South Carolina residents are still talking about what could’ve made that resounding boom heard for over 100 miles in South Carolina late in the afternoon of May 28
Around 5:30 Thursday evening, people in the Midlands region of South Carolina heard what sounded like an explosion. Later that night, the U.S. Geological Survey said it was a sonic boom centered around six kilometers north-northwest of the Columbia suburb of St. Andrews.
The first notice I had was a WhatsApp from a coworker telling me, “That was an earthquake.” (We’ve been having a string of very small earthquakes; the Madrid fault goes right through the middle of South Carolina.) I had been driving home from the office listening to the Ruthless gang and missed it! As soon as I could, I rushed over to X to find out what was going on.
One X user showed the video from a local airport. Meteorologist Chris Jackson said he felt the pressure from the shockwave of the sound.
Got some video with sound of the boom from my friend Ryan Turiak’s camera on top his hanger at Hamilton-Owens Downtown Airport in Columbia.
Definitely not an earthquake. #sctweets pic.twitter.com/zZhMa3sf12
— ☈ Chris Jackson ☈ (@ChrisJacksonSC) May 28, 2026
Soon, everyone was posting Ring and Nest camera video and audio of the anomaly. Dogs and cats were terrified.
Loud boom heard all across South Carolina Thursday afternoon. Confirmed it wasn’t an earthquake. But what was it? Details still being looked into.
Videos from Jennifer Henderson, Shannon Murphy Hurst & Allen Johnson. #sc #southcarolina #boom #loud #noise pic.twitter.com/DBj7dnQj6f
— Meteorologist Matthew Huddleston (@MatthewHWx) May 28, 2026
Social Media in a Storm: X/Twitter is where I turned two years ago when a 3.1 earthquake woke me up in the middle of the night. Seems like it woke a lot of people up. People were immediately commenting from as far away as Charlotte about what the heck was happening. I know you readers in California are laughing at that, but we don’t get many earthquakes of whatever size in Columbia.
Conspiracy theorists jumped in right away, calling it a cover-up because Fort Jackson, the local army base outside Columbia, denied having anything to do with it. One X poster theorized it was unexploded munitions from old World War II bombing runs across bomb Island in Lake Murray finally cooking off – or perhaps that Lake Murray was built to cover something up. The thought made me, a native South Carolinian, burst out laughing. Bomb Island was famously used by the Doolittle Raiders to train, but was the lake built to cover it up? Please – the dam creating Lake Murray was built for power generation, back in the late 20s.
Speculation continued throughout the day Friday, and by Friday afternoon, the topic “Sonic Boom Rattles South Carolina Midlands, Mystery Unsolved” was trending on X with over 5000 posts.
The U.K. Daily Mail reported that the sonic boom was heard by thousands across several southeastern states.
So what was it?
Was it a meteor or space debris? That’s the official cause as of now. One post on X seems to show a faint meteor tail in a Nest video.
Video posted to social media by Robin Brooks Parker appears to show a meteor trail… ☄️💥#SCBoom pic.twitter.com/fbBQF6g4U2
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) May 29, 2026
The cloud cover on Thursday (we’ve been having a lot of rain) may have prevented more people from seeing a meteor tail.
Whatever it was — meteor (most probably) or some bizarre theory involving UFOs and secret weaponry — the folks in Columbia will be talking about this for quite a while.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy PJ Media’s conservative reporting that not only takes on the radical left and woke media but brings culture and fun news as well? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
