We’re only a month into 2012 and already either the world is ending, aliens are landing or everyone is getting hoaxed. Or, possibly, there’s an actual scientific explanation for the mass amount of YouTube videos capturing bizarre sounds that are being heard around the globe. Are we witnessing the beginning of a full-scale alien invasion?

Even though a few were uploaded in 2011, a couple of weeks ago more and more of the videos starting showing up. People in places around the world were hearing similar, loud, seemingly mechanical, humming sounds. But the sounds were coming from nowhere and nothing. YouTube is full of videos that seem to be from different places, but all have the same sounds. Not to mention the calls that were reportedly coming in to radio stations and authorities in various places, wanting to know what the sounds were.

But is this real? Have you heard the sounds in person, yourself? Copying a recorded sound, putting it over some video and then posting it on YouTube isn’t difficult. Creating newscasts or hoaxing media outlets is slightly more difficult, but not impossible. Then why the hoax? Is Hollywood setting us up for a big movie release? Is everyone just trying to get in on an internet trend? Is there just something natural happening in the atmosphere?

You be the judge. Take a look some videos of recorded sounds captured worldwide and let us know what you think.

Arizona, 2011

An early report occurred in Arizona, back in October of last year. Pay no attention to the fact that the entire world is sideways for a bit.

Michigan, 2011

This recording is even earlier, from the summer of 2011, and has a slightly different sound to it, but equally as unearthly.

Chicago, 2012

Here’s one from Chicago, uploaded on January 15th. It sounds like something, but what?

New York, 2012

Also in mid-January, there’s a recording in New York. Is that sound in the sky? Or is it a recording playing in the background?

Philadelphia, 2012

This recording in Philadelphia from earlier this month almost sounds musical.

Allen, TX, 2012

This one from Allen, TX was uploaded last week. The sounds are the same, but it seems staged. If anything, it shows how easy this is to recreate.

Budapest, 2012

This phenomenon is not unique to the US. Here’s a video, reportedly from Hungary, uploaded on January 12th.

Scotland, 2012

Here’s another dusk recording. The thing to note about this is that it is also 37 seconds long. A copy?

France, 2012

This one from France is far more convincing because the sound is similar, but the track does not seem to be exactly the same as the others. Real?

Norway, 2012

These guys in Norway seem sincere and slightly disturbed by the sound. They’re quite convincing, until you pause the video at 26 seconds and see that the camera lens caught someone standing to the side holding a boom box. Then it just gets kind of silly from there.

Before you get too freaked out, you might want to listen to this recording of radio emissions coming off of Saturn. Seem familiar? They have an explanation. In fact, there are all kinds of spooky space sounds on NASA’s website.

Do your own YouTube search and tell us what you find. And, if you have time, make your own “strange sound” video. All you need is a camera, a strange noise and some sky to point at. Melodramatic commentary is optional.

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