Clintonville Booms!

Clintonville is a small north eastern Wisconsin town dealing with a very strange situation. The town has been plagued by a series of mysterious underground booms. On Sunday and Monday night strange seismic activity was recorded. On the evening of Sunday, March 18, five loud, mysterious booms thundered through the town at approximately two-hour intervals starting at around 8 p.m. They occurred again the following night, and, much to the sleepless residents’ relief, finally stopped Tuesday night. The town thought it was over, but then it started again Wednesday night. Accompanying the sounds are vibrations that have shaken homes and household objects in the northeast corner of town.

After receiving hundreds concerned calls about the sounds, police investigated and found nothing. There were no known gas or sewer explosions, no landslides, no military exercises, nor mining explosions. Some think it might be related to sonic booms, groundwater, or earth settling – though no earthquakes have been recorded. The U.S. Geological Survey confirms it recorded a low-level, 1.5-magnitude earthquake at 12:15 Tuesday morning at depth of 5 km. (3.1 miles)

Clintonville City Administrator Lisa Kuss states that the underground activity has been confirmed and is not an earthquake. Even though a 1.5 magnitude quake isn’t typically felt, Kuss says the granite 3 miles under Clintonville may have intensified the vibrations. One possible explanation is gas explosively escaping from underground rock formations. Another is a rock burst, which can happen when mining or quarrying uncovers long-buried rock, suddenly relieving stress and resulting in “locally loud, explosive reports.” Though it has quieted down a bit, it still remains a mystery....

So what does this means to me in the terms of interest? Well, not only I've passed through this town numerous times, my folks lived up there. My dad worked at the Walker Forge plant there. My sister got married there. Later she bought my folks' house after they retired. I've spent a couple of nights at the Landmark there. My girlfriend is from the nearby town of Shawano. It is a cute little town with about 4,743 residents. Someplace I wouldn't mind living at...