Moodus], and slight shocks, as of an earthquake, have been felt through the surrounding country . . . The astonished inhabitants have heard terrible roarings in the atmosphere. They have heard loud noises following each other in rapid succession, and resembling volleys of musketry. They have heard sounds like slow thunder rolling down from the north, and at last closing with a loud report which shook the houses and everything in them."

The whole phenomenon of tremors and associated odd noises is often referred to as the "Moodus noises" The name Moodus is said to derive from Machemoodus, a Wangunk Indian name variously translated as "there is a bad noise" and "place of noises."¹⁴

Many explanations for the origin of the Moodus noises have been put forth over the years. Native Americans reputedly believed that this was the dwelling place of Hobbamock, a powerful spirit angered by the arrival of Europeans to Connecticut. One colonial legend attributed the noises to fights between the black-magic witches of Devil's Hopyard in Haddam and the white-magic witches of Moodus. The fights took place under Mount Tom in a cavern lighted by a great carbuncle, a glowing garnet with great mystical properties. Supposedly, the Devil refereed the battles until he became bored with the competition and extinguished the carbuncle's light.

Then forth into the air rushed the witches with shrieks of baffled rage, and deafening peals of thunder reverberated through the hills."¹⁵

Another story tells of an old wizard named Dr. Steel who, for a time, cured the region of noises and tremors by removing the carbuncle from the bowels of the mountain. Numerous pseudoscientific explanations have been put forth as well, such as this one from 1884: "There is a subterranean passage leading from a large cave near Mount Tom to the sea, and ... the noises are produced by certain delicate combinations of wind and tide."¹⁶

Geologists now recognize Moodus as one of the most active earthquake zones in New England. Although people tend to think of New England as rock-steady country, it is actually a region of moderate

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