A strange sound audible 30 miles
January 10, 2011 3:33 PM Subscribe
What was this noise, audible 30 miles?
1987, Kansas City area. About 20 miles north of town, in a store parking lot, I and other shoppers heard a low but distinct hum in the air. It was a minor mystery, but no big deal.
Then I drove on to KC and heard it there inside a home (so did the residents). And then 10 miles further south, inside a shopping mall. Others heard it there too, although of course they didn't know that it was audible 30 miles away.
I stress the point that others heard it as well because . . . well, you know.
I called the KC fire department and asked about it, but they had no info. That's a long way for sound to carry -- and through walls, too.
What could it have been?
1987, Kansas City area. About 20 miles north of town, in a store parking lot, I and other shoppers heard a low but distinct hum in the air. It was a minor mystery, but no big deal.
Then I drove on to KC and heard it there inside a home (so did the residents). And then 10 miles further south, inside a shopping mall. Others heard it there too, although of course they didn't know that it was audible 30 miles away.
I stress the point that others heard it as well because . . . well, you know.
I called the KC fire department and asked about it, but they had no info. That's a long way for sound to carry -- and through walls, too.
What could it have been?
Response by poster: CP, I don't know how to answer that. Can you give me a 60z example?
posted by LonnieK at 3:46 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by LonnieK at 3:46 PM on January 10, 2011
Maybe it was part of some underground construction project?
posted by jbenben at 3:51 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by jbenben at 3:51 PM on January 10, 2011
Response by poster: No, it wasn't that hum. I thought that might be unclear -- it wasn't low in tone, but low in volume. It was higher pitched than that.
And to all -- would either the power-line hum or the underground constuction hum be audible for 30 miles?
posted by LonnieK at 4:00 PM on January 10, 2011
And to all -- would either the power-line hum or the underground constuction hum be audible for 30 miles?
posted by LonnieK at 4:00 PM on January 10, 2011
The Hum Kokomo, Indiana. Taos, NM. It's everywhere.
posted by fixedgear at 4:02 PM on January 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by fixedgear at 4:02 PM on January 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
Sounds like large planes from a local air force base (likely Richards-Gebaur, a reservist base). If they were doing anything with large aircraft (such as tankers or transports), or flying squads of aircraft around (looks like they have A-10s based out of there) you'd can probably hear it for miles.
Do you remember if it was a cloudy day? If it was, aircraft could be relatively low, and still not be visible. The low frequencies means the sound can travel for miles and miles and be impossible to pinpoint and you wouldn't have heard a doppler effect either.
When the local AFR refueling wing practices, I can hear them all day. They can get powerfully loud, especially when there is a squadron of planes, and the noise is rather uniform since there are multiple aircraft on the ground and in the air.
posted by thebestsophist at 4:05 PM on January 10, 2011
Do you remember if it was a cloudy day? If it was, aircraft could be relatively low, and still not be visible. The low frequencies means the sound can travel for miles and miles and be impossible to pinpoint and you wouldn't have heard a doppler effect either.
When the local AFR refueling wing practices, I can hear them all day. They can get powerfully loud, especially when there is a squadron of planes, and the noise is rather uniform since there are multiple aircraft on the ground and in the air.
posted by thebestsophist at 4:05 PM on January 10, 2011
Tornado siren? There's a playable image about halfway down the page on the right.
posted by amelioration at 4:25 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by amelioration at 4:25 PM on January 10, 2011
Nighttime or daytime? 87 was a big sunspot year. Anyone know if it's possible to hear radio transmissions around 76 hertz? Or does that work differently?
posted by jwells at 5:02 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by jwells at 5:02 PM on January 10, 2011
Logically, it doesn't have to have been audible for thirty miles. It just has to have been audible at the first time at the first place, and then, later, audible at the second place thirty miles away.
I'm guessing you didn't call someone at the first place and ask if they could still hear it?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 5:15 PM on January 10, 2011
I'm guessing you didn't call someone at the first place and ask if they could still hear it?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 5:15 PM on January 10, 2011
Response by poster: I appreciate all efforts.
The Hum is interesting but those sound like ongoing phenomena. There was no public mention that I ever heard in KC of such a thing.
Large planes . . . It wasn't like that. I live near an active base & aerospace plant, so I hear those continually. I would describe it like a tone you might hear in a hearing test. Not bass, not super-high, not rumbling, not static-y. And not loud or painful. Just audible. It wasn't something you normally hear.
Amelioration, I believe the fire department would have told me about a tornado siren.
