Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-07-31
99:1IlIlI BOTTLES
The MOOdus Noises.
\ Curious Phenomen ~ In n Connecticut
Fiji.

Fiji.
\ Norwich. Conn, despatch of recent
date says: The "Moolus noises have
been heard again for the first time in about
a dozen years They are the most eNtraor-
binary phenomenon in the history of Con
necticut. Moodus is quaint old village in
the Old witch-town of East Ilaldam, that
nestles among tall hills on Little Salmon
river, two or three miles from the COnnec-
ticut river. In the heart of the loftiest
hill, Mount Tom, whose grassy slope be-
gins almost in the village street, and which
towers above MOodus, the mysterious
noises originate, and for hundreds of years
both the Indians and whites have believed
that the mountain was haunted. The In
dams fancied that an evil spirit dwelt on
the peak of the hill, whence he rolled
stones over the world, and they called the
place Machi-Moodus- meaning place of
noises The red men avoided Mount
Tom, and not one of them ever dared to
scale il. The noises have been famous in
all parts of Connecticut for two centuries
and a half. They are heard internationally.
Sometimes the mountain is silent for TWEEN
ty-iive or thirty years, then suddenly the
strangest sounds break forth. a deep, sepul-
chral. vouninous sound, like the moaning
of an imprisoned monster, that seems to
boom in subterranean cayerns of the earth.
and is heard distinctly ten or twelve miles
away. The noises begin with seemingly
tar-away low rumbling note. that speedily
swells in volume and intensity, and culmi-
mates in vast rolling sound, like the NUT
tering Of distant thunder and the ground
trembeS as If with the thrOe of an earth
quake. For the last ten years the noun
tain has been quiet, and the country people
along the Connecticut valley had about be-
gun to believe that the Moodus noises had
ceased forever But early last Sunday
morning the village folk and farmers in
neighboring towns were awakened by the
familiar Subterranean rumbling. They
sprang from their beds, ran to their bed
room windows. thinking that thunder
shower must be overhead, but the morning
was serene and fair. As they stood at the
windows there were several distinct
shocks, and they said to cach-other in
tones of awe: at is the Moodus noises
again The rumblng was not heavy last
Sunday and continued for only few min
utes, then died away, ending with the
light shocks, that sounded like explosions
of powder far beneath the earth's surface,
and made the village windows tremblc
little
ut FAUST Oh Tue MOOuuS noises mas new
er been satisfactorily explained. The first
historical mention of them was made by a
clergyman of MooduS early in the last cen
tury, who eloquently described them, writ
ing that he had often listened to the
strange booming in the bowels of
Mount Tom, and expressing the pious CON
viction that the hand of God was to be rec
ognized in them, showing that Good Al
mighty is to be feared and trembled at.
1t was in the latter part of the last century
that the strange rumblings were most pow
erful and impressive, and were continuous
for years. They were heard distinctly by
the farmers of the old hill-town of Salem.
ten miles west OF this city and six miles
east of MoOdus, who often paused in their
work in the haytields and hardened to the
mystic sounds that seemed to roll beneath
the western hills, causing the ground to
tremble momentarly. For two centuries
Salem was stepped in witchcraft supersti-
tions, and the people of that gloomy. sparse
ly settled town, sitting around their wide
open tireplaces in winter a hundred years
ago, shuddered while they listened to the
weird rumbling, and whispered to each
other that the evil one must be PLAYING his
pranks again in the heart of MoOdus
mountain.