Connecticut Historical Collections

" From time immemorial, East Iladdam lias been the seat of uncommon subterra- nean noises, called MootUis noises. The Indian name ol'ihe town was MackiiiLuudu^, which in English is the filu't of noiies ; a name i,MVon with the ulmosl propriety lu the place. The accounts _i,'iven ol" the noises and (juakinj^s iheie are very remarka- ble. Were it not tluil the jiciple are accustomed to them," ihev would occasion j,Meat alarm. The Rev. Mr. llo.snjer, in a letter to Mr. Prince, ol Boston, written Aui,'iist 13th, 17v!l), ^'ives this aeciuint (/!' ihem : — 'As to the earlh(jiiakes, 1 have suuuthinfj- considerable and awful to tell you. Earthquakes have been here, (and no whcie but in this precinct, as can be discerned; that is, they seem to have their center, rise and origin amon<,' us,) as has been observed Ibr more than thirty years. 1 have been in- formed, thai in this place, belbre the English settlements, there were great numbers of Indian inhabitanis, and that it was a )ilace of extraordinary Indian Puwawx, or in short, that it was a place where the Indians drove a pr(Hligi"ous trade at worshipping the devil. Also I was infurined, that, manyycais past, an old Indian was asked, What was the reason of the noises in this place ? 'I'o which he replieil, that the In- dian's God was very angry because Englishman's God was come here. "Now whether there beany thing diabolical in these thiijgs, 1 know not; but tliis I know, that God Almighty is to be seen and trembled at, in what has been olien heard ainong us. Whether it be lire or air distressed in the subterraneous caverns of the earth, cannot be known; for there is no eruption, no explosion perceptible, but by sounds and tremors, which sometimes are very fearful and dreadful. I liave myself lieard eight or ten sounds successively, and iniitating small arms, in the space of five minutes. I have, I suppose, hcaid several hundreds of them within twenty years; some more, some less terrible. Sometimes we have heard them almost every day, and great numbers of them in the space of a year. Oftentimes I have observed them to be coming down from the north, imitating slow thunder, until the sound came near or right under, and then there .seemed to be a breaking, like the noise of a cannon shot, or severe thunder, which shakes the houses and alltliat is in them. They have EAST HADDAM. .^r^^jjR^-. i^-. a ca tiiiiL', are as iniicli divcrsifiud as the s dwelliii;; house, is tlic same as ilie I'alli piudiiccd no emotions ol' leiroror Icai spoken of as usual occiint tSouth vlciu of Mount Tom and the vxouih of Suhiiun liivcr, in a manner censed since the great earthqna'fie. As I remember, there have been but two lieard since that lime, and tlio.^e but UKjderate." A worthy genileuian, about six years since, j^ave tlie folhju ing account of them. " The awful muses, of whicii Mr. liosmer gave an accouni, in his historical minutes, and eoncernmg which you desire further inloimaiion, eonlinue to the |iresent time. The ell'ects they produce, arc various as the iniei mediate UegreeN between the roar of innon and tlie noi.sc of a pistol. The concussions of the eaith, made at the same nds in the air. The shock ihey give to a ^ of logs on the door. 'I'he smaller shocks n the njindsof the inhahilants. They are called Moodus noises. But when they are so violent as to he fell in the adjacent towns, they are called earth(}uakes. During my residence here, which has been almost thirty six years, 1 have invariably observed, after some of the most violent of these shocks, that an account has been published in the lu!\\spaneib, of a small shock of an cartlKpiake, at INew London and llaitford. Nor do I believe, in all that jieriod, there has been any account published of an earlh- qiuke in Ct)nneeiicut, whicli was not far more violent here than in any other place. By recurring to ihe newspapers, you will find, that an earthquake was noticed on the ISlh May, 1791, about 10 o'clock, P. M. It was perceived as lar distant as Boston anil New York. A Wiw minutes after thcie was another shock, which was percepti- ble at the distance of seventy miles. Here, at thai tune, the concussion ol' the earlli, and the roarinjr of the atmosphere were most tremendous. Consternation and dread filled every house. Many chimnies were untopped and walls thrown down. It was a nighl niiich to be remembered ; for besides the two shocks which were noticed at a distance, during the night there was here a succession of shocks, to the number of twenty, perhaps thirty; the eflects of which, like all others, decreased in every direc- tion, in proportion to the distances. The next day, stones of several tons weight, were found removed from their places; and