LEE COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) -- More often than not, things that cannot be explained are the most mysterious to us.
That seemed to be the case Friday, when several viewers called WTVA and asked what caused a loud and rumbling boom that they said hit areas as widespread as Booneville and Fulton.
"I really don't have any idea what it is," Guntown Police Chief Michael Hall said.
Not only did the town hall receive calls that day, Hall witnessed the "boom" firsthand.
"It was during normal routines at the school. My school resource officer was out. He was working the night shift," Hall said. "I heard a boom and felt the windows shake in the building I was at. I went to look and make sure there wasn't a wreck at the four-way stop. Called 911 and they hadn't had any reports of anything."
But what caused it?
"We did have a small earthquake out in the Belden area back several years ago," Lee County E-911 director Paul Harkins said. "It was in the 2.1 to 3.0 [magnitude] range. It wasn't an earthquake."
That's one of a few things people kept saying might have caused that Friday rumble.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, an earthquake did hit around the same time Friday.
However, that quake was a 1.6 -- minor at best -- and happened more than 180 miles away from Tupelo, in southeast Missouri.
Harkins said his office received five calls that day: one from Baldwyn and the rest from Guntown.
"Our dispatchers felt it here," Harkins said. "We're always concerned about what it is because we've got to deploy emergency services if it's a fire or a criminal event. You know, the safety of the personnel responding. All kinds of thoughts go through our minds."
But if it wasn't an earthquake or storm, could it be caused by jets from Columbus Air Force Base?
No, according to an official there.
CAFB officials said no aircraft from the base was in that vicinity Friday.
And that rules out anything else, which doesn't mean the "boom" never happened, but at least for now, it can't be explained.
That doesn't stop the curious, though.
"I would like to know myself," Hall said.
Officials with North American Aerospace Defense Command -- also known as NORAD -- told WTVA.com there was no aircraft under their control flying over north Mississippi at that time Friday.
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