Monday, October 22, 2012

What is the mysterious shake rattling New Jersey? Residents feel the earth move... but it's NOT an earthquake!!!

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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