Mysterious booms baffle Central Virginia residents

Mysterious booms baffle Central Virginia residents

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. (WTVR) — CBS 6 News has received hundreds of tips since our story aired about mysterious booms being heard across Central Virginia. Some said the noises were so intense they rattled their homes. Police and firefighters in Colonial Heights were called out to three different parts of the city Sunday after receiving calls about mysterious sounds.

Sgt. Rob Ruxer with Colonial Heights police said dispatchers received at least three calls just before 5:30 p.m. Sunday from citizens in separate areas of the city about a loud noise. “There was a large boom. I thought it was thunder,” Kelsey Barnes of Colonial Heights said. “It kind of shook the house a little bit, but I have no idea what it was.” Officials have not been able to tie the booms to one specific area, but they have been reported for the past several weeks. Residents from from Chester to southern Chesterfield, Colonial Heights and Hopewell have reported hearing the booms.

I live in North Chesterfield Virginia and heard these tonight around 9:30 p.m., and Sunday evening as well. It shook the house like thunder does, but sounded somewhat like an explosion - enough for me to look outside to see what the heck was going on. A little unnerving to say the least, hence me posting this at 1 a.m.

CBS 6 News checked area surveillance cameras across the city and could not find signs of the boom. With every recurrence, there has been no revelation about what or who is behind them. Colonial Heights Fire Chief A.G. Moore said his department does not have any additional leads about where the noises are coming from or what is causing them. “I think that’s what kind of surprised me the most, is seeing how wide spread this is,” said Moore. “It’s not really confined just to Colonial Heights and Southern Chesterfield County.”

On social media there is a lot of speculation about what could be causing the booms. But CBS 6 has determined the booms are not coming from Fort Lee or Fort Picket. It was not the rock quarry in Dinwiddie or Chesterfield. Additionally, it was not a transformer explosion or a sonic boom. And while some CBS 6 Facebook fans thought it might be a cold-related tremor, the average temperature last week was nearly 40 degrees.

I don't know what is causing these noises, but they remind me of the booming noises we heard here in 2004. It was definitely louder tonight than it was on Sunday.

Just one more place on the list of places hearing these lately. It'll be interesting to find out what is causing them...

Also happened in London.

Strange stuff, indeed. There seem to be a lot of these mystery booms nowadays. Is it possible that these have always happened but were only reported locally?

Loud booms have also been heard throughout Canada this past week due to the frigid temperatures. It's alot warmer in Virginia but yeah.. www.cbc.ca...

To be honest I am not really sure why people care about random booming sounds these days - I don't think that is really news worthy.

This may be because I have lived most of my life in a valley surrounded by Edwards Air Force Base, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed and many more. Loud (HOUSE SHAKING) booms are constantly occurring in this entire valley. This has been going on for decades and I think it is well understood here that those sounds are being produced by aircraft, or similar machines. It's no wonder why nobody is taking responsibility for it if it's related to military aircraft or testing/training missions.

Now of course we know that most governments these days all have the ability to produce aircraft that can break the sound barrier and create extremely loud booms that rattle your house, windows and you can even feel.

Also, despite what some may think - if you go outside to try to find an aircraft that just broke the sound barrier, you will most likely be disappointed as it is likely moving to fast (and more significantly) too high to see.

So I don't see any case for conspiracy whatsoever, and I am kind of annoyed by all the "News Postings" about loud booms in countries that test (and just USE) aircraft all the time that produce that noise.

Or maybe the real question is - why are military aircraft that create this affect being used more and more commonly over major, well populated cities that do not usually experience that noise?

Pure speculation here, but there's probably some heavy construction going on underground.

I figure the couple of hundred million that get to go underground only have another few years to get their caves built right.

zazen
Also happened in London.

Strange stuff, indeed. There seem to be a lot of these mystery booms nowadays. Is it possible that these have always happened but were only reported locally?

That's a good question. It could be - I know in 2004 there were hundreds of people reporting about the noises, and it hit the local news. It did not hit the national news that I know of, however.

