Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-05-21
STRANGE SOUNDS.
GUNS OF euRRISAuL AND OTHER
MYsTlFYINc PHENOMENA

Noises Made by Natural Causes For which
No Explanatiou Has Ever Been Found.
Famous Sounds In yariou. Part. =, ~.
Earth Have Scared Many.
OF strange sounds which probably de.
pend on meteorological or other natural
causes, one of the most remarkable has
long Deen known as ''the guns of Bur-
risaul," but though its causes have long
been debated no accurate explanation
has been given, SO far as we are aware.
that is thoroughly satisfactory. The
Sunderbunds-as the delta of the Ganpes
in native dialect is called-is covered
with vast and luxuriant Jungle Of
marshy vegetation. One of the stations
is named Burrisaul. From here, in the
rainy season. have long been heard mys-
terious sounds resembling the discharge
OF artillery. and therefore popularity
named 1.-The guns of Burrisaul."
: Only heard in the rainy season and
from the southwark, they have been
heard 100 miles off, yet on the coast il.
self they appear still farther south. The
sounds resemble the booming of cannon.
Mussulman and Hindoo superstitions
have each associated the sounds with
their religious traditions. Others have
thought the sounds were produced bv the
breaking OF the sea on an island in the
bay OF Bengal. But where? That some
atmospheric or meteorological cause is
the explanation is all that can be said
after hearing all arguments.
A much humber yet ancient instance
of great local interest used to exist. we
believe, at Baddeley, in the New forest.
in the shape of groaning tree. Whether
it still lives and groans we are uncer.
tain, but it is said to have uttered mys-
FERROUS and lugubrious sounds at certain
times, probably dependent on wind or
weather. but full of omen and import to
past generations. Indeed in the various
mysteries which, despite fin de steele
acuteness, still surround us, eerie noises
have always played a most conspicuous
part, whether out of doors or within
ancient houses. Instances of the latter,
indeed, abound. Some of the most thrill
ing of inexplicable ghost stories turn
not on anything which has appalled, the
eyes, but has distilled horror" through
the ears. 1t is, we believe, in East An
glia that the shrieks heard from time to
time round certain pits have long beer.
a tradition in which q female phantom
has part.
The drummer of Tedworth's" phan.
tom sounds are SO well known FROM
Aubrey and more modern DISORDERS as
only to need allusion, but we may here
say that, according to communication
in popular periodical some few years
back, similar sounds had recently, com
paratively speaking. been heard in the
locality, and by people of most practical
disposition. These may be called phan
tom sounds. Returning again to those
which hover on the border line between
the natural and inexplicable, there is tn.
wild strain as of weird music which has
been heard aboard ships when getting
within the circle of Mozambique cy.
clone.
One Of the same kird, formerly mys-
FERROUS and thrilling enough, has been
resolved into natural one. Early trav-
elers through the primeval forests Of
Brazil-still among the few unexplore,l
places of the globe-were astonished and
awed to hear the distant resonant sound
Of bell pealing from the depths of the
woods, which certainly had no building
and for ages had known no human foot
step. Many legend was woven round
the strange sound. Ultimately it was
discovered to be the note of the bell bird.
There are, however, few mysterious
sounds which have been as satisfactorily
explained rs this. For instance, there is
the legend of the sounds heard at times
on the plains of Marathon, the clash of
weapons, the snorting of horses, the
shouting Of the slayers and screeching
Of the slain," which recall to memory
the famous battle that lives SO much
more wildly than many modern ones in
the history of tine world. Of course
there are many instances of sounds
which, at first mysterious, become so re-
ally from the distance over which they
Travelled, but these must be distinguished
from those which are our theme.
One of the most interesting examples
rests on the authority of the late Sir Ed
mund Head, who remembered when a
boy going to church on the famous
Waterloo Sunday" June IS, 1915, at
Hythe, in Kent. His father and he, on
arriving at the church ut II a. m, found
to their surprise the congregation out
side listening intently to the faint sound
as of distant cannon coming from the
east. Afterward it was ascertained that
Napoleon having, on the flor him) IN
fortunate advice of his artillery officers,
who pleaded the state of the ground.
waited till II to commence his fire, the
first French gun was fired as the Nivelles
church clock struck II. Nor was Hythe
the only place where the French cannon
were heard in England.
Here, however. is fact dependent on
the by no means remarkable axiom that
sound under certain conditions travels
enormous distances. But the sounds of
which we speak for the most part have
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