Forest Grove Sound

Last updated

The Forest Grove Sound was an unexplained noise, described by The Oregonian as a "mechanical scream", heard in Forest Grove, Oregon in February 2016.

External videos
YouTube 2024.svg
News report by KOIN 6
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg "Mysterious Forest Grove noise puzzles neighboors" on YouTube

In February 2016, a high-pitched noise was heard intermittently at night in Forest Grove, Oregon. The Department of Forestry determined that their equipment was not the cause of the sound. [1] The news about the noise was first shared with Dave Nemeyer by a Forest Grove resident, who posted a video of it on the city's Facebook page. [2] The Washington Post described the noise as sounding like a "giant flute played off pitch", car brakes, or a steam whistle. [3] NBC News described it as "akin to a bad one-note violin solo broadcast over a microphone with nonstop feedback". [4] It reportedly lasted from ten seconds to several minutes at a time. The fire department of Forest Grove did not consider the sound to be a safety risk. [5] The noise occurred near Gales Creek Road. Neither the City of Forest Grove Public Works Department nor the Fire Department were able to explain the noise. According to NW Natural, there were no problems with gas lines in Forest Grove at the time. [6] In February 2016, Andrew Dawes, a professor of physics at Pacific University, mapped the locations where the noise had been heard, although the results were inconclusive and did not suggest any single location. [7] [8]

Throughout February 2016, approximately 200 calls were made to the Forest Grove Police Department, according to Captain Mike Herb, who said that most of the calls were suggesting explanations for the sound, ranging from frogs to aliens to Bigfoot. In late-February 2016, the Forest Grove Police Department announced via Facebook that the noise did not pose a safety hazard, [9] and the police announced they were halting their investigation until further information appeared. However, after February 2016, the noise was not heard. The final point was plotted on Dawes' map on February 27, 2016, [4] and the police and fire departments closed the case. Dave Nemeyer, the Forest Grove Fire Marshal, suspected the noise to be "a faulty attic fan or heat pump." [10] [11]

In October 2016 Theatre in the Grove, a performing arts theatre in Forest Grove, created a haunted house based on the Forest Grove noise called "Aliens in the Grove". [12] [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest Grove, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, 25 miles (40 km) west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a commuter town in the Portland metro area. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850, then incorporated in 1872, making it the first city in Washington County. The population was 21,083 at the 2010 census, an increase of 19.1% over the 2000 figure (17,708).

KGW is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Jefferson Street in southwestern Portland, and its transmitter is located in the city's Sylvan-Highlands section. KGW also served as the Portland bureau for co-owned regional news channel Northwest Cable News before it shut down on January 6, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Harman</span> Miss America 2002, classical vocalist and actress

Katie Marie Harman Ebner is an American classical vocalist and actress who won the Miss America 2002 and Miss Oregon 2001 pageants. She is the first and only contestant from the Pacific Northwestern United States to hold the title of Miss America.

William Arthur Hilliard was an American journalist. He was editor of The Oregonian, the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, from 1987 to 1994 and was that newspaper's first African-American editor. He was also president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1993–94.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KPOJ</span> Radio station in Portland, Oregon

KPOJ is a commercial radio station in Portland, Oregon. It airs a sports radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. KPOJ airs two local sports shows on weekdays, Rip City Mornings with Justin Myers from 6 to 9 a.m. and Rip City Drive with Dwight and Chad in afternoon drive time. In middays, KPOJ carries nationally syndicated sports programs: The Rich Eisen Show, The Doug Gottlieb Show and Covino & Rich. The Fox Sports Radio Network is heard nights and weekends. The KPOJ studios are on SW 68th Parkway in Tigard.

<i>The Hillsboro Argus</i>

The Hillsboro Argus was a twice-weekly newspaper in the city of Hillsboro, Oregon, from 1894 to 2017, known as the Washington County Argus for its final year. The Argus was distributed in Washington County, Oregon, United States. First published in 1894, but later merged with the older, 1873-introduced Forest Grove Independent, the paper was owned by the McKinney family for more than 90 years prior to being sold to Advance Publications in 1999. The Argus was published weekly until 1953, then twice-weekly from 1953 until 2015. In early 2017, it was reported that the paper was planning to cease publication in March 2017. The final edition was that of March 29, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest Grove High School</span> Public school in Oregon, United States

Forest Grove High School (FGHS) is a public high school in Forest Grove, Oregon. Founded in 1907, it is the only high school in the Forest Grove School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Wheeler</span> American politician (born 1962)

Edward Tevis Wheeler is an American politician who has served as the mayor of Portland, Oregon since 2017. He was Oregon State Treasurer from 2010 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Kyron Horman</span> Unsolved 2010 disappearance of an American boy

Kyron Richard Horman is an American boy who disappeared from Skyline Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, on June 4, 2010, after attending a science fair. Local and state police, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), conducted an exhaustive search and launched a criminal investigation, but have not uncovered any significant information regarding the child's whereabouts. Horman's disappearance sparked the largest criminal investigation in Oregon history. To this day, his whereabouts remain unknown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasmine Ash</span> American singer-songwriter

Jasmine Ash is an American singer-songwriter, from Portland, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OR-7</span> First wolf in western Oregon since 1947 and in California since 1924

OR-7, also known as Journey, was a male gray wolf that was electronically tracked as he migrated from the Wallowa Mountains in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oregon to the southern Cascade Range. After the wolf dispersed from his natal pack in 2011, he wandered generally southwest for more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) through Oregon and northern California. He was the first confirmed wild wolf in western Oregon since 1947 and the first in California since 1924.

