# Mysterious Sound **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 30, 2024, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982 "2024-11-30T18:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/1 "2024-11-30T18:57:19Z")
Can anyone identify what this [mysterious outdoor sound](https://photos.app.goo.gl/KehjKUSYyfPbGirKA) might be? Sounds artificial and not natural to me. There is a fire station a few blocks away, and the sound reminds me of a siren. But why would a siren be interrupted like that? Somebody just messing around? Or is it aliens? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/2 "2024-11-30T19:05:39Z")
That sounds like an industrial sound of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/3 "2024-11-30T19:46:42Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > Somebody just messing around? That’s my guess. ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/4 "2024-11-30T19:53:12Z")
-deleted b/c I dont know- ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/5 "2024-11-30T20:01:51Z")
Is it being directed at the Earth’s oceans? Can you modify the signals accounting for density and temperature and salinity factors? ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/6 "2024-11-30T20:14:42Z")
Do you live somewhere with outdoor sirens? It kind of sounds like a malfunctioning tornado siren. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/7 "2024-11-30T20:27:07Z")
I think it’s a siren, possibly in some test mode so people would recognize it’s a drill/nonemerg. It’s hard to tell with my phone up to my ear but could the horn be rotating? ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/8 "2024-11-30T20:27:55Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > Do you live somewhere with outdoor sirens? I live out in the country - about 4 miles from where this sound was recorded. If there were tornado sirens, I don’t think that I would hear them here. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/9 "2024-11-30T20:29:33Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > It’s hard to tell with my phone up to my ear but could the horn be rotating? That would account for the variation in volume… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/10 "2024-11-30T20:32:02Z")
It sounds like wind blowing something metal like a fan blade or something that turns against another metal object. It’s definitely metallic. Think of the sound of a metal wind vane. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/11 "2024-11-30T20:35:18Z")
It sounds like some kind of siren to me too. I could swear I’ve heard a sound very similar to that before, but I can’t remember the circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/12 "2024-11-30T22:49:51Z")
The cycling reminds me of a high pitched bull roarer. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/13 "2024-11-30T23:21:33Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > If there were tornado sirens, I don’t think that I would hear them here. I can hear noon sirens from multiple towns, all of them more than four miles direct line from me; at least, when I’m outside and not making noise of my own. Sound can carry quite a way in rural areas. The local car racetrack is five miles or more in direct line and has been known to wake people up at night who were visiting and not used to it. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2024, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/14 "2024-12-01T00:04:32Z")
I thought it resembled caterpillar tracks needing grease, or some equipment on caterpillar tracks that was moving at the same time as the tracks and needed grease. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/15 "2024-12-01T12:31:58Z")
Almost sounds like some kind of bird. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2024, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/16 "2024-12-01T12:42:23Z")
High pressure hydraulics on heavy equipment or heavy industrial machinery can put out one hell of a noise. This is what I suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Cwturner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Cwturner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cwturner)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/17 "2024-12-01T19:43:08Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Almost sounds like some kind of bird [Jump to 1:40](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DmSB71jNq-yQ&ved=2ahUKEwibq_ufqYeKAxXyD1kFHdm6Oi0QwqsBegQIFBAF&usg=AOvVaw02hScjyH7KekSHzy89fEV8) ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/18 "2024-12-01T19:50:10Z")
Could there be a musical road nearby? > **[Musical road](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_road)** > > A musical road is a road, or section of a road, which when driven over causes a tactile vibration and audible rumbling that can be felt through the wheels and body of the vehicle. This rumbling is heard within the car as well as the surrounding area, in the form of a musical tune. Musical roads are known to exist in Hungary, Japan, South Korea, the United States, China, Iran, Taiwan, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and Russia. In the past, they could be found in Fran Each note is... ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/19 "2024-12-01T20:22:00Z")
I don’t think it’s any kind of natural sound. There’s a human playing scales, the notes ascend, then descend, then ascend again in a regular pattern. Maybe something similar to a [bullroarer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullroarer) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1tvreQ3hTvA/maxresdefault.jpg "Mick dundee phone call") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tvreQ3hTvA) ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2024, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982/20 "2024-12-02T17:29:34Z")
OP, can you post an address or a link to Google maps for the location? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-sound/1010982.md?page=2)