Numerous residents of a Dallas neighborhood were bewildered on Wednesday evening when they heard a mysterious boom that left them pondering worst case scenarios for its cause.
The weird incident, which occurred at around eight in the evening, left many witnesses wondering if they had just heard a terrible car crash or, worse, gunfire.
Phillip Washington, who heard what he described to the Dallas CBS TV station as a "huge explosion" marveled that "it was without a doubt, the loudest sound that I’ve heard."
Fortunately, a security camera in the area provided a critical clue to what caused the sound as it captured footage of a flash in the sky prior to the boom.
According to an area astronomer, that illumination is a telltale sign that some kind of meteorite or space debris had descended from the sky and, in the process, caused a sonic boom.
Based on the size of the flash, he surmised that the mystery object was probably the size of a grapefruit and that it likely burned up as it passed through the atmosphere.
Source: CBS Dallas-Forth Worth