'Rumbling, crackling sounds, a fireball and a huge flash of light': mysterious object strikes New Zealand

In what scientists believe was likely a meteor drop, New Zealanders across the North Island have reported rumbling, crackling sounds, a fireball and a huge flash of light streaking across the sky on Thursday afternoon. Local media outlets and social media were flooded with reports and queries about the sight, with some witnesses describing rumbles, bangs, a crackling sound in their ears, hair standing on end, rattling windows or a streak or explosion of light, followed by a smoke trail, as reported by The Guardian.

Plumber Curtis Powell captured the phenomenon on his dashcam while driving north of Shannon at 1:39 pm on Thursday. “We were just driving to a job in Shannon when I saw a blue line falling in the sky, then a massive bright light,” he said. “Realised my dashcam was recording and downloaded the video – once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.”

On social media, people shared photos and swapped stories of their sightings. “I’m so glad someone caught it … I thought I was hallucinating,” said one commenter. A number of people mistook the rumbling sound for an earthquake. “We thought it was an earthquake, but it didn’t sound right, more like a large heavy truck, with a beat, but there were no trucks near our house at the time. The house vibrated slightly too,” one Twitter user said.

As reported by The Guardian, some eyewitnesses described hearing crackling as the object moved through the sky, in what Steel said was likely “electrophonic sound”. Allan Gilmore of Canterbury University’s Mt John Observatory said in a radio interview that meteors, and their accompanying electrical charge, could cause some people’s hair to stand on end. “People with frizzy hair often hear it, while the people who don’t have frizzy hair don’t hear it,” Gilmore said.

(with inputs from agencies)

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