Get local news delivered to your inbox!

DECATUR — Cindy Ford heard such a clatter outside her Decatur home late Tuesday morning she sprang to the window to see what was the matter.

This, however, was no early visit from St. Nicholas dropping in from the North Pole but a military jet punching it through the sound barrier with a sonic boom that jarred and concerned people throughout Central Illinois. 

“Oh yeah, it shook the windows, it shook the house, I felt the floor vibrate,” said Ford, whose home is located between South Shores and Mount Zion.

“I felt it was either a huge accident out front or something had blown up very near my house.”

Ford is shy about revealing her age but says she remembers the 1974 explosion in the then Norfolk & Western rail yard in Decatur that killed seven railroad workers and destroyed 80 homes.

“But I think Tu esday’s boom was even louder than that,” she said.

Emergency phone lines in Decatur lit up with calls from anxious families wondering what the noise was when it hit around 11:28 a.m. Deputy Decatur Fire Chief Dan Kline said the vibration was so prominent he even thought something had dropped onto the roof of Fire Station No. 1. 

“It was a bang like someone dropped something heavy upstairs,” he added. 

The actual explanation had arrived by early Tuesday afternoon, however, when officials confirmed it was the sonic boom of an F-15 fighter jet.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency said in a social media post that the noise had "kicked off an immediate collaboration between federal, state and local officials" to identify the source and impact. 

Further review found th at the F-15 fighter jet had course-corrected above Central Illinois, creating a sonic boom. When the aircraft broke the sound barrier, the pressure wave created an audible noise and minor shaking in the region, the agency said, adding that no reports of damage were associated with the incident. 

But the “mystery boom” noise had so rattled nerves that some officials were getting personal calls about it.

“I live on the west side of town and I got calls from my neighborhood, and our administrative assistant lives on the east side of town and she got calls from her neighborhood,” said Kline. “So it was heard from east to west.” 

Springfield police Lt. Jason Brands said officers received numerous reports from residents who heard a loud noise, and that other local communities received the same type of reports from the public.

Other shocked listeners with some military experience said this sonic boom was louder and more resonant than other ones they’d heard before. Ellsworth Dansby, who lives south of Millikin University, said the sound was so intense he thought a train car had derailed near his home and blown up. 

“I have prior service in the military and was occasionally exposed to that (sonic booms),” he said. “And that must have been one heck of an F-15 that did that; in fact, if that really was an F-15, I’d eat my hat.”

Dansby, 70, has some theories it might have been some kind of high velocity spy plane or similar clandestine aircraft. “And if it was, they wouldn’t say it was a spy plane,” he added. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Second and third graders from a Joliet elementary school, along with their teacher, completed a class project attempting to make popcorn the official snack food of the State of Illinois. The General Assembly made that designation official in 2003. (Illinois.gov )

Illinois citizens voted to select the eastern tiger salamander as the state amphibian in 2004. The vote was made official by the General Assembly in 2005. (Illinois.gov )

Illinois citizens voted to select the painted turtle as the state reptile in 2004. The vote was made official by the General Assembly in 2005. (Illinois.gov )

In 1907, Illinois schoolchildren voted to select the state tree and the state flower. They selected the Native Oak and the Violet. The General Assembly approved a bill to make these selections official in 1908. (Illinois.gov )

In 1907, Illinois schoolchildren voted to select the state tree and the state flower. They selected the Native Oak. In 1973, a special poll of 900,000 schoolchildren changed the State Tree from the Native Oak to the White Oak. (Illinois.gov )

In 1928, Illinois schoolchildren selected the cardinal as the State Bird of Illinois. The General Assembly made that designation official in 1929. (Illinois.gov )

In 1974, Decatur third-graders suggested that the monarch butterfly become the state insect. Schoolchildren lobbied for the monarch butterfly and the General Assembly passed a bill making it official in 1975.

Schoolchildren selected the Bluegill as the state fish in 1986. Although the Bluegill grows to only about 9 inches in length and weighs less than a pound, it has a reputation as one of the best fighting game fish. (Illinois.gov )

The General Assembly established Fluorite as the state mineral in 1965. Illinois is the largest producer of Fluorite in the United States. Fluorite is used in making steel, enamels, aluminum, glass, and many chemicals. (Illinois.gov )

Illinois schoolchildren voted to select the white-tailed deer as the state animal in 1980. The vote was made official by the General Assembly in 1982. (Illinois.gov )

  » Fun fact: Pictured above is Stephanie, a white-tailed deer—an orphaned, formerly injured young fawn, brought back to good health by a kind soul in the Lake Bloomington area. Read Bill Flick's 2013 story about Stephanie here.

The Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium) was a soft-bodied marine animal that lived 280 to 340 million years ago. More than 100 Tully Monster fossils have been found in Illinois. Read more about the Tully Monster on Wikipedia. (Illinois.gov )

The Square Dance was designated as the official state dance in 1990. (Illinois.gov )

In 1989 the Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) became the state prairie grass. The General Assembly adopted this designation following a poll of students conducted by the Illinois Department of Conservation. (Illinois.gov )

This clipping from the Aug. 3, 2001 Pantagraph reads: "Drummer silty clay loam is the most common Illinois soil, covering more than 1.5 million acres and yielding some of the best corn and soybean crops in the nation. It is named after Drummer Creek in Ford County."

RELATED B–N in 50 Objects, Object #3: Soil   »

Learn more about The Pantagraph's digital archives here.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Macon County courts reporter for the Herald & Review.

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

The Pentagon this summer issued a report on UAP sightings that raised more questions than it answered. 

Something went bang late Saturday night with an explosive sound that was reported across an area that stretched from Elwin towards Mount Zion and Dalton City, but its origin remains a mystery.

Pieces of Love, a service of Dove, is in need of yarn donations

All the years of dance and tumbling classes have paid off for Mount Zion native Madison Harper.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.