Mystery Booms and Rumblings: Skyquakes, Unexplained Explosions & Loud Rumbles

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Homes shake. Windows rattle. Pets bolt under the couch. And just when you think the apocalypse has begun—silence. These are the infamous mystery booms and strange rumblings (a.k.a. skyquakes): sudden, powerful bangs that seem to come from everywhere—and nowhere—at once.

This hub is your field guide to Earth’s loudest unsolved rumbles—where science meets folklore. You’ll find likely causes, famous cases, how to investigate, and what to do when the next boom rolls through.

Jump to: What are Mystery Booms? · How They Sound & Feel · Possible Causes · Why They Cluster · How We Investigate · Folklore & History · Notable Patterns & Cases · FAQs · Sources · Latest Reports · Get Involved

Key facts (TL;DR)

  • Mystery booms are real events reported globally; many have mundane sources, others remain unexplained.
  • Likely causes: sonic booms, meteors, quarry blasts, shallow quakes & frost quakes, atmospheric ducting, offshore events.
  • How to triage: check seismic logs, flight/rocket activity, weather inversions, and local industry schedules.
  • What to do: record audio/video, note exact time & location, look for flashes/smoke, compare with cases below, send us a report.

📩 Report a mystery boom (time, location, weather, recording)

❓ What Are Mystery Booms and Rumblings?

A “mystery boom” is a sudden, powerful bang often followed by a rolling rumble and a pressure wave that rattles windows. Witnesses describe explosions without a source, cannon fire in suburbia, or thunder on a clear day. Some events are explained; many remain unsolved.

Browse the archive: Mystery Boom reports

🔊 How They Sound & Feel

  • One to three sharp bangs with a rolling after-rumble.
  • A pressure wave you can feel—walls buzz, windows chatter.
  • No obvious source: no plume, no lightning, no demolition.
  • Whole towns asking: “Did you hear that rumbling noise?”

🌍 Possible Causes (From Meh to X-Files)

🌊 Why Booms & Rumblings Come in Waves

  • ❄️ Cold snaps — frost quakes (cryoseisms) cluster during deep freeze.
  • 🌡️ Temperature inversions — duct sound long distances, creating clusters.
  • 🌊 Coastal “guns” — land-sea contrasts amplify skyquakes (mistpouffers, brontidi).
  • 🚀 Campaigns of launches/training — rocket windows, military drills.

🕵️ How We Investigate (The Strange Sounds Checklist)

  1. Time it — down to the second (helps cross-check logs).
  2. Map it — town/street helps triangulate reports.
  3. Look up — flashes, smoke, dust, contrails?
  4. Check seismic — any shallow wiggles?
  5. Scan officials — police, airports, NOTAMs, military chatter.
  6. Collect media — doorbell/dash cams often catch shockwaves.

How we do it: determining the origins of mystery booms.

🏺 Folklore, History & Legends

  • 🇮🇳 Barisal Guns (India) — booming “sky cannons.”
  • 🇺🇸 Seneca Guns (NY & NC) — cannon-like blasts on clear days → Seneca Guns mystery.
  • 🇮🇹 Brontidi (Italy) — coastal booms tied to good fishing, according to lore.
  • 🇳🇱 Mistpouffers (Europe) — unexplained “fog guns” → the mystery of mistpouffers.

📍 Notable Patterns & Famous Cases

  • 🌆 County-wide shake — felt by hundreds; no quake detected.
  • ☄️ Flash + triple boom — textbook meteor airburst → see meteor booms hub.
  • 🌊 Coastal cannon fire — thunder-like booms on clear nights.

Note: the 1978 Bell Island Boom (Newfoundland) famously knocked out power and damaged equipment—still debated today.

Mystery Booms — FAQs

Are mystery booms dangerous?
Usually not. Most events are startling but harmless (jets, meteors, frost quakes). That said, strong shockwaves can crack plaster or knock items from shelves. If you smell gas or see smoke, treat it as an emergency and call authorities.
Why don’t officials comment?
Because sound is slippery. It can travel dozens of miles and bend in temperature inversions, arriving where no one expects it. Agencies typically comment only when a source is confirmed; otherwise silence avoids speculation and liability.
Could it be a meteor?
Often, yes. Bright flash + rolling, multi-second boom is classic bolide behavior. Large airbursts (e.g., Chelyabinsk, 2013) create shockwaves strong enough to blow out windows.
Why are coastal towns hit more?
Land-sea temperature contrasts and inversions create perfect ducts that carry and amplify distant booms—known as Seneca Guns, brontidi, or mistpouffers depending on the region.
Can earthquakes make booms?
Yes. Very shallow quakes can produce a cannon-like bang. In winter, frost quakes (cryoseisms) snap frozen ground with explosive cracks.
How can I help investigate?
Record the exact time, your location, any visual clues (flashes, smoke), and grab audio/video if possible. Compare notes with neighbors and send us a report.

