Mysterious ‘Booms’ Heard Across Southern Illinois Puzzles Experts, Residents

By Gina Blankenship, Daily American News – “Social media was abuzz this weekend following what is begin described as a ‘loud boom’ that was heard all over Southern Illinois Saturday.

The source of the noise is unknown and, according to some, has been recurring for the past several weeks.

Loud and mysterious booms are being heard and felt around the region. For more than a month, the noise has been compared to a sonic boom, tannerite, shotgun, dynamite or cannon. The theories surrounding the source of the ‘loud bangs’ range from fracking to supersonic jets, meteors and even the end-times. However, an official explanation has not been given, leaving residents baffled. Wanting answers, many have turned to their local media.

‘The first time I heard it, I waited to hear sirens. I dismissed it assuming I would find out what happened later on the news,’ said Lori Wharton Libby. An accident was not to blame for the noise that day nor was anything on the news regarding what she heard.

Libby, who is a secretary for Cornerstone Community Church, started a thread on the WSIL News 3 Facebook wall asking for answers. Her inquiry resulted in more than 200 comments from people who have also heard and felt the noise.

Many have experienced it frequently over the past several weeks.

‘We tried to put the facts together,’ said Libby. ‘We knew it wasn’t a gun or cannon. The noise is loud enough to scare our dog under the bed. People from as far east as Harrisburg and north of Mt. Vernon have heard and felt the same noise that I described.’

The West Frankfort Police Department said that they have not received any complaints regarding the issue.

Further investigation finds these unidentified noises are taking place all over the country. Around the beginning of January people from Utah, Massachusetts, Alaska, Tennessee, Indiana and Florida have been contacting their local authorities and news media outlets regarding unexplained loud booms.

One website, Earthfiles.com has links to several news and police reports around the country wherein noises and vibrations identical to those being heard and felt in our area have been reported. Still an official explanation has not been given.

‘At this point, nobody seems to know,’ said University of Evansville physicist, Jeffrey Braun, PH.D. ‘The geologists say it’s not in the ground. The Air Force says it’s not in the air. The astronomers say it’s not from space. So we are running out of options.’” Read more.

Residents Unnerved After The Earth Shakes Beneath South Jersey, ‘We Still Don’t Know Exactly What Caused It’

NBC40 – “SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY – Just after 3 o’clock Tuesday afternoon residents in Atlantic, Cape May, and Cumberland counties say they felt multiple earthquake-like tremors that rattled their homes and offices.

Absecon resident, Kay Stadlmeir, said, ‘I don’t think it would be an earthquake, but what could it be? It’s just really odd.’ Somers Point resident, Bob Mower, explained, ‘There was a rattling of my windows and I felt the house shake just a little bit – it was unusual.’ Stadlmeir told NBC40, ‘It has to be something really big to be witnessed in such a widespread area of South Jersey.’

The reports vary from region to region.

Atlantic county emergency management officials confirmed with the U.S. Geological Survey that it was not an earthquake. The next thought was that military training or an aircraft flying by might have caused the shakes.

Both the 177th Fighter Wing in Egg Harbor Township and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst confirmed none of their aircrafts were in the area at that time.

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is still working to confirm whether or not any ground training was happening at the time, although it is unlikely that would cause such a widespread shake.

Stadlmeir said, ‘I really don’t think it’s a sonic boom because, you know as I said before, I’ve experienced them before and this is nothing like that.’ Mower told NBC40, ‘That was real unusual. I almost wondered if I was dreaming on that one.’” Read more.

Brazil: Thousands Of Dead Fish Wash Up On Shores Of Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon

Fox News Latino, EFE – “Thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, a Rio de Janeiro tourist attraction, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday.

A large amount of organic matter that entered the lagoon as a result of two recent large storms consumed oxygen and brought it down to critically low levels, Carlos Alberto Muniz, the municipal environment secretary, told Efe.

This situation caused a massive die-off of shad, whose number had risen since mid-February after the fish had entered the lagoon to spawn, Muniz said.

