The mystery of Three Loud Bangs 

Three loud bangs soon after 11pm on Sunday which could be heard across Wanstead and Woodford mystified many Wansteadium readers.

One news website suggested the bangs might have been sonic booms, but this is not confirmed. That site also had this line from the Met Police:

“We had reports from Ilford and had a look but there was nothing untoward,” said a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Service.

Other theories, including one that they might have been fireworks to mark the start of Ramadan, don’t seem to have any stop supporting voices. As of Monday lunchtime it feels like this is a mystery which might not be solved.

Even Mail Online tried to explain it, reporting that one person claimed the bangs could have been caused by a meteorite. They then reported that the Royal Observatory had dismissed the notion. They did however include a video from someone who captured the bangs.

Some of the tweets about the bangs:

https://twitter.com/xjnaaaa/status/739582347952164864

38 thoughts on “The mystery of Three Loud Bangs ”

    1. Yup I was sat in Dagenham. I looked west and heard another two loud explosions after the first, and with each one there was a flash of orange against the backdrop of darkness.
      I counted 24seconds between the flash and the huge bangs.

      These were not sonic booms.

      I guessed the Ramadan season, were letting off a few wiz bang fireworks……but after hearing and seeing them, they must have been small house sized Roman candles! No chance.

      Anyone hear any more? Curious to find out what they were. Cheers.

  4. We heard them on Snaresbrook. Didn’t sound like fireworks although I’m sure I saw a flash in the sky. Could they be sonic booms from military aircraft being scrambled? This has happened before when Russian jets fly past, although not in east London.

  8. We heard it in Chester Rd, near Wanstead station.

    This is why Wansteadium is brilliant – well done for being right on the case.

    1. Yeah I see one sort of attached to a clock tower by a wire … then another that looked jsut like it appeared next to it, then a few seconds later they both vanished in a ball of flames! … was weird af!

  19. There’s no way they were sonic booms. I know exactly what they sound like, and these were some kind of combustion explosion. People are reporting 3 flashes of light at the same times as the bangs. This pretty much rules out sonic booms on its own, as they don’t produce light at all.

    The police were our in their helicopter for a good hour after it happened as well.

  21. It’s the three Horsemen of the Apocalypse .
    Apparently the fourth will be along sometime on June 24th, whatever the result.

  22. The flashes of light rule out sonic booms. Anyone got any idea how we can investigate this further? I’m intrigued!

  23. I heard them in Wanstead, looked outside the window and it was snowing for about 45 seconds!

    Was really strange.. Hope it doesn’t happen again, I was really scared.

  24. Yep heard them too in Wanstead, Blake Hall Road.

    The funny thing is, though, I also heard two or three of these booms in broad daylight a few weeks ago while walking along the street. Being near the A12 underpass I thought of some kind of backfiring of a vehicle, but it wasn’t really like that; much louder.

    Did anyone hear the daytime ones in the region of A12 Cambridge Park/Blake Hall Road? It was weeks ago but this reminds me of that again now.

    1. Yes heard the ones a few weeks ago when I was walking down Blake Hall Road – about 10.45 on a Sunday morning.

      1. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who heard them prior to this incident; thanks for posting! 🙂 Although, mine were at around 6pm on a weekday — curiouser and curiouser!

    1. I have also wondered about it being aircraft related as these booms seems to centre around the general areas now affected by the newly-concentrated flight paths from London City Airport.

  26. I heard them as well in Empress Avenue, Aldersbrook.
    I thought it was thunder and thought to myself “Doesn’t seem like weather for thunder!” But didn’t think much more of it after that. Would be interesting to find out what it was since most of NE London seems to have heard it.

  27. I heard the bangs, the whole house shook. I live right next to Claybury Park/Forest. And the sound and light flashes definitely came from that direction….

    Kids sometimes let off fireworks late at night in the forest, happened once when I was walking my dogs at midnight. However these bangs were much more than fireworks and had real resonance and depth.

    I caught the flash of light of the third bang, and am leaning toward the theory that someone was practising home made bombs. Seems plausible when when considering nothing else makes sense.

    1. I agree that the sound has a very deep resonance, a thick deep boom that is more like bombs I’ve heard on news footage. When I first heard these booms my first impression was “bombs” — not fireworks.

  28. If it was home-made bombs then it’s a bit concerning that somebody round here is able to make something that powerful – and potentially destructive.

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