Sources & Further Reading

Latest Reports

See the newest stories in our Mystery Booms coverage:

Get Involved


62 Comments

  2. I big rumble that shook the house last night at 7:40pm here west of Bremerton WA. by the Hood Canal. It was like the first shock wave to an earthquake where you hear a rumble and feel a jolt and then the quake hits. This was just the rumble and jolt, and no quake. The dog was asleep and jumped up looking around wondering what was going on. Checked the earthquake maps here that show explosions too, and nothing. So who knows what happened.

  5. Heard a large boom, almost like an explosion on 29th December 2017 at 18:29 in Wigston, Leicestershire. No idea what it was but could feel a vibration from the ground. A week before there was one similar. It cut the power in South Wigston for several hours and set car alarms off.

  6. I know a guy who is psychic and makes the booming sounds with his mind when angered. They are psychic booms with his mind. He claims to be a Demon King or the 73rd Demon King after mastering the Qlipphoth. He lives in Nebraska…..Gothenburg.

  8. November 23, 2017. Multiple Loud booms felt across Cabot, Arkansas. Shaking homes across miles with no smoke or visible trace.

  9. November 21, 2017, around 2 pm, on Hwy 1, Cass County, Nebraska heard a very loud booming sound..shook the house and windows. No idea where it came from.

  10. Strange, loud rumble that lasted a few minutes, heard in several counties along the north Florida coast line on 11/13/17. Anyone know what it was?

  12. Using dynamite to build tunnels and underground facilities. Occurring around the world as the `elite prepare for your destruction.

  13. Isaiah 29:6 You will be punished by the Lord of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire.

    2 Peter 3:10
    [ The Day of the Lord ] But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

  14. Cell/HARRP towers emit frequencies that cause earthquakes. 2.5 hertz makes quakes. Tesla technology. it ruptures sewer drains, water lines. NOTICE SINKHOLES CAUSED BY BROKEN SEWER LINES, except for ones in the middle of nowhere. there is no reason to have the 12 cell/HARRP towers near my home. There is probably more now that are stealthfully hidden. I noticed they really have been trying to hide those ugly forboding ‘death towers’. Say hello to cancer. The biological threat from radiation is thousands of times above the danger limit.

  15. There is global under ground tunneling with that boring machine that has same design as the Walmart (mart-Law) logo. During early hours for years I heard grinning noises under ground headed towards the Walmart super centers. searched, they are making FEMA holocaust camps, underground and above. New tunnels are created right now. Now I heard them tunneling at 8am and after because it’s really close to me. Traffic noise doesn’t hide it inside the house. Hard to hear is outside the house. Loud muffled Explosions happen from land settling after they tunnel. I reported explosion at 3am. Called police. they write it off on kids playing with fireworks. I was scared, went outside to figure out where the noise was and fire works happened much later and sounded different. Serve and protect my ….

  16. Terrible loud bombing noises and smaller rapid fire sounds I noticed at 8:55pm in Norton Ohio or around it.

    It lit up the skies and kept up until 9:30pm. How long it was going for before this I don’t know.

    by: Raven

  17. Loud boom at about 22:15 GMT in Swansea, UK. Several others on Facebook and Twitter heard it. Initially thought to be an explosion, but there appears to be no evidence of one. Unexplained at the moment…

  19. My wonder is as follows 23 September 2017, A great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, moon at her feet, garland of 12 stars at her head, Travailing in birth.
    Will We hear the sounds of a woman giving birth across the world???????

    • Angel trumpet sounds started June 15, 2011 (’11’ is devil horns). i heard sounds and googled them. I googled ‘angel trumpet sounds’ like in revelations. It took 2 months after before people started calling these global sounds ‘angels trumpets’. I am certain that its HARRP. the one that angels do not play with. it makes lightning strikes, and CA fires. It makes tornados, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Mind control and death. Alaska took military to court. Military pleaded ‘matter of national security’, regarding killing those residents so they were protected and continued torturing residents. Taos hum, is HARRP. That was the beginning. now HARRP/CELL towers are every 1/4 mile.

  20. Loud explosion in West Virginia and Southern New Hampshire over the last week (July 20 – July 27, 2017). There is still no known cause and people are stumped.

  22. May 5, 2017 Chesapeake, VA Large boom lasted for 30 seconds around 10/10:30am, raining but longer than thunder, apartment complex off battlefield shook like an earthquake but no reports of one. All the neighbors were outside looking for the source of the noise. Trying to find out what it was and came across this site.

  24. Fayetteville, GA, May 1st, 2017 at about 12:20 pm.

    What sounded like a distant, very large explosion shook the house, causing our dog to jump up and bark. Nothing in the local news. No sirens, etc.

