Wellington's mysterious buzz gets people humming

Wellington’s mysterious hum has sleep-deprived residents desperate for an answer.

One Wellingtonian thinks it could be coming from a station wagon’s sound system, while another jokingly thinks it could be Terry Serepisos putting his "thinking cap" on.

News of the low hum being heard on a nightly basis around the city has caused a stir, with dozens of suggestions about where the noise could be coming from.

Wellington city council spokesman Clayton Anderson says staff received another phone call early this morning about the noise, to add to the more than 20 they have already received.

The noise appears to be disturbing the peace in the city fringe suburbs of Newtown, Mt Victoria and Mt Cook. Today’s complaint came from someone in nearby Berhampore.

Mr Anderson says emails from around the country have also been flooding in with helpful suggestions and theories.

“One man suggested the hum could be the city’s sewage pumps resonating in underground pipework.”

Wellington police have yet to be called in to offer their thoughts and noise control officers remain at-the-ready to investigate.

Other responses to NBR ONLINE’s story about the hum have attracted all sorts of opinions.

Some have suggested the noise could be coming from a ship’s idling engine in the harbour and another thinks early-morning bakery extractor fans may be to blame.

One reader has warned others to not to make light of the situation as "due to sleep deprivation, my humour is at a low point".

“Isn’t Wellington always humming,” anotherquipped.

Chris Chamberlain has a completely different take. He thinks it may be coming from a powerful sub-woofer.

He admits it may not be the same sound, but last night while waiting for a bus on Lambton Quay he heard a ‘weird music track full of bass’ coming from a dark red station wagon.

“At a distance and if they were stationary for long periods of time, I could certainly understand people going out of their minds,” he told NBR ONLINE.

He is planning to phone the city council with his take on the Wellington hum.

bcunningham@nbr.co.nz