Mysterious Hum in Bay Ridge

Posted by mike as Unsolved Mystery

The Brooklyn Paper has reported about a strange humming in Bay Ridge near the Owls Head sewage treatment plant that is so loud it keeps residents awake at night. The humming has been blamed on many things, from passing trains to UFO’s. Initial, the most likely culprit was the Owl Head sewage treatment plant itself.

Officials were called to investigate the issue as complaints began to pile up. They concluded Owl Head sewage treatment plant was not the cause of the sound. If it wasn’t the plant, the UFO, or passing trains, where was this mysterious buzzing coming from?

The male toadfish’s mating call is now the chief suspect (but is it a toad or a fish). To attract mates, it produces a sound similiar to a foghorn. I can’t imagine a fish making a foghorn sound…that seems strange. The toadfish’s spawning season is from April to October.

The toadfish

Andrew Bass, a Cornell University professor of neurobiology and behavior, tested the toadfish theory himself and disagrees that they are the source of the noise.

“I placed an underwater microphone into the water at several locations off of Pier 69 and heard no signs of toadfish sounds,” Bass told me, sticking to his story. “It is highly unlikely that any of the noise that residents are complaining about have their origins from fish.”

So what’s causing all the noise, then? This mystery may never be solved…