336 Earthquake in Connecticut, §c. 
Some persons have been disposed to attribute this earthquake 
to the explosion of a meteor. It is true that the explosion of 
meteors does sometimes produce this effect, as happened Feb. 2, 
1766, in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and at Charleston, 
South Carolina, in November of the same year, and remarkably 
at Weston, Connecticut, December, 1807. But there is in the 
present case no distinct evidence of the transit of a meteor, no 
such body having been observed,* nor have any fragments been 
reported as having fallen from the atmosphere. 
The great seat of American earthquakes being on the western 
side of the continent, comparatively few events of this nature 
have been observed on the eastern side since Europeans have 
become acquainted with the western hemisphere. 
An interesting account of the earthquakes of New England 
was given to the American Academy of Boston by Prof. Williams, 
in the volume of their Transactions for 1785, and the remarkable 
facts described in it might well form the subject of a distinct 
notice, for which we have not now room. What we have at our 
disposition shall be devoted to a scene of local disturbance in Con- 
necticut which has been observed ever since the settlement of the 
country. The region is around East Haddam, on the Connec- 
ticut river, afew miles below Middletown. 'The following mem- 
orandum was by request communicated to the senior editor of 
_ this Journal twenty. five years ago, by the late Rev. Henry Chap- 
man, and it has been kept on file with the expectation of mak- 
ing an investigation on the spot ; but, as that which has been so 
long delayed may never be done, we are induced to give the 
Bagwient on the present occasion. 
“In attempting to give an account of the circumstances attend- 
ant on subterranean noises, so frequently heard at East Haddam, 
perhaps it may be proper to mention the common opinion re- 
specting them 
“* East Fisddare 3 was called by the natives Morehemoodus, or 
place of noises, and a numerous tribe of cannibals resided there. 
They were famous for worshipping the evil spirit, to appease his 
wrath. Their account of the occasion of the noises is, ‘that the 
an god was angry because the English god intruded upon 
re was clear, and the sun shining bright, which ic: have 
riders can meteor invisible, nee its ignition had been ror intense 
a Whe tie tt-Acksnsew onary. 
