The Real Reason You Heard Loud Booms This Weekend in Westport & Surrounding Areas

Did you hear that?

Reports of loud booms in Westport, Freetown, Dartmouth and Somerset were reported over the weekend, leaving people scratching their heads as to what could have caused such a startling sound.

Reports in Westport

Online users began sharing their concerns Saturday night around 6:30 p.m., with several people claiming their house shook from the bang.

“I heard it and felt it!” said Sandy Arsenault. “Almost gave me a heart attack.”

More reports piled in later that evening.

“Sounds like thunder or fireworks,” said a resident who lives off Washington Street. With the Spirit of Somerset Fireworks lighting up the sky that night, that was the likely cause of the second set of booms, but it wasn’t until Monday afternoon that Westport PD shared the cause of the initial boom.

“It has been determined to be Tannerite, which is a brand of binary explosive targets used for firearms practice and sold in a kit form,” said the department. “This appears to be an isolated event with no threat to public safety.”

Reports in Dartmouth and Freetown

While fireworks were the likely cause of Saturday night, loud booms continued Sunday night, with one Dartmouth resident calling it a “nuclear bomb.”

Get our free mobile app

Fun 107 reached out to the Dartmouth Police Department and Detective Kyle Costa was unable to confirm any reports or causes of the loud booms. A call to the Freetown Police Department resulted in the same dead-end, with no legitimate cause uncovered.

While some answers were revealed, several questions still remain. Was it an unreported earthquake? Were unruly citizens lighting off explosives? More on the story as it develops.