What’s Happening in Clintonville, Wisconsin?
March 22nd, 2012Update: Rumbles, Booms Rattle Clintonville Again
Via: Green Bay Press Gazette:
Geological officials said Wednesday they are considering putting a seismometer in Clintonville, where a small earthquake was recorded last week after strong booms and rumblings shook residents once again.
Clintonville police received 65 calls between 10:35 p.m. and 11:40 p.m. Tuesday and another 19 calls came in between 3:25 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Clintonville Police Chief Terry Lorge said. Several of the booms were heard by officials at City Hall, he said.
Residents reported the most recent booming as the worst yet, city administrator Lisa Kuss said. Most of the previous calls came in from March 18 to 20, when a 1.5-magnitude earthquake was detected by the U.S. Geological Survey. The calls had since decreased.
—End Update—
Update: Reader Email
Cryptogon reader NN sent this in:
This is unfolding nicely.
(definitely not an earthquake…)
http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1960&category=Environment
“COULD YOU ELABORATE ABOUT ‘POPPING SOUND’ AT 1:45AM ON MONDAY MARCH
19TH? … People describe it as something that exploded – that something
happened in their basements – and compared the sound to a loud popping
and explosive type bang or a series of bang, bang, bang.”
“We have spoken to geologists both at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee about what is
happening. We have confirmed via the seismology monitors — the closest
is about 30 minutes from downtown Clintonville — there’s no earthquake
or earthquake consistent activity being monitored near us.”
“no earthquakes are being registered on any earthquake monitoring
devices”
(still not an earthquake, and not recordable, specialists brought in…)
“Officials have tried to record a series of mysterious booming sounds
that have roused residents from their beds in the past few days, but
their attempts have come up empty.”
“The firm will place four seismometers around the city to try to locate
the epicenter of the strange sounds.”
“The city set up audio and video recorders overnight Tuesday, but didn’t
capture anything.”
(but now it’s officially an earthquake…)
“The U.S. Geological Survey said the 1.5 magnitude earthquake struck
Tuesday just after midnight in Clintonville”
“‘To be honest, I’m skeptical that there’d be a sound report associated
with such a small earthquake, but it’s possible,’ [geophysicist] said.”
“Those reservations didn’t stop Clintonville City Administrator Lisa
Kuss from declaring ‘the mystery is solved’ at a news conference
Thursday evening.”
(what it sounded like in Montello, 80 miles south…)
http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines/Mysterious_Sound_And_Rumble_In_Montello_143707776.html
“One person even described it like a really bad train wreck, all the
cars slamming into each other at once, right where you’re standing.”
(what it sounded like in Barrie, hundreds of miles east…)
http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3509707
“Residents in the Barrie neighbourhood described the sound as a dump
truck hitting a house, a propane tank exploding and a sonic boom
displacement of air.”
“‘No one could see anything. Some people said it sounded like a major
car crash…. Originally, I thought some huge thing was thrown at our
house. Not a car, but maybe a big barrel or something large,’ Higgins
added.”
(sounds similar to this, in Glenrock, Wyoming, in the 1990’s…)
“In the space of 15 minutes the Glenrock Police department got almost
fifty prowler and disturbance calls. All through the town, seemingly on
the sides of houses, roofs, gates, etc, came the mechanical rapping,
knocking sound: three sets of three knocks…. Others reported a sound
like a big truck downshifting combined with a nut with a sledgehammer
hitting the side of the house.”
—End Update—
Via: AP:
Bemused curiosity is turning into worry and aggravation for families in a small Wisconsin town longing for peace and quiet after three nights of mysterious booming noises that have sent some residents into the streets — sometimes still in their pajamas.
The strange disturbance sounds like distant thunder, fireworks or someone slamming a heavy door. At first, many people were amused. But after a third restless night Tuesday into Wednesday, exasperation is mounting. And some folks are considering leaving town until investigators determine the source of the racket.
“My husband thought it was cool, but I don’t think so. This is not a joke,” said Jolene Van Beek, who awoke early Sunday to a loud boom that shook her house. “I don’t know what it is, but I just want it to stop.”
The booming in Clintonville continued Monday and Tuesday nights and into Wednesday morning, eventually prompting Van Beek to take her three sons to her father’s home, 10 minutes away, so they could get some uninterrupted sleep.
