Readers describe walls shaking, windows rattling

Email|Print| Text size – + By the Boston Globe City & Region Desk

October 19, 07 10:47 AM

By Globe Staff

A 2.5 magnitude earthquake rattled Littleton at 1:23 a.m. today and reverberated in more than a dozen nearby cities and towns. Readers described the tremor, in their own words:

Lynn in Littleton

Yes, I did feel the earthquake. We had no sooner fallen asleep after watching the Red Sox game last night when it woke me up. The first thing I remember was hearing this rumbling noise. Then the whole house shook. It came in almost a wave and was over in about 5-10 seconds. But it woke our dogs and made them a bit anxious. We have a pet cockatiel parrot and it really spooked him, as well. At first, I thought something had hit the house. I got out of bed, looked outside, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary (except that some of my neighbors had their house lights on -- rare for 1 a.m. on a Friday). I waited a little while, and when things seemed to have settled back down, I went back to sleep. My husband, of course, slept through the whole thing.

Richard in Littleton

My house was right in the area of the epicenter. Sound of a very loud explosion rather than a typical rumble. Whole house shook and windows rattled. Thought something had blown up in the general vicinity. Don't believe there's any damage to my house, but haven't had the chance to check everything out yet.

Lucy in Westford

I was awake at the time and heard and felt it. I jump up and screamed, "what the xxxx was that?" My first thought was that something had exploded, maybe our furnace. My husband calmly said "I think it was another earthquake".

Maria in Littleton

It felt like a crane or something heavy fell over. It was a quick hard jolt.

Christine in Westford

Yikes! It woke me up, and I immediately looked at the clock, saw the time of 1:24 a.m., thinking "earthquake??!!?"
It was as if lightning had hit the house with a huge clap of thunder, except there was no lightning. The house shook, but nothing fell. I waited to hear car alarms go off all over town, but there was nothing. That's when I started to doubt my initial response.

I knew I hadn't imagined the noise, but I was thinking "explosion? In Westford? Of what, horse manure?" "Fireworks? Did the Red Sox win the series? No that can't be it." "Thunder? But there was no lightning."

Rich in Shrewsbury

Lying in bed at about 1:30 a.m., and heard a large truck go by. It shook the windows. The only weird thing, is that we live at the end of a dead end street. No trucks go by. Or anything else, for that matter. Pretty cool!!

Mark in Chelmsford

I felt the tremor. I was in a deep sleep, then thought I twitched or shivered and woke up for a couple seconds then went back to sleep. I didn't even remember it until I heard the news report on the radio this morning and immediately remembered waking up briefly. No big deal. This was nothing compared to the 6 a.m. Sunday morning quake about 5-6 years ago, during that one I jumped up out of bed and thought a truck was driving through my front door, my ceiling fan was swaying back and forth.

Todd in Marlborough

I was just reading about the Sox win and felt the quake. Nothing huge, and it only lasted a few seconds but definitely noticeable and nothing I've ever experienced here before.

Amy in Groton

Felt like a huge truck was driving by outside his house and felt confused. I had the TV on, and I paused it because I had no idea why that would be happening. I actually thought, "is this an earthquake?

Jess in Needham

Yes, I felt it. I was up late working in my office on the first floor on my home in Needham. I thought I was imagining it!

Thomas in Littleton

I fell asleep watching the Red Sox and woke up a little after 1:00. I was just dosing off when I heard a loud bang and then the house seemed to shake for about 5 seconds. I knew it was not thunder. I figured something had blown up and was waiting to hear the sirens but never did.

Bill in Haverhill