PUBLISHED: 22:37 GMT, 20 October 2012 | UPDATED: 12:32 GMT, 21 October 2012
- The U.S. Geological Survey
has speculated the shake was from a sonic boom
- Local military base said
military training is not responsible
- Lighthearted residents
speculate 'Romney dropped his BINDERS’ and Gov. Chris Christie went
jogging
A mysterious ground shake through parts of southern New
Jersey rattled residents around 11am this morning leaving bewildered residents
still without answers.
Both the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Weather
Service reported no earthquake having occurred in the area and the nearby
military base claiming to have had no training exercises that would have caused
the tremors.
The USGS has since speculated that the shake felt by
residents in southern counties for an estimated 15 seconds was from a sonic
boom.
Reports: A map by the
USGS shows the coloured counties where the shake was reported on Saturday, seen
the most through the southern coast
The effect would be a 'thunder-like noise a person on the
ground hears when an aircraft or other type of aerospace vehicle files overhead
faster than the speed of sound or supersonic,' according to NASA.
An officer with the Sea Isle City Police Department said
they had not confirmed it having been a sonic boom as reported by local news
reports but told MailOnline it was a 'non-event.'
The shake was reported in several counties including
Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean, Salem and Camden.
'I'm in [Little Egg Harbor] and my basement door shook
violently for 15 sec or so long enough to creep me out. Sounded like someone
was trying to get out,' a resident wrote on the Facebook page
for Jersey Shore Hurricane News.
'My dog whelped two times before it happened I had thought
he hurt himself. Then the huge noise boomed and my house shook slightly. It
felt like it came from above,' a claimed Northfield resident wrote.
Last weekend Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst had advised residents of scheduled military training that
could cause booms and ground tremors.
Base spokesman Pascual Flores told NBC News that wasn't the case for today.
'There currently is no training of any type that would have
resulted in today's incident,' he said.
Eager to suggest other causes for the tremor, residents on
Facebook pitched ideas consisting of: Fracking, ‘Romney dropped his BINDERS,’
Governor Chris Christie jogging, and 'Snookie fell off a barstool.'
Similar booms rattled the household just some weeks before:
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