Strange Booms In Morristown, Tennessee

I got a text from a buddy of mine telling me about some large booms going on in Morristown. He lives about 20 minutes away from there and doesn't remember hearing or feeling anything. I guess the first boom shook the walls of one man's home so bad that it actually cracked the plaster. My first thought was The Oakridge facility but it's probably too far away. Maybe caused by fracking?



Reported by WBIR:

Morristown residents felt the earth shake not once but twice Tuesday, but the U.S. Geological Survey says it was not an earthquake.
The cause of what residents say felt like an explosion is a mystery to officials at this point.
Resident Willie Strange had barely made it through the front door from working all day when he felt his home move around four o'clock.
"Came in and sat down. Flipped the TV on and all at once, it was a jarring explosion. I thought someone had set off some dynamite charge. I could feel the walls shaking," said Strange.
He started looking around and noticed cracks in his bedroom walls and molding. Before he could inspect the rest of the house, he felt it again.
"I felt like another little explosion right behind that. So then I got outside and I seen the neighbors. Everybody was outside looking around wondering what was going on," he said.
Strange and his neighbors weren't the only ones. From one side of Morristown to the other, residents flooded the emergency dispatch center with calls of concern.
"It was chaotic. We probably received 80 to 100 calls," said dispatcher Greg Simmons.
"I tell you what it shook the whole house here. I thought something blew up!" one caller said.
After about 20 minutes the calls slowed and things went back to normal around town. That's when Strange found even more cracks around his home and on the outside as well.
Now he's left with damage and nowhere to place the blame.
Around 10 o'clock, dispatch reported another rumbling. They said they received less calls than the first episode.
The Emergency Management Agency says they are investigating the cause. They say there is no major damage to report.

reply to post by jtrenthacker


Geez, that's some damage. I can't wait to hear some more locals come on to share their experiences. Wonder what's going on??

I have family near there. I will check with them and report back. May take some time, though.

reply to post by jtrenthacker

What time was this?

Interesting!!!

You are right about Oak Ridge National Labs being too far away to be the cause. If it had originated from there I would have known as I'm not too far away "as the crow flies".

This is not the first time this has happened in East Tennessee, Neighborhood terrified by mysterious shaking

The cause of that one was never solved.

For those that know how to read the squiggly lines, helicorder displays for that area is here.

As for fracking, I'm not sure if they have wells up that way. BUT, there is some controversy going on right now about UTK wanting to start a study on fracking.


Edit to add: here is the link to the WBIR story: Morristown Mystery: Residents report earth shaking

reply to post by Vasa Croe


The news story said about 4:00 pm.

Originally posted by jtrenthacker
reply to post by Vasa Croe

 

The news story said about 4:00 pm.

Whoops....was looking for an actual number for the time, not the number spelled out when I read the story. My bad. Thanks!

Looks like activity to me...

folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu...




i may not be reading them right, but all of them are showing acrivity around that time frame.

It will be interesting to find out what the cause is. I'll be watching this thread to see what evolves.

Originally posted by severdsoul
Looks like activity to me...

folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu...




i may not be reading them right, but all of them are showing acrivity around that time frame.

Check your date on those, it is listed as the 9th. It's my understanding this happened yesterday, the 12th, at about 4pm and again at 10pm.

And you've ruled out construction already I assume? A school or something is being built across the street from me and I regularly feel the booms and vibrations in my house.

reply to post by OneisOne


oops, you are right.. my bad. *hangs head in shame*

Good catch, hmm ok, i'll poke around for ones where the date is right ...


The 12th is showing some on a few of them..



looks like after 4:30 close to 5 , solid hit what ever it was.

reply to post by severdsoul

Hey thanks for that!!!!
---------------------------------

And about the fracking....

I (finally) found a website that tracks permits and according to their list there are currently no wells in Hamblen County.

If you would like to view that list, it is here. Part of the Tennessee Clean Water Network's site.

So I was doing some searching around on the internets and found this from the Earthfiles.com website:

On Wednesday, January 23, 2013, between 1:00 and 3:30 AM Central, many West Morristown, Tennessee, residents called 911 to report “loud booms.” In some cases, people said it sounded “like someone was breaking into my home.” Hamblen County Sheriff Deputies could not find the source of the booms and other noises. The only working hypothesis now is that perhaps a cave beneath the Meadows subdivision collapsed. But no one knows for certain what happened and the U. S. Geological Survey has no data of seismic activity at the time.

A cave collapsing?

Also there was this story from Examiner.com:

Residents flooded the 911 emergency call center to report loud booms. City officials are clueless on where the mysterious sounds are resonating from.

On January 23, 2013, late in the evening, Hamblen County residents were startled when loud booms rattled their ears. Some people thought their homes were being broken into. The emergency call center was bombarded with concerned and disturbed citizens.

Hamblen County Sheriff Deputies could not find the source of the noises. Some authorities think that a cave beneath the Meadows subdivision collapsed.

The strange sounds echoed throughout the area and even had law enforcement officers baffled. Sheriff Deputy, Jim Standifer heard the booms. "It sounded like a hand grenade going off, then you could feel the ground vibrate." The officer described.

What are these sounds? That is one question on a lot of Morristown citizen's minds right now. This question may remain unanswered.

"At this point, nobody seems to know. The geologists say it's not in the ground, the Air Force says it's not in the air, the astronomers say it's not from space, so we're running out of options," one official said.

There are many theories as to what the strange sounds are. Many think it is paranormal, some say it is extraterrestrial, others think it is biblical. Most people think there is a more scientific explanation. Still, no one seems to have a definitive answer as to what we're hearing in the skies.

Looks like this phenomena has been going on there for the last few months. Hmmmm.

I work in Morristown and am there at the moment of this posting. To my knowledge there is no fracking nor any construction the would require blasting. However that is what it felt like. A sudden very deep base "BOOM" and a momentary shaking, not the sustained shaking of an earthquake (which we have felt a few times this year). Oak Ridge is way to far, I would think, to have felt something from there. I have family in Oak Ridge and they didn't feel anything.

As for the possibility of it going on for months, I haven't felt anything or heard anything of the sort. I will have to ask around and see what I can find.

reply to post by HillWilliam


Thanks for posting! Have you noticed these booms before?

No nothing like it in the Four years I've been here. And others I work with are just as confused as to what could have caused it as I am.

I work at a car lot, and many of the people outside didn't hear or feel anything. Our secretary said she had felt 2 weak versions of the 4:00 BOOM, she called them earthquakes and no one believed her because no one else felt them until 4:00.

I hadn't heard of the story above about the cave in. I'll certainly ask around about it now though.

reply to post by HillWilliam

I know how your secretary feels! I feel small shakes at my house (not in Morristown) occasionally and they never line up with an earthquake. (except that one in Kentucky a few months ago) Then I started hearing small booms and at that point I think my husband thought I was crazy until he started hearing the booms too. After that something weird started happening, when we heard/felt the booms, our internet connection would drop out for a few minutes. Never did figure out the cause.

I think a cave collapse sounds reasonable, but with these things there never is a solid answer.

Having no solid answer is both the best and worst part of this.

On the one hand we may never know the cause, and an unanswered is always irritating.

ON the other hand if no one gets hurt then whats the harm of having a little mystery? It could be the government building secret underground facilities, Aliens preparing for an invasion, the Military fighting off an invasion from the center of the Earth.

I will continue looking into it, but I'm kinda hoping for Mole People.