Rattled by booms? Blame it on the bombing range

Dare County Bombing Range, Stumpy Point

Loud booms heard and felt around Nags Head and Manteo on Monday came from the Dare County Bombing Range at Stumpy Point, the U.S. Air Force says.

The Seymour Johnson Air Force Base explosive ordnance disposal team was on site at the range performing “multiple controlled detonations through the day,” the public affairs office said in an email.

Residents nearby reported loud booms and shaking Monday.

The range, however, wasn’t responsible for an earth-shaking boom felt across much of coastal North Carolina last month. That incident was heard and felt from the Virginia/North Carolina line in Currituck to Craven County.

Though the region is home to, and close to, several military bases, the boom was felt across too broad an area to be a sonic boom or demolitions training, the National Weather Service said. The boom also wasn’t an earthquake.

The U.S. Geological Survey has long researched a phenomena around the Outer Banks known as “Seneca guns,” but they say it’s just a name, not an explanation. Read more about the March incident here.

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