    • the media cover up real news. THERE IS SERIOUS TUNNELING BEING DONE. LAND SETTLES AROUND THOSE TUNNELED SPOTS AND EXPLODES AS IT CAVES IN.HARRP CELL TOWERS FRACTURE SEWER LINES WITH FREQUENCIES. 2.5 HERTZ MAKES QUAKES. THEY PURPOSELY CAUSE SINKHOLES THIS WAY. THERE WAS A SINKHOLE IN A REMOTE AREA OUTSIDE THE CITY. I CHECKED FOR THE REASONS WHY IT COULD BE. THERE WAS A CANAL WITH WATER RIGHT NEXT TO THE HIGHWAY. THERE WAS A BRAND NEW CELL/HARRP TOWER. IT MUST HAVE CRACKED THE CANAL, THE CANAL LEAKS AND ERODES THE SOIL, MAKING HUGE CHASM.

  26. Would be interesting to see these on a map with some time stamp to see if these match cayce predictions or historic fault lines etc. Let the sounds show us where tetonic plates are moving if we dont know this already from other sources

    • REMEMBER EDGAR CAYCE SAID THAT ‘VIRGINIA’ WAS A SAFE AREA. HE WAS DEEPLY RELIGIOUS AND I TRUST HIS MESSAGES. BUT DEMON WORSHIPPERS ARE TRYING TO RECREATE OUR FUTURE. THEY FOLLOW THE BIBLE AND TWEEK IT THE WAY SATAN ALWAYS DOES. HE CAN’T REALLY CREATE ANYTHING BY HIS OWN INSPIRATION. HE ONLY CORRUPTS GODS PLAN. HE GOT MY MESSAGE. COMPUTERS ARE SATANIC TECHNOLOGY.

  27. I heard a tremendous rumbling in the NW suburbs of Chicago in the early hours of Tuesday, April 18th, 2017 at around 3 AM. It was a long, sustained rumbling, very deep, almost like the sound a massive garbage can would make if it was dragged across the ground. This was definitely not the standard engine noise from O’Hare: I hear airplane and construction sounds from there all the time (and have heard them for many years), and nothing was ever this loud. It practically shook the house, and it lasted for around half a minute or more.

  28. Last night one was heard all throughout parts of Michigan. Especially Grand Rapids area. But reports as far as Florida hearing it at the same time.

  29. I heard sounds over Winnipeg Canada last year. It sounded like ton of jets flying over and freaked the you know what out of me. I swear are apartment building rattled. Its was around 3am. Now I’m seeing it happening all over the world. Nevermind the trumpet sounds everywhere as well. Knowbody can explain it. The Bible does though..

  31. 3/20/17, Van Buren County, (SE) Iowa, humongous boom, followed by what sounded like rolling thunder, except there are no storms within a hundred miles or more.

  32. 2014 the pope secretly visited Mt Graham to use observatory called Lucifer. Something is coming people are guessing. They are quickly reducing the population so its easier to manage. That’s why all the tunneling and moving food/supplies from the 500 suddenly closed walmarts. The intense winds are from Planet X sweeping by in it’s orbits around us. That’s why theres video’s of 2 suns. Light reflecting on the huge dwarf star. If you repent (the one thing stated the arogant people wouldn’t do before being destroyed) we might be spared to be given more time to change our evil ways that are on a downward spiral.

  33. Under ground booms for past 2 plus years near West Phoenix AZ. Underground burrowing humming noises along I-10 close by. Cell Towers emit high pitched sounds for a few seconds every couple of hours and that’s when the earth makes cracking sounds and then house settling sounds. The Smart Meter on the house interacts with the cell towers and makes it impossible to sleep.

  36. […] Some believe that movements in the molten iron or other parts of the earth’s interior would cause loud explosions, and in fact the past several years have witnessed numerous places around the world where loud, unexplained, and perhaps subterranean “booms” and “rumblings” have been reported — often in secular news outlets. This year they have come from such disparate places as Idaho, South Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, South Dakota, and New Jersey [see here]. […]

    • We have been hearing those Booms in Boise Idaho for couple months (March and April of 2017). One of the possible explanations is National Guard tank battalion War Game..

      • We get them Frequently in South Western Utah also. Often it is blamed on the airforce base 50 miles away, but the booms happen so often without real reasons, and they shake the windows and doors of houses.
        Some days (like today, it can happen over 5x a day and one boom can last 10-15 sec)

    • 2 Peter 3:10
      [ The Day of the Lord ] But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

      Isaiah 29:6 You will be punished by the Lord of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire.

    • A meteor that lit up the dark and illuminated the town followed by a boom @ Hooper Bay, Alaska on December 02, 2017 at about 7-8pm. I thought it was a lightning strike from all the rain we been getting.

    • My husband and I heard What sounded like sonic boom explosions from March 2006-May 2006 in Litchfield Park AZ. They were so loud,rumbling and would shake our windows. The sound echoed through the golf course in the back of our home. The dogs around the neighborhood barked as well. We lived by Luke Airforce base but they denied any activity and I didnt Hear any jets out. They explosions usually happened from 11p-1a and all seemed quiet and still outside. I still Wonder what they were!!

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