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Strange “trumpet” sounds have been heard in various parts of the world. There are reports of the phenomenon in Russia and Canada, from the USA and Germany as well as in the UK.
It’s a topic that I’ve been fascinated with since discovering articles on the topic, along with the various videos being perpetuated on the internet.
There have been a few explanations put forward, some are thought-provoking, but none make me feel that this is totally debunked.
One popular theory for the outbreak of disembodied trumpeting sounds across the globe is that it is the Last Trump, the fanfare mentioned several times in the Bible as heralding the “end of days” this, invariably, by those who believe in the four horseman of the apocalypse and all that. Here’s an article by The Daily Mail (UK 5th March 2012) which has links to video recordings taken in 2012 from Germany and America and which suggests some possible causes for the sounds:
“They sound like background music from a flamboyant science fiction film, but this is not science fiction. Earth’s natural radio emissions are real and, although we’re mostly unaware of them, they are around us all the time. For instance lightning can produce eerie-sounding radio emissions,. Earthquakes can also produce sub-audible sounds, according to seismologist Brian W Stump from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas.” You can view the full article at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2110523/Whats-causing-mysterious-sounds-coming-sky-loud-set-car-alarms.html#ixzz3u91TIb3Z
More information and potential theories can be read at http://www.astrofreaks.net/2013/07/13/the-phenomenon-of-strange-sounds-heard-by-entire-communities/
So what IS causing this audible phenomenon? Very good question!
There are various theories about what causes the non verifiable “sound phenomena”.
HAARP / Superdarn
Lots of guesswork on the internet about what these actually are. The general consensus of opinion is that it’s to do with research and/or tests of equipment to affect weather modification.
The Freedom Agenda Blog asks if a UK HAARP facility might have caused an earthquake in Wales, and quotes a daily mail article of 29th May 2013. This blogger tells us quite categorically “Make no mistake – the HAARP facilities can induce earthquakes, both directly and indirectly.”
Frankly, it is not beyond belief that scientists are working on technology with a goal to control weather conditions on Earth. If mankind could control the weather, this could potentially mean an end to floods, drought, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados and volcanic activity.
We already have computers that predict the weather. Although the meteorological offices often have success in telling us what weather conditions to expect, the unpredictability of our weather , systems mean even they get it wrong. However, the fact that tectonic plate movement, which is often cited as the reason for these natural hazards, is itself difficult to predict. Tectonic plate movement has also been mentioned as the potential reason for the inexplicable sounds.
The fact is, scientists do not believe that this is the case:- https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1p4847/why_dont_we_hear_the_tectonic_plates_move/ suggests that the failure on the faults generates very low frequency waves that our ears can’t detect and intimating that 5ectonic plates sliding past each other produces a really low frequency. Human ears can’t hear really high pitch sounds, nor can we hear really low pitch sounds either.
The most well-known tectonic plate movement, The San Andreas fault is a “continental transform fault” that extends roughly 1300 km (810 miles) through California. This was first identified in 1895 by professor Andrew Lawson from UC Berkeley. It was the earthquake which occurred in San Francisco in 1906 which galvanised research to try and understand the fault, in order to attempt to predict future activity.
A project called the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) near Parkfield, Monterey County, is drilling into the fault to improve prediction and recording of future earthquakes. You might like to listen to the sound of shifting tectonic plates http://www.psfk.com/2012/04/tectonic-plates-microphones.html
Presumably when a natural hazard occurs, the noise is deafening to those in the vicinity. We must also take into account that the sound of these “disasters” would travel around the globe, in the air but not forgetting that sounds travel in solids and liquids, too! https://www.le.ac.uk/se/centres/sci/selfstudy/snd3.htm
Linking in to the previous thought – the Earth, it has been suggested, works like a giant loudspeaker so the sound of a natural hazard could be a possible cause of sounds being experienced around the globe.
One of my friends from the Scientific World of the Paranormal Facebook group told us
“I live near White Sands missile range and I know people who work there. They have been experimenting with all types of frequencies in an attempt to weaponize their use. What people are hearing may be the further development of the technology used to knock things out of the air, or out of orbit. I’m not part of the project, so it’s just a guess.” When another member wrote to say that what he’d posted wouldn’t explain why it’s been heard in the UK and the rest of the world, he responded that International agencies rent the facility and pay for the services of the workers. Who knows what country could be using the technology?
