Was this ‘the hum’? Or what else was this noise in London last night?

[UAintMyMuvva]

Not strictly an AIBU but didn’t know where else to post. I’m sorry if this is long, but I want to explain this clearly.

I live in a north London suburb - quiet residential street about 5 mins from a small high street and 10 mins from the North Circular Road.

Woke up about 4am thinking I heard a plane going overhead. Not unusual in normal times as we live under a flight path, but for the last few weeks I’ve not heard any planes, so it seemed strange. Thought maybe a military plane or something?

Lay awake listening for about 20 mins and it sounded like a plane circling, but not directly overhead, maybe somewhere in the distance. Then started to think I’d been mistaken, as the noise sounded more like the rumbling of a busy motorway or maybe a train in the distance. It was a humming, buzzing, rumbling sound.

Eventually got up and opened my windows to look/listen out. Street was dead. Sky was clear. The noise was louder and seemed to be coming from ‘out there’ somewhere in the city, not actually overhead, and wasn’t really coming from any clear direction - just all around. It wasn’t coming from the high street (this has been silent at night since lockdown, but I recognise the sound of the odd car from such a close distance, and this wasn’t it).

The noise was also getting louder and then quietening again and so on, but not in any particularly rhythmic way (like how a circling helicopter would sound).

Woke DH up and asked if he could hear it. He could. Decided to check the TFL jam cams online to see if there were any military trucks or delivery trucks on any of the main roads nearby, including the North Circ. Nothing. The roads were completely dead on all the cams in north London (bar the odd ambulance, which was eerie).

Started googling what it could be and the thing that kept coming up was The Hum, an unexplained humming/rumbling sound that is probably best known in the UK for being noticed in Bristol (I’d never actually heard of it before).

Anyway, the noise was still going at about 6am when I fell asleep. Woke again at 8am and it had gone, just silence and birdsong on my street.

I know nobody can give me a definitive answer, but was this ‘the hum’, do you think? What else could it have been? It freaked me out quite badly as it just so strange and persistent and a bit ominous in these coronavirus times!

It hasn't happened to me for years, but I used to wake up after hearing a very loud noise...

It’s called exploding head syndrome. For real

Exploding head syndrome (EHS) is a condition in which a person experiences unreal noises that are loud and of short duration when falling asleep or waking up. The noise may be frightening, typically occurs only occasionally, and is not a serious health concern.

sleepeducation.org/sleep-disorders-by-category/parasomnias/exploding-head-syndrome/overview-facts

Im in south wales we had Chinooks going over our house a week or so ago at night and it shook our house and then rumbled for quite a while when it left us. I know the same happened in Bristol in the same week during the night and/or following day

I'm right near Bowes Park station and could hear it.

@ChandlerIsTheBestFriend you keep repeatedly asking ‘why’ @UAintMyMuvva needed to wake her dh to ask if he could hear the hum.

@UAintMyMuvva ought to be re-enforcing her user name to you ....

There’s a persistent irritating noise on this thread too

@TheClitterati that's a plane doing aerial surveys, it's very common and nothing sinister.

Whatever it was, it's probably far enough away from you so that it's only heard at night and in certain weather conditions. (I say that because the way you described the fading in and out fits into that.)

With the current circumstances, the usual constant background noises that surround you night probably mask it, which would explain why you haven't hear it before. (Might also give an explanation to why it stopped in the morning, more background noises, though there's no knowing if it just stopped anyway.)

Don't know how far sound can travel with the right conditions and lack of other noses masking it. I've heard the end part of concerts (when it's a still night) where I live from a sports stadium about 8 or 9km away, clear enough to know the song, but never heard a sports event (held during the day).

If you have train tracks relatively near it was probably a rail grinder aka most eery noise ever (Google them). Freaked me out for weeks when I first heard it.

I used to live in N12 as a child.

I also heard thid hum and I live in south east London/Kent. Nearish to a railway line so I suppose it could be that.

Not all planes are grounded - there are still cargo planes. I've got a friend who is cabin crew and she's worked on planes very recently who are bringing British people who were stranded overseas.

The hum wasn't a plane I don't think ....

Was it an electric substation? We live near one and ever so often in the early mornings it makes a really loud humming noise!

OP what surprises me the most is all these experts in your marriage commenting. My DH would have been upset if I didn’t wake him!

That Manchester tower block is as creepy as all fuck.

Another neighbour here. But I slept through it - feel a bit cheated!

There's probably lots of reasons, all over the country, and many non sinister explanations. Such as overnight railway or motorway works, power lines etc. These can be heard for at least a couple of miles, especially at night or when there is no wind masking the noise.

I used to work for a public body that members of the public could phone up with queries about certain things that were concerned about. Most were sensible and related to what we did, but there were several more unusual enquiries and I remember 'the hum' being mentioned more than once and this is probably 15-20 years ago.

Some people were determined that it was something sinister and/or the cause of whatever ailment was troubling them and unfortunately there was nothing useful we could tell them other than if they had concerns about their physical or mental health to talk to their GP. I'm not aware of any sinister or secret reason for 'the hum' and fully believe all the rational transport or electricity supply related explanations.

Weve got one here and I've always presumed it's some kind of generator or something to do with industry. We do have one of the biggest industrial estates in europe a few miles away so I've always thought it must be coming from there. It's very loud at night but comes in waves..pulsates I mean but sometimes its quiet. I've got used to it now

Could be a plane. A military plane (big one, can't remember name/number) has been using various airports this week to practice landing and taking off (touch/go landings?). It was making a very loud rumbling sound when I saw/heard it.

There are still airplanes flying. Yesterday I was in Dukes Meadows in Chiswick and a plane flew above my head so low I could see Quatar written on it’s belly.

Hey all
I am in NW11 and last night after midnight for the first time I heard this low frequency constant bass like drone. After about 25 minutes it pulsated about 5-6 times very heavily. It was a very Very heavy bass sounds with the pulsations.
Its not trains and its not vehicles of any
Kind as the noise did not fluctuate at all it was extremely constant. Motion would cause some fluctuation.
I’ve never heard anything like it.

Don't know how far sound can travel with the right conditions and lack of other noses masking it.

In a book I was reading last night (non-fiction) three people were on a mountain top in NZ and could have a conversation from 1km away. I used to routinely hear school children playing out 3/4 mile away from my house and a folk music concert a mile away (during the day).