As I predicted earlier, "sky hums" are well on their way to becoming this decade's crop circles or chemtrails: thoroughly debunked, believed by almost no one, and yet there is always someone around to passionately argue in their defense.

 

In the case of sky hums - those seemingly mysterious electronic groaning sounds which have been faked on many Youtube videos, and which sound a great deal like a known musical instrument called a waterphone - now a "respected geophysicist" is stepping forth to promote two of the main theories. 

 

(Do note: this respected geophysicist is a professor at a university in… Azerbaijan.)

 

You know, with solar flares? And stuff? "Destabilizing the magnetosphere" is the phrase used by Dr. Elchin Khalilo. This is one of the most popular explanations, because the sounds seem to come from the sky, and no one really knows what "magnetic particles" are, or how to either prove or disprove them. And they sound so science-y!

 

The main problem with any theory involving our electrically charged atmosphere is that no one can really explain how the noises would happen. The best you can usually hope for, noise-wise, when disrupting an electrical field is a crackle or zap. There is no precedent that I'm aware of for electrical fields creating these slow, low-frequency groaning sounds.

 

And if there was enough activity to cause it, I'm pretty sure the sky would be on fire.

 

I like this theory a little better, in that it at least is a plausible source for low groaning noises. Granted, we have seen plenty of earthquake and lava activity over the millennia, and no one has yet reported it making sounds like this. 

 

Then again, humanity has yet to experience a pole shift. Which - ring the bell, clang clang clang! - Dr. Khalilo is stumping for. 

 

Sure, these noises COULD be the early warning signals of an impending pole shift. Or they could be bored kids playing hijinks with the free iMovie software that came with their Macbooks. It's hard to tell!

 

One thing is for sure: the idea of a pole shift is as terrifying as it is unlikely. I wish people would stop with the scaremongering, especially now that we're in a scary year. It doesn't help anyone to bring on these assertions of nameless dread, and it will no doubt only add to everyone's sense of generalized anxiety.

 

Thanks for nothing, "Dr." Khalilo!