<i>News-Times</i> (Forest Grove) Newspaper in Forest Grove, Oregon

The News-Times is a weekly newspaper covering the cities of Forest Grove and Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1886 and with coverage focused on Forest Grove for most of its history, the paper only recently added equivalent coverage of the much larger city of Hillsboro, when, in August 2019, publisher Pamplin Media Group launched a separate Hillsboro edition of the News-Times, to replace Pamplin's Hillsboro Tribune. The paper is published on Wednesdays. It is owned by Pamplin Media Group, which owns other community newspapers in the Portland metropolitan area.

<i>Forest Grove Leader</i>

The Forest Grove Leader was a weekly community newspaper in Forest Grove in the U.S. state of Oregon. Started in 2012, it was published by the Oregonian Publishing Company, which also published The Hillsboro Argus newspaper and continues to publish The Oregonian. The free publication competed with the News-Times in the city, a suburb of the Portland metropolitan area. In January 2016, it was combined with two other newspapers to form the Washington County Argus, but the Argus ceased publication only 14 months later, in March 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest Grove Fire and Rescue</span>

Forest Grove Fire and Rescue is the municipal fire department for the city of Forest Grove, Oregon. Started in 1894, the department has two stations used to provide fire fighting and emergency medical services to both the city and the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District. The department also provides administrative support to the neighboring Cornelius Fire Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Portland, Oregon, mayoral election</span>

On Tuesday, May 17, 2016, an election was held in Portland, Oregon, to elect the mayor. Ted Wheeler was elected after garnering 54% of the primary vote. Incumbent mayor Charlie Hales did not seek a second term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge</span> 2016 militant action in Oregon, US

On January 2, 2016, an armed group of right-wing militants seized and occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, and continued to occupy it until law enforcement made a final arrest on February 11, 2016. Their leader was Ammon Bundy, who participated in the 2014 Bundy standoff at his father's Nevada ranch. Other members of the group were loosely affiliated with non-governmental militias and the sovereign citizen movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's March on Portland</span> 2017 protest in Portland, Oregon

The Women's March on Portland, also known as the Portland Women's March, the Women's March on Washington, Portland, and Women's March Portland, was an event in Portland, Oregon. Scheduled to coincide with the 2017 Women's March, it was held on January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump. The march was one of the largest public protests in Oregon's history with crowd estimates as high as 100,000 participants. No arrests were made during the demonstration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homelessness in Oregon</span>

In 2016, a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) revealed that the U.S. state of Oregon had an estimated homeless population of 13,238 with about 60.5% of these people still unsheltered. In 2017, these numbers were even higher. As of January 2017, Oregon has an estimated 13,953 individuals experiencing homelessness. Of this homeless population, 1,083 are family households, 1,251 are veterans, 1,462 are unaccompanied young adults, and 3,387 are individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. As of 2022, 17,959 people total experienced homelessness in Oregon, with 2,157 individuals being youth under 18, 6,671 being female, 10,931 being male, and 131 being transgender. Also among the 17,959 total homeless in 2022, 15,876 were Non-Hispanic/Non-Latino, 2,083 were Hispanic/Latino, 13,960 were white, 1,172 were Black, African American, or African, 101 were Asian or Asian American, 880 were Native American, and those of multiple race were 1,619. Oregon has seen an increase in its total homeless population consistently every year since 2010. In last three years specifically Oregon has seen a 98.5% increase 2021-2022, 22.5% increase 2020-2021, and a 13.1% increase 2019-2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eagle Creek Fire</span> Major 2017 wildfire in Columbia Gorge, Oregon

The Eagle Creek Fire was a destructive wildfire in the Columbia River Gorge, largely in the U.S. state of Oregon, with smaller spot-fires in Washington. The fire was started on September 2, 2017, by a 15-year-old boy igniting fireworks during a burn ban. The fire burned 50,000 acres, and burned for three months, before being declared completely contained. As late as May 29, 2018, it was still found smoldering in some areas.

References

  1. Cook, Katherine (25 February 2016). "Forest Grove Neighbors Mystified by Annoying Noise". KGW. Archived from the original on 11 August 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  2. Pelletiere, Nicole (17 February 2016). "Mysterious Shrieking Sound Frustrates Oregon Community". ABC News. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  3. Holley, Peter (21 February 2016). "Listen to the mysterious nocturnal noise baffling experts and terrifying an Oregon community". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 19 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 Fieldstadt, Elisha (28 May 2016). "Mystery of Forest Grove, Oregon, Noise May Never Be Solved". NBC News . Archived from the original on 20 November 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  5. Rose, Joseph (22 February 2016). "Why Forest Grove should be freaked out by mysterious nocturnal noise". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  6. Weisberg, Brent (15 February 2016). "Mysterious Forest Grove noise puzzles neighbors". KOIN 6. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  7. Cook, Katherine (26 February 2016). "Professor mapping mysterious Forest Grove noise". KGW. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  8. Rose, Joseph (24 February 2016). "Forest Grove's creepy noise: Physicist tries to map mystery sound". The Oregonian . Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  9. Campuzano, Eder (24 February 2016). "Forest Grove police address mystery noise on Facebook". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  10. Rose, Joseph (31 March 2016). "Forest Grove's creepy noise: Authorities close case; no J.J. Abrams movie". The Oregonian . Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  11. Pitawanich, Christine (25 February 2016). "Forest Grove Noise Spurs Flood of Calls, Emails to Authorities". KGW. Archived from the original on 2 July 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  12. Swindler, Samantha (23 October 2016). "Forest Grove Mystery Noise inspires this year's Haunted Theatre". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 19 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  13. Cook, Katherine (20 October 2016). "Mysterious Forest Grove noise becomes theater's Halloween theme". KGW. Archived from the original on 23 October 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.

45°31′11″N123°6′38″W / 45.51972°N 123.11056°W / 45.51972; -123.11056