Source of mysterious booming sound in Bergen County remains unknown
OAKLAND, N.J. -- Questions are still being asked about the source of a loud noise that was heard across northern New Jersey.
Residents reported hearing an earth-shaking boom. But what was it?
Michael Mikulich was getting into his car Wednesday afternoon at a strip mall in Oakland when something didn't seem right.
"That's when I heard the boom," he said.
His service dog was by his side.
"She kind of put her ears back and looked at me, like 'Whoa, what was that?'" he said.
Barbara Beucler, from Franklin Lakes, said her frightened daughter called her.
"She was sitting in a room and she said she heard the lamp shake and she felt the house kind of move a little bit, and she didn't know what was going on," said Beucler.
The loud boom and vibration was heard across northern New Jersey at around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Hundreds of residents posted comments on a Volcano Discovery forum.
One said, " ... heard a loud noise that made us literally search the horizon for a mushroom cloud. We thought we were being bombed."
Some residents questioned if the sound came from a quarry in Riverdale just off Route 287 or the one in Mount Hope.
"There's explosions going on all the time," said Brian Mason.
CBS2 has learned there was no activity at the Riverdale quarry.
Other people wondered if the rumbling came from the Picatinny Arsenal, the U.S. Army research base in Rockaway Township.
A spokesperson told us the only activity there was at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when they disposed of munitions.
The U.S. Geological Survey said it wasn't an earthquake, either.
"Temperature inversion, sonic booms, weather conditions. There's always the possibility that it could be something from an old Skunk Works thing, where the military has Black Ops. It could be something they're working on, experimental," said Peter Trabucco, an aviation expert.
Back in 2016, a loud rumbling heard in southern New Jersey turned out to be from a fighter jet on a naval exercise that caused a sonic boom.
Similar loud booms and vibrations were reported in 2021 in southern and central New Jersey. The sources of those sounds are still a mystery.
