phenomenon. Reports of such sounds can be traced back through news accounts from over a century ago. But the immediacy of social media connections today allows us to readily share our observations. Therefore, occurrences of mystery booms appear as if they are more frequent. It is not clear if this is accurate or just the result of a generally more noisy cultural landscape. “End Times” commenters are ever-ready to use reports of mystery booms as an indication that something frightening is going on within the planet or that we have an extra-terrestrial threat of some kind. That’s a belief-based opinion and not a scientific one. We can make educated conclusions about the source of mystery booms through examination of characteristics of the events including time, weather conditions, frequency, and location.

Categorizing mystery booms

To begin, we can place mystery booms into different categories based on location:

• Land-based booms
• Coastal booms

and based on the frequency of the booms:

• Single occurrences
• Multiple occurrences over a defined time span
• Regularly reoccurring

The full extent of all the potential causes of land-based booms may be undefinable but the most common include the following:

• Lightning/thunder (particularly positive strikes which are exceptionally loud)
• Explosions (accidental and deliberate, such as use of tannerite or fireworks)
• Industrial noise
• Train or truck-related sounds
• Military artillery exercises
• Sonic booms
• Quarrying or rock blasting
• Shallow earthquakes
• Other geological-related events including frost quakes

I experience house-rumbling booms almost once a month from military training exercises some 7 miles away. The train transfer station in the valley is sometimes very loud in their activity of moving shipping containers on and off the cars. And empty tractor-trailers bumping over potholes or bridge joints can also be a nuisance noise. Communities may employ small detonations to scare away nuisance birds daily. Low-frequency noises like these travel much farther than high-frequency noise but weather conditions affect how far and in what direction sound travels.

Skyquakes

Booms from these causes might be traceable back to their source and some are recorded by equipment (quarry blasts) or have records of the event (explosions, military training). But most often, mystery booms remain a mystery because they are unexpected, fleeting, leave no trace, and are locationally hard to pinpoint. The term “skyquake” appeared in online usage around 2004 [though I’m uncertain about this date] to describe booms that have no readily discernible source. In addition to the potential causes provided above, skyquakes can be a result of atmospheric ducting of noise (from man-made explosions, or thunder) from far away. Under certain meteorological conditions, sounds may travel through the air in a preferred path or bounce off layers in the atmosphere, affecting distant receptors but not the people in between. Thus, the receptors (people affected by the noise) are at a loss as to where it originated.

Single booms are obviously harder to pinpoint. Explosions are also frequently one-off events whether they are manufactured or accidental. Cultural-related noises are more likely during weekends or holidays when people are blowing things up. It also helps to know the areal extent of the sound – if it was very local or heard across half a state. These days, many homeowners capture singular mystery booms on their home outdoor surveillance equipment. This recording can help determine the general sense of the sound and direction.

Incidents of homemade bombs or tannerite explosions are increasing. These are occurring in remote areas, such as the San Juan Islands of Washington (from 2019 to the present) and in more urban areas, like Chicago and Loveland, Ohio. Law enforcement attempt to investigate but only rarely are perpetrators caught.

Military jets are careful about creating sonic booms today but it still happens. Prior to its retirement in 2003, the Concorde passenger jet was a potential culprit. Supersonic jets flying offshore can sometimes be implicated if military authorities are willing to comply with the request to check records.

Bolides entering the earth’s atmosphere often explode. Meteor explosions might be visible as a flash in the sky but, if it’s cloudy or very sunny, the flash may be visible only on satellite imagery or not at all. A meteor explosion most often will not result in any debris reaching the ground. Small bits of space rocks enter our atmosphere daily, but they are big enough to make a loud sound over a wide area when they break apart. The explosion at Tunguska in 1908, which was an airburst of a bolide, was potentially the loudest sound on earth in human history (rivaled only by the Krakatau eruption of 1883) – both would qualify as the most massive skyquakes ever heard by people.

An interesting, but unconfirmed, idea about skyquakes is that coronal mass ejections from the sun can accelerate protons enough to cause shock waves in the earth’s atmosphere. Or, there may be sounds generated from interactions in the earth’s magnetosphere. These speculative ideas have gained popularity over the past 10 years as people report skyquakes on social media. Prior to this, the noise might have been brushed off or simply didn’t make the news.