Kimmy, also from the group suggested “Skyquakes is an explanation being discussed on the Internet to explain these st,range sounds. Skyquakes is actually a misnomer for Spacequakes that were discovered in 2007 and first reported in 2010.They are plasma waves that are being stretched by solar flare emissions. These waves eventually must either pop back towards the earth or break.The waves then bombard the Earth’s atmosphere. These spacequakes have been documented at a 6.0 on the seismograph.”
The website Ancient Code goes into some detail about sounds called “The Bloop” of 1997; “The Upsweep” of 1991; “The Slowdown” of 1997; “The Train Sound” also 1997; “The Julia Sound” of 1999; and “The Whistle Sound” of 1997. As you can see, 1997 was a good year for inexplicable sound phenomena and this site also includes recordings of each “sound”.
http://www.ancient-code.com/six-unexplained-sounds-by-noaa/
A “whistleblower” purportedly is able to explain the mysterious sounds being heard across the world at:
This article tells us “According to a geologist who worked for the government, “Something is going on in the inner core of the Earth.” It has to do with the magnetic poles changing and involves minerals recycling in the mantle of the Earth. The sounds are being generated in the mantle as large static discharges of energy, pushed up through the Earth’s crust, broadcasting as infrasound through the ionosphere and then bouncing back at a lower frequency that we can hear and feel as vibrations.”
I wonder why this person felt it was acceptable to post this to a blog called “The Ghost Diaries” when, whilst a topic under the heading of the paranormal, it clearly is nothing to do with ghosts!
Strange Trumpet Sounds Debunked (or are they?)
The following video, by Chris White, gives some food for thought, as well as does some debunking of the “mysterious sounds videos prevalent on Youtube and elsewhere on paranormal sites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVScTxRBHFY
To precis the 14 minute long video, the explanation is split into three:
Outright hoaxes
The narrator talks about a film called “Red State” in which a unique “sound” was used in the storyline by pranksters, meant to scare Christians into believing they were witnessing the “end of the world” scenario popularly believed by some. That “sound” has been copied, and copies of those copies have been used by unscrupulous people although it’s possible to identify it because of a bird sound which you can find in all of them.
Genuine sounds (although explainable!)
A video from Terrace, British Columbia surfaced on the internet in 2013 where you can hear the oddest sound in the air, filmed by a lady on her apartment balcony. It isn’t trumpet blasts in the sky, although you could be forgiven for thinking it is! Terrace was inundated with a lot of international attention and, of course, popped up on the internet too.
Proof that this sound was explainable is by way of another Terrace resident went out with his video camera and videod the actual source of the sound – a bulldozer scraping finished concrete whilst constructing a skate park. He walks towards the sound and as the screeching becomes loudest, you can see the large area of concrete with the bulldozer unceremoniously working away on the top left corner! Shown in the video is a map so you can see how close the new skatepark is to the lady’s apartment.
Non hoax, strange sound videos that are verifiable
Tampa Rays Devil Baseball game, August 23rd 2011
For this the simple explanation is that the Tropicana Field Baseball dome is a domed stadium. Huh, yes! At the exact time of the video, and nobody thought it appropriate to point this out, a heavy rainstorm was passing over the stadium. the dome is prone to lightning strikes and it would appear According to a Tampa Bay Rays reporter, a lightning strike on the PA system caused feedback on the stadium’s PA system.
Missoula Montana, Hellgate Elementary School 2012 (appropriate name, huh?)
The school, we are told, is directly across from a major train yard. The sounds in the video aren’t typical train sounds, a “railroad employee” likens the mystery sounds to a train being dragged while its’ brakes are set “I work on the railroad and this is a common noise to us. It’s a normal train yard noise.” This reasoning is also given for a German video, shot through an upstairs window into the street showing a little girl listening to a mystery sound and the location is apparently close to a rail yard, too.
Non hoax cases “where we can be sure of the origin of the noise”
Points out that the sounds seem more industrial (which, to my mind, is where the majority of these must originate from).
Summing up, the narrator of the above video expresses his concern that the topic has become a “hoaxer’s paradise” and that we should err on the side of caution. He admonishes those who publish or post that these sounds are the “start of the apocalypse” and playing on people’s religious gullibility – those who are God-fearing Christian folk,- telling us that he, himself is Christian. He also advises that fellow Christians would do well to be more than just passively acquainted with the Bible when it comes to prophecy.