I don't know about the other places that have been hearing them, but around my area people seem to report just about anything out of the ordinary - especially after 9/11. Having such stuff happen less than two hours away put people on permanent watch, so to speak. Any "explosive" sounds around here get our attention for sure.

cass1dy09
Loud booms have also been heard throughout Canada this past week due to the frigid temperatures. It's alot warmer in Virginia but yeah.. www.cbc.ca...

Well I've never heard of a frost quake! No, it hasn't been cold enough here for anything like that - it got pretty darn cold this week, but nothing like Canada!

Strange our booming noises are happening around the same time, though.

Oddly enough Colonial Heights is my home town...I will make a few calls and see what I can find out. I grew up in that area and lived there for about 19-20 years. Never once has anything like this ever happened there in that time...nor have I ever heard anyone mention something like this, and my family has been in the area over 50 years. This has definitely got my attention and I will be following this as much as I can.

reply to post by Infinitis


I've been surrounded my whole life as well. We have Fort Lee, Fort Pickett, DGSC, Norfolk Naval base, and the list goes on. Virginia is pretty full of military installations of all kinds.

Which is why when he hear something out of the ordinary, it gets our attention. We've heard all the other noises for years - sonic booms from aircraft, noises from machinery, etc. I always equate it to learning the noises in your house - when you first move in, you hear all kinds of things. But after a short while, your brain becomes accustomed to the ones that are normal. Same kind of deal.

Mon1k3r
Pure speculation here, but there's probably some heavy construction going on underground.

I figure the couple of hundred million that get to go underground only have another few years to get their caves built right.

Well at least I know I'm near the tunnel then! Perhaps if I just dig straight down, I can sneak in when the time comes...

I'm certainly not smart or talented enough to get invited to THAT particular party - I would have to crash it!

Also happened recently in East Yorkshire, UK

People baffled after being awoken by sound 'like single explosion' echoing across East Yorkshire

The Met office are saying that it definitely wasn't thunder, although most of the locals are saying that it was...

Karl

RickyD
Oddly enough Colonial Heights is my home town...I will make a few calls and see what I can find out. I grew up in that area and lived there for about 19-20 years. Never once has anything like this ever happened there in that time...nor have I ever heard anyone mention something like this, and my family has been in the area over 50 years. This has definitely got my attention and I will be following this as much as I can.

No kidding! Our oldest son lives off of Woodpecker Road, and from what he told me, they were louder where he was than they were here in Chesterfield.

And yeah - we don't normally hear this sort of thing at all. Not like this.

I'll have my video recorder handy for the next few days. They've been coming about every 3 days, so if they happen again this weekend, I'll do my best to get the sounds recorded.

42dragonfly
Also happened recently in East Yorkshire, UK

People baffled after being awoken by sound 'like single explosion' echoing across East Yorkshire

The Met office are saying that it definitely wasn't thunder, although most of the locals are saying that it was...

Karl

Odd! I don't think I've ever seen a story where the officials say it's something unexplained, and the people say "Nah - it was just thunder".

Usually it is the exact opposite!

reply to post by followingpythagoras


Interesting because there isn't a whole lot out there...that area is pretty rural for it's area. I could think of a bunch of things it could be but then most of it goes out the window when these reports are coming in from all over. I wonder how it was observed in Richmond as well as out in Sussex...if we could get some decent reports from a wide enough area we might be able to come up with a rough area it originated from.

Eta: if anyone has a smartphone it would be awesome if you could get one of the free dB SPL meter apps and see if we can get hard data on levels for different areas if it happens again.

RickyD
reply to post by followingpythagoras

 

Eta: if anyone has a smartphone it would be awesome if you could get one of the free dB SPL meter apps and see if we can get hard data on levels for different areas if it happens again.

edit on 10-1-2014 by RickyD because: (no reason given)

Thanks for the idea - I just downloaded Sound Meter from Smart Tools Co. If I can catch it, I'll upload it here.