Did You Hear That?

Over the course of the past 6 months, people have been reporting hearing strange sounds coming from the sky. As usual, people have snatched up their camcorders and camera phones and started recording these sounds and posting them on the Web. Descriptions of the sounds by those who have heard them “live” vary widely from “metallic-like” to “a monsterous roar.” Indeed, watching some of the videos on YouTube (and there are a lot), the noise varies widely from clip to clip.

So what’s the deal with these noises? Are they for real or just an elaborate hoax? Those who believe the sounds are real are naturally tying them to the whole Mayan 2012 End of the World belief and say we are officially entering the End of Days. Another group of conspiracy buffs think the sounds are the result of governments around the world drilling to create secret underground bunkers.

Skeptics, however, say the videos are nothing more than the result of some people with too much time on their hands. There’s also another group of people who believe that the videos, while fake, were pieced together by a movie studio looking to create some sort of viral buzz about an upcoming movie. In this case, Cloverfield 2 and a remake of Godzilla are usually fingered as being the likely culprits (Pacific Rim is also occasionally mentioned).

Most believe that the first reported sound came from a video taken on August 11, 2011 in Kiev.

Indeed, if you listen to a bunch of these videos, you will start to hear the audio from the Kiev clip being used to create a fake. To see (and hear) for yourself, here’s a video compilation of all these alleged “noises”. If you watch closely, you’ll also notice such odd things as green grass and leaves from a video said to have been taken in January in Canada. Of course, this is the kind of stuff the skeptics out there use to dismiss all the sounds in one fell swoop.

Now if you’re worried about getting onto YouTube to watch these videos and falling down the rabbit hole as you continue to click away, take heart. An entire website dedicated to the phenomena, Strange Sounds in the Sky, has popped up, allowing you to click away without the fear of ending up watching some Elmo on the Moon video YouTube suggested to you for no apparent reason (which is exactly what happened to me).

Those of you out there thinking this is just a one-off, you’re wrong. This thing has started spreading like wildfire. How do I know? Easy. The YouTube parody videos have already begun!

So what do you think of these noises/videos? Are they real? Are we really nearing the End of Days or have we fallen victim to some sort of viral marketing? And perhaps the biggest question of all: how is it possible for Elmo to dance on the moon? Shouldn’t he be weightless?

More as it develops!