There are two types of trumpets in the Bible, one is the trumpet of God that will signify the rapture, then there are the seven trumpets of revelation which will begin various judgements on the people left on the earth (someone will have an awful lot of work to do!). Basically, after the trumpet of God sounds to announce the rapture, Christians will immediately (in the twinkling of an eye) be caught up to Heaven so, straight after the trumpet sounds telling us “you won’t have time to post a video to Youtube! Nor does he feel that the seven trumpets are what have been videoed since he advises that according Revelations those trumpets will portend things that “you won’t have to look around for, they will be quite obvious!”
I liked this video by Chris White and his explanation. Some commenters on his Youtube page have dismissed what he’s said – particularly in regard to the rail yard noises.Until we can positively debunk these sounds (and maybe we never will) I leave it to you to make up your own mind!
The Hum
Here’s another phenomenon which you may have even experienced (as I have) and/or read about. Known as the hum, it’s a drone sound which can be heard in the dead of night, when there are few vehicles, offices, factories or machinery that could be the cause of such a noise
Live science reports on it: http://www.livescience.com/38427-the-hum-mystery-taos-hum.html
Truth Alerts website puts forward a possible solution by reporting: After nearly four decades, Hum investigators may finally have some idea. The general consensus among sufferers is that the Hum is comprised of very low frequency (or ‘VLF’, in the range of 3 kHz to 30 kHz and wavelengths from 10 to 100 kilometers) or extremely low frequency (or ‘ELF’, in the range of 3 to 30 Hz, and corresponding wavelengths from 100,000 to 10,000 kilometers) radio waves, which can penetrate buildings and travel over tremendous distances. – See more at: http://truthalerts.com/a-mysterious-sound-is-driving-people-insane-and-nobody-knows-whats-causing-it/#sthash.MX9kpCU1.dpuf
Further reading:-
Strange sounds http://strangesounds.org/
As I mentioned at the start of this article, in spite of all the potential explanations and whilst they appear plausible, the proof is somewhat harder to come by.
Edit 8th January 2016
Snopes posted the following which tells us the UFO over CERN was a hoax! Read the whole article here: CERN UFO portal hoax
Edit 28th June 2016
The “Hum” – today posted on the Fortean Times Appreciation Facebook group was a link to an excellent article by Glen MacPherson in Business Insider. I read this article with interest and felt that it was very well researched, mentioned serious research into the phenomenon. If you have read this far, I strongly recommend you read it: Geologists have been trying to solve the mystery of the ‘worldwide hum’ for decades
Edit: 3rd March 2024
“The Hum” continues to fascinate, annoy, upset and even, sadly, cause people to take their own lives.
A new video titled “The Controversial Sound Only 2% Of People Hear” by Benn Jordan on his Youtube channel is a very interesting half hour’s viewing/listening. He talks of researching into the historic reports of this phenomenon, going back into the 1800s and goes on to mention the TAOS hum. In recent times it seems that the number of people experiencing this phenomenon stretches across the world and theories for the cause range from underground pipelines or ‘natural causes’ to extremely low frequency. He also talks of the mental health toll of this irritating and unwanted noise which intrudes into some peoples’ lives. I know I experienced it but in recent times I’ve been living with tinnitus which, along with mild hearing loss, means I’m less aware of certain frequencies. He does end his video by recommending people to seek advice from their doctor as it has been suggested that certain over-the-counter pain relief medications could be a contributing factor.to people experiencing what they hear. https://youtu.be/zy_ctHNLan8
Another recommendation is “The World Hum Map and Database Project” set up by Dr Glen MacPherson whose site documents the locations people report they are experiencing The Hum and gives you an opportunity to add your own report of what you’re hearing, which includes asking pertinent details about you, like your health and any medical conditions and regular medication. https://thehum.info/newhummap/html_docs/
The video is one I keep referring people to view as it goes some way to explaining a possible reason for the phenomena that people have been reporting down the years.
Vic Tandy, who was a senior lecturer at Coventry University (at the time the video was filmed, he passed away in 2005) is quoted as having explored the reasons for people experiencing paranormal phenomena “for over 20 years.”
He advises that “the affects of infrasound are that they activate the fight or flight mechanism which makes people feel cold, it makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck… that in itself may cause visual disturbances and you may see grey objects in your peripheral vision”.
He made recordings at places where there had been reports of paranormal activity and recorded the levels of infrasound, in stations and on moving trains. Watch it and decide for yourself.
https://youtu.be/IkvwvlpUqjY?si=BotsTrTcZhsQV8SW