A Ghostly Nighttime Hum Is Invading Random Towns. Scientists Don't Know What It Means.
A mysterious, low-frequency noise has settled over the small town of Omagh in Northern Ireland, and is keeping people awake.
It’s called “The Hum,” and reports of this phenomenon have been popping up all over the world for decades.
Despite numerous experiences with the noise, no one knows what exactly causes it.
It comes in the night, settling over whole towns and keeping people awake for hours on end. It’s low-level, omnipresent, and constant—and it’s been doing its disturbing work for decades.
It’s called “The Hum.”
Pardon the horror-movie melodrama, but the mystery behind The Hum phenomenon demands a bit of pomp and circumstance. While it may not be a “Blob”-like malignant force, The Hum is strongly disturbing the people experiencing it, and it is baffling scientists.
Recently, reports have been surfacing from the small town of Omagh in Northern Ireland of a persistent, low-frequency hum that gets louder at night and never quite seems to let up. The Hum has gotten so bad that it’s keeping people awake at night, and right now, no one knows what’s causing it.
“It may well be that it's seasonal or weather-related but these things often don't turn out to be simple and it may be a multitude of sources,” local councillor Stephen Donnelly told the BBC. “What we need to do is establish the facts and get to the bottom of this and then take action to resolve this.”
The Hum, while new to the town, is not new to the world. As strange as it may sound, there have actually been reports of The Hum for decades. And they haven’t been contained to Northern Ireland, either. Reports have come in from North America, Australia, and Europe of a weird, inexplicable, low-pitched noise with no discernible source.
But right now, The Hum seems to be focused on Omagh—and Omagh is, in turn, focused on The Hum. According to Irish new outlet RTÉ, the town is currently considering bringing in noise specialists to figure out once and for all exactly what is producing this non-stop sound. So far, the outlet reports that noise officers have heard The Hum on their investigations, but have yet to be able to pinpoint a source.
Despite the ease with which something like this can be described as an almost supernatural phenomenon, officials want to make clear that it is most likely anything but. When asked if The Hum could be evidence of a UFO, according to RTÉ, Donnelly said not to buy into “conspiracy theories.”
“What is a fun problem will undoubtedly have a very boring explanation in time,” he continued. “And I have no doubt that this will be the same.”
Experts are currently casting a very wide net to try and find that “boring explanation”—for example, air conditioning units and power lines are reportedly both being investigated as potential sources of The Hum. Donnelly has also said that there may be multiple sources rather than just one, which could make The Hum significantly harder to pin down.
Hopefully, for the sake of the sleepless citizens of Omagh, The Hum will either be identified or move along—ready to pop up in another town somewhere down the line—relatively soon. Mysteries can only be fun for so long when you’re trapped inside one.
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