Jim Mead was fishing 30 years ago on Seneca Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes of central New York, when he experienced what he believes was the phenomenon that has confounded the region for hundreds of years.
He recalled leaning over the side of his boat and seeing something in the water about 20 feet away. A large bubble, which he described as three feet in diameter, shot up from the water’s depths and exploded at the surface with a loud bang.
“It made this really deep boom sound,” said Mr. Mead, 66, who captains pontoon boat cruises to Finger Lakes wineries. “It didn’t make much of a water splash, strangely, but it was a big boom!”
New York State is home to its share of legends. Rip Van Winkle of the Catskill Mountains. The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. There is the Curse of Cohoes Falls on the Mohawk River and the monster of Lake Champlain.
Then there are what are known as the “Seneca Guns” and “Seneca Drums” — intermittent and inexplicable booms that people living near Seneca Lake have reported hearing for centuries. While these noises have been well documented, making them more mystery than myth, their source is shrouded in lore.
The native Seneca people attributed the sounds to a deity furious with a warrior who violated sacred hunting grounds. American folklore spun a different tale: The booms were the drumbeat of a ghost of a Revolutionary War soldier in search of his regiment.
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