Loud Noise At Night

[Happiness is a Warm Gun]

This is barely related to lucid dreaming, but I just had a very odd experience that I'd like to share: It's around 3:30AM here in SoCal (the time when I normally hop off the computer and go to bed), and having gotten the rare chance for a late afternoon nap, I'm wide awake. I'm reading a PDF of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, mostly just skimming to try to get past the stuff I'm already familiar with into the real meat of the book. Suddenly, there's a loud BANG from my right. It sounds like something may have slammed into my wall or roof. It's loud enough that I can hear the wood of the house strain with the impact, the neighborhood dogs all go nuts. After sitting for a couple seconds and asking myself whether or not I want to acknowledge what just happened, I conclude that it would be wise to perform a flashlight investigation. The investigation produced absolutely nothing. This is disturbing, because this impact was loud and sudden enough that there's no cause I can imagine that wouldn't leave some sort of obvious evidence. My first thought was that someone had very quietly gotten on the roof or outside my window (years ago I found someone hiding outside my window late at night), and then slipped and collided with the house. But while this would create the correct type of sound, I wouldn't be able to produce the correct volume without charging at my wall with full force, and such an impact would make it impossible for me to make such a quick, quiet getaway on foot (this is a very quiet street at night, car engines and even human footsteps are a rarity, and easily recognizable). My second thought was that I was losing it, or falling asleep and experiencing the loud boom I've often heard associated with hypnagogic hallucinations. Neither of these theories pan out either, both because I'm completely positive that I was wide awake, and because the neighborhood dogs clearly heard the noise as well; it couldn't have just been in my head. Finally, I considered tectonic shifts, but I just can't imagine tectonic shifts producing a sound like this; it sounded very clearly like the result of a collision between a large, fast-moving object and my house. Well, that's all I've got, thanks for reading. I realize that this is a huge post to be writing over something as mundane as hearing a loud noise at night, but I hope I've effectively communicated why I found this experience unsettling. If anyone would like to share their thoughts, I'd appreciate the input.

[Dizko]

A large dead bird perhaps? Could all of it, including the dogs, have been a dream?

[Forsaken]

High voltage fuse on a power line perhaps. Every transformer has one, and they are LOUD like a shotgun blast when they go. Most common cause of them blowing is a small animal making a roast out of itself. Other thoughts; do you have any trees that hang over the roof which bear large fruit, like avacados? Or could a branch have fallen? What about an engine missfire? Or maybe just some kid playing with explosive fireworks. Maybe a freak close-by lightning strike. Hell, even a meteorite, icey metorites can explode violently while still in the air, and make a loud boom, though it's reeeeaally rare to witness that.

[sweetmercyday4]

I had this happen to me also and it turned out to be a car crashing close by. The impact of the auto was in such great force it made the walls shutter and it gave off a loud bang. This was also late at night. Seems like sound carries more at night when everything is so still.

[The Cusp]

I've had that happen as well. I was falling asleep when I heard what sounded like a small thunder clap right above me dresser. At first I thought it might have been HI, or come from my neighbours, but the neighbours pounded on the wall afterwards, making a very different sound. So they heard it as well. I have no idea what it was. It definitely came from inside my room.

[jeckel]

It is not as crazy as you think. It is related to ld. It is called exploding head syndrome andsome people have been reported to have heard music. I have heard the lound bang and woke up. research exploding head syndrome

[JustBe]

One word...Aliens...

[Panthau]

Hi there, my first post here. Im coming from astralpulse.com, where we take things the other way round. LD is a gateway to OBE, thats the reason why people talk about it on boards like astralpulse. This loud "bang" is a natural sign that you´re about to leave your body. I had it myself a few times. Some say that its the consciousness leaving the body through the pineal gland. So, i think you LD people should read a bit about OBE. It seems like dreaming is something which happens on the astral planes, and theres no need to limit it to this. As written on "Lucid dreaming is much more we ever imagined - a key to external life." Pan

[Bonsay]

It is not as crazy as you think. It is related to ld. It is called exploding head syndrome andsome people have been reported to have heard music. I have heard the lound bang and woke up. research exploding head syndrome It was so loud that the dogs heard it? Could it have been a dog hitting the house? If you're sure you were awake I'd go with the realistic explanations. Like a robber or an explosion far away.

[Hazel]

It is not as crazy as you think. It is related to ld. It is called exploding head syndrome andsome people have been reported to have heard music. I have heard the lound bang and woke up. research exploding head syndrome It couldn't be exploding head syndrome if the dogs heard it.... Really, it could've been any number of things. Sometimes the house itself will make loud popping/banging noises, espeically in at the beginning of the night or in the early mornings, due to temperature changes outside. I remember a few summers ago, after my dad had open heart surgery, he would be the only one in the house during the mornings after everyone else left. He'd take a shower pretty early, and he said that every morning without fail there would be a loud BANG on the door as if someone had pounded on it. He wasn't sure what it was, but it seems like the quickly rising temperature inside the bathroom (as opposed to the relatively cold temperature in the hallway) could have caused the door to make such a noise.

[VividNightStalker]

Sup bro! so cal here to man. Well last night I had some very very interesting dreams and yes LUCID BABY. Well it was werid tho, i had them in the past but i had more control. I also stay up late into the morning (online gammer) I went to bed around same time as you, 2am, to 3 am. I feel asleep, heard a big bang. I wake up and everything in my room looked the same as i left it when i went to sleep...cept my window was open. I was like fuck that big bang must of been someone breaking into my home. So put on my pants go outside and its raining fire lol...i'm like ok i'm dreaming, i knew right away becuase everytime i go to bed, i read these forums to get me remebering and in the mindstate. I then had very hard time keeping the dream stable when I found out i was lucid. I woke up with my head buzzing and my eyes tripping balls with werid visuals. I then get up take a piss. lay back down and enter another state, this time my body was feeling warm and fuzzy, numb and vibrating, 10 mins later i enter a dream already lucid. Once again i had a hard time keeping it stable, this would happen off and on untill the late afternoon, around 1 30 pm, about an hour ago. I never had this happen, Each time i went back into those lucid states it would be picking up where the dream left off when i woke up before.