UFOs or fighter jets? Londoners puzzled by mysterious house-shaking explosions (POLL)
London residents were mystified by three loud explosions that reportedly caused homes to shake on Sunday night.
Video footage taken by a man in Ilford captured the strange sounds that were heard across East London and Essex at about 11 p.m. Sunday night.
Londoners took to social media to find out what was going on.
Just heard a few loud bangs, Twitter seems to show lots of other people in Ilford area heard it. Anyone know what it was?
— (((Russell Langer))) (@R_Langer) June 5, 2016
@R_Langer sonic boom?
— (((JewPac))) (@KenAidel) June 5, 2016
Aliens were suspected of making the noise, as were meteors, fighter jets and fireworks.
@sunnynorwich could just be aliens?
— L (@LauraHakes) June 5, 2016
Hopefully the aliens have landed in Ilford so that I could finally have the chance of meeting a decent bloke?
— Ardy Pine (@ardypine) June 5, 2016
@MrCracknell Heard it in Clayhall. Seemed to be a couple of explosions.
— Nick Teff (@NHT82) June 5, 2016
The man who filmed the loud bangs also captured a flash of light just before the explosion, and believes it was all caused by a meteorite.
“It was too loud to be a firework that's for sure and fireworks don't shake houses,” he said, the Daily Star reports. “I don't think it's a supersonic aircraft as a sonic boom does not give off light.”
@R_Langer we had a pair recently. Truly awesome sound felt, everyone in a 50 mile radius said it felt like a bomb had hit their homes
— (((JewPac))) (@KenAidel) June 5, 2016
Just heard 3 explosion-like bangs SE of Ilford, London. 3 flashes of light too. Helicopters now overhead.
— S U N N Y (@sunnynorwich) June 5, 2016
Anyone got any news?
A spokesperson from the Royal Observatory dismissed the meteorist theory, the Express reports, explaining that a meteor blast “would only occur after a sustained bright light during atmospheric entry - not a quick flash as shown in the video.” They also said it was unlikely that three explosions would have occurred, and said “it looks and sounds a little bit more like a firework.”
While some theories such as aliens or loud music seemed a little unlikely, others were more alarming, such as the theory that it was a fighter jet being shot down.
@The_Schneids@SkyNews Sounded like a plane breaking the sound barrier in South Woodford.
— I am Andrew Conquest (@andrewconquest) June 5, 2016
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said, “We know nothing about it. A sonic boom would suggest there was a foreign plane in our airspace, which was not the case.”
Heard some explosion sounds in Woodford, didn't sound like fireworks at all.. Room was shaking aswell 😭😩
— J (@xjnaaaa) June 5, 2016
The police were alerted to the mystery, but didn’t offer an explanation. "We had reports from Ilford and had a look but there was nothing untoward," a Metropolitan Police spokesperson told BNO news.
Helicopter scrambled right where I saw three 'explosions' by Woodford Bridge pic.twitter.com/ophektZ8Ob
— David Schneider (@The_Schneids) June 5, 2016
Although the RAF failed to offer an explanation for the loud noises in London, they did take responsibility for two sonic boom explosions heard in Yorkshire in early May.
Two fighter jet Typhoons were sent to intercept a passenger plane that lost radio contact, the Independent reported.
#AF1558 lost radio contact en route to Newcastle. RAF jets were sent to escort the flight. https://t.co/gXrxgfywIZpic.twitter.com/WSC5D20J7z
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 2, 2016