The Moodus Noises
Under a quiet Connecticut village, the ground booms and cracks, and has done for as long as anyone remembers.
What was reported
The Wangunk people called the hills around Moodus 'Machimoodus', the place of noises. European settlers in the 1600s and 1700s wrote of booms, rumbles and cracking sounds from under the ground, sometimes strong enough to rattle dishes.
Over the centuries, the noises were blamed on everything from the Devil to battling witches to a giant pearl blocking an underground cave. In 1791, an earthquake centred near Moodus shook the whole of Connecticut.
Explanations offered
Scientists from Boston College's Weston Observatory found that the noises come from swarms of tiny, very shallow earthquakes. Because they happen so close to the surface, the sound reaches people before it fades, even when the shaking is too small to feel.
- When
- Reported for centuries
- Where
- Moodus, East Haddam, Connecticut, USA
- Witnesses
- Residents, from the Wangunk people to today
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.