Friday, November 5, 2010

Greenville Spartanburg SC Hum | Kokomo Hum

Maybe you've heard of the Kokomo Hum that has incessantly driven residents of Kokomo, Indiana crazy hum. That hum can cause insomnia and irritability.

Well, there is no question about it, Spartanburg, SC has a low hum as well. I noticed it a couple of years ago and it really was irritating, especially at night when you were trying to sleep. The whole house is quiet and when you put your ear to the pillow, it amplifies the hum.

My first thought is that the hum was inside my house as it sounded like an electrical hum, but after shutting down all the power to the house, the hum remained. There is a golf course with a high powered well down the street about a mile from me and I wondered if that was it. To this day I don't know what caused it. However, the hum did stop briefly during the summer months of 2010. That's when the golf course sprinklers should have been going full blast, so I don't think the golf course well is the cause.

The Spartanburg/ Boiling Springs hum has returned during October of 2010; however it is much less pronounced than it was last year.

I was thinking it was isolated to one area, but I drove 40 minutes to my girlfriend's house last Fall in 2009, and sure enough, she had it too. I asked if she could hear it and she said absolutely. She was living in Taylors, SC, right next to Greenville, South Carolina.

If anyone has heard it or has any idea what the source is please leave your comments as I'm very interested the the Upstate Hum in Greenville and Spartanburg, SC.

Other references:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

ABC News: Complaints about the Hum

11 comments:

William Bryant said...

Well, we did have that earthquake recently. I don't think it's ever really quiet enough around my place to hear it.

Anonymous said...

Just wondering if you've found anything to help alleviate the hum? Is there anything you've found to do to make it not so noticeable?

Unknown said...

Currently, the Spartanburg hum is at a very low level. I use the white noise of an air purifier set on high while I sleep to help reduce it's distracting hum.

I've also added those high density microfoam earplugs when they step it up to higher levels.

However, when the hum is at it's peak, I've found absolutely nothing can overcome the penetration of the low pitched hum. It's maddening.

I welcome any suggestions on this comment thread to alleviate the hum's ability to be so pervasive. Please share any tips.

Unknown said...

If anyone knows what could create a hum in the Upstate of South Carolina that easily covers both Greenville and Spartanburg, please enlighten us. I'd love to know the source.

Anonymous said...

I live in Kokomo, in and have starting hearing it when I built my new house. I did not hear it when it made the news 12-13 years ago
Chris Markiewicz
Kokomo, IN

Unknown said...

We had it here in Spartanburg, SC a few years ago, but it's really subsided. I wish I knew what the sources was. The sound goes through walls because it vibrates the house from the ground to the foundation and then you can even hear it upstairs.

I even went 40 miles away to my girlfriend's house and she could hear it back then. Drove us nuts.

Anonymous said...

We have an unusual high amount of rare neurological fatal disorders in Kokomo, IN (multiple system atrophy). It is about 1 to 2 out of 100,000 but in our town of 47,000 we know of at least 4 that live within a 4-5 mile radius. We need to be investigated by yhe EPA. Please HELP.
Chris Markiewicz
Ps: I am one of them.

Unknown said...

I just noticed the Spartanburg/Greenville SC hum returned yesterday on 3/24/2012.
Drat!

Anonymous said...

I can completely relate to what you're all hearing. I moved to the Tacoma area 9 years ago. The first night in our new house, I couldn't sleep because of a low rumbling (like vibration in my ear.) At first I thought it was a truck idling nearby in my very suburban area, but no. Every night, around 11pm it gets worse. And it causes such insomnia in me. During the day you can hear it if you sit in your car with the windows up, but not as pronounced. Don't bother closing the windows at home, it makes it worse. Earplugs? Doesn't help, because it's a vibration. If you use your finger to close your year, the sound disappears -- it's really more of a vibration, but very very low.

A few years later we moved to another part of town, and the sound was gone. Recently moved back to the first area, and the sound is back and worse. It stops for a few days here and there (oddly while the last two shuttle take offs and landings happened.) If it's particularly bad, a few members of the family hear it, but usually it's one family member in most houses that hears it. But anyone who hears it describes it exactly the same. A low hum/rumble, that pulses, and gets worse around 11pm or so, and you can almost hear it revving up at that time of night.

People in West Seattle, Vashon Island (home of the Vashon Hum,) parts of Tacoma toward Vashon, and Gig Harbor, hear it. I never heard this sound before moving here, and when I leave the area, it does not come with me. In fact it takes a day or two to start back up when I get home, which makes me think that it vibrates the inside of the ear and is progressive.

I seriously have not gotten many good nights of sleep since moving back to this area 2 years agol. It's maddening. You put your ear on the pillow and the hum goes up through the pillow, because it's a vibration not a sound exactly. White noise apps on my phone help a bit, but it doesn't mask it. I worry that it's harming my hearing, as I'm noticing I don't hear anything well when the sound is going.

Cannot wait to move out of this area. I have no idea what's causing this, and there are so many odd theories of underground bases, HAARP, spacequakes, nuclear submarines using thru-ground sonar, that it's hard to know what to think. I don't think it's industrial. Drives me crazy that a news station will write a story about it once in a while, but no one credible really looks into it. Obviously it's a widespread issue, from the UK to Kokomo, to Taos, to Greenville, to Vashon Island.

Unknown said...

It left the Spartanburg SC area for a while, but lately it's returned. It's not quite as intense as it was 2 years ago.

I agree with you that nothing really helps block the low vibration. It is maddening!

I wonder what the source is?

Unknown said...

Fish blamed for creating hum in West Seatle, WA: http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2012/09/07/fish-mating-call-blamed-for-loud-humming-sound-in-west-seattle/.