Update at end with information about unexplained booming, shaking and lights seen in Brunswick County,North Carolina, on the night before the other reports discussed were made.
Dozens in N.J. report feeling earthquake, but U.S. Geological Survey detects none
Published: Saturday, December 10, 2011, 5:40 PM Updated: Saturday, December 10, 2011, 10:02 PM
Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger By Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledge
A spokesman for USGS suggested that thunderstorms or military activity might be behind the earthquake-like phenomenon, but meteorologists ruled out the thunderstorm activity. However, the article said nearby Ft. Dix would not comment about possible military activity.
Comments to that article indicate that the shaking was felt by someone in Pennsylvania and that another person’s electricity went out briefly at the time. I’ve never heard of a sonic boom taking someone’s power out.
Maybe no secret military testing is going on, though, and it will just take a couple of days for USGS to locate an earthquake in the area, as happened when a small, shallow quake rattled Philedephia on May 27 of this year.
Mystery Boom Caused by Earthquake: USGS
By Dan Stamm and David Chang
Sunday, May 29, 2011
There isn’t as much seismic data gathering equipment in the formerly quiet eastern half of the country, so analysis can take longer.
Quite a few commenters to Dec. 10′s New Jersey article believe the crust is coming alive in that area. When enough average people start to have that feeling, as happened prior to earthquakes in L’Aquila and Szechuan, I personally pay attention, even if there is no scientific basis for the concerns. I hope the NRC is getting all those nuke plants out there checked out and upgraded as needed.
The odd incident in Graham, WA occurred the same day as the one in New Jersey but got less media attention.
Explosion reported in Graham, but officials haven’t found anything
Posted: 2:28 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, 2011
This is a community south of Seattle, and though multiple reports of booming and homes shaking were called into 911, no cause was found. There was a tiny earthquake recorded as happening a few minutes prior to the 911 calls and local seismic experts thought it was probably caused by a quarry explosion.
Most likely the local fire chief would have been aware of a quarry explosion, and he was not. A couple of commenters to the Graham article wondered about military acitvity at JBLM, but apparently this latest phenomenon was like nothing they had ever heard related to activities in the past there.
I suppose its possible that a new type of weapon was tested in the case of the Graham, WA, phenomenon, but the one in New Jersey sounds like it was more powerful, though that could be just a false impression if that area is more densely populated, and/or shock waves travel easier through the geology of the crust there.
Update:
From WCET in North Carolina (Thanks to SaraK for letting me know):
Bright lights, baffling booms leave Brunswick County residents puzzled
Posted: Dec 09, 2011 2:00 PM PST
BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WECT) – Hearing mysterious loud booms, or Seneca guns, is nothing new in the area, but they normally aren’t accompanied by lights in the sky.Lots of perplexed folks posted on WECT’s Facebook page about both the booms and lights Thursday night….
There is a good interview here highlighting differing views held by two scientists as to what may going on:
Interesting that there was a flurry of similar reports of booming sounds in North Carolina about a year ago.
This is so strange! It happened in North Carolina the night before the other stories in your post. There is a video a the link with interviews with two scientists that you’ll find interesting.
http://www.wsfx.com/story/16229966/bright-lights-baffling-booms-leave-brunswick-county-residents-with-questions?clienttype=printable
Wow, thanks for letting me know. It sounds like the event was experienced from coastal Georgia up to Virgina, plus the New Jersey event. The North Carolina report included lights in the sky being seen, too, and this is new to people familiar with the periodic Seneca Gun phenomenon the region has been experiencing since long before modern aviation technology existed.
The lights might be a sign of escalating geological activity.
http://thedailybite.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/laquila-earthquake-lights-paleoseismology-and-the-apparition-of-archangel-michael-at-monte-santangelo-italy/
Did you notice that the younger scientist puts all his faith in current technology, but the older USGS scientist is more open to the measuring instruments being less than adequate in their coverage of the area?
I sure did, Sarah. The younger one just can’t ‘hear’ what local residents are saying. No way is this military testing, unless there is something being tested that is way out of the realm of anything known about to date. A weapon that could be shaking the whole east coast is just too far fetched to me.
I think Dr. Hill with USGS is right. These must be small earthquakes, at least on the east coast and most likely near Graham, WA, the same day. That would not be too uncommon for that area and there was a small one recorded about the time the reports came in. I think coverage with seismic recording devices is much more dense here.
How about the 7,000-pound nuclear bomb accidentally into the waters off Tybee Island, Ga. in 1958? That could shake things up good all along the east coast.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18587608
I didn’t know about that, Van. That sounds like a big risk if there were an earthquake in the area. And it sounds like the bomb could be deteriorating. (I don’t buy the government’s ‘natural mineral’ theory. If it were natural, the radiation wouldn’t spike like that now.)
Graham is not far from where the 2 choppers crashed. Frenetic training and testing sounds possible.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/investigative-team-arrives-jblm-crash-site/nF2z9/