Mysterious explosions rock southwest Bloomington Friday

Cheyenne Mobley thought the floors were shaking because her toddler was jumping in the next room just before noon Friday. Then her mother-in-law next door texted: “Did you feel it?”

Mobley abandoned a movie she and her other son were watching to bring it to his attention. “There was really big boom and even more walking in groups. The floors vibrated and the windows rattled. I heard my dishes rattling in the cupboards.”

A dozen concerned citizens southwest of Bloomington called 911 around noon to report what Mobley felt and heard: explosions or explosions that shook the ground beneath their feet between 11:57 a.m. 12:02. Mobley said there was no sustained rumbling. indicate earthquakejust a long series of hums.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jeff Brown said there was no immediate explanation. “The central control room reported receiving about 12 calls reporting mysterious explosions,” he said. “MCSO or the ISP never identified the cause.”

Todd Thompson, State Geologist and Director Indiana Geological and Water Survey Bloomington confirmed there was no earthquake. “There’s nothing I know about, and USGS Earthquake Map shows nothing,” he said in response to an email query. “They must have been building somewhere in the city.”

Mobley said she was used to the sound and shaking of the ground from quarry explosions in the area, but said it was different and kind of scary because it lasted five minutes.

Message left at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Divisionthe joint Navy-Army facility 30 miles southwest of Bloomington had not been returned Friday afternoon, in time for this story.

Another mystery: Was that big “boom” heard in southern Indiana Wednesday a meteor?

Just before 1:00 p.m. on a Wednesday in March 2022, people in Monroe and surrounding counties heard an alarmingly loud “boom,” the cause of which remains a mystery.

People speculated that it was anything from a meteor to a sonic boom from a fast-flying plane.

Contact HT reporter Laura Lane at [email protected] or 812-318-5967.

This article originally appeared in The Herald-Times: What sparked the series of booms southwest of Bloomington on Friday remains a mystery.