Vineyard owner Rob Butkowski said his homemade “hail cannon” is behind all the noise.
Mysterious “booms” have literally shaken a small town in New Jersey, where residents were baffled by the house-rattling sounds.
“Oh my God. Yes. I just heard a really loud bang,” one resident of Hammonton said in a 911 call obtained by NBC10. “Like it shook the entire house.”
But now the mystery has been solved, as vineyard owner Rob Butkowski said his homemade “hail cannon” is behind all the noise.
Butkowski’s cannon blasts shockwaves into the sky. The goal is to break up cloud formation and scare away birds that he said eat his grape crop.
Butkowski said he is within his rights to use the cannon, and in fact has created a GoFundMe page to raise money “to continue to innovate this incredible technology.”
“This would save farmers hundreds of dollars on crops destroyed by hail, pests and animals,” Butkowski wrote on GoFundMe.
“Create sonic booms with the press of a button. Punch holes in clouds using a high pressure explosive channel. Creates ring capable of reaching 30,000 feet and 1.5 miles wide.”
To date, his fundraiser has seen $225 in donations.
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