A series of mysterious booms across Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania from mid-to-late December 2018 continued the string of explosive phenomena that has plagued towns across the world for the entire year.

On December 11th the residents of Elgin, Illinois brought to light a problem that they say they’ve been experiencing since at least June of 2018—a series of booms so loud and violent they've reportedly shaken the homes of some residents in the northwest suburb of Chicago.

“The house shakes, the windows shake,” resident Colleen Roberg told NBC 5 Chicago.

The noises have been heard at all times of the day, but are said most often to take place at night.

Some locals suspect that a nearby bridge is to blame, while others think the booms could be from railroad construction; although the Illinois Department of Transportation conducted an investigation that couldn't detect any unusual noise from the bridge, and railroad construction doesn't explain why the loud sounds are often heard at night.

“They’ve become louder,” said Sue Webb, president of the Southwest Area Neighbors group.

“We’ve had this since June and we’ve lived with the discomfort of it, but now we have our windows closed and it’s really, really starting to irritate,” she continued. “We’re just asking for solutions to our mystery boom."

On December 15th at around 9:15 p.m., approximately 135 miles south of Elgin in Paxton, Illinois, another mystery boom rattled windows and caused alarm among locals.

The boom was loud enough to be heard 30 miles away.

“It was bizarre. It felt like something landed on top of the roof,” said resident Kammy Anderson.

The sheriff's office, local police, town mayor, and the National Weather Service have so far all been unable to explain the phenomenon.

“Everybody has all these theories, but I really don't know,” Paxton mayor Bill Ingold said. “We've heard everything from a sonic boom from a jet flying over to a meteorite to aliens.”

Then, approximately 150 miles northeast of Paxton, at around 6:30 p.m. on the evening of December 30th the residents of Kosciusko and St. Joseph counties in Indiana reported another anomalous boom.

The boom was reportedly heard from the cities of Warsaw to Mishawaka and even into the state of Michigan.

Local news received numerous reports from concerned citizens, including this video sent to WSBT 22 by Winona Lake resident Kristen Roth.