There have been no reports of injury, despite some residents saying they could feel the ground roll beneath their feet.
City officials say they have investigated every possible human cause. They checked water, sewer and gas lines, contacted the military about any exercises in the area, reviewed permits for mining explosives and inspected a dam next to City Hall. They even tested methane levels at the landfill in case the gas was spontaneously exploding.
“People in the area are certainly frustrated,” City Administrator Lisa Kuss said.
The city is also investigating geological causes. Officials plan to bring in vibration-detection devices to try to determine the epicenter of any underground activity.
Authorities set up audio and video equipment overnight but didn’t capture any evidence of shaking or booming despite at least one loud noise about 5 a.m. Wednesday, Kuss said.
This story sounds familiar, like another case about a decade ago. They never found the cause, it just stopped after a few days.
Looking at the satellite view, it appears to be rural enough, where there could be any of a number of explanations. Lots of places with not many witnesses.
It could be kids playing with dry ice and soda bottles. Toss it in a river or lake, and when it reaches burst pressure, it pops.
It could be a local farmer scaring off wildlife without an explosives permit. It looks small enough, where a sufficiently loud sound would be noticed at a good distance. Maybe construction equipment a little ways away.
Possibly kids playing pranks.
You can make a pretty big boom, without leaving any obvious debris. A punchball balloon full of electrolyzed water (i.e, 2 parts hydrogen, 1 part oxygen) would fit the bill, and it’s trivial to set up for. Any kid who went through grade school chemistry would know how. A balloon with a fuse taped to it would let it rise above the tree line, and make a real quick bang, with no significant debris. 5am, most people aren’t watching much outside.
Not that I ever did anything like that as a kid, I swear. 🙂
I’m surprised they didn’t check with the USGS. If it’s sufficiently large, they’d pick it up on sensors around the country. Looking at the current earthquake map, there’s nothing. That implies it’s most likely a lot less than implied by the story.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/
They describe it as like someone banging on the door, or slamming a car door. That would seem to group it in minor surface disturbances. Again, that’d be construction equipment, or someone playing with some low to mid grade explosives. Bigger than a firecracker, smaller than a nuke. 🙂
These events are tending to happen at night…
I’m going to make a wild guess and say it’s a couple of tweakers cooking up meth and flushing their byproducts down into the sanitary sewer or into a storm sewer. Then those byproducts are causing the explosions.
I’m going to venture a guess and say there is either some hydraulic fracking going on or there are epa approved deep wells full of hydrocarbons that are exploding. The fact that it is only happening at night is suspicious and indicates someone doesn’t want to get caught. It takes a fairly large quantity of explosives to create that much rumble and ground motion, so my vote is a commercial source like fracking.
It’s hard to tell from the article. The calls they played on the video don’t sound like people who were close to a large explosion. There was no fear or panic in their calls. People tend to freak out when there’s an explosion and buildings shake.
A few years ago, there was a house fire about 1/2 mile from my office. We didn’t know anything about the fire til we went outside, but we sure as heck heard the explosions. There were two small medical oxygen canisters in the house, and they blew up a few seconds apart. Everyone went outside to see what happened. We saw the smoke, so we walked to it. Bystanders from around the area were there. By the time we got there, police and fire/rescue were there. Some people were at the scene freaking out because they didn’t know what happened. Some said they had called 911 because they thought terrorists had blown up something.
I doubt these were house fires, as someone in the town would have noticed, and it would have been included in the story. 🙂
If it was people cooking meth, the explosive materials would be quickly diluted in the sewers. They also said there was no indication of that. They also said they checked for permits for explosives, so it wasn’t mining.
Something like these would match perfectly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMB2VR0087w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LfQrLUf7Mk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOF4IRj3CTo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1LwYJ8pDhc
And of course kids, don’t try this at home. It looks like fun and games when your timing is right, but if they go off early you could be a candidate for the Darwin Awards.
And the correct answer is EARTHQUAKE. Drudge has a link in the middle of his page.
little further south, but maybe whatever caused the “sudden” toxicity in the water is indirectly related to teh non-seismic whatever, maybe?
between the manganese and chromium-6 i figure scotty prefers bottled.
http://www.cityofmadison.com/water/waterQuality/manganese.cfm
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/health_med_fit/article_0d4c84ec-50f3-11e0-a0bd-001cc4c002e0.html