BOSTON — People all over New England heard a loud boom on Saturday afternoon. Just after 2pm, people reported hearing a loud sound along with their homes shaking.
“Thought it was a massive cannon, but it was def louder than a cannon. It was incredible, it sounded like a bomb went off,” one man said. “Sounded like a bomb honestly.”
One boom. Millions of confused New Englanders. Video sent to Boston 25 from viewers shows the moment the loud explosion was caught and heard on camera throughout the region.
— Boston 25 News (@boston25) May 30, 2026
STORY: https://t.co/l4DSn04feO pic.twitter.com/aul3h5JizT
He was at the Oak Grove train station in Malden when the noise took him by surprise. Others in Boston weren’t sure what to make of the noise.
“I thought with all the science buildings around, something had happened in one of the buildings,” a woman walking near Boston Commons said. “It sounded like a pretty big explosion, it was very loud.”
The loud sound turned out to be a meteor; the American Meteor Society reported to the Associated Press that the 3-foot meteor entered Earth’s atmosphere “around the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston.”
Officials say people from Delaware to Montreal, Canada, called in to report hearing the loud boom or shaking at their homes.
According to NASA, “The meteor appears to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles over northeast MA and southeast NH.”
#MeteorSighting: Eyewitnesses in New England and @NOAA’s GOES-19 satellite reported a bright fireball on Saturday, May 30, at 2:06 p.m EDT accompanied by a loud noise. The meteor appears to have fragmented at an altitude of 40 miles over northeast MA and southeast NH. The energy…
— NASA Space Alerts (@NASASpaceAlerts) May 30, 2026
People around the city who didn’t hear the rare event that happened miles above our heads, feel like they missed out. Michelle was in the common with her family as they’re visiting Boston from Indiana. She didn’t hear the sound but was getting texts from friends back home asking if she had heard it.
“Definitely bummed,” Michelle said. “What a bummer. Hopefully another one will happen that doesn’t hurt anything and we will still hear it.”
Others say they were inside and didn’t notice anything unusual.
“Everyone is talking about it all my friends are texting me about it. I didn’t hear anything though I was sitting at home watching the soccer game,” another man said. “I do feel left out. I wish I had noticed. That would be pretty cool.”
Officials do not believe the meteor touched down on Earth.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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