Did you hear it last night?

What appeared to be a very large, industrial fire alarm rang out through the streets of Cork city after dark on Wednesday night, according to confused posts on social media.

A Facebook status by Cork Safety Alerts read: “We’ve had multiple reports of a loud alarm, and automated voice playing out from somewhere in the City Centre this morning. Can be heard from multiple locations. Did you hear it? Head over to our Instagram story to hear it.”

The re-shared video shows footage of Cork city at night, as a loud voice says “Fire, please leave the building” followed by an utterly deafening ringing noise which, we’re not going to lie, sounds a bit like something you’d use to announce the beginning of The Purge.

The noise can still be heard on the Cork Safety Alerts Instagram story.

Plenty of social media posts surfaced wondering where on earth the alarm was coming from, and as of midday Thursday it appears that it must have been a false alarm.

While there is no official confirmation of the source, some seem to believe it is coming from Albert’s Quay, some say Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and many claim to have heard it before.