re: Big "BOOM" Heard In NC

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Some say the rumbling is a sonic boom created by unseen aircraft. Others suggest top-secret military training offshore or maybe the earth moving on the ocean floor or deep below ground.

Then there are the theories that gave the phenomenon its name, the Seneca Guns -- that the sound comes from the ghosts of American Indians firing guns to disturb descendants of those who drove them from their land.

This name first arose in New York, then applied to North Carolina, even though there were no Seneca Indians there.

Malin's hunch is that the booming noise originates in the atmosphere, although he has no particular theory on the cause.

He heard the sound and saw its impact in July while preparing his project. Doors and windows shook, but the house didn't, he said, indicating to him that the ground did not move.

Residents who have heard the noise for years have ruled out obvious suspects such as thunder because the booms have occurred on clear days when there were no clouds or lightning.

Accounts of the rumbling date back to the days before airplanes, much less supersonic jets that fly fast enough to break the sound barrier.

There is no particular pattern, although in the past they have been reported most often in the fall and spring.

Other scientists have suggested that the interplay between water and weather might be causing the sounds.

Some people say that the mystery should never to solved, but Malin says that there is good scientific basis for his wanting to figure it out.

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December 21, 2005: WRAL-TV - CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. -- Carolina Beach authorities were investigating reports of three loud booms in the area Tuesday. Valita Quattlebaum, a public information officer for Carolina Beach, said that about 4:20 p.m., she heard a loud boom and felt the building she was in shake. Numerous other residents and professionals in the area also called police reporting the same. Quattlebaum said that Tuesday afternoon she was unaware of what may have caused the booms, but officials were looking at causes ranging from a plane flying too low to the ground to an earthquake. “We are making phone calls to the local weather stations and to the National Weather Service, but we don’t have any confirmations,” Quattlebaum said. The U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Center said it had not record of an earthquake along the North Carolina coast and local police that there were no scheduled activities in the area that would have cause the booms or buildings to shake. Officials said no reports had been received of injuries or structural damage.

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December 21, 2005: Wilmington, N.C. Star - Mysterious booms lead to surge of speculation -- Tim McKinney knows for sure what caused the blasts – the Seneca Guns, he said. He’s heard the mysterious coastal rumblings a thousand times, but never with the intensity he did Tuesday while working on the set of One Tree Hill in downtown Wilmington.“That’s the strongest I’ve ever felt it in my life,” he said. Something certainly caused a series of thunderous booms about 4 p.m. that sent some hurrying to call 911 and others looking skyward for answers. Curtis Reeves, who lives near Belville, said he initially feared an explosion at the Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point, near Southport. “It felt like an earthquake,” he said. “It shook every house in this neighborhood.” But officials reported no problems at the ammunition depot or elsewhere. And with nary a cloud in the sky, the booms weren’t weather related, said Ron Steve, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington. Steve said he spoke to the U.S. Geological Survey, which said there had been no seismic activity in the area. The weather service radar did, however, pick up signs of “chaff” off the coast of New Hanover and Brunswick counties, he said. Chaff is like metal confetti that military fighters emit to trick radar-seeking missiles, he said. It’s possible that jets off the coast broke the sound barrier as part of a military exercise. The public relations office at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in Havelock was unable to confirm by press time if Marines were on exercises nearby. Some people reported seeing military planes and helicopters flying in the area after the booms. But McKinney said the sound came from the ground, blaming the mysterious booms that have been reported in the area for centuries. The name, “Seneca Guns,” comes from a similar phenomenon in New York and Connecticut. Legend has it that the Seneca Indians are getting their revenge with the guns that Europeans used to displace them. More scientific explanations say the boom of the guns comes from earthquakes, material falling off the continental shelf, or pockets of hot air exploding like balloons.

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