Hundreds report shaking and booms, North Carolina

Around 10am EST this morning, I was sitting in my living room when the doors in my house began to shake as if someone was trying to rattle them open, and I felt the shaking through the floor. This was followed by a rather large boom. My mom, brother, and sister in law, who live about 25 minutes inland from me, (I am about 1 mile from the Atlantic in SE NC), were woken by the same shaking and boom. Their televisions were shaking and nearly fell off the stands they were on.

The news evidently wants to blame this on the "Seneca Guns", but this was an event that was felt up and down the coast of NC. At 11:44am, many people reported the same thing, (I was driving at the time).

The United States Geological Survey and its network of seismometers have reported no significant earthquakes along the east coast within the last day – so earthquake activity is not likely the cause. The USGS would love to know what you felt and when you felt it.

They also say they are waiting a call back from Camp Lejune to see if there were any military drills taking place.

Ideas?

www.wect.com...
earthquake.usgs.gov...

Mystery Booms Rattle
North Carolina Since 1850s
By Jerry Allegood
Raleigh News & Observer
9-1-1

FORT FISHER, N.C. -- The sound rolls in off the ocean like an invisible tidal wave, washing over houses with enough force to rattle windows and startling people who look uneasily to the ground and to the sky for an explanation.

Boom. Rattle. Rattle boom. And it is over as quickly as it began.

The mysterious noises have been reported as far back as the 1850s.

www.rense.com...

Possibly related?

Booms rattle Southeastern N.C. residents for second time in 24 hours
By Brian Freskos
[email protected]
Published: Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 7:09 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 7:09 p.m.

It happened again.

For the second time in less than 24 hours, Southeastern North Carolina residents were rattled by a mysterious pair of loud booms that shook them awake and rattled their homes.

No one seems to know for sure what is causing the noises. But dispatchers in New Hanover and Brunswick counties said they got multiple telephone calls around 10:30 a.m. Saturday from people wanting to know why their homes were shaking.

Another one?

www.starnewsonline.com...

MNN.COM›Earth Matters›
Wilderness & Resources
Mysterious booming sounds rattle N.C. windows and doors
Mudslides, meteors, earthquakes, tsunamis and explosive gas are all given as potential causes for the odd and intense noises.
By OurAmazingPlanet.comFri, Sep 16 2011 at 1:19 PM EST

www.mnn.com...

It sounds like this happens a lot in NC, interesting never heard of it.

Confirmations, reports, videos and soundfiles from our North Carolina members are needed if on shelf
I bet there is one to confirm

reply to post by PageAlaCearl


The Seneca Gun "booms" are common... But they are typically just heard/felt along the coast. Even at my house, 1 mile inland, I've never heard them. The booms are also usually just in one particular area. Today's events have reports coming in from the Outer Banks down to the NC/SC line...

This isn't the same thing.

reply to post by journey2010


Could it be some kind of sonic boom??
2nd line

According to your Seneca Guns link it does sound like these booms can be classified as such. That doesn't mean there is an explanation for them, however.
You would think that considering the long history of these booms in this area they would have figured out the cause...

The answer seems to be in your own link.

Earthquake "booms" have been reported for a long time, and they tend to occur more in the Northeastern US and along the East Coast. Of course, most "booms" that people hear or experience are actually some type of cultural noise, such as some type of explosion, a large vehicle going by, or sometimes a sonic boom, but there have been many reports of "booms" that cannot be explained by man-made sources. No one knows for sure, but scientists speculate that these "booms" are probably small shallow earthquakes that are too small to be recorded, but large enough to be felt by people nearby.

reply to post by xEphon


"They" don't really seem too interested in finding out what causes the "Seneca Guns"... These booms and shakes happen in NY, the SE Atlantic coast, and India. With not solid explanations.

Today's event was a bit nerve rattling... When you and your house shake, you kind of expect to find news of an earthquake, etc. But no answer is much worse...

reply to post by journey2010


There was an earthquake in Virginia but only a 1.6 . Here's a link to twitter twitter.com...#!/search/earthquake wilmington

I didn't feel anything. I was up at that time.

Now, I do feel the booms and hear the loud noises. But, I always chalk that up to the base doing some military exercise.

reply to post by Atzil321


A small shallow earthquake, too small to be measured, would not rattle doors and windows along the entire North Carolina coastline. And the unexplained Seneca Gun booms happen in localized areas... again, not the entire NC coast.

reply to post by Irish614


The earthquake in VA was at 12:15am EST. These events in NC were at 10am and 11:45am EST.

Seen a couple stories on it....they are saying it was blasting.

Boom Sound Reports 2/28

Some of the reports state that calls from both NC and GA were coming in because of it.....must have been a HUGE detonation if this is the actual cause.

reply to post by Vasa Croe


The times don't match up to their blasting schedule and what we felt. They were supposed to blast at 1030am, the first round was at 10am here. Also, I'd hope that some blasting 200+ miles away wouldn't shake windows and doors up the NC coast.

reply to post by Vasa Croe


must have been one heck of a blast to be felt up and down the coast

Seneca Guns
The term “Seneca guns” is just a name, not an explanation. It does not tell us anything about what causes these noises and shakings. The name originated in a short story that James Fennimore Cooper wrote during the 1800’s. The name refers to booms that have been heard on the shores of Lake Seneca and Lake Cayuga in New York State. The name has been applied to similar noises along the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Similar booms are called Barisol guns in coastal India. These phenomena have also occurred in three widely separated places around the world. That’s about all we know about the Seneca guns.

Source

Thanks for posting...learned something new.

reply to post by relocator


Folklore is that the booms are from the ghosts of Indians using the Brits guns against them in a final act of retaliation for stealing their land...

Not saying I don't believe in ghosts, but I sure would like to know what caused today's rattling and booming.

reply to post by journey2010


Nice....

This makes sense to me...

Higher-frequency vibrations make the booming sound, and when quakes are deeper, those vibrations are gone by the time they reach the surface. Sometimes the quakes boom even when no vibration is felt.

I pray this is the case:

but right now we don’t understand what makes them. However, they do not seem to pose a threat to anyone.

couldn't find NC seismographs but here's SC and an interesting one is NHSC BHZ US -- : NHSC.US

eeyore.seis.sc.edu...

reply to post by berkeleygal


According to the site the one you specified is from 2011. Was there another incident around then?