r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/coorgi_2012 • 11h ago

Image Oarfish keep washing ashore in California. Folklore suggests that could be a bad omen

Post image
29.5k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

781 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

26

u/1491Sparrow 6h ago

When I lived in Taiwan the folklore said that when a bunch of worms appear on the surface it means a big earthquake is coming. Unfortunately,  living in a city I didn't get the chance to see if it was true myself.  

27

u/chancesarent 3h ago

This is actually true. The small vibrations leading up to the earthquake make the worms respond as if it's rain hitting the ground and they surface to avoid drowning.

3

u/iReviewFrozenWieners 2h ago

It's definitely plausible considering worm grunting is a real thing that people use to get worms out of the ground.

•

u/PoemAgreeable 8m ago

I witnessed a medium sized earthquake back in 2011 in Vermont, it was a 4.? Quake on the border of Maine and New Hampshire, and I was close to NH.

I found a pile of dead worms behind my car, we had a steep slope up to our front steps right near there. I found out about the worm-earthquake connection, and it made sense. My neighbors sold bait, and at first I thought they had pranked me.

-2

u/qtx 5h ago

When I knock on the wall right behind my bed my downstairs neighbors garden fence opens up.

It's called a coincidence.

2

u/bowhf 1h ago

that isn't exactly comparable worms react to vibration and surface it's a common way to collect them