The city government now is working to remove the rotting fish and the strong odor associated with them and had collected 12 tons of dead shad as of Wednesday, the official said.

The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via a canal that splits the beaches of Ipanema and Leblon, and that feeding-in of seawater on Wednesday helped improve oxygen levels, Muniz said.

A 65-year-old fisherman named Walter told Efe on the shores of Rodrigo de Freitas, which is to be cleaned up and used for aquatic events such as rowing in the 2016 Olympics, that he believes the large fish die-off occurred because the water in the lagoon is not renewed.” Source – Fox News Latino.

The Powers Of Heaven Shaken: Earthquakes, Mass Animal Deaths, Violent Storms, Meteorites Light Up Skies, Strange Signs February 2013

Haggai 2:6, “For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.”

Romans 8:20-22, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

Tourists In Australia Flee As Bondi Beach Turns Blood Red

By Daniel Miller and Richard Shears, Mail Online – “Tourists heading for world-famous Bondi Beach were left high and dry today after a rare natural phenomenon turned the water blood red.

Bondi was among several popular beaches in and around Sydney, Australia, which had to be closed after a huge algae bloom transformed the sea into something resembling a scene from a Jaws movie.

But despite the warnings a number of intrepid beachgoers were seen venturing into the water and swimming through the red surface, Ten News Sydney reported.

The natural phenomenon is caused when algae, a plant-like organism flourishes and large groups of the miniscule plants, which can appear in various colours, gather together often with spectacular results.

Known as Nocturnal Scintillans or sea sparkle it has no toxic effects but people are still advised to avoid swimming in areas with discoloured water because the algae, which can be high in ammonia, can cause skin irritation.

British tourists were among large groups of visitors who were told by lifeguards not to enter the water until the all-clear was given because the algae can irritate the skin and cause other health problems.

Ken Roberts, 23, from Birmingham, England said: ‘Perhaps I’m just in the wrong country – I thought the Red Sea was somewhere in Asia.’

Local lifeguard Bruce Hopkins said: ‘It has quite a fishy smell to it.

‘It makes the water look like it has a coating of tomato-sauce coloured oil.’” Read more.

‘Prepare For More Outages’: Nor’easter On Track To Hit Weather-Beaten NY And NJ As Small Earthquake Rattles Area

Associated Press – “NEW YORK – Just what New York and New Jersey need after the devastation of Superstorm Sandy: more high winds.

The National Weather Service predicted Sunday that a Nor’easter that could include gusts of up to 55 mph is likely to reach the area by Wednesday and could compound the havoc brought by last week’s violent weather.

‘Prepare for more outages,’ advised weather service meteorologist Joe Pollina. ‘Stay indoors. Stock up again.’

He said the new storm wouldn’t be nearly as strong as Sandy, but could pack winds ‘stronger than usual, even strong for a Nor’easter.’

Meanwhile, cold temperatures streamed in and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that means ‘tens of thousands’ of people whose homes were damaged by the superstorm will need other places to live.

‘It’s going to become increasingly clear’ that homes without heat are uninhabitable, the governor said. He said residents who have been reluctant to leave their homes will be forced to and will need housing.” Read more.

Small Earthquake Rattles NJ Towns in Wake of Sandy – “Some residents in northern New Jersey awoke to a small earthquake early Monday. The temblor, with a magnitude of 2.0, struck at 1:19 a.m. and was centered in Ringwood, a community that’s still dealing with downed trees and power outages from Sandy. Geophysicist Jessica Turner at the National Earthquake Information Center says some people reported hearing a loud boom.” Read more.

Large Fuel Spill Reported at NJ Refinery After Sandy – “Some 7,700 gallons of fuel spilled from Phillips 66′s Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey, after Hurricane Sandy, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday, reporting the second significant leak at the New York harbor oil trading hub. The spill was reported after residents in nearby Bayonne, New Jersey, complained about diesel fumes.” Read more.

