LOCATION FILE

Bell Island Boom

FOLLOW

Bell Island, NL

DIRECTIONS →
UNEXPLAINEDEvent 2 April 1978Island communityDOCUMENTEDLEGEND

OVERVIEW

An iron-mining island in Conception Bay where, at about 11:00 a.m. on 2 April 1978, an enormous explosion centred on the Bickford farm was heard up to 100 kilometres away and recorded by seismographs across Newfoundland.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

Witnesses reported blinding flashes, fried televisions and melted wiring; a fuse reportedly shot from a fuse box trailed by blue flame, and an outbuilding was moved off its foundation. Proposed explanations range from superbolt lightning to a meteor; none has been confirmed, and the event fell inside a run of roughly 600 unexplained booms reported along the eastern seaboard in 1977–78.

VISITING

The island is reachable by ferry from Portugal Cove; the boom site is private farmland.

SITE PLAN

UPLOAD A PLAN

No plan on file yet.

A plan of the building or grounds is what a second team opens on a phone in the dark. Going there? Volunteer to map it, then upload your plan.

EXTERNAL RESOURCES

Curated references and articles coming soon.

INVESTIGATION RECORD

0 GROUPS · 0 VISITS

No group has logged an investigation here yet.

HISTORICAL RECORD · 0 CITED ENTRIES

SIGN IN TO CONTRIBUTE

No cited entries yet. Deeds, newspaper reports, census lines, photographs, ledgers — anything with a source.

COMMUNITY EVIDENCE

SIGN IN TO VIEW

Evidence filed at this location — photos, recordings, documents, notes — is visible to signed-in investigators.

GROUP FINDINGS

← BACK TO MAP