The Barisal Guns
Out over the delta, on calm days, people heard booms like distant cannon fire, with no guns anywhere.
What was reported
In the 19th century, people living around Barisal in the Ganges delta described deep booms, like cannon fired far away, rolling in from the direction of the sea. Henry Beveridge, a British civil servant, wrote about them in his 1876 history of the district, and the name 'Barisal guns' stuck.
Similar booms were reported across the delta, often during the rainy season. Reports faded in the 20th century, and the sound became a classic example of what are now called skyquakes.
Explanations offered
Suggestions include distant thunder carried a long way over water, surf breaking on sandbanks, small earthquakes in the soft delta sediments, and gas escaping from the ground. None has been confirmed, and similar sounds are still reported in other coastal areas around the world.
- When
- Reported from the 1870s
- Where
- Barisal, Ganges delta, Bangladesh
- Witnesses
- Villagers, boatmen and British officials
- Status
- Unexplained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.