A California county’s residents are severely stumped over the origin of a mysterious series of loud, floor-rattling booms that have been shaking their eardrums, and homes, several times a week for years now.
“I thought it was thunder,” one El Dorado County resident reportedly said, while another postulated, “It’s definitely not thunder, too consistent. I thought it was just mining.”
The mysterious noises will reach residents in a series of sounds. “Boom, boom, boom, boom just like that,” Lorren Gonzales, who lives near Pleasant Valley, reportedly said.
“I always considered them to be sonic booms from flying aircrafts for years,” Loring Brunius told CBS13 in Sacramento, which decided to try to get to the bottom of the mystery.
The station interviewed people connected too many of the alleged causes of the sounds – mining quarries, a nearby naval station, and even local wineries but couldn’t get to the bottom of the oddity.
Brunius, who owns Sierra Rock and Diamond Quarry, said his company hasn’t blasted since last year, ruling them out as the genesis of the weird and preternatural sounds.
“It’s a federally mandated system, and enforced,” Brunius reportedly explained.
The station found that some think the booms originate from nearby wineries using propane cannons to scare away birds. But a reporter foiled that hypotheses, as Carrie Bendick, a winemaker at Holly’s Hill Winery reportedly said, “We’ve never done it and I don’t know of any other winery that does.”
Determined to find the cause of the sounds, CBS13 also spoke to Fallon Naval Air Station. However, an official there reportedly said any supersonic flight operations are only allowed over Dixie Valley, which is hundreds of miles away.
Some think illegal mining could be the source of the sounds but Brunius doubts that theory. He told the station if that was the case, the culprit would have been caught by now.
According to U.S. Geological Survey, there aren’t enough seismic stations to pinpoint the exact location of the sounds and reports that the rolling foothills of El Dorado County make it difficult for residents to even tell from what direction the sounds are coming.
Meanwhile, some say the booms have been around so long and happen so often they barely notice them anymore. Still, others want to solve the mystery.
Source: CBS Sacramento