The Guns of Barisal and Anomalous Sound Propagation

Contents

Introduction

Barisal is a small port on the Tetulia mouth of the River Ganges, on the northern shore of the Bay of Bengal, about 130 mi. east of Calcutta, and about the same distance south of Dacca, in Bangladesh. From the 1870's there were reports of hearing sounds resembling cannon fire, coming from the south or southeast. They occurred mainly from February to October, very seldom from November to January, and the source was unknown. The sounds were often multiple, in groups of two or three.

Similar sounds, called in the Netherlands and Belgium mistpoeffers, or in Italy brontidi, or marinas, or in the Phillipines retumbos, or elsewhere fog guns, were heard from time to time. They were reported from Passamaquoddy Bay insouthwestern New Brunswick, in Belgium and Scotland, at Cedar Keys, Florida, Lough Neagh in Ireland, and in Western Australia, and in Victoria State. They were reported on an Adriatic island in 1824, at Franklinville, NY in 1896, and in northern Georgia. Lewis and Clark heard them on 4 July 1805. Though often heard at coastal locations and beside lakes, they were also heard away from bodies of water, and were described as booms, like thunder, or the discharge of cannon.

You may read in encyclopedias that the Guns of Barisal are supposed to be caused by earth movments too feeble to be felt. Earthquakes can make noises, but not when no movements are felt, and the noises are not like guns. The Guns, indeed, show no correlation with local