I work the grave yard shift in a 100yr. old Psychiatric Hosp.. After I got off work this morning, I drove home, it was an uneventful journey. Until I drove into my wrap around driveway. The driveway was free of all obstructions, and I had just turned off my Suburban and pulled out the keys. When I heard this loud low rumbling noise like a freight train coming from behind the car. I turned to look to see what could be making the noise, and then I felt the back end of my SUV rise up a few inches, and felt the SUV move forward about 6 inches. On it's own, with the motor turned off, and from a motionless state.
It really gafawed me!
I turned on the SUV backed up a few feet and tried to recreate the events to see if it would happen again. It didn't!
Iowa is not prone to earth quakes, so do you think I ran over a Ghost?

How odd. I can't explain it. How did you feel? How was the air? Any static electricity feeling? Wondering about a time spacial thing maybe? I have never heard of anything like it.

I referred to my mechanic hubby for this one. He says, outside of a huge gust of wind and a slipping transmission, if the SUV was turned off and in park, there is nothing mechanical that he knows of that would cause this. =O

Are you living in an aera where there might have been a railroad at one time?It would be worth a look.There have been spures all over the country that have been destored.

Dave, I'll bet that made you feel just a little bit goofy!! I wouldn't know if I wanted to laugh, or just turn and run fast! I wonder if you did run over a ghost?? Is the suburban automatic or stick shift? Could it have been just kind of settling itself into a "park" mode? I have seen very small movements similar to this when parking a vehicle, but never to the extent that you explained. Is your driveway on a hill of any kind, or completely flat? This is a most unusual occurance, and I think it is something that begs to be looked into, just to satisfy curiosity, if nothing else. Woohoo!!! Keep us posted, Dave!

azspirit
=O :crazy: :no:

What you may have experienced may have been a downdraft. The wind in large movements often sounds like a freight train. My bedroom is on the third floor of a large house. It sits on the side of a hill at the end of a large open area. It is right in the almost unobstructed path of the winter winds that come out of the north west and west. Very often on windy nights, I'll here what sounds like a freight train outside and I know in about 2-3 seconds a large gust of wind is going to hit the house. Then the house shakes. Often I'm afraid it's going to rip the roof off. It makes my two sliding door windows bow in dramatically.
Sometimes two air massess will be on top of one another. If a colder air mass ends up on top of a warmer one as soon as the colder air mass reaches a weak spot in the warmer air mass it descends rapidly and becomes a down draft. This can occur in almost calm weather. Massive destruction has been caused by these down drafts. Trees knocked over, houses flattened.
It may have been a small downdraft you experienced. The colder air mass will travel downwards until it hits the ground, which will account for the movement of your Suburban.
If it was a downdraft, it's a good thing it wasn't a big one or you would have ended up somewhere in the nieghbors yard or beyond.
Downdrafts seem to be a rare occurance.
Just one possibility.

That is very weird Dave! Did you happen to hear anything on the news about something that may have caused it? Weird weather, a distant explosion, er...??

Nakis, I think what you're describing is a microburst... and yes, they can cause a lot of damage. We have them quite frequently here during the monsoon season. Definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Kell

I'm just chocking the whole experience up to a combination of Dominoe effects of a mechanical nature. And the flight of imagination, due to fatigue.
There were no downbursts of air, no quakes, no reports of similar results locally. The transmission was just rebuilt this past summer.
I can account for the foreward surge as something to do with the brakes. I haven't figured out what caused the back end to bounce up, though.

Gosh, Dave.... this must have been a kind of silly experience! No wonder you laughed at it! Maybe "someone" snagged a ride from the hospital with you, and they just hopped out as you were getting ready to exit the SUV??? Maybe someday you will find more answers to this... so just kinda keep it in the back of your mind. Who knows....? It must have been pretty strange, though.

Take care.

azspirit

Strange indeed!