The Case of the Phantom Plane

I live a stones throw from Logan Int'l Airport in Boston on Revere Beach. I have lived in and around this area my entire life. I am more than accustomed to all sorts of mass transit noises like low planes that rattle pictures on the wall, heavy traffic in the wee hours of the night and trains which are like clockwork for about 22 out of the 24 hours in the day.

You get very used to the sounds of planes when they are constant background noise for 20 something years of your life. So much so, that I can even tell when it's a British Airways plane and not a Northwest flight.

If I walked across the street and sat on the beach wall I could watch the planes come in off of the ocean, fly over my head and land less than a mile behind me 50-100 times a day, easy. And I certainly have done so on many occasions. If you don't get jet fuel dumped on your face, it can actually be quite relaxing.

That being said, something bizarre has been happening from time to time. On three separate occasions I heard, what sounded to me like a military plane flying overhead. Usually we don't get military planes around Logan, so when you hear something like that, you notice. Mostly they end up being Coast Guard since I also live within 3 miles of one of the country's largest liquid natural gas terminals. So, needless to say, when there's a shipment coming in, they activate the guard and seal that shit up tighter than a duck's ass.

Anywho, hearing the military plane in itself is definitely uncommon in this neighborhood, and worthy of a gaze skyward, but that's not the odd bit.

All three times this happened, there was not a plane in the sky.

The weather was clear and there were no planes to be found. It happened twice at night and once at dusk when it was still light out. On one occasion, bff and myself heard it, both looked up to search the sky (for about 30 seconds) and then finally looking back at each other declared, "I don't know what the fuck that was."

There is nothing stranger than staring into an empty sky and hearing a plane passing overhead. Of course I've run the usual doubts through my mind, but honestly, none of it jives with my experience. I mean, I realize that my brain could be playing a trick on me with some distant sound making it sound closer than it is... or maybe it's all that ecstasy I did in college... but seriously, this shit has me baffled.

If I had to come to a conclusion that fits with what I heard and "didn't" see, I'd have to say that there was a plane but it was somehow invisible. I'm talking Romulan cloaking device here people. lol

I realize that makes me sound crazy, but that's the best way I can describe it. If I didn't have a witness who basically came to the same conclusion, I'd most likely be scheduling sessions with a shrink.... who would probably give me electroshock or a lobotomy.

So, I'm curious to find out if anyone else has had anything similar happen. I guess it doesn't necessarily have to be limited to urban areas. There's gotta be others out there who have heard phantom planes...

Does this sound oddly enough like an episode of Scooby-Doo? Maybe I need a half-retarded dog and a smelly hippy to help me figure this one out.