Honking From Above: Sky Trumpets and the British Hum | 479
Nation, it's time we crank the volume on reality and chase the creepy, metallic noises known as Sky Trumpets and British Booms. From the infamous Durham “Hum” to thunderless skyquakes that sound like phantom artillery, we dig into the strangest “why is the sky honking?” reports across England and beyond.
We break down the best scientific explanations, including temperature inversions, atmospheric ducting, meteors, infrasound, and other perfectly normal things that absolutely do not sound normal. Then we slide into the fun stuff: angel trumpets, aliens with rusty spacecraft, secret underground projects, and why the internet may be half documentation, half audio creepypasta.
Is it nature, industry, the end times… or just the atmosphere doing an aggressive jazz solo? Hit play and decide for yourself this week on Hysteria51!
Special thanks to this week’s research sources:
UK “Hum” reporting (Woodland, County Durham)
- The Telegraph (Jun 9, 2011) “Tiny village is latest victim of the ‘The Hum’”
- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8566281/Tiny-village-is-latest-victim-of-the-The-hum.html
- TIME (Jun 15, 2011) “Mysterious Night ‘Hum’ Plagues British Village”
- https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/06/15/mysterious-night-%E2%80%98hum%E2%80%99-plagues-british-village/
- The Christian Science Monitor (Jun 14, 2011) “Mysterious humming noise bedevils tiny English village”
- https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0614/Mysterious-humming-noise-bedevils-tiny-English-village
- The Guardian (Jun 9, 2011) “On the trail of the mysterious Durham hum”
- https://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2011/jun/09/hum-woodlands-durham-hamsterley-bristol-largs-gateshead-newcastle-cakebook-surtees
Skyquakes / mystery booms explainers
- BBC Science Focus (Sep 28, 2024) “Mystery skyquakes are ripping through the world. And nobody knows why.”
- https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/mystery-skyquakes-are-ripping-through-the-world-and-nobody-knows-why
- American Academy of Audiology (Oct 27, 2023) “Skyquakes: did you hear it?”
- https://www.audiology.org/skyquakes-did-you-hear-it/
USGS (authoritative references for booms, quakes, sonic booms)
- U.S. Geological Survey “Earthquake Booms, Seneca Guns, and Other Sounds”
- https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/earthquake-booms-seneca-guns-and-other-sounds
- U.S. Geological Survey (FAQ) “What are those ‘booms’ I sometimes hear before or during an earthquake?”
- https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-those-booms-i-sometimes-hear-or-during-earthquake
- U.S. Geological Survey “Sonic Booms”
- https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/sonic-booms
Sound travel / weather weirdness (why distant stuff can sound like it’s in your attic)
- “Inversion (meteorology)” (temperature inversions can change how sound travels)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_(meteorology)
Background on “The Hum” (global phenomenon overview)
- “The Hum” (overview, reported locations, proposed explanations)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
Stratospheric infrasound (mysterious low-frequency signals recorded high up)
- Space.com (May 11, 2023) “Strange sounds recorded high in Earth’s atmosphere have scientists baffled”
- https://www.space.com/strange-sounds-stratosphere-balloon-infrasound
- Live Science (May 13, 2023) “Mysterious, ultra low-frequency noises detected in Earth’s atmosphere…”
- https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/mysterious-ultra-low-frequency-noises-detected-in-earths-atmosphere-and-scientists-cant-explain-them
- Phys.org (May 11, 2023) “Solar-powered balloons detect mysterious sounds in the stratosphere”
- https://phys.org/news/2023-05-solar-powered-balloons-mysterious-stratosphere.html
Ocean-generated infrasound (microbaroms: the sea’s low-frequency heartbeat)
- Walker et al. (2012) Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans “Evaluating the opposing wave interaction hypothesis for the atmospheric microbarom”
- https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2012JC008409
- Landès et al. (2014) Geophysical Journal International “Explaining global patterns of microbarom observations with wave action models”
- https://academic.oup.com/gji/article/199/3/1328/609610
- “Microbarom” (overview + links to primary lit)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbarom
Skeptical commentary
- Sharon A. Hill (Doubtful News) “Mystery booms and skyquakes” (skeptical roundup + reporting tips)
- https://sharonahill.com/mystery-booms-and-skyquakes/
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