JANESVILLE—The strange noises early Monday morning prompted one Janesville woman to round up her kids, herd them together and call 911.
Elsewhere, a Janesville man heard similar sounds, armed himself with a handgun and prepared for what he thought was an impending break-in.
At other homes, dogs barked at walls.
All resulted in calls to the county's 911 dispatch center.
All proved to be nothing more than strange house noises caused by plummeting temperatures and the contraction of pipes and other materials.
It's that kind of scary cold that whipped into Wisconsin late Sunday night and is expected to linger into the New Year.
Sgt. Brian Vaughn of the Janesville Police Department said his officers responded to 11 calls of suspicious activity between 3 p.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday.
“People said they thought someone was breaking in or pounding on their walls or doors,” Vaughn said.
“Nothing turned out to be wrong,” Vaughn said. “There were no attempted break-ins. It was just strange house noises.”
SCIENCE BEHIND THE SOUNDS
“When you get temperatures dropping as fast as they did, you get a contraction that results in movement--a lot of pushing and pulling and snapping in the house,” said Eric Richards of Eric Richards Construction in Janesville.
“It can be very loud and very strange sounding.”
A home's structural components are exposed to low external temperatures and higher internal temperatures at the same time. Some parts of the house expand, while other parts contract, which puts stress on connections, windows, doors and siding and mechanical components.
When things shift, the result is often the creaking and popping that triggered calls of suspicious activity to police.
“Other than being aware of what's causing it, there's not much you can do about it,” Richards said.
I probably heard, but tuned it out - we are used to weird noises with the house is 60+ years old and two dogs moseying around all times of night. I did notice an expansion in a plaster cracks.
jim wrote:I think there are a bunch of pussies in St. Louis. -2 and you guys don't have to go work? That is our high tomorrow and we are looking forward to it.
I went into work, and about 15 out of 80 showed. Gave them the ol' FU & left....we got about 8 inches & it was -6 on my way in....that along w/ a sick dog that feels like he needs to go out every 30 min hasn't been the most fun in the world.
I finally made it in 4 hours late. Worked for three hours and I think I'm about ready to get out of here. I had a conference call with my boss at 2pm to go over some urgent stuff. We settled that by 2:45 and I'm in shut down mode now.
Michael wrote:There's no way I'm ever going to retire in Chicagoland. I'm already talking to my wife about a 2nd house somewhere warm once we payoff our condo.
I'm thinking Vegas. Cheap housing and low taxes. Sounds good to me.
Michael wrote:There's no way I'm ever going to retire in Chicagoland. I'm already talking to my wife about a 2nd house somewhere warm once we payoff our condo.
I'm thinking Vegas. Cheap housing and low taxes. Sounds good to me.
I'm sure that's why.
Damn you, PP. Just go with it.
not related, but this convo really reminds me of this
