The Humming
by Clint Margrave
(Found on Nextdoor app.)
Sarah M., Silver Lake Reservoir
I know this may sound strange, but is anyone else experiencing what seems to be intermittent humming in the day and then a constant barrage of it at night?
posted on 2 Jan. to Silver Lake Reservoir and 23 nearby
Debbie S., Elysian Valley
OMG! i hear it 2. it started right after thanksgiving. it cycles—30 minutes off and then hums for 3 minutes. first heard it at 4am when it woke me up. ugh! so Annoying!
Mads C., St. George Slope
I hear it sometimes. Freight trains along the river tracks?
Sue T., Echo Park South
Hi Folks. Go to searchbox and enter “humming” or similar terms for past ideas about this.
Tim Q., Los Feliz Hills
Yes! I did last night after mid night. It was deep and low and bizarrely, if I moved to certain points in the room I wasn’t able to hear it. Does this sound like the hum you have been hearing?
Julio A., Atwater Village
I thought it had something to do with the plumbing under the house.
Kevin C., Atwater Village
Tim Q., in the right sized interior space the humming can be amplified. This is obviously not a definitive answer, but an idea nonetheless.
Fe K., St George Slope
Its not constant for me. It comes and goes. Its not loud. Its more like it underlies everything else I can hear…
Jeff S., Atwater Village
I havne’t heard anything.
Taryn P., Silver Lake
We heard it to. What in the world could it be folks?
Cory G., Echo Park South
It’s probably the Russians ; )
Dan L., Atwater Village
Been hearing it on foggy nights since 2007 when the freight trains come down the tracks off Colorado.
Kim F., Silver Lake Reservoir
I attribute it to Scientology mind control. Grab your tinfoil hat!
Cory G., Echo Park South
LOL
Alandra W., Silver Lake Tularosa
Glad to know other people hear this too. It’s been bothering me forever. My roommate never hears it. He thinks I’m crazy for sure.
Vlad G., Adams Hill
It’s been swarming season. That could be it. Maybe your near a hive?
Karen N., Silver Lake Reservoir
I finally had the doctor prescribe me something because it kept waking me up at night.
Henry A., Eagle Rock East
Vodka helps ; )
Rebecca P., Los Feliz Hills
Sometimes I’ll go weeks without hearing it, but then it always comes back.
Judy R., Elysian Valley
Before my husband passed, he used to talk about it. I never knew what he meant. Now I finally understand.
Kevin C., Atwater Village
This type of hum has been reported around the world for quite sometime. It is usually left completely unexplained and plagues both cities and rural areas in the same manner. It is always reported as being audible to some and not others, and easier to perceive at night.
AJ A., Waverly Heights
I must agree. This has been reported all around the world. I have been experiencing it myself for the last 10 years. As crazy as it sounds it may be coming from deep beneath the surface. Strange things that only those who are in tune can feel and hear…
Sarah M., Silver Lake Reservoir
Wow. Thanks for all the great replies, everyone. I definitely agree it could be coming from beneath the surface for sure. I hear it mostly at night when my ear is on the pillow. Though I swear it’s getting louder. I’m glad I’m not alone.
Clint Margrave is the author of Salute the Wreckage (2016) and The Early Death of Men (2012), both published by NYQ Books. His stories and poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Threepenny Review, Rattle, Cimarron Review, The Writer’s Almanac, 3AM, Bartleby Snopes, Literary Orphans, decomP, as well as in the recent LA Fiction Anthology: Southland Stories by Southland Writers by Red Hen Press. His novel, Lying Bastard, is forthcoming from Run Amok Books. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “The Humming”? I had moved to a new neighborhood and decided to download the Nextdoor app. I soon realized it was a platform for paranoia and anxiety. My neighborhood was a calm, quiet and safe place, but from the posts on the app., you’d have thought it was crime ridden and dangerous. I realized people were using this app. in this communal anxious way. “The Humming” came from a real post about a humming someone was hearing in the neighborhood. As I scrolled through the responses, it lost its literal meaning and began to take on metaphoric significance, a stand-in for all of our inner anxieties. The story had been much longer, but it was the compressed version that finally worked best.
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