Countywide : Explanation Elusive for Rumbling Noises

Officials had no explanation Thursday for why residents from Newbury Park to north of Ventura reported windows rattling and hearing a rumbling noise at periods throughout the day.

The East County Sheriff’s Department received at least 30 telephone calls about the disturbances beginning at 6:50 a.m., said dispatcher Melanie Peterson. Inquiries also came about 9 a.m. and just before 3 p.m., she said.

Spokesman Harry Lee of the Naval Air Warfare Center weapons division at Point Mugu said a trio of large-engine bombers could possibly account for the noise reported about 9 a.m., when the B-1s started their engines for a training flight, he said.

Caltech seismic analyst Riley Geary said no earthquakes were detected in the Ventura area.

Geary speculated that although the military has not officially acknowledged it, the rumbling could come from a new spy aircraft, dubbed the Aurora Project, that is believed to fly over Ventura County and other areas of Southern California every Thursday morning.