Putnam patriot., 1930-04-10
"MOODUS" MEANS
 PLACE OF NOISES"
Crscklings, RumbIes of a Cen. tury Provided Mystery For
 the First Settlers
Indians God Mad at Arrival of Eng
 lish God


 Indian name. Machimoodus, which means Place of Noises.
 About 1700, and for many years after, there were craeklings and rumb lings that were compared to fusillades. to thunder. to roaring of the winds. to the breaking of rocks, as If the huge rocks were falling into immense cav erns and striking against eiins as they fell bumpity, bump. Here Is difficult mystery to unravel. The noises recurred in 1888 when houses rattled in Salem, eight miles away not only Salem, Massachusetts, was bewitched but Salem. Connecticut, mad it's witches that rode out on broom sticks on dark nights. The bell on the village church "sung like tun- ing fork" as 1t were to ward oil the imps. The noises have occurred with earthquakes in other parts of the country. and rocks have been moved and cracks found in the earth.
 Before the white men came the ln- dians held their pow-wows there Ire quently. "An old Indian was asked the reason of the noises in this place, to which he replied that the Indians god was mad because Englishman's god was come here. Whether II be fire or air distressed in the subter- ranean caverns of the earth cannot be known--for there is no eruption, no explosion pereeptible--but by sounds and tremors which are sometimes i fearful and dreadful IL was gene rally believed that the Haddam witch es tof whom we may hear laterl met the Moodus witches in cave beneath Mount Tom and fought. The Haddam witches practiced black magic and quarreled and fought the M0odus witches, who used white magic. A great carbuncle fastened to the roof of the cave furnished the light. While they fought the ruler of MachimOddi sat on throne of solid sapphire in the cave from which the noises came. If the witchfights continued too long, he raised his wand; then the light of the earbuncle went out, peals of l thunder rolled and reverberated through the rocky chambers, and the witches rushed into the air and disap- peared. Life is mysterious and pug zling.
 Our knowledge is like q torch of
 smoky pine
 That lights our pathway but one step
 ahead
 Across a void of mystery and dread.
 An aged man of knowledge came from England, and built a wonder fully strange looking house in lonely spot on Mount Tom. and was soon as much of mystery as the noises. He thought he had their secret and had come to this country to stop the noises by magic and to find and take the great carbuncie in the cave. Every window, crack and key hole was closed and nobody was allowed to enter his crazy looking house. while he stayed there. The sound of ham. mers was heard in his house, sparks shot from the chimney like sky rockets, and strange odors of birthstone were diffused When all preparations were completed for his search he sallied forth, his path was marked by faint light that moved before him and stop ped at the closed entrance to the cav ern. The Moodus noises were louder than even that night. The mountain shook and groans and misses were heard m the air as he pried up the stone that lay across the entrance to the pit. When he had lifted it off a light poured out; it streamed into the heavens with crimson light and made the mountain haunt of beauty. It was the flash of the great carbun- cle and the stars seen through it were as if dyed in blood
 This was beauty more fanciful than all and with it faith with jar- ring sorrow befell the captor of the prize. In the morning Stulc was gone. He departed for England in a galley which sank in mid-ocean. The rowers were doubtless weary captive slaves-n0t all galleys belonged to the Romans; but though buried be- meath the deep Atlantic, the red ray of the carbuncle shoots up from the sea and the glow of it with storm winds strikes fear to the hearts of passing sailors.
 Many years after when the boom- ing and echoing were heard the ln- dians said that the hill was giving birth to another beautiful gem to car " majestic greetings to the silent throng.
 Such noises are heard in many places near East Littleton. Massachusetts, is the shooting Nashoba Hill." The Indians said that the strange low rumbling was caused by the winds to whirlwinds trying to escape from caves At the end of a hot day on Seneca Lake, New York, are some times heard" the lake guns, like ex- ploding gas
 Over two hundred centuries ago, a wise and honored Seneca Indian, was killed by a flash of lightning The same bolt that killed him wrenehed a tree from the bank and hurled 1t into the water, where it was often seen going about the lake as if driv- en by unseen currents. and received the name of Wandering Jew. It Is often missing for weeks, and its re- appearances are heralded by low booming. What causes it? The h. dians said that the sound was the echo of the voice of the Indian warn ing them of dangers and summoning them to battle, while the Wandering Jew became his messenger"
 .'God ploughed one day with an earth
 quake,
 And drove His furrows deep!
 The huddling plains upstarted,
 |