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Mysterious explosive sounds rattle Sacramento's Pocket neighborhood

Mystery in a Sacramento neighborhood: Neighbors describe hearing unexplained explosions
Mystery in a Sacramento neighborhood: Neighbors describe hearing unexplained explosions 02:58

SACRAMENTO — A series of explosive sounds have been rocking residents in Sacramento's Pocket area.

These mysterious sounds started last week. It doesn't happen every night, but the most recent time was Thursday night and neighbors say it always startles them around the same time of the evening, 8:45 p.m.

"It was really loud. I don't know if you've ever been next to lightning going off, but it sounded like that. It rattled the house," says Richard Ware, who caught the sound on his Nest camera.

"It looked like it happened on the other side of the street and it looked like an explosion behind one of the homes. It lit up that whole side of the street," Ware said of a quick flashing of light seen behind a neighboring home.

Neighbors have been hearing these mystery sounds since last week.

"I went on Nextdoor just to see if anyone knew what it was and it looked like everyone was in the same boat as I was in. We didn't know what it was, nobody knew," Ware said.

"Last Wednesday, about the same time as last night, 8:45 or 8:50, there were three very loud explosions all in a row. Not only were they loud, but they shook our house," neighbor Kathie Griley said Friday.

The most recent was accompanied by a bright flash.

"I was just sitting on the couch, not even looking out the window, but I saw the flash when the boom happened," Griley said.

Griley immediately went outside to check things out, but no one could figure out what was causing the loud booms.

"Because I saw a flash, I definitely expected to smell something burning or see something in the road, but there was nothing," Griley said.

"We were sitting there and it was kinda like this huge explosion and it was to the point we paused our TV," neighbor Alexandra Davis said. "My grandma called us and was like 'Did you guys hear that?' and we were like 'Yeah, we did.' "

Police came by to scope things out as well but they say they didn't find any damage and are still investigating.

"This is a safe, quiet neighborhood. You might hear fireworks, but not an explosion," Ware said.

Sacramento police say the incident has been handed off to their explosive ordinance disposal unit, but that anyone with information should give them a call. 

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