Geological sources of noise

A common geological source of mystery booms are shallow earthquakes. These are more common than people think, even more than many geologists recognize. Multiple booms over several days, weeks, or years that can’t be pinpointed to any known source may be indicative of shallow earthquakes. I’ll expand on earthquake noise below.

Subsidence of abandoned underground mine voids can also create booming noises and possibly register as small earthquakes. In specific areas, booms can come from volcanic activity, landslides, or methane eruptions (underwater “mud volcanoes”, permafrost collapse, seafloor bubbles). Recently, karst activity underground has been implicated in mystery booming sounds, especially after a very large storm event that causes huge volumes of water at high velocity to travel through underground void space, possibly moving debris with it.

“Frost quakes” (cryoseisms) occur in temperate climates where water in rock fractures or joints freezes and expands causing rock slabs to split. These events due to ice expansion are accompanied by loud noise and sometimes evidence on the surface. Frost quakes are rare but can be considered under the right weather conditions. Spontaneous rock exfoliation can also occur under conditions of thermal stress, but these events are more likely to be extremely localized and easily discernible.

Brontides

The phenomenon of reoccurring booms is called “brontides”. They are also called “water guns” or “land guns” because they sound like cannon fire or rifle reports. The brontides phenomenon received scientific attention decades ago but the sources of the sounds are still unconfirmed. They are common enough around the world that they are often named for a place.

Some examples of these regularly occurring land booms include:

• Moodus noises of Connecticut (generally agreed to be seismic-related)
• “Brontidi” on the Italian peninsula
• Hanley’s guns in Victoria, Australia
• Booms reported by Bedouins in the Egyptian desert (possibly from sand dunes collapsing)
• “Gouffre” reported in Haiti (a seismically active area).

Water guns are booms that occur along the edges of oceans, lakes, or river deltas. Explanations for water guns are just as speculative as for the land booms and include waves breaking offshore, landslides or sand movement on the river banks, or detonation of underwater gas. The particular feature of water guns is that the water surface may transmit sound.

Booms on the coast

The Barisal Guns are known from the Ganges delta area in India. Reports exist from the 1870s when explosives and cannons were nowhere around and firearms were scarce. The booming sound is sometimes solitary but can be in triplets. Barisal guns events were often associated with rain suggesting a possible explanation of far-off thunder transmitted long distances. Another idea based on the location was that distant volcanic or seismic sounds were transmitted over or reflecting off the water surface. Related to this, some scientists speculated that local shallow quakes resulted from the cumulative weight of sediment deposited in delta areas.

Similar booming noises have been reported all along the Eastern North America coast, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, often in the same general location over time. Here are some examples of other famous “water guns”:

• Seneca Guns, Seneca Lake, New York. This phenomena is so well known that the media may refer to other instances of water guns as “Seneca guns”. Other lakes around the world have their own “lake guns” as well.
• “Mistpouffers” are known from the coasts of northern Europe to Iceland, particularly Belgium and France. Their tendency to occur on warm, calm foggy days has earned them the translation of “fog dissipators”. A keeper of a lighthouse reported them with regularity. Interestingly, the sound was said to not be like artillery or thunder but this could be a result of atmospheric conditions that distort sound.
• Uminari in Japan are described as the sound of waves breaking off shore. The lines of waves can produce a cannonading sound audible some ways inland.
• “Lake Roar” from several Alpine lakes may possibly be related to karst caverns and wind.

Noisy earthquakes

Frequently, multiple booms reported over several months or years, or reoccurring periodically in a specific area can be linked to seismic events that are too small to feel, perhaps even too small to be measured.

Occasionally, you might find geological commenters who say that earthquakes don’t make noise. This is completely false. They make a lot of noise when you are nearby the epicenter. The energy released from the subsurface can manifest as sound when transmitted into the air. Shallow earthquakes may not create perceptible shaking at all and may only be noticeable from their booming sound.

John Ebel writes about earthquakes in New England:
“Observers near the epicenter of an earthquake magnitude 2.0 to about 3.5 typically describe the earthquake sound as a loud boom, like a nearby explosion or clap of thunder. If the earthquake is above about magnitude 5.0, observers near the epicenter often report a roaring sound that accompanies the earthquake shaking.”

