Okay, boomer

What’s behind those mysterious sounds in NJ

The mysterious booming sounds that have been rocking a New Jersey town is apparently the result of a homemade “hail cannon” designed by a vineyard owner to protect his crop from birds and bad weather, he and police told The Post.

Rob Butkowski of Hammonton said he’s been firing off the loud cone-shaped contraption — which blasts shock waves up to the sky — to break up cloud formations and scare away birds that nibble his grapes.

“It sounds like a jet going by,” said Butkowski, 34. “It’s like the loudest thing you’ve ever heard just blew through your chest — it’s amazing.”

Butkowski, who works in construction, said he made the 16foot-long machine “from scratch” using scrap metal from street signs and other objects because he was “bored from all this COVID s--t.”

Using directions he found onKevin Friel said the cannon is line, he rigged a mixture of responsible for the mystery acetylene and oxygen in a probooms that have been baffling pane tank to create an exploand frustrating nearby resision that blasts from the barrel dents — many of whom have to keep icy weather at bay. reported the sound to cops.

For weeks, he’s been firing off But the gadget is likely perthe thunderous shock-waves — fectly legal, Friel said. which travel 30,000 feet in a 1.5 “It doesn’t fire projectiles, mile radius — above his 5-acre and it’s not a firearm or an explot, he said. plosive,” he explained, adding

“You can see the split clouds that there are no plans to stop apart,” he said. “You can hear it him. “It uses gas — and that’s rip.” it.”

Hammonton Chief of Police The only possible legal issue would be a noise violation after 10 p.m., which is moot because Butkowski stops shooting the machine at around 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, police in nearby Mullica Township — where cops were flooded with complaints about the noise — are skeptical that the contraption could be heard from 10 miles away.

Butkowski, for his part, has no plans to stop firing the cannon.

“I’m gonna do whatever I want, as long as it’s legal,” he said.