Big bang theories, anyone?

There seems to have been some sort of a big bang, heard across south central Iowa, near noon on Sunday, May 7, 1871. The Chariton Democrat of May 11 reported it this way:

"A Phenomenon --- On last Sunday, about noon, and when the sky was clear and the sun was shining bright and warm, we heard a distinct clap of thunder, followed by a long roll, lasting several seconds. On looking around we were unable to discover any clouds which would indicate rain, and several persons who noticed the circumstance remarked that it was the first of that kind that they had ever known. Some persons speak of thunder from a sky that is clear as one of the impossibilities, but such a phenomenon actually occurred as we have heard."

A couple of weeks later, Des Moines Register staffers --- after reading exchange weeklies of the previous weeks --- published a consolidated report in its edition of May 27 under the headline "Thunder by the Bundle." This report seems to place the mysterious boom on Sunday, May 21, but most likely that was editorial carelessness. Here's how the report reads:

"The Albia, Chariton and Knoxville papers report that on Sunday last a mysterious phenomenon occurred in that section, described somewhat in this fashion: The (Knoxville) Spirit 'heard a sound in the direction of Chariton which resembled the report of a forty-pounder cannon at about the distance of 10 miles.' The sky was clear excepting a few small white clouds not 'bigger than a man's hand.'

The Chariton Democrat speaks of hearing the same sound at Chariton, but attributes it to thunder, although the sky was clear, and says that such a thing has happened, although of rare occurrence.

The same sound was heard at the time eight miles southeast of Albia by citizens in that part of the county. The (Albia) Voter says that the same thing was heard at the same time by different persons in that vicinity. Some said their houses were perceptibly jarred. One man, if we recollect right, spoke of seeing a very peculiar and vivid light at the same time, which could not have been lightning.

'We said nothing about it at the time, because the reports were so scattered and indistinct that we supposed the cause most probably was an unusual electrical discharge. we now incline to the opinion that an immense aerolite must have fallen somewhere in the west.'

As we have had no reports of the falling of one of the heavenly solids in any of the states south and southwest of Iowa, competent scientists judge that the noise heard was simply the explosion of a surcharged cloud, of which Humboldt makes mention as being quite common. It was without doubt one of these celestial bombshells that are fired out of the clouds to the curiosity of us poor mortals below.

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There seem to have been no further reports about the mysterious sounds. So their source remains open to speculation.