Jwells, this took place between about 4 pm and 10 pm.
Ambrose, technically you're right. But it was audible in 3 places, not 2, distributed on a 30-mile line. That's a pretty random sample. (No, I didn't call back to the first place. But it's unlikely the sound was moving with me, although that would be a good hook for a story.)
posted by LonnieK at 6:40 PM on January 10, 2011
The Hum is interesting but those sound like ongoing phenomena. There was no public mention that I ever heard in KC of such a thing.
Large planes . . . It wasn't like that. I live near an active base & aerospace plant, so I hear those continually. I would describe it like a tone you might hear in a hearing test. Not bass, not super-high, not rumbling, not static-y. And not loud or painful. Just audible. It wasn't something you normally hear.
Amelioration, I believe the fire department would have told me about a tornado siren.
Jwells, this took place between about 4 pm and 10 pm.
Ambrose, technically you're right. But it was audible in 3 places, not 2, distributed on a 30-mile line. That's a pretty random sample. (No, I didn't call back to the first place. But it's unlikely the sound was moving with me, although that would be a good hook for a story.)
posted by LonnieK at 6:40 PM on January 10, 2011
I live near an active AFB too. If you're paying attention, you can hear a low hum for tens of seconds - sometimes minutes - before it resolves into an "airplane" sort of noise. I vote plane(s).
posted by ErikaB at 9:39 PM on January 10, 2011
posted by ErikaB at 9:39 PM on January 10, 2011
Response by poster: I don't think the planes theory makes sense. There's a deeper mystery here.
This noise was audible in places 30 miles apart. Planes on the ground can't be heard nearly that far, and certainly not a low whine preceding a full "airplane noise." If you mean planes in the air, they give off nothing like this sound, and over a 30 mile course their sounds would rise and fall.
This didn't go on for minutes, but for +/- 6 hours. It could be heard inside a house, inside a mall. If it had been planes from a base, it would have been heard on other nights -- it would be common knowledge. That wasn't the case. Everyone I encountered who heard it was puzzled by it. Nobody said "Oh, that's just the engines over at ____."
No, this was something different. It was a distinct tone, like a hearing-test tone. You could hear it through masonry walls, inside a car, inside a mall, and out in the open -- in places 30 miles apart.
Great contributions all, but none explains it.
posted by LonnieK at 6:36 PM on January 11, 2011
This noise was audible in places 30 miles apart. Planes on the ground can't be heard nearly that far, and certainly not a low whine preceding a full "airplane noise." If you mean planes in the air, they give off nothing like this sound, and over a 30 mile course their sounds would rise and fall.
This didn't go on for minutes, but for +/- 6 hours. It could be heard inside a house, inside a mall. If it had been planes from a base, it would have been heard on other nights -- it would be common knowledge. That wasn't the case. Everyone I encountered who heard it was puzzled by it. Nobody said "Oh, that's just the engines over at ____."
No, this was something different. It was a distinct tone, like a hearing-test tone. You could hear it through masonry walls, inside a car, inside a mall, and out in the open -- in places 30 miles apart.
Great contributions all, but none explains it.
posted by LonnieK at 6:36 PM on January 11, 2011
I think that rules out my theory since long distance radio reception tends to come and go. It isn't consistent over 6 hours. However, Kansas City has been digging underground like mad for a long long time. Here's an article about it from 1987. It's where that huge underground business complex, Subtropolis, is. It's possible the noise you heard was of all the mining operations going on around the city, 25 floors below.
posted by jwells at 2:18 PM on January 12, 2011
posted by jwells at 2:18 PM on January 12, 2011
Response by poster: Re KC underground. Well, that's interesting. I knew about that, and I never thought to connect it. Maybe there's something there.
Re radio waves. Can you hear them with the naked ear, away from a radio?
This was really unlike anything I've ever experienced. Think about it -- a hearing-test-like tone audible for 30 miles. What on earth could that have been? It wasn't audible because of its volume -- it was low volume. But it was audible to people 30 miles apart.
posted by LonnieK at 8:08 PM on January 13, 2011
Re radio waves. Can you hear them with the naked ear, away from a radio?
This was really unlike anything I've ever experienced. Think about it -- a hearing-test-like tone audible for 30 miles. What on earth could that have been? It wasn't audible because of its volume -- it was low volume. But it was audible to people 30 miles apart.
posted by LonnieK at 8:08 PM on January 13, 2011
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posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:45 PM on January 10, 2011