Skyquakes: Out of the Clear Blue Sky
Sky quake…what is it? Is it an upcoming James Bond film, or a classic AC/DC song? Actually, it is a mysterious and unsettling phenomenon that has been reportedly occurring occasionally for hundreds of years; but, it has become a much more frequent happening in recent times. Imagine a calm day with plenty of sunshine and a bright blue sky. Suddenly, a thunderous boom is heard (the kind that one can feel inside his or her chest), without any apparent cause or any warning. Since these startling explosive sounds are occurring in all locations and regardless of meteorological and atmospheric conditions, observers have difficulty remaining composed enough to describe any accompanying conditions that could denote a common pattern to the sky quakes. The commonality between the majority of those who witness or research these alarming eruptions of sound is this: they are a sign of impending catastrophe.
Over the past decade, the ever-increasing number of sky quakes has not failed to capture the attention of the globe. From Russia to Australia, from Chile to the eastern coast of the United States; these unexpected eruptions of sound are becoming more prevalent, and more intense. Moreover, “new” versions of the sky quake have begun springing up seemingly everywhere. These alarming events are even more unsettling because they produce sounds which have, until this time, never been produced in nature. While enormous thundering booms have always accompanied severe storms, these “updated” sky quakes are producing unexplained audible sounds such as moans and vibrating hums. Members of the scientific community have speculated that the Taos Hum (see “What’s that sound?”) might be an example of a recurring sky quake within the same geographic area. Although these experts are unable to explain why this event occurs so consistently, while sky quakes around the remainder of the globe are extremely random.
As with any sudden, universally-witnessed phenomena that cannot be explained, populations the world over have rapidly reached their conclusions about what these mysterious sounds are…and what they portend. People of a religious bent believe that these disruptions are the earth itself announcing the imminent return of its creator…Judgment Day. Reports over the last decade have surfaced of miners and construction workers hearing what they perceived to be the “sounds of hell” coming from deep within the bowels of the earth; moaning, shrieking, etc. Because the majority of these sounds were heard in rather exotic and isolated locations around the planet, theologians began to speculate that these mining and construction sites were in a close proximity to a doorway to Hades. In their minds, and in biblical vernacular, these unnerving sounds may be trumpeting the end of time.
Additionally, for the segment of the population whose existence centers, not around religious beliefs, but around covert extraterrestrial involvement in the day-to-day proceedings of the Earth, another explanation has gained prominence. What's more, this theory combines a global conspiracy component, with alien involvement. The premise suggested is that the "New World Order" is actively testing mind control devices which were provided to it by a "malevolent extraterrestrial force." While impassioned, sometimes less than objective, explanations are always en vogue, the world of science will also provide its own less entertaining (and usually less vocal) opinion.
Alternatively, scientific minds have posited a theory of their own; similarly, this conclusion also involves generation of these sounds at the core-level of the Earth. According to this school of thought, in a twist that Jules Verne might create in fiction, the very core of the Earth is slipping. In essence, the Earth’s rate of rotation is becoming markedly different from the rate of spin for its liquid iron core; the resulting slippage is generating a marked migration in the planet’s magnetic fields. The result: “The sky quakes are caused by harmonics deep inside the earth traveling from a mutating core through the layers of the planet to the surface.” Upon arrival at the surface, the sky acts as a sounding board for these harmonics, amplifying and resonating the sonic waves erupting from the center of the Earth.
Unfortunately, as with the finality envisioned by the religious viewpoint, the aforementioned natural scenario portends an apocalyptic conclusion as well. The stresses placed on the core of the planet will eventually travel through the mantle and reach the crust. The slipping strata will create intense heat—converting metals into their molten state, and turning water into super heated plasma which interacts with Earth-inlaid quartz crystals…creating a deep, resonant humming sound. Over time, as these crystals continue to be bombarded by the intense hum, dramatic changes to the Earth’s surface may result. Massive earthquakes (sky quakes were a reported precursor to the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906), massive landslides, continental upheaval, and coastal areas collapsing into the sea. Some experts have even gone so far as to predict that ocean beds could violently develop into mountain ranges…as they did hundreds of centuries ago when the Earth’s current topography was formed.
On a less dire note, NASA researchers have speculated that the sound might actually be meteors traveling in a close proximity to Earth. As these travelers enter the atmosphere of the Earth at speeds greater than sound--a sonic boom results; the majority of these projectiles then disintegrate in the atmosphere of the planet. However, this more benign explanation for the mystifying sky quake phenomenon does not take into account the other varieties of ominous sounds that have been reported. Alternatively, a handful of researchers believe that the planet might literally flip on its axis…a cataclysm that would probably make all life extinct.
Yet, conspiracy theorists suspect that the previously- mentioned historic agency of the United States government has a nefarious reason of its own that is creating the unexplained sounds. Recently, allegations have raised that NASA is creating the sonic disturbances through its High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program... while conducting secret weapons experiments. With the advent of various sonic weapons, utilized by the military and police departments around the country alike, this accusation has continued to gain traction. This assertion casts a shadow on NASA's objectivity; implying that the benign reason given by the agency for the phenomenon is a cover up meant to camouflage its true intentions.
The drawback to identifying and correlating the myriad of sounds with specific sky quake events is human perception. Witnesses attempt to reconcile the noise they are hearing by identifying it related to sounds they are familiar with. For example, witnesses to the unfamiliar, unexpected sounds who view the event through a religious prism, often describe them as the sound of massive trumpets—correlating to the Apostle John’s account in the biblical book of Revelation. Moreover, many sounds that were miraculously recorded at the exact moment of eruption turned out to be hoaxes. Although the majority of the inhabitants of the planet carry a cell phone, enabling them to have instant access to an audio-visual recording device; it is too random a coincidence to believe that the person obtaining "proof" of the sky quake would just happen to be recording when the staccato explosion occurs. Alternatively, the more protracted of the mysterious sounds (a video sample of which is embedded within this article) can be captured while taking place; as the witness has time to retrieve their phone / camera.
Whatever the source of sky quakes might be, they are not man-made and they are becoming increasingly frequent. While the religious perspective holds that these unexplained sounds are created by God as a warning to the inhabitants of the Earth to get prepared; scientific and naturalist opinion predicts the end of the current age as well, and the beginning of a new one. An age where a freshly-minted, reborn planet might not even physically resemble the previous one. Whichever viewpoint one subscribes to…sky quakes appear to be the harbinger of the end of the world as we know it.