On November 14, 2023, around 6:30 PM, many people in northern Minnesota witnessed a bright light and a loud boom that shook their windows and rattled their nerves.
Some even reported seeing debris falling from the sky. What was behind this mysterious event? Was it a meteor, a plane crash or something else?
“Through additional conversation, watching the initial video and applying math to the timing of the flash and boom, it was calculated that the source of the flash and boom were less than a mile apart,” said Christopher Muller, director of emergency management at Beltrami Province. Sheriff’s office, wrote.
“Whether the source was stationary or mobile cannot be determined either, but numerous witnesses reported seeing the source over an area of approximately 50 miles and hearing the boom even at greater distances.”
Muller, who heard the explosion from his home east of Bemidji, described the event: “It shook windows and walls and rattled the dishes,” he wrote.
In an update Tuesday afternoon, Muller said further investigation and consultation with NASA experts showed the incident was likely not caused by a meteor.
“They analyzed the video frame by frame and determined that the object was too horizontal to indicate it was a meteor. Additional data needed to be collected to further eliminate possible other interfering objects,” Muller wrote. “It is still unclear whether the two videos are related.”
The security camera footage that captured the flash and bang was taken by a Nymore resident.
“This was certainly an interesting puzzle to try to solve, and we still don’t know exactly what it was,” Muller said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“We appreciate the assistance we received from federal agencies and the scientific community in ruling out what it was not and will continue to provide any subsequent information we learn,” he continued. “The fact that this was seen and heard over such a large area is a mystery. What was it?”
