Loud Boom, Possible Explosion? Sheriff Reveals What He's Found

JOLIET — Some social media sites on Facebook occasionally post and circulate false information or unsubstantiated rumors in hopes of creating a frenzy and improving their social engagement ratings. Such was the case on Friday night when a couple such Facebook groups here in Illinois began making posts suggesting that pictures were moving on walls of houses in the area of Joliet and Grundy County due to explosion-type booms and claiming there were unconfirmed reports of a pipe bomb being involved.

On Saturday, Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley and his agency set the record straight - and by doing so, the sheriff's agency drew lots more responses to its own Facebook page. Some of the comments did not want to believe the information that the sheriff posted, following his lengthy investigation into the controvery.

"On January 17th, 2025, the Grundy County 911 center received several calls of a 'Loud Boom' or possibly an explosion near Dresden Road," Grundy County announced. "Deputies, with the assistance of 911 Dispatchers, made contact with the industrial plants in that area. The employees reported they heard a 'boom' but all plants reported no problems. The Dresden Lock & Dam also reported hearing the boom but reported no problems.

"On January 18th, 2025, Sheriff Briley spoke with the site Vice President of Dresden, as well as an employee of the lock & dam, who also reported no problems at their sights. We are unaware of the origin of the boom or explosion and no further reports have been taken today 1/18/2025.

"We are aware of social media posts reporting a wide variety of causes. None of those posts have proven to be accurate."

Here's a few more comments that came to the Grundy County Sheriff's page after Sheriff Briley made his agency's announcement:

Matt wrote: "I know a few people that work fire/police for the surrounding towns, and they're being told that they have a good idea what caused the bright flash and the boom. But the information they were given isn't what is being told to the public ... they were told that it was explosive devices near Dresden dam. But again, I don't even think I believe that. It's more annoying that these speculations are being sent out to other surrounding towns, while we're just being told, 'hey, we don't know anything.'"

Brittany wrote: "Space x had a rocket explode around that time. Not sure what area it was in though."

Sarah posted: "Multiple people posted their Ring doorbell recording of a bright flash ... followed by a huge boom. Not sure why you're not telling the taxpayers what happened."

Charlie commented, "Probably just a meteorite coming through."

Rochelle remarked, "Really because I'm hearing confirmed reports the sonic boom came from a fighter pilot jet that was in our area? It won't let me put up the screenshot, so go to my page."

Rob wrote: "It wasn’t a meteor, it wasn’t a fighter jet breaking sound, or a sonic boom. This was 100% an Earthquake. This was a shallow earthquake. A deep earthquake below the crust, would be felt. A shallow earthquake would be felt and heard. It wasn’t a snow or sky quake as weather induced seismic activity occurs during heavy rain or heavy snow. Neither occurred at the time. Google will say it was a jet fighter. That’s incorrect since it is an AI generated answer."