By Michael Bushnell

Northeast News

January 4, 2017

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Is the truth actually out there?

The mysterious jet-noise that caused local social media outlets to erupt in a variety of conspiracy theories this past Sunday evening remains just that several days later: a mystery.

The sound, which resembled the burner on a hot-air balloon, began at around 7:30 pm and seemed to emanate from the area just Northeast of Chouteau and Belmont. Speculation ranged from trains, jets, gas releases from area industries or even a giant a wind tunnel. The noise was loud, constant and it was heard from as far away as the Gracemoor neighborhood near Worlds of Fun to the north and City Market to the west. One report came from about 17th and Hardesty, and all the reports were the same: a loud, rushing sound like a stationary jet plane.

First thing Monday morning, the Northeast News started reaching out to industries in that area including KCP&L, The city’s Water Treatment Plant, Bayer Crop Science and Praxair, an industrial gas supplier just down the hill from Super Flea. All responded that their plants recorded no events at the time the sound was being heard. Praxair indicated that they have pipelines to the Bayer plant and anything that would have happened at Bayer would have impacted intake gauges at their facility. We decided to reach out a little farther so we called the Sugar Creek Fire and Police dispatching office and asked about the Buckeye Transfer station on the site of the old Standard Oil facility at the intersection of Kentucky Road and Sterling. According to their Dispatch office, no calls for service were received for either the transfer station or in the vicinity of the LaFarge cement plant farther East.

An inquiry with the KCPD Media Unit also yielded no further details related to the mystery noise, but we’ll continue to keep our ears to the ground on this one. If we get any additional details we’ll be sure to provide updates.