Water seen as culprit behind eerie Thessaloniki noise

Geologists have ruled out natural causes in the mystery of a loud noise that has been startling residents of a Thessaloniki neighborhood in the early hours of every day for the past month and is giving rise to all sorts of theories, from the far-fetched – alien activity – to the mundane.

“The sound comes from a specific street, under which there are water and natural gas pipes. I would conjecture that it’s from the drop in water pressure at night,” says Vassilis Melfos, a geologist at Aristotle University who visited the afflicted area in the Municipality of Pavlos Melas. “I would rule out underground shifts because… such phenomena don’t follow a pattern.”

According to Mayor Dimitris Demourtzidis, the natural gas company has checked and found nothing amiss, so resolving the mystery now lies with the Thessaloniki Water Company (EYATH), which was planning to run tests last night. 

“I think the issue is with the water pipe because the sound we hear on Kifissias Street is the same as at the reservoir,” he says.

“People are still worried even though a geological phenomenon has been ruled out, meaning that we know it’s nothing dangerous,” Demourtzidis adds.