WINDSOR, Ontario — Last month, Bob Dechert, a senior aide to Canada’s foreign minister, was dispatched to Detroit with an important diplomatic mission: to stop a highly-annoying noise.
The so-called Windsor hum, described as a low-frequency rumbling sound, has rattled windows and knocked objects off shelves in this border community just across the Detroit River from the Motor City. Locals have said it sounds like a large diesel truck idling, a loud boom box or the bass vocals of Barry White.
Residents in Windsor, Ontario, have blamed the hum for causing illness, whipping dogs into frenzies, keeping cats housebound and sending goldfish to the surface in backyard ponds. Many have resorted to switching on their furnace fan all season to drown out the noise.
Even weirder, Americans cannot seem to hear it. Canadians find that suspicious — especially since their research suggests the hum is coming from the Yankees’ side — and accuse US officials of staying silent over the noise.
“The government of Canada takes this issue seriously,” Dechert said after his recent fact-finding trip, which included a visit to a heavily-industrialized area on the American side of the river that some Canadian scientists believe is to blame for the hum.
After three months of seismic studies conducted by Canada’s natural resources department, scientists said the noise was likely coming from Zug Island, a nearly 600-acre (243-hectare) man-made island on the Michigan side of the Detroit River. The coal-blackened industrial zone is dominated by steel mills, including facilities operated by US Steel and others whose blast furnaces belch out steam and flames.
The area is off-limits to the general public and surrounded by wire fences, with the only access via a guarded gate. A spokeswoman for US Steel did not respond to requests for comment.
The sound has plagued Windsor residents on and off for two years.
Hundreds of sleep-deprived locals have demanded action from politicians in Windsor and Ottawa.
Locals blamed earthquakes, local salt mines, an underground river and wind turbines in the past. But Canada’s seismic study last summer narrowed the likely source down to approximately 250 acres (60 hectares) in the vicinity of Zug Island.
American officials say they are not so sure.
“It may not be actually emanating from Michigan,” according to Hansen Clarke, the US Representative for the East Detroit congressional district, which includes Zug.
Michael D. Bowdler, the mayor of River Rouge, Mich., the municipality with authority over Zug, said his cash-strapped government does not have funds to investigate further.
“The only place I am hearing noise from is Canada — from politicians complaining,” Bowdler said.
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