European Booms

Mystery Booms Startle People in Northern Italy
UFO Roundup, April 6, 2000

On Thursday, March 23, 2000, at 10:15 p.m., a merchant in Val di Mara, a town in La Spezia province in Italy "saw a strange glow in the sky and then observed a luminous body heading towards Earth." The object "had a small white tail, and it was accompanied by two loud explosions." "A short while earlier, two young lovers saw a faint trail in the sky" near Val di Mara "and heard a very loud explosion."According to Italy's Centro Italiano di Studi Ufologici (CISU), mystery booms were heard that evening in Lecco, a city on Lago (Lake) Como 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Milano (Milan); in Trezzo sull'Adda, near Milano; in the city of Firenze (Florence) and in several villages in the provinces of Bologna and Savona. Italian astronomers said it "was 'probably' a meteoric phenomenon."

Loud blast spreads panic in packed Seville Easter procession
Associated Press, April 21, 2000

Up to 30 people were treated for shock and light injuries when an explosion-like sound spread panic as hundreds of thousands of people gathered in this southern Spanish city to watch the daily Easter religious processions Friday. By midmorning it was still not clear what caused the loud sound which occurred shortly after 6 a.m. (0400 gmt). Police initially suspected a water pipe had burst but the local water company later denied this. Apparently fearing it may have been a bomb, the sound sent many people running wildly to escape, causing many to fall and be trampled, the private Cadena SER radio reported. Only three people were kept in hospital for treatment. Police estimated there were up to 500,000 people on the street of Seville at the time to watch the annual Good Friday religious processions in which large-sized statues of Christ or the Virgin Mary are taken through the streets on ornate floats.

A sonic boom is reported to have hit Scotland in November, 2001. Experts claimed the sonic boom was caused by a meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere at several times the speed of sound.

Offered by Spud.