Did you hear it? Loud booms heard throughout Merced County have officials perplexed

If you live in Merced County and heard loud boom-like sounds coming from outdoors Wednesday afternoon, you certainly weren’t alone.

The Merced Police Department reported that multiple residents of north Merced and elsewhere heard the strange sounds — and thus far the source is unclear.

In the police department’s Facebook post, many residents of Merced, Atwater, Livingston and surrounding areas said they heard the noises. Some thought it was a sonic boom, while others wondered if something had exploded.

The Merced Police Department said its Bomb Squad was conducting training exercises that day, although that’s not where the noises were coming from.

And of course there was no shortage of jokes on social media — with some speculating aliens or a rouge nation were responsible.

While a more scientific explanation could be the cause, meteorologists from the National Weather Service Office in Hanford said the noises couldn’t be an atmospheric problem, as everything appeared normal Wednesday afternoon.

“We received several calls all at one time, and we haven’t heard anything since then, so we’re really unsure at this time,” said Lt. Emily Foster, public information officer for the Merced Police Department. “This does seem pretty widespread though, from here to the Atwater and Livingston area. We haven’t found the cause of it, so we don’t know.”

Merced County Public Information Officer Mike North also said he had received no explanation for the strange noises.

Until officials can come up with an explanation, along with crop circles and Bigfoot the cause of Wednesday’s booms will remain filed under “mysteries.”