This past Saturday night around 9:45 or so, our family was playing a board game in our living room. In the middle of the action, a low rumbling ensued, followed by a distinct, deep-throated “boom” that sounded very much like a big explosion.

Our house literally shook. The boom was loud enough that dogs started barking all over our neighborhood. We live near the highway, and are very familiar with the sound of big trucks having blowouts, which is more of a “pop” on steroids. No, this was much more than that.

I’ve been on civil war battlefields when several cannons were shot at one time, and honestly that is the only thing I’ve heard/experienced that comes close. It was similar to a sonic boom. However, this seemed to emanate much more from the ground than from the air.

We all looked at each other wide eyed and said, “What was that?,” and I immediately looked outside to check for sirens or any signs of anything. Silence, other than the dogs.

There would be another boom just after midnight.

Risa jumped on social media and was immediately clear that we were not the only people to experience this phenomenon. People were commenting from all over different parts of Thomas and Grady counties on either hearing or feeling the boom, and it wasn’t long before everyone was offering their opinions on what the cause of it might have been.

One of the early suspects was somebody using something called “tannerite.” Used for ages in the motion picture industry to create huge explosions, tannerite is a simple combination of aluminum oxide and aluminum powder. The two ingredients apparently are very stable until they are hit by something moving at very high velocity, like a bullet. Tannerite is a popular ingredient in “exploding targets,” used by shooters for long-range target practice. These things provide an explosive effect that makes knowing whether you’ve hit your target or not very easy to see.

And, we have enough folks around here who like shooting and blowing things up, so that seems plausible.

Then there were reports found from television and media outlets referring to loud booms that have been happening all over Georgia and the southeast in general over the last year or so. One report out of Kentucky was in reference to booms that happened — you guessed it — Saturday night.

It would be hard to imagine that folks from Kentucky to Savannah to Thomasville were hearing/experiencing the same thing at the same time.

Or would it?

One geologist over near the Georgia coast hypothesized that the booms were being caused by something called a “frost quake.” Common in the north, it seems that during stretches of rain mixed with particularly cold weather the ground can freeze well below the surface. Like an ice cube popping and cracking when liquid hits it in a glass, the same thing happens in soil — only the crack can stretch for very long distances, and when it happens, the “pop” resonates through the ground and creates a large “boom.”

Now, I’d never heard of “frost quakes’ before. Even though with the very cold weather we’ve been having the explanation seemed quite plausible, digging a little deeper it seems these things normally happen when the weather has been near or below zero for a spell. While it’s been cold here, it hasn’t been that cold (although it might have seems like it).

Then someone else offered an explanation that is even more intriguing (and no, it has nothing to do with Elvis piloting UFOs). It seems our planet is undergoing a shift of its magnetic poles, which means, according to scientists, the Earth’s poles may be reversing. Apparently, every few hundred thousand years, the planet’s magnetic field reverses, where north becomes south, and south becomes north (no word yet on what happens to east and west).

And with this “pole shift,” the tectonic plates of the earth are moving as well. With reports of similar unexplained booms coming from Canada, Rhode Island, all the way to Texas and Arizona, the concussive resonation of these massive plates of land moving against each other could very well be at the core of what is going on.

(A side note: while researching this topic, I stumbled upon a new scientific study that says dogs apparently align themselves with the magnetic poles when they poop. Someone actually studied this. Yes, I am serious, and no, I am not making that up. So now, knowing those poles are shifting, if your dog has been acting particularly confused here lately, now you know why. You are welcome.)

More creative explanations for the booms ranged from a tragic Mexican food overdose (I’ll leave that to your imagination) to military exercises to a rich man dropping his wallet all the way to Yankees invading again.

So, it seems at this point there are no definite answers, and the mystery of the big booms still ensues. If anyone has anything to offer on it, please share with us. If I get any further information on all of this, I’ll be sure to share it as well.