New York: Hurricane Sandy Forces Mass Transit Closure, Evacuations

“MYFOXNY.COM/AP -Transit officials in New York are preparing for a total shutdown of subway, bus and train service as Hurricane Sandy continues to bear down on the metropolitan region.

All service will be suspended at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to start planning for an orderly suspension of service.

New York City subways and buses will start phasing out service at 7 p.m.  Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road will suspend service at 7 p.m. Sunday.

The city’s mass transit system is the nation’s largest. The subway alone has a daily ridership of more than 5 million.

Rainfall is expected to start late Sunday or early Monday in New York. Hurricane Sandy is headed north from the Caribbean to meet a winter storm and a cold front. Experts say the rare hybrid storm that results will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes.

Bridges and tunnels will be closed on a case-by-case basis.

The city also ordered an evacuation of Zone A areas that are prone to flooding and closed public schools on Monday.

On Saturday, the MTA had workers nailing plywood covers to subway ventilation grates at South Ferry to help prevent flooding. ” Read more.

 

Spooked Forecasters Warn Hurricane Sandy Could Become The Perfect ‘Super-Monster-Frankenstorm’ Of The Century, Devastate The Northeast

Fox News – “With a name like ‘Frankenstorm,’ this could get ugly.

Hurricane Sandy, moving north from the Caribbean, was expected to make landfall Monday night near the Delaware coast, then hit two winter weather systems as it moves inland, creating a hybrid monster storm that could bring nearly a foot of rain, high winds and up to 2 feet of snow.

Experts said the storm would be wider and stronger than last year’s Irene, which caused more than $15 billion in damage, and could rival the worst East Coast storm on record.

Officials did not mince words, telling people to be prepared for several days without electricity. Jersey Shore beach towns began issuing voluntary evacuations and protecting boardwalks

Atlantic Beach casinos made contingency plans to close, and officials advised residents of flood-prone areas to stay with family or be ready to leave. Airlines said to expect cancellations and waived change fees for passengers who want to reschedule.

‘Be forewarned,’ said Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. ‘Assume that you will be in the midst of flooding conditions, the likes of which you may not have seen at any of the major storms that have occurred over the last 30 years.’” Read more.

Japan: Scientist Warns Mount Fuji Is Due For a ‘Big Scale Explosive Eruption’ That Could Affect Millions, Cause Billions In Damage

By Mark Willacy, ABC News – “A Japanese scientist has warned Mount Fuji is due for a ‘big-scale explosive eruption’ that could affect millions of people and cause billions of dollars worth of damage.

Last month a study found the magma chamber under the mountain has come under immense pressure, which could even trigger a volcanic eruption.

It said the added pressure could have been caused by last year’s earthquake, which was followed a few days later by another large tremor directly underneath Fuji.

Professor Toshitsugu Fujii, the head of Japan’s volcanic eruption prediction panel, says an eruption could cause chaos and carnage all the way to Tokyo.

‘Mount Fuji has been resting for 300 years now, and this is abnormal,’ he told Saturday AM.

‘It usually erupts in some form every 30 years.

‘So the next eruption could be a big-scale explosive eruption.’

Ever since last year’s massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake off Japan’s north-east, the country’s meteorological agency has been keeping a closer eye on Mount Fuji.

Of even greater concern to the agency was a magnitude-6.2 quake right under the volcano a few days after the big one.

‘It’s known that when a large earthquake happens, it can trigger a nearby volcano to erupt,’ Professor Fujii said.

‘That’s what happened 300 years ago, when Fuji erupted just 40 days after a big quake.’” Read more.

Florida: Worst Red Tide Outbreak In Years Stretching Nearly 100 Miles Kills Thousands Of Fish, ‘There Were Too Many To Count’

By Kate Spinner, Herald Tribune – “The largest red tide bloom to affect Southwest Florida in years stretches nearly 100 miles from Lee County to Pinellas, with reports of fish kills and irritating red-tide air concentrated in Sarasota County.

