What trans fatty acids were to 2007 and global warming was to 2006 and cigarette smoking was to...well, every year since 1960...fracking was to 2011.  That is, to say, the blame-all for everything, even without any science basis. Third hand smoke causes cancer believers, I mean you.

Sure, there are lots of earthquakes in California, and it has no fracking, but that does not prevent anyone from contending earthquakes are caused by fracking, along with the poles flipping or any other nonsense related to fracking we all read last year.

Mystery booms in Wisconsin, though, are perfect for anti-science kooks. All they have to say is, "No one knows what it is so you can't prove it is not fracking" - and they are right, I cannot disprove a negative, any more than they can prove I am not Adolf Hitler recently emerged from my secret Antarctic fortress now determined to create the Fourth Reich.  

No one seems to know what the mysterious booms in Clintonville are, which means runaway speculation is about to begin. City officials have checked and rechecked methane levels at the local landfill, monitored water, sewer and gas lines, contacted the military about any exercises in the area, reviewed mining explosive permits and inspected the Pigeon River dam next to city hall.

Nothing. And there is no mining or heavy construction nearby.  But fracking is soooo 2011 - it was nearly as big a cliche in science media as 'false equivalence' so it sounds boring.  Maybe we can blame the Mayan calendar.  It can't be the Norse Ragnarok.  I already predicted that in 2010 and was wrong.

Alex at Neatorama thinks it might be a Mongolian death worm - but that is just being silly.