Mysterious booms over Pennsylvania cities

Magical Realist

Magical Realist

Valued Senior Member
An area of several Pennsylvania cities is experiencing late night booms that are having residents concerned. The booms are described as sudden and earthquaking, leading some to speculate they are sonic booms from aircraft. But the booms are reported as occurring only from 2:30 AM to 4 AM in the morning. This makes it unlikely they are caused by aircraft since pilots as a matter of practice do not repeatedly break the sound barrier over towns at 2 in the morning. And then there's this intriguing detail:

"Ficco said two of his officers have heard the unidentified noise, and one of them also saw a flash of light.

"There was a flash of light and maybe several seconds before he heard the sound, and then the other officer who was further away heard the sound later than he did," the police chief told WPVI. "They both thought it was coming from different directions."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/pennsylvania-r...d=55407783

What do you think is causing this? Speculations welcome. Here's the news clip on the phenomenon.


BTW, this is not a phenomenon exclusive to Pennsylvania. Apparently this has been going on for some time all across the world, mainly in the United States. This is one man's explanation for the phenomenon.

 
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Probably Artillery training at the Fort Indiantown Gap range - I'm a little further from the Gap than Milford Township and Richland Township are, and on nights that they drill with the arty, the noise ranges from subtle rumbling thunder for the mid sized stuff to vibrate-your-windows bass booms from the heavy stuff, and on occasion you can see the light from the explosions.

Source - several friends of mine are or were in the PA National Guard and trained there.
 
Kittamaru said:
Probably Artillery training at the Fort Indiantown Gap range - I'm a little further from the Gap than Milford Township and Richland Township are, and on nights that they drill with the arty, the noise ranges from subtle rumbling thunder for the mid sized stuff to vibrate-your-windows bass booms from the heavy stuff, and on occasion you can see the light from the explosions.

Source - several friends of mine are or were in the PA National Guard and trained there.
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From 2:30 AM to 4 AM in the morning? I don't know any soldiers THAT dedicated!
 
Magical Realist said:
From 2:30 AM to 4 AM in the morning? I don't know any soldiers THAT dedicated!
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From what I've been told, they do hold drills at various times of day, since lighting/weather/et al varies with the position of the sun and all that. I couldn't tell you for certain if they drill in the early morning hours or not.

Heat lightning, cloud flashes, and most impressively, Positive Lightning are all somewhat unusual occurrences that many people are unaware of.

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning/faq/

Why are positive lightning bolts deemed more dangerous than the more common negatively charged bolts?
Positive lightning is often considered more dangerous because its electrical field is stronger (forming at the top of the storm), the flash duration is typically longer, and its peak charge can be much greater than a negative strike. Plus, positively charged lightning can occur near the edge of a cloud or strike more than 10 miles away – when people aren't aware of the danger.
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No, no, no! It wasn't immediately explicable, therefore it was alien spacecraft, driven by teenager aliens who love to break the sound barrier because ... stealthy.
 
For some reason I can't access the video... But be that as it may, why is this in the sub-forum for ufos, ghosts and monsters? Is the OP suggesting that these sounds are somehow caused by a UFO? Or a ghost? Or a monster?
Surely if one is interested in possible causes one should not jump to such conclusions?
 
Sarkus said:
For some reason I can't access the video... But be that as it may, why is this in the sub-forum for ufos, ghosts and monsters? Is the OP suggesting that these sounds are somehow caused by a UFO? Or a ghost? Or a monster?
Surely if one is interested in possible causes one should not jump to such conclusions?
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OP waffles so much he's been declared a breakfast food.
 
Sarkus said:
For some reason I can't access the video... But be that as it may, why is this in the sub-forum for ufos, ghosts and monsters? Is the OP suggesting that these sounds are somehow caused by a UFO? Or a ghost? Or a monster?
Surely if one is interested in possible causes one should not jump to such conclusions?
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We generally use this subforum for any fortean phenomena.

"The term 'Fortean' comes from the name Charles Fort who was a American writer, researcher and journalist in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The term is used to refer to strange phenomena that has not been fully or satisfactory explained by science. It is events and happenings that fall beyond the scope of accepted belief.

It is quite a large umbrella term and many things fall under it – ghosts and hauntings, lights in the sky, anomalous creatures, psychic abilities, extreme archaeology, magic, strange natural weather phenomena and much, much more besides, including missing/disappearing people."---
http://www.theparanormalguide.com/blog/fortean-phenomena
 
Magical Realist said:
We generally use this subforum for any fortean phenomena.
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But that already makes the assumption, by being posted here, that the cause is paranormal, rather than simply currently unestablished by science.
"The term 'Fortean' comes from the name Charles Fort who was a American writer, researcher and journalist in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The term is used to refer to strange phenomena that has not been fully or satisfactory explained by science. It is events and happenings that fall beyond the scope of accepted belief.
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I know where the term comes from. I am just surprised that one considers such booms to be, as you describe it, "beyond the scope of accepted belief"?
By posting it here you just seem to be asserting up front that it is to be considered paranormal. I'm not sure why. And no doubt you will argue against every suggested explanation that doesn't satisfy your penchant for the paranormal.
 
Sarkus said:
But that already makes the assumption, by being posted here, that the cause is paranormal, rather than simply currently unestablished by science.
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Good pickup.

Magical Realist's default position is that everything he can't immediately explain is paranormal.
 
James R said:
Good pickup.

Magical Realist's default position is that everything he can't immediately explain is paranormal.
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Or doesn't want explained, or would like to not have to explain, or will avoid demands to explain, or could explain but willfully refuses to do so.

Ad nauseum.
 
But that already makes the assumption, by being posted here, that the cause is paranormal, rather than simply currently unestablished by science.
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But I haven't asserted the cause to be paranormal. I haven't asserted anything about it. By Fortean I refer only to it's cause being presently unknown. For all we know there may turn out to be a mundane cause for it. OTOH it may be a new phenomenon we haven't encountered yet. That's what is meant by Fortean.

"The term is used to refer to strange phenomena that has not been fully or satisfactorily explained by science."
 
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You have been guilty of routinely posting things that don't belong in this forum here for the purpose of further some phantasmagorical goal that itself would be the only thing eligible for posting here.
 
Magical Realist said:
But I haven't asserted the cause to be paranormal. I haven't asserted anything about it. By Fortean I refer only to it's cause being presently unknown. For all we know there may turn out to be a mundane cause for it. OTOH it may be a new phenomenon we haven't encountered yet. That's what is meant by Fortean.

"The term is used to refer to strange phenomena that has not been fully or satisfactorily explained by science."
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So therefore any scientific question that isn't yet answered should be posted here?

JamesR - can I please request, according to this new notion of what should be posted under "UFOs, Ghosts, and Monsters", that any and every thread involving such things as consciousness or origins of life and the ilk, be posted here? Science has no answer at present for these, do they? Surely the question of God should be here as well?

Or maybe there should be an understanding by all, including the thread raiser, that posting such things in this subforum is an implicit assumption that the explanation is not mundane. If they were seeking a mundane explanation then surely they would post it in the physics forum, under the question of what could possibly cause such things?

Or is it just me?
 
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