The rumble enveloped Littleton, Mass., and dozens of nearby towns at 1:23 a.m. yesterday, a grating noise that witnesses said sounded like a truck crashing, a lumbering freight train, or a 747 buzzing 100 feet from the ground. As windows rattled and floors vibrated, people sat up in bed, dogs barked, and weary baseball fans awoke on couches with their televisions still flickering, wondering if the Red Sox had won.

"I thought, oh, my God, the furnace blew," said Ann Carey, 64, who was jarred from sleep in her Westford bedroom.

It was a 2.5-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter near Littleton Common. No injuries or damage were reported, but it rattled homes from Milton to Hollis, N.H. Another minor temblor shook the Merrimack Valley earlier this month.

The emergency switchboard lit up at the Littleton police station with reports of explosions and accidents on Interstate 495. "We had two people working the phones, and we still couldn't keep up," said Sergeant Robert Romilly.

A 0.9-magnitude aftershock followed at 6:04 a.m., said John Ebel, director of Boston College's Weston Observatory. There have been a dozen minor tremors near Littleton since the 1970s, with the last coming on Oct. 8, 2004, the day Red Sox slugger David Ortiz hit a 10th-inning home run during a championship playoff run. Is there a correlation?
[See? I told you so! - TriSec]

"One can only hope," Ebel said.