Any thoughts on the mysterious booms in Wisconsin?

I’ve heard a lot of fracking is going on there. They seem heavily connected to seismic disruptions. Could make some weird noises.

I suspect that it will turn out to be shifting in the underground area caused by the increased fracking going on right in the same area.

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It’s hard to say, as it seems rather isolated to Clintonville.

We’re having very high temperatures, so I’m more inclined to agree with the scientists that are stating it could be due to frost quakes. It’s not uncommon at this time of year for frost quakes to boom around the Great Lakes.

There’s no mining in the area, according to the article. The article also says that there is some speculation that it is aliens.

The woman who discussed the spreading cracks on her basement floor made me think that perhaps there is something coming up from underneath. Perhaps not aliens (although that’s a matter of definition). Maybe there is something “hatching” underneath the ground there, and ramming against the basement floors.

Maybe there are baby dragons hatching. Or maybe it’s a giant dragon that has been buried beneath the earth for centuries, and is finally waking up and trying to dig its way out.

Well, there are no good explanations yet. I like the dragon idea. Wonderful image. But probably not reality. Then again, it might not be dragons, but it could be something completely unexpected.

@SpatzieLover It has now spread to another town 80 miles south, Montello.

They are fracking in Central Wisconsin. There is sand mining that is going on.

http://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2011/07/31/sand-mining-surges-in-wisconsin/

What a strange report. People in Wisconsin are used to thunderstorms, so it’s hard to imagine that “the sound of distant thunder” at this time of year (and in the relatively warm weather for this time of year in the Northern USA) would be so alarming to natives there that they’d run out into the streets in their pajamas in the middle of the night. Also, “distant thunder” doesn’t shake the house.

So I very much dislike the reporting that’s been given in the OP’s link. It sounds a lot more alarming and nearby (at least to the people experiencing it) than “distant thunder”.

That said, I’d still go with @SpatzieLover‘s most reasonable and logical explanation. Many roads in Wisconsin have springtime weight restrictions because the changing conditions at this time of year could enable trucks to cause permanent deformation in roads because of the on-and-off (and different rates of) thawing going on underneath the pavement.

@CWOTUS I agree with you re: the reporting. I thought it was supposed to be fair and balanced. But to be fair, I think just about all the media reports mention aliens. I do not believe I have seen one that mentions @wundayatta ‘s dragon theory yet.

I will have to look up the frost quakes, I am unfamilar with them being from Texas and all.

I wonder where the closest mining or drilling operations are?

OH! Frost quakes…. yes… I get that. That makes the most sense here, but perhaps in conjunction with the mining that is going on…...

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I think it is UFO’s breaking the sound barrier.

Wow that place is beautiful, looks like a clean good neighborhood and it’s so woodsy! Anywho I think the booms are military tests in the lake. I’d love to think the same as @Ron_C.

That is really odd…it’s odd that they can’t figure out the cause. Last fall we had earthquakes in Oklahoma, and felt them here in Kansas (VERY strange experience for a Kansas girl! At one point Oklahoma was under a tornado watch, a flood watch AND an earthquake watch!) but we were told immediately that it was due to fracking.

A couple of weeks ago I read an article about a mysterious, huge flash of light in Phoenix. Here is the video, but I can’t find the written article right off the bat. When I read it they’d discounted blown transformers and just about everything else they could think of.

Looked up frost quakes. They supposedly occur when the temp drops below freezing suddenly. I think the weather in Wisconsin was too warm for frost quakes. It was in the 50’s to 80’s all week. But the night time occurences fit the profile. So, maybe?

I have been doing some reading and come across some stuff. Ah, no fracking going on in Wisconsin because it is granate and not shale rock under it, but they are surface mining sand for the purposes of fracking in other states.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/clintonville-wis-mysterious-loud-booms-caused-by-fracking/2012/03/22/gIQAmNH7TS_blog.html

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2012-01-08/fracking-boom-sand-mining/52398528/1

Of course, Clintonville is not too far from Appleton, where Joe McCarthy is buried. Perhaps the sound is from him, rolling in his grave?

Weather Channel reported this morning that it was minor (<1.2) earthquake activity.

The rather small earthquake still doesn’t answer why there is this strange noise. Mystery unsolved. This is a possibility, but not yet determined.

Here is a rather in depth article on the entire situation

Here is an article that talks about earthquake booms.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/booms.php

I had another thought about the booms, maybe they’re the sounds of Gov. Walkers regime crashing.

I hope so @Ron_C

@Ron_C Hah! Excellent.

@SpatzieLover and @dappled_leaves thanks guys!

This article puts it down to a “swarm” of minor earthquakes amplified by the unique bedrock beneath the state of Wisconsin.

@flutherother GA but I still have hope that it the sound of a incompetent and corrupt regime crashing.