“Seismic impulses and other geological phenomena, that are as of yet not fully understood, electric anomalies in the atmosphere, are today all known to cause erratic animal behavior. For instance, bee populations fled in masses four days before the devastating rock fall in the town of Plurs in the southern Alps, