ROCKINGHAM — Local first responders have no explanations for a mysterious boom heard across Richmond County Tuesday night.
Emergency Services Director Bob Smith confirmed that calls reporting explosions were made to the Richmond County 911 Center.
Those “explosions” were reported in the area of Linden Drive, off of Roberdel Road in Rockingham, as well the mobile home park on U.S. 74 Business in Hamlet.
Those two areas are around 3.85 miles apart, as the crow flies.
Asst. Chief Richard Lassiter said the Hamlet Fire Department was dispatched at 8:46 p.m. and searched the area around the park and Griffin Toyota, but found nothing.
Lassiter said one early thought was that a transformer had exploded, but there were no power outages.
Rockingham Fire Chief Harold Isler said crews were dispatched at 8:55 p.m. and rode through the Roberdel Road area but were never able to find a source.
Detective Steve Odom with the Rockingham Police Department said he was at home in the Roberdel area when he heard a boom that rattled the windows of his home.
Odom said another officer had a recording of three smaller booms preceding a fourth, louder boom, which appears to be the one most people heard.
“I don’t know what it was,” Odom said.
Amy Berry said she heard a boom at the Berry Patch, just east of Ellerbe, and there were also reports of hearing the sound at Richmond Community College and in Hoffman.
As the crow flies, The Berry Patch is 5.6 miles from Linden Drive and about 9.5 miles from Jones Street in Hamlet.
There were no nearby thunderstorms in the area at the time, according to radar maps.
The U.S. Geologic Survey shows that the closest earthquakes recorded were in Kansas, west Texas, New Mexico on the mainland, and near the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.
This isn’t the first time windows have rattled in Richmond County due to an unexplained source. A mystery boom was reported in February of 2019 between East Rockingham and Hamlet, and another shook homes in April 2023.
NOTE: The map with this story has been updated to include another location. 4:05 p.m. 5-27-26.
