Loud Booms in Night Continue to Mystify Novato Residents, Police

Those heard in the middle of the night just keep happening in Novato.

Sgt. Eric Riddell said the department received eight calls in a five-minute period early Monday morning by people who heard a loud sound. He said the first report came in at 1:31 a.m. and the calls came from all over the central, western and northern parts of the city.

Riddell said the department gets calls regularly about the booms and there is only one way to figure out the source.

“Unless somebody sees it happening, it’s going to be tough” to figure out what it is, he said. “I’m pretty sure we don’t have an arrest on this.”

Police have received calls from people who are convinced what they heard was a gunshot, a backfiring car, old World War II-era weapons, fireworks, or a power line transformer blowing up. Riddell said one theory is that someone is shooting or floating something in the air and making it explode, resulting in the sound fanning out further and causing the spread-out call pattern from concerned residents.

Looking at the call pattern, “It’s not like you can just draw a circle because it’s so big,” Riddell said.