Duneland area officials are baffled about what caused a sonic boom-like noise that startled residents in the Porter and Chesterton communities around 8:50 p.m. Thursday.
The first 911 call about a “loud explosion” came from the Orchard Apartments off Waverly Road south of U.S. 20, said Tom Blythe, deputy Porter Police chief.
But nothing was found at that location.
Porter police officers who were out on patrol and also experienced the boom checked around town outside the apartment complex.
There were no power outages or fires reported, nor were there any emergency calls from area factories. There were also no damage or injury reports.
“We’re just as curious as anyone else at this point,” Blythe said.
Chesterton Police Chief Tim Richardson said there were some calls in Chesterton.
Richardson said he also has no explanation for what happened.
There were some social media reports about some Burns Harbor residents hearing the boom. But the epicenter appeared to be closer to Porter and the north side of Chesterton.
Michelle Watkins, a Burns Harbor Police clerk, said that she lives within 3 minutes of the Burns Harbor Town Hall and she didn’t hear or feel the effects of the reported explosion.
And the Burns Harbor Fire Department wasn’t called out on anything around that time either.
Suzan van der Lee, chairman of the Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University, said that data wasn’t available yet on whether anything was recorded at the university’s seismic lab.
The Indiana National Guard didn’t return an email seeking comment about whether there was air activity in the area that could have been connected to the sonic boom-like noise.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
More Top Picks Best Crash Pads For Sensory Seekers