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I was reading the boys' Science lesson to them today, and it mentioned the series of earthquakes that took place on the New Madrid fault on December 1811-February 7, 1812. So I felt driven to run to the computer and find them photos and info on Reelfoot Lake that formed February 11th. (Princetoo blogged about that today -- be sure and leave him some comments; poor little guy is easily discouraged.) Within the background info, it gives some supposedly real life accounts of what various folks witnessed. In one that names the namesake of the Audobon Society, the material connected a great catastrophe as far away as Caracas, Venezuela, to the quake of February 7th. It said "...as far south as Caracas where forty thousand inhabitants were swallowed up." So, in typical, must slow down the car and crane my neck at the catastrophe on the side of the road fashion, I think "wow -- did the earth open up and swallow them? Was it a tsunami?" and I start to google. And I found a discrepancy. I love discrepancies. The earthquake that destroyed 90% of Caracas, Venezuela didn't occur until March 26th, same year -- so Audubon and his companion couldn't have heard about that upon their arrival in New Orleans. It was more than a month later. It killed anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000, with every source seemingly giving a different number. Despite the fact that the quakes were not one and the same -- or at least didn't occur on the same day -- there were several eerie similarities. Both areas had begun shaking in December of 1811. Both areas were experiencing unusually warm weather. There had been a long period of drought in Caracas and "within 90 leagues." There had been lots of unseasonable lightning in both places. Another thing I found fascinating was that during the quakes and tremors around the Mississippi, eyewitnesses from hither and yon observed flashes of light and a weird smell in the air following the events. Latter day science explains the weird smell as merely the scent of the dirt underground, but has no explanation for the flashes. There were far too many reports to discount to hysteria, though. But I digress. So was it a coincidence that these catastrophes occurred so close together? I guess this is reason #103 to homeschool: You [the parent] also learn something new every day -- or something new you want to learn. |
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