Posted on 05/18/2011 10:12:03 AM PDT by traumer
BERNARDS TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) – A Basking Ridge homeowner would really like to know why there’s a crater in her front yard.
“To me it looked like something blew out of the ground because the grass was folded back, the rocks and dirt were all spewn out into the cul-de-sac and across the driveway,” Sue, who asked not to be identified out of concern that the hole may draw unwanted onlookers and crowds, said.
Her son, Jeff, believes something fell from the heavens. “Something clearly came out of the sky and just hit it from an angle and then it all shot up the other way,” he said.
Officials and experts are also scratching their heads. For now, it appears the small crater that splayed debris across a 100-foot area wasn’t caused by a meteorite. Beyond that, it’s a mystery.
“It’s just really, really weird,” said Jerry Vinski, director of nearby Raritan Valley Community College’s planetarium, who conducted tests on the site. “We dug around and couldn’t find anything. We used metal detectors because all meteors have metal in them, and we couldn’t find anything, large or small.” Bernards Township Police Capt. Edward Byrnes said whatever hit the front yard left a crater about 18 inches deep and roughly the size of a coffee table.
A State Police bomb squad ruled out explosives, Byrnes said. According to Byrnes, no one in the neighborhood heard or saw anything at the time of the May 6 incident. The homeowner called police upon arriving home. “The weather was clear, there were no reports of lightning strikes; nobody reported seeing anything,” Byrnes said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in 23 years.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newyork.cbslocal.com ...
Somebody called MissDig
It was an alien... and he left the bucket
It was dug. The energy required to dig the hole by a falling object would have been sufficient to scatter the dirt much further than it did. It would not be piled neatly on the side of the hole.
Just another shovel ready project.
Yup, somebody was walking with too much rhythm nearby, attracted a small maker.
Freegards
Hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut...
It is perfectly clear that some environmental wacko planted a “recycle can” seed and it has finally germinated.
“UFO made a bounce?”
Is this your professional opinion as a “physicist”? LOL!!
ROFLOL!
Same here. I thought it was going to be a huge perfectly shaped crater.
It looks like a hole that several types of animals could easily dig.
Blue ice. Did anyone else see Mythbuster’s on this. A large chunck forms due to a slow leak on the hull of a plane and freezes.
As plane descends and warms on approach to EWR-LGA-JFK, over northern NJ (this area) it breaks away, impacts, melts not leaving a trace.
There is just a little dirt on the driveway, so I doubt the 100 foot area. Looking at the picture, the far back edge looks like a backhoe was the culprit.
Since when do all meteors have metal in them?
Some of them are silicate.
Well it came out of the sky, just a little south of Moline.
Jody fell out of his tractor, couldn't b'lieve what he'd seen.
Well, he layed on the ground and shook, fearin' for his life.
then he ran all the way to town screamin' it came out of the sky.
Sounds ... dirty
Exactly. An impact big enough to leave that hole would have scattered more ejecta.
I think someone came back to dig up something they'd left behind.
Wild pig rooting around maybe?
Large blue ice cube from passing plane..
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