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...I bet this phenomena will be forgotten about soon.
http://www.sunjournal.com/story.asp?slg=082401rumble
quote:Officials stumped by reports of rumbling
By Mark LaFlamme
Staff Writer
Explanations for the freak phenomenon are few and far between.
By Mark LaFlamme
Staff Writer
The light of Thursday morning brought no explanations for a widely reported phenomenon in the sky the night before.
No commercial airplanes had flight paths through the area. The National Guard and local naval air stations reported having no crafts in the air here. Freak weather patterns were all but ruled out.
Yet by Thursday afternoon, more and more people were talking about bright lights, rumbling sounds and rattling buildings.
The reports came from all over the area. Dozens of reports. People from Lewiston, Auburn, Sabattus, Greene, Leeds, Monmouth and Minot called police or the newspaper.
“It was a long rumbling. It sounded like a huge, huge object,” said 59-year-old Lynn Madelyn Bailey. “I was afraid to go out on my deck. It sounded like it was right over my house.”
Bailey lives on Brighton Hill in Minot. Like others, she said the sound was like none she has ever heard before. It was felt as much as heard.
“It was eerie,” she said. “It was scary.”
Some reported the sounds and lights coming to a sudden halt, only to begin again with more fury. Many said it shook their trailers or houses. It ended as fast and mysteriously as it began.
Skeptics were having a hard time explaining the mystery Thursday.
After fielding several inquiries, Lewiston police Sgt. Michael McGonagle took pains to find the source of the phenomenon.
“I called everybody,” he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said there was no flight activity to or from the Auburn-Lewiston Airport. No other flights had routes through the area.
He checked with the National Guard and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. There were no marijuana eradication helicopters out and about.
Naval air stations in Brunswick and Bangor said they had no craft in this area. If they did, they would not be flying below 2,000 feet.
How about an earthquake, known to cause eerie lights as well as the rumbling and rattling?
“I lived in California for 20 years,” said Bailey. “I know what an earthquake sounds like. This was not one.”
Meteorologists agree. The Gray station monitors U.S. Geological Survey seismic information and Lacroix said there was no seismic activity in the area Wednesday night. The last reported tremors here were on Aug. 10, more than a week prior to Wednesday’s freak occurrence.
“You’ve got me stumped. Something doesn’t add up,” said Tony Lacroix, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Gray. “If there are that many reports, you cannot brush it off.”
Some people reported intensely bright lights accompanying the noise. Some saw a streak of light and then a flash. All of the people who experienced it mentioned the unusual nature of the noise.
“I was actually slightly scared and alarmed,” said Denise Morin, of Sabattus. “But it was odd to me that the noise just ended abruptly. It didn’t fade away.”
A little known fact Wednesday is that the International Space Station passed over Maine Wednesday. However at more than 200 miles above the earth, the station would be hard to spot, let alone hear, according to Lacroix.
Speculation continued to abound throughout the day. Theories were exchanged, answers sought. Did dozens of people experience a close encounter of the first kind?
“We’d like to get to find out what it was and put some closure to it,” McGonagle said. “I don’t believe in aliens so I don’t think it was the mothership.”
Others would disagree. After all logical explanations fail, what else is there to consider but something from beyond this world, something extraterrestrial?
“I think it’s a high probability,” said former Bates College psychology professor Bud Bechtel. “I’m satisfied those people are telling the truth. The explanation for this case is elusive.”
Bechtel is not only a professor but a member of the national organization MUFON. That stands for the Mutual UFO Network and they take phenomenon seriously. Bechtel, in fact, is not afraid to use the term UFO – he has been with the organization for two decades.
Living in Weld, Bechtel said he did not experience anything out of the ordinary Wednesday night. However, he was happy to hear that some people were at least considering explanations from outer space.
“It’s amazing. That’s wonderful,” he said. “I’m glad people have reported it. Many people are more open minded about it these days. They dare to talk about it.”
mlaflamme@sunjournal.com
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