Residents say they were left "scared and confused" after hearing two mysterious loud bangs in the early hours of the morning.
People living near the centre of Retford reported hearing the noises on Wednesday, March 10.
Several theories have come about, from teenagers messing around with fireworks to gas guns scaring birds, Lincolnshire Live reports.
Dawn Mcdermott, who lives on Dominie Cross Road, was woken up by a bang at about 4.30am.
She said: "It was a very loud bang, like an explosion.
"It sounded like it was at the back of me. It really woke me up.
"I don't know what it was, but it was very, very loud.
"At first I thought a car had hit something."
Ms Mcdermott said that she found the experience quite scary.
"It woke me up - and it unnerved me a bit actually. I woke up and my heart was in my mouth," she said.
"I wondered what was going off.
"Everyone's been posting on Facebook asking if people heard the bang. I think it disturbed a lot of people."
She added that the bang seemed to have been heard far and wide.
"People at Clarborough heard it, and that's a 10-minute or so drive from me," she said.
"I saw lights in the house behind me and people come out looking.
"Most people are saying on Facebook that they heard it."
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said she had no idea what it could have been.
She said: "It sounded like a gun or a firework."
She heard the bangs at 4.30am and then again at 6am.
Though they were loud, she said she wasn't frightened by them.
"I lived in Nottingham so the bangs would scare me there, but Retford is a little town," she said.
"There's not much crime, like in a city, so I just snuggled back into my duvet and kept warm.
"I couldn't sleep, that's why I heard the second bang.
"I've seen Facebook is going crazy over the loud bangs."
She added that the bangs seemed to be loudest on London Road.
East Retford resident Terrie-Marie Beardall chalked it up to mischievous teens and said that it wasn't anything to be concerned about.
"I was laid in bed chilling and heard two bangs at two different times," she said.
"It sounded like fireworks.
"I thought it'd be only some youths messing about."
She added: "It will be some young youths who are bored.
"They wanted to go out and let some fireworks off so people put on Facebook: 'did anyone hear that bang? I wonder what it was.'
"These young-uns will read what people are writing on what they have done and have a laugh to themselves that they have got people wondering what it was."
A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Police said the force had not received any reports about the incident.
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