Reports of the explosion first began to crop up around 6:40 p.m. local time, with residents informing the Kosciusko County Central Dispatch that the unexplained boom even caused a few homes in the area to shake.
Video of the strange occurrence was captured on Kristen Bray Roth's home surveillance network. Roth wrote on Facebook that she heard two loud booms at roughly 6:35 p.m. local time. "This is from our Nest Cam. Turn the volume up and you can actually hear two [booms]," she explained in a caption to the footage she shared.
On social media, residents suggested a variety of explanations, from a sonic boom caused by a military exercise to noisy aliens wanting to shake things up for Earthlings living in the Hoosier State.
"It's prob someone shooting off a cannon, they do it here around my house a lot," one user wrote.
"Prepare for the alien invasion," wrote another. "That was just a recon drone! Load and lock!"
A more plausible explanation, one commenter suggested, was that the sound was the result of a frost quake, which is a seismic event caused by the sudden cracking of frozen soil or rock. According to Accuweather, parts of Kosciusko County experienced a high of 34 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 21 degrees on Sunday.
In January of 2018, residents in central Indiana had a similar experience, alerting officials to sounds they likened to gunshots and exploding gas lines. However, after an investigation was conducted, officials concluded that the sounds were the work of frost quakes.
At the time of the early 2018 incident, resident Julie Justus took to Facebook and compared the sounds she'd heard to the likes of "someone [who] dropped bricks" on her roof. "Scared the bejesus out of me!" she wrote, according to the Indy Channel.
Only time will tell if frost quakes are to blame in this latest winter phenomenon affecting Hoosiers.