The widespread nature and intensity of the bloom, strongest off Charlotte Harbor, exceeds a smaller outbreak at this time last year and is the largest to affect the Sarasota area since 2007.

More than seven tons of dead fish have been scooped up from Sarasota County beaches alone — from Casey Key south — in just two days. Beaches were clear at Siesta, Lido, Longboat and farther north.

‘It is a pretty big red tide bloom. If we look at the linear distance along the coast, we’re looking at nearly 100 miles,’ said Alina Corcoran, a research scientist in charge of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Service’s harmful algal bloom program. ‘It doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon.’

Such blooms can make trips to the beach extremely unpleasant, and even dangerous for pets and people with respiratory illnesses such as asthma.

The algae kills fish and infuses the air with a toxin that makes healthy people cough. People with respiratory illnesses should avoid the beach during red tides.

In Sarasota County, beaches from Casey Key south are getting the worst of the red tide. No effects were reported on the county’s northern beaches, such as Lido, where Bryan Stoothoff was out for an evening jog and John and Sarah Nunn were packing up from a long day in the sun and sand.

John Nunn, on vacation from Kentucky, said Lido was great, but two days ago on Caspersen the beach was so littered with fish that there were too many to count.” Read more.

World Food Prices Moving Closer To Crisis Levels, No Normalization Expected Anytime Soon

Reuters – “World food prices rose in September and are moving nearer to levels reached during the 2008 food crisis.

The United Nations food agency reported on Thursday that the worst drought in more than 50 years in the United States had sent corn and soybean prices to record highs over the summer, and, coupled with drought in Russia and other Black Sea exporting countries, raised fears of a renewed crisis.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) price index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, rose 1.4% in September, mainly due to higher dairy and meat prices.

‘It’s highly unlikely we will see a normalisation of prices anytime soon,’ said FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian.

Parmjit Singh, head of the food and drink sector at London law company Eversheds, said higher prices would place further pressure on squeezed international food supply chains.

‘Manufacturers and producers will naturally want to pass on increased costs to their clients but they will meet with stiff resistance from retailers who are reluctant to increase checkout prices for increasingly value-conscious customers,’ Singh said.

FAO’s index is below a peak reached in February 2011, when high food prices helped drive the Arab spring uprisings in the Middle East and north Africa, but current levels are very close to those seen in 2008, which sparked riots in poor countries.” Source – The Guardian.

Flashback: ‘Drought Of Biblical Proportions’ Strikes Spain’s Olive Oil Harvest – “That has caused prices to spike, with consumers expected to pay more for the ‘green gold’ in coming months as supermarkets jack up prices. ‘It’s been a drought of biblical proportions, the worst since 1945, the ‘year of hunger’ for Spain,’ said Nuñez de Prado, adding rainfall where his farm is located in the shadows of the Sierra Madre mountains was the lowest since that year.” Read more.

Flashback: US Drought Now Officially Among The Worst In American History May Intensify In The Months Ahead – “The drought scorching the nation has reached a level surpassed only twice before in recorded weather history. The National Climatic Data Center reported this week that 57.2% of the contiguous USA is ‘moderately to extremely dry,’ a percentage topped only during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and during another drought in the mid-1950s.” Read more.

Flashback: Worst Drought In Years Devastates Southeast Europe, ‘Only God Can Help Us’ – “After the harshest winter in decades, the Balkans in the southeast of Europe is now facing the worst drought in years. Sadly, it will only serve to compound the global effects of America’s current drought. Nikola Radic, a Serbian farmer, said, ‘There is no salvation here.’ Radic says he ‘lost hope for salvation even a month ago, and now it’s even worse.’ In some places in Bosnia, the drought is the worst in 40 years.” Read more.

Distress Of Nations, Earthquakes, Natural Disasters, Signs In The Heavens … In Just The Past Two Months Alone

Luke 21:9-11,25, “When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away… Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven… There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea…”