Another round of “mystery booms” were reported during the past week in Conecuh, Monroe and Clarke counties and while many theories have circulated about the cause of these ongoing noises, no one has come forward with a definite answer. Several witnesses, including Courant employee Kristie Garner, reported hearing an extremely loud, unexplained “boom” last Thursday around 7 p.m.
“It seemed like three separate booms,” Garner said. “When the first one started, I thought, ‘Is that thunder?’ But then it kept going and finally stopped. (It) happened one or two more times. I finally went outside to hear better, but it had stopped. It was creepy.”
Witnesses also heard the noises in Monroe County and as far away as Grove Hill.
Jim Cox, the publisher of the Clarke County Democrat in Grove Hill and South Alabamian newspaper in Jackson, told The Courant this week that the booms were heard in Clarke County around 6 p.m. last Thursday.
“Several long and repeated booms rattled the windows and shook the dishes,” he said. “I opened a yard gate about the time one hit, and my black lab was out the gate and gone. It took an hour to get him back in.”
Last Thursday’s reports of the unexplained “booms” come just over two months after a similar unexplained noise that occurred around 11:33 p.m. on Nov. 18. That noise was heard over a wide area in western Conecuh County and eastern Monroe County. On that occasion, the noise was heard by witnesses from Repton to Monroeville and as far south as Goodway and Wildfork in Monroe County.
The noises have been heard on multiple occasions by scores of witnesses since Nov. 18 and have also been reported in The Monroe Journal newspaper in Monroeville.
Theories about the possible causes of the unexplained sounds vary and include the off-burning of oil rigs, seismographic testing, high-speed naval aircraft, UFOs and meteorites. Or it could be the work of a handful of brave pranksters who are setting off homemade cannons or other explosive devices. No evidence has been found to support any of those theories. One man suggested that the noises are being caused by individuals setting off explosives to destroy beaver dams on private property.
One new theory that has been proposed this week is that the noises are “brontides,” which are unexplained deep, booming noises that are often associated with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Episodes of these explosive noises of natural origin have been well documented often in association with seismic activity and in a few cases as precursors of major earthquakes.
Could southwest Alabama be headed for a major earthquake?
The idea may not sound so farfetched when you consider that there have been an increasing number of recorded earthquakes in southwest Alabama, according to state emergency management officials.
According to “Earthquake Awareness for Alabama Residents,” which was published by the state EMA office, "One of these (earthquakes) was a 4.9 magnitude event on October 24, 1997, in Escambia County. This was the largest quake at that time recorded by seismographs in Alabama and the largest in the Southeast in the preceeding 30 years.
“Historically, the southwestern part of Alabama has had minimal seismic activity, but this quake indicates activity on the BFSZ, an ancient basement fault zone that underlies the area.”
In the end, readers are encouraged to contact The Courant if they have any information about the causes of these unexplained noises. The Courant can be reached by phone at 251-578-1492 or by email at courantsports@earthlink.net. To contact The Courant by mail, write The Evergreen Courant, ATTN: Lee Peacock, P.O. Box 440, Evergreen, AL 36401.
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