The most famous place of “bad noises” in the US is Moodus, Connecticut, where seismic waves from tiny, shallow quakes are converted into sound waves in the atmosphere resulting in a very localized perception of booms. Moodus wasn’t the only “noisy” place noted in early America. Nashoba Hill in Massachusetts was known by the natives as the “hill that shakes.” Settlers eventually also heard the rumbling noises that came from the hill. The Native Americans were well aware of the recurrence of earthquakes throughout New England.

No place in the US is immune to at least small earthquakes. Earthquakes result from a situation where differential pressures in the rock exceed the rock strength. Mostly the stress is released through existing weak planes in the rock where movement occurred in the past (faults). Rock can break in an earthquake even if there is no fault present. Larger earthquakes take place in areas we consider to be seismically active, that is, along plate boundaries. So what explains earthquakes in the interior US that are not along plate boundaries? Today, the seismological evidence strongly supports the idea that the occurrences of earthquakes in northeastern North America are due to pressures in the crust that arise from the movement of the tectonic plates over the entire surface of the earth. Internal stresses still exist and prehistoric faults can still move, so these intercontinental quakes are hard to forecast. It’s not always clear why certain places experience unexpected swarms of small quakes accompanied by booming sounds.

Several towns that do not typically experience earthquakes were subjected to booms and nerve-jangling tremors over many months. Examples of such swarms included:

• Blue Mountain Lake, Southern Adirondacks, New York 1971
• Dillsburg, Pennsylvania 2008-2009
• Oklahoma 2009 to present (induced by injection of wastewater)
• Peabody, Massachusetts 2021

Residents of places where swarms occur naturally wonder if something bigger is coming (which does happen). Even if they are convinced that no strong shock is imminent, the frequent booms rattle nerves as well as dishes. Because the faults in the continental crust are short and the stresses are residual (from ancient events and not related directly to plate movement), the quakes in the interior US are not as large – not above magnitude 7. Due to the crustal composition, however, these eastern quakes transmit energy across huge areas and can produce widespread damage.

1791: Moodus, Connecticut
Residents around Moodus, Connecticut were no strangers to booming sounds. But the event on May 18, 1791 was far stronger than they had experienced before. It was felt throughout Connecticut, most of Massachusetts, and across Rhode Island. It is difficult to reconcile the magnitude based on reported damage effects and felt area but best guesses are around 4.5 to 5.0. Additional swarms of felt quakes occurred in August of 1981 and June 1982. These later, better recorded events, established that Moodus is an active seismic area. Its famous noises are the result of shallow, very local small quakes where the energy is converted to sound.

Solving mystery booms

What do you do if you experience a mystery boom? Firstly, note the time and characteristic of the event and the general direction from which you perceived it came. Check social media to see if anyone else heard it and has reliable information. Refrain from reporting to emergency services unless you notice a related surface effect (power outage, fire, etc.). Multiple events should be reported, but the officials will appreciate a detailed record of the occurrences. Local officials do their best to determine the source of local mystery booms. If the booms continue, residents expect additional action such as a higher level of investigation or calling in geologic experts. Trying to investigate mystery booms on your own is almost always futile and potentially dangerous.

It’s near impossible to list every potential cause for mystery booms and skyquakes; this piece was intended to give you a range of possibilities to ponder. Finally, to assuage any worries you may have, skyquakes and mystery booms may be spooky but they aren’t precursors to the apocalypse. They are often just the normal noises of the earth and of our civilization.

UPDATED: 4-Dec-2021 to note that Tunguska and Krakatau produced the loudest booms ever.

UPDATED: 19-Mar-2022 to include incidents of homemade explosives causing mystery booms.

UPDATED 4-January-2025 to add to comprehensive list of land-based booms

Additional Info: The mystery booms and skyquakes of 2022

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Sources

Bressan, D. (2020). Seismologists Investigate Unexplained Skyquakes. Forbes, Dec 22, 2020.

Corliss, W. (1983). Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds and Related Phenomena: A Catalog of Geophysical Anomalies.

Ebel, J E. (2019). New England Earthquakes: The Surprising History of Seismic Activity in the Northeast.

Gold, T. and S. Soter. (1979). Brontides: Natural Explosive Noises. Science, 204:4391. pp. 371-375.

USGS. Earthquake Booms, Seneca Guns, and Other Sounds.

Originally published November 2021 on SpookyGeology.com