COTTONWOOD, AZ (CBS5) -
Jean Swesey was doing homework with her son in Cottonwood when it happened.
"It was a whole series of booms," Swesey said. "Up to six or seven. It was fast, it went loud. We were quiet and then my daughter down the hall screams really loud, ‘Did you hear that?' I sat there for a second and I heard another set."
Swesey wasn't alone. Residents in communities in and around Verde Valley and as far as Flagstaff called 911 or their police and fire departments to report the strange booming sounds.
"It sounded like thunder, but underground," Swesey said. "Like muffled thunder. And all the dogs in the neighborhood, all of them that were outside all started barking at once."
CBS 5 News first received reports of the explosion-like noises shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday and began checking with law enforcement and government sources. The U.S. Geological Survey reports no significant earthquake activity in Arizona that could have created the booms.
The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office had deputies in the area who either heard it or tried to respond to resident calls. They found nothing.
The Sedona Fire District dispatched a crew to check a report of a strange odor, but that was unfounded and may not be related to the sounds.
The Camp Verde Marshal also received a number of phone calls about the booms. Officers found no evidence of any explosions.
But the Verde Valley contains large expanses of uninhabited land. "Maybe when the light comes back they'll find something," said Gary Johnson of Sedona Fire.
Swesey sure hopes so. "It was just, ‘boom-boom-boom-boom-boom all over the Verde Valley."
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