BLOOMVILLE, OH. - Some residents here were ready to change their town's name to "BOOMville" early yesterday.
A mysterious explosion shook the Seneca County village and startled residents just after midnight.
So far, the cause of the boom is unexplained. Officials are investigating.
Ear witnesses said the night was quiet when suddenly -- Ka-Boom! -- a single explosion was felt and heard by residents within a mile-wide circle. Resident Nicole Phillips said it rattled her whole house.
"Scary. It was very scary," Rene Bernal, another resident, said. "It felt like our house was hit by something. The walls shook.
"My daughter, Julia, was on the phone, and she came running out of her room yelling that she thought something was coming through her walls."
Mrs. Bernal's husband, Tim, ran outside. He and a neighbor searched but found nothing.
The Bernals were among the many who called police, prompting Chief Howard Minzer to check the entire village on foot. "He found no flashes, no power outages, no fires," said police Officer Mark Lawson.
Officer Lawson had just arrived home when he felt the blast at his midtown residence.
"It was a very, very loud explosion, definitely somewhere in town," he said. "But nothing is damaged in the village, and no one has reported anything.
"We have no idea what it could have been. It's a mystery."
Col. A.J. Feucht, commander of the Ohio Air National Guard 180th Fighter Wing, based at Toledo Express Airport, said no flights by supersonic or any other aircraft were in the air at that time.
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