apei lures in the earth, and fissures in im- movable rocks, ascertained the places where the explosions were made. Since that time, the noises and shocks have been less frequent than befiire; tliough not a year passeth over us, bul some of them are perceptible." — TrinnbulL's Hist. dm. Mount Tom is situated at the junction of Moodus with Salmon river. The above view was taken from the western side of Connecticut river. Mount Tom is the most elevated height seen in the distance, in the center of the engraving, at the base of which is seen a flat bottomed boat, ascending Salmon river. Tiiis mountain seems to be situated about the center from which the Moodus noises proceed. The sever- K 5r28 ' EAST II A D D A M . est shocks are felt as far northeast as Boston, and as far soiilhwest as New York, and are there noticed as earthquakes. In 1816 and 1817, in the n!<;ht, these noises were more than usually violent. A person was on Mount Tom ahout 15 years since, at the time these noises were heard. It appeared to this person as though a stone or large body fell, underneath the ground, directly under his feet, and grated down to a considerable distance in the depths below. The cause of these noises is explained by some to be mineral or chemical cond)inations, exploding at a depth of many thousand feet beneath the surface of the earth. The jar is similar to that of explodetl gunpowder. U])wards of a mile north of the Landing is the ancient burying ground, which is situated about -10 rods southeasterly from Salmon river. It is now abandoned, and a forest has grown up among the monuments, giving the place a very unusual and gloomy aspect. The following is copied from a moss-covered tabular monument: Under this tturib st(jiie lyelh inlei r'd the hody of ilie llcv. Stephen TTosdkt, llie first pastor of the First Churcii uf Christ in East I'laddnm, wlio departed this life the IHih day of June, A. D. 17ty, and in liic 7Uih year of lii^ aL;e. And at his rii^dit hand ieeih Mrs. iSarah llusnier, liis beloved cunsurl, wiio dejiarn.'d liiis life b'ept. ye lilUh, A, D. 174'J, and in the G7th year (d'lier age. Sweet sunls, we leave you to yi>nr rcrt ; I'lnjoy your Jesus and youi' God, Till we fuini hands of elay releas'd, Sprinj,' out and cliaib the sinning road. The following is from the 7th vol. of the Medical Repository, pub- lished in New York, extracted from a letter written in East Iladdam. " For 10 or 12 years prior lo 1797," says the wiiier, "a disea'^e prevailed among the cattle in Kasi Haddain, and in the in-ighboring i)laces lo a gieat extent, vulgarly call- ed a rnortifieation. It was mtisl destiuelive lo cattle uiuKr three years; sometimes atlaclving cows over that period, but never oxen. Calves were most geneially de- stroyed by it in autumn, ami yearlings in May and June. Iin c.immeneemeiii was indi- cated by a sudvleii li>ile>-ness, luimbne.ss, aiid dis]ii»iiii)ri lo lesl, attended with small soft swellings on the Irgs, shoulders, ilinl.-, side, bin more usually in ihe baelc near the kidneys, and it produced death with feeble e.vjires.sions (d' pain, wiiliin G, 12 and 21 hours. Immediately upon death, the carca.ss became intolerably oirensive,.so that ihe hide was often left to rot with it ; where it was taken oil", the swellings were found to consist of jelly and black blood. After tanning, ihe hide was often rotted over the swellings, and lioles were made of their size and dimensions." The cause of this dis- ease was never. satisfactorily ascertained and the remedies which were applied, rarely, if ever succeetled.* Frovi the Conncdicui Gazette, {Sew London,) Aii^. 20, 1790. No. 1397. Ea&t Haddam, Aug. 5, 1790. The town of East Haddam was formerly much noted for earthquakes — from which it obtained its ancient Indian name, Moodus; which in their language, it is said, sig- nifies a great noise. They were supposed to lake iheir rise near Salmon liver, which runs between this town and Chatham. Several years ago, they were said to be very loud and frequent, and that they shook the earth lor several miles around; and it lias been reported, that the ground has been opened in several places, and trees torn up by the roots, and carried to some distance, near the above mentioned river: — and that some persons were under learful apprehensions that the town would sooner or later be sunk. Various have been the conjectures concerning the cause of these earthquakes or Moodus noises, as they are called. The following account has gained credit with many persons. — It is reported, thai between 20 and 30 years ago, a transient person came to this town, who called himself Doct. Steel, from Great Britain, who having Field^s Si ttist. Hist, of the County oi Middle w K I L I. 1 N G W O 11 T II . 5'2i)