An eerie howling noise has shaken a city in the middle of the night.
Terrified residents were woken up by the strange shrieking sound at around 2am.
The unsettling racket lasted for around half an hour.
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The sound – described by many online users as a “roar” – was heard across the Taiwanese capital of Taipei yesterday (17 Feb).
The wailing noise was so loud that residents in neighbouring towns said they could hear it as well.
Fearful locals took to social media to ask what it could be.
Several residents said the sound appeared to be coming from a local school.
Others believed it was infrasound noise coming from the stratosphere.
But some Facebook users suggested the sound was a warning from God about a coming natural disaster.
One video went viral on Facebook with 2.3 million views and thousands of comments, as reported by What’s The Jam.
A resident joked: “Sounds like Godzilla stepping on Lego.”
Another quipped: “Sorry, I forgot to turn off my microphone.”
“It’s the prelude to an earthquake, the sounds are coming from the ground,” suggested someone else.
Another local said: “It’s God’s roar, legend has it that every time a natural disaster occurs, there is a strange phenomena between the animals that produces an uneasy sound.”
Another joked: “It’s my neighbour snoring next door.”
Victor remarked: “Guting Junior High School explained that their sound system short-circuited due to heavy rains and nearly 50 alarms went off at the same time.”
The police later quelled fears by confirming that the sound did indeed emanate from the junior high school.
They said the alarm system was damaged during a downpour in the middle of the night and school officials were contacted to shut it down.
The school has since called in an engineer to carry out maintenance work on the faulty sound system.
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