If you hear a loud boom today, it's the sound of weapons testing underway at an Ohio company across Lake Erie.
Steve McPhedran heard it Thursday morning. It is normally quiet in his Colchester home. He thought something had hit his house.
"There's no noise. All I can hear is a little bit of the hum from the fridge once and a while. Oh, I can hear the birds," he recalled. "And to have this boom! I literally thought a truck ran into the house."
He asked a neighbour what was going on, and they told him Ares Inc. sometimes conducts weapons testing.
WindsorNewsToday.ca contacted the company and confirmed it is conducting testing until 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
"I have occasionally received phone calls from residents in the Windsor area reporting they could hear the noise," responded Vice President Ann Yamrick. "Usually, they do not. It's really weather-dependent."
She referred residents to the company's website for more information. Anyone can check after 4 p.m. to see if there is testing the following day.
"We work under government contracts, so I cannot really talk about the specifics of what we test," she added. "Safety is always our top priority and we observe all appropriate regulations and authorizations. I can tell you we have a considerable amount of testing scheduled over the next several months."