Massive Booms Shook the East Coast for 300 Years — Now Scientists Know Why

For centuries, people along parts of America’s East Coast have reported sudden cannon-like booms that seemed to come from nowhere. They were loud enough to rattle homes, strange enough to inspire folklore, and persistent enough to become one of the region’s most enduring natural mysteries.

Now, new research around Seneca Lake in upstate New York points to a physical explanation for at least one famous version of the phenomenon. Scientists studying the lakebed found evidence that trapped methane and other gases may be erupting from beneath the water, producing explosive shockwaves that sound like distant artillery.