By Shelby Brooks
For months now, Pakenham has been plagued by mysterious loud noises, scaring people awake in the middle of the night.
Sometimes the bangs are so loud people’s windows shake in their sills.
Theories on community Facebook pages range from the plausible to the strange.
Suggestions include feasible ideas of cars backfiring, fireworks, gas explosions and train signal detonators to the more, well, interesting, like skyquakes, lizard people and aliens.
The Gazette has been unable to confirm any of these theories.
It is also unclear where these noises are coming from.
On a Facebook post made by the Gazette, our readers revealed that the noises could be heard from a number of locations across Pakenham.
Hayley Coleman, who lives near Pakenham Consolidated Primary School, said she’s been hearing the noises for months.
“I first heard it a couple of months ago about 3am and it shook the windows it was so loud and woke me and my partner up,” she said.
“It sounded like what I would imagine a bomb going off sounds like. Nobody seems to know exactly what they are. Some people say they are train line detonators.“
Pam Blundell, who lives near Pakenham’s Main Street, said the explosive sounds usually occurred between 10pm and 3am.
“They are too massive and at times we hear and feel an aftershock,” she said.
“They was a video of smoke after one explosion on the corner or Princes Hwy and McGregor Rd. The fire brigade has been called a couple of times. Whoever is doing this, needs to stop before someone gets hurt.”
People living on Army Road, Heritage Springs, McGregor Road, Officer South, Arden Estate and even in Nar Nar Goon all mentioned they had heard bangs in the past.
Cardinia Shire Council, Public Transport Victoria and the Level Crossing Removal Project have all been contacted for comment.
But it was most revealing what the police had to say about it.
Pakenham’s Detective Sergeant Paul McNulty said they were aware of the situation.
“We are running an investigation in relation to it, but at this stage we don’t want to divulge anything further,” he told the Gazette on Monday 13 September.
Perhaps only time will reveal the answer and in the meantime, ear plugs could be the only solution.
