Mysterious music has New Jersey residents looking at Delaware
Jessica Bies
It's easy to forget just how close Delaware is to New Jersey.
A spate of noise complaints has reminded Pennsville Police Chief Allen J. Cummings this month exactly how narrow the Delaware River is.
For weeks now, residents in the New Jersey towns of Pennsville, Carneys Point and Penns Grove have been plagued by the sound of heavy bass music, played at all hours of the day — and night.
Its origin?
Delaware, Cummings said.
"I think I've received 21 complaints in the month of October alone," the police chief said Thursday, adding that he's heard several different kinds of music but that one could generally define it as rap.
"There's a lot of thumping," he said. "Like bass. It's really loud."
Police come up empty
The three towns are located directly across the Delaware River from the Port of Wilmington and Edgemoor, maps show. It's largely an industrial area, with few houses, which may explain why First State residents haven't complained about the same thing.
Salem County in New Jersey has received at least 55 calls about the music, NJ Advance Media reported this week. It's been keeping residents up at night and is fraying their nerves.
Cummings said New Castle County and Delaware State police have both investigated, but haven't been able to find the source.
"The Delaware State Police have investigated a total of three noise complaints advising of loud music being heard in New Jersey," Delaware State Police Cpl. Michael Austin said in an email.
The incidents occurred on Oct. 14, 23 and 28 between the hours of 7:45 and 11:30 p.m. Callers believed the music was coming from the port.
After each call troopers went out looking for the music and didn't find anything, Austin said. In fact, they couldn't hear anything.
"Information was received that the possible source was a barge located in the Delaware River that was conducting a dredging operation," Austin said.
Police contacted the Delaware Department of Natural Resources to see if they had any info, but Michael Globetti, a spokesman for DNREC, said the US Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District is actually in charge of the dredging.
Tim Boyle, with the Corps, laughed when he heard the story.
"I'm pretty sure it's not coming from the dredge," he said, then made a call and confirmed it.
Speakers to blame?
One theory is that the music's coming from a warehouse. In July, Gloucester City residents were plagued by a similar incident, but a resident was able to track the music back to South Philadelphia.
A group of trucks, cars and SUVs with enormous custom sound systems were parked in the parking lot of Jetro Wholesale near the Eagles stadiums blaring music across the river.
“I mean monstrous, huge speakers," said Cummings, who thinks the same thing might be going on here.
In general, it's not unusual to hear some noise from Delaware, he said.
“Every single night you can hear the Amtrack train leaving the station," Cummings said, referring to the Wilmington depot. "You can hear it blow its horn."
He and the rest of the Pennsville are just looking forward to a little peace and quiet.
“Everyone’s complained about it," Cummings said. "They want us to look into it, but there’s really nothing we can do.
“That’s all we really know at this point. Hopefully, it stops.”
Think you know where the music is coming from? Contact reporter Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com so we can investigate.
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