RAF or ET? 'Sonic boom' heard over Leicester is a mystery
The cause of a loud bang heard in Leicester and on the outskirts of the city has perplexed residents and authorities alike.
A "large, rumbling, explosion, thunder-like sound" was reported by people living in the city centre, New Parks and Beaumont Leys on Sunday evening.
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A plane creates a sonic boom. One theory about what caused the noise over Leicester is that it was a sonic boom from an RAF jet on a nighttime training exercise.
Similar reports also came in from residents in Birstall, Rothley, Glenfield and Enderby.
Twitter has been awash with residents saying they heard the mysterious bang, with rumours abounding about its possible cause.
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One person, with the username @EllingtonWright, tweeted: "Yep, heard that last night. Two loud rumbling booms about 30 seconds apart.
"Very strange indeed."
Another tweeter, who goes by the name @plot44, wrote: "Heard it in Birstall. Sounded like multiple explosions."
Twitter user Lindsay Clarke wrote: "Also heard it in Birstall... could not figure out what it was."
@MissButler2_ wrote: "Everyone heard it, people in Birstall, Enderby, Glenfield. The police said military aircraft... We say aliens!"
A majority of the reports said the mysterious sound happened at about 8.30pm.
Twitter user Alex Barston, from Leicester, wrote: "I was listening to music at that time. However, several friends who live in the area quickly posted things on Twitter about what they heard.
"These ranged from 'loud thunder' to 'gunfire' and said it caused things to fall off shelves."
Despite the interest in the mystery sound, a police spokesman said only one person reported the bang.
He said: "We received a single report from a member of the public in Glenfield at about 10.30pm on Sunday, who said they had heard a 'large noise'.
"We looked into it and contacted the fire service, East Midlands Airport, councils and other agencies, but found no information that would explain the sound reported to us."
One theory is the thunderclap could have been a sonic boom from an RAF jet on a nighttime training exercise.
No one at the Ministry of Defence was available to comment at the time of going to press.
However, a spokesman for air traffic control at East Midlands Airport said: "We would know about any Ministry of Defence flights in our airspace.
"We have gone through our flight plans for Sunday evening to see if there was any unusual activity.
"However, there was nothing at all out of the ordinary that would make that kind of noise."
A fire service spokesman said: "The only calls we received between 8.30pm and 10.30pm on Sunday were to a house fire and a bin fire but nothing whatsoever that would explain the noise being reported."
A city council spokeswoman said: "We received no reports of sonic booms or loud, unexplained explosions on Sunday night."
A Leicestershire County Council spokesman said a member of staff living in Glenfield reported hearing the sonic boom but the council could not explain any activity that could have caused it, including blasting at granite or opencast coal mines in the west of the county.
Another possible explanation could be the sonic boom from a meteorite falling to Earth.
Scientists with the British Geological Survey are looking into the reports.
A spokesman said: "If there was indeed a sonic boom, whether from an aircraft or otherwise, in Leicestershire, our equipment will have picked it up."
Comments
by JohnHallRAISD
Wednesday, December 12 2012, 6:23PM
“This was most likely pieces of Space Debris or Junk returning to it's birth place, afterall there is plenty of it up there in low Earth orbit just waiting to return. JOHN HALL RAISD”
by scotney33
Wednesday, December 12 2012, 5:23PM
“i was out walking my dogs on the field behind butterwick and grassington close bleys. i heard the bangs and saw flashes of light above the flats on limegrove it was along way off but didnt sound like fireworks but looked like them, i thought a firework factory had caught fire but it was definatly on the ground so defo no sonic boom... and there were 2 very loud explosions and a few smaller bangs probably MoD blasting out for a D.u.m.b. Ive noticed a few chanooks flying in that direction South to North which is unusual around here and if your getting no reply from the MoD then it was probably them.”
by Red_Ned
Wednesday, December 12 2012, 3:56PM
“OK CaptEngland71.
Your second and third references (actually reports of the same noise) are a perfect example of just what I've said - the infowars site a (a really reliable source for all conspiracists) reports the "weird" noises, but doesn't report the explanation (see here - http://tinyurl.com/d8zy4d4).
You want 100% proof for the most reasonable explanation (which is virtually impossible because taking a photo of an explosion after you've just heard it is really, really difficult) but you're willing to believe something 'weird' is going on because you've gathered a few disparate noises from around the world, most of which offer FAR LESS evidence for anything than what you require of the "fireworks" explanation!”
by karinfall1955
Wednesday, December 12 2012, 12:03AM
“Having seen the rather depressing census results I think the sound was a population 'boom'.”
by mariner2000
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 11:03PM
“http://tinyurl.com/cr3w7rh
this was an identical issue in the Grimsby area. Check the links to story expansion at the bottom of the page also.”
by CaptEngland71
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 7:29PM
“http://tinyurl.com/cmzbktd
http://tinyurl.com/cj45r9h
http://tinyurl.com/6o3y95q
http://tinyurl.com/cpwheg9
Ok Red_Ned. How about these ones for starters? As for people saying they SAW fireworks, I know people do like to make things up, that makes themselves look big and clever (Just like alot of the clever comments on this web site, day in and out).
At the moment, until someone can proof 100% that it was their fireworks, with a very good picture, and time stamp on it as proof, then maybe we should all keep an open mind?
BTW, for two Sundays running, what's the fireworks in aid off?”
by Red_Ned
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 6:56PM
“QUOTE The same unexplained loud explosions have been reported all over the world in the past year or two. Just because someone say's it's fireworks or Top secret USA planes does not mean that it's the truth. END OF QUOTE
Please give details of these "unexplained loud explosions", I suspect the vast majority of them are actually explained. What happens is that a story (like this one) is spread around the web at top speed by various barmy conspiracy sites (esp. as it has the words ET in the title, for no reason whatsoever as far as I can see) and various people pontificate about it (despite not being there, or hearing it, or seeing anything) and the actual, reasonable explanations get lost in the chatter. In this case I heard it and it sounded exactly like a lot of fireworks going off. Several people have now come forward and said they SAW the fireworks and yet people would prefer, for some reason, to try and find some weird answer to it. And they are even willing to disbelieve other people's perfectly reasonable explanation to try and and crowbar it into their more outlandish explanations. That is what is really bizarre!”
by CaptEngland71
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 6:06PM
“Say thing happened in Town Center (Leicester) the week before (Sunday). Very loud but no sign of fireworks. Why was this not reported in the LM?
I was at the Globe pub and it sounded like fireworks or an in coming barrage. The last one sound like it was in High street. Also, there was no smell of powder that you normally smell when a firework goes off.
The same unexplained loud explosions have been reported all over the world in the past year or two. Just because someone say's it's fireworks or Top secret USA planes does not mean that it's the truth.
As always, it's so easy for folk to be like sheep and believe anything too quickly. This also works both ways!”
by jcwest09
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 6:02PM
“Guys, sorry to disappoint... we know what the noise was !!!! We were outside as the enormous booming sounds took place, and it was actually enormous fireworks being set off, granted, much larger than normal, they sounded like bombs exploding! But, there were certainly no aliens, or sonic booms, or military planes... just massive fireworks!! Sorry :(”
by Eastonian
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 5:38PM
“It was probably 'ET' coming home...........................via the RAF!!”