By Tim Binnall
Residents of a neighborhood in Chicago say that an inexplicable humming sound has been annoying them for weeks and, making the matter even more maddening, not everyone can hear it. The irritating noise has reportedly been heard at all hours of the day and night throughout the Lakeview area of the city. Likened to an alarm clock, the aural anomaly has proven to be particularly frustrating for those who hear it because there are others who insist that they haven't noticed the sound at all.
One woman who was interviewed by a local TV station about the noise noted that she could hear it while she was talking to the reporter and compared it to a proverbial ear worm. "Now that I'm out here listening to it," she lamented, "I can't really ignore it." Oddly enough, however, when her five-year-old son, who was there with her, was asked if he heard it, the boy said he could not. A resident who has yet to experience the sound theorized that perhaps, for some people, it simply blends into the rest of the ambient sounds of the city.
As to where the sound may be coming from, there appears to be a prime suspect: a rather sizeable air circulation unit at a nearby garage. Those who have heard the noise seem certain that the monstrous device is responsible. "It's definitely that machine," declared one beleaguered resident, "that's the noise we have been hearing." Fortunately for those who are fed up with hearing the sound, the owners of the building say that they will be servicing the unit soon and, hopefully restoring some semblance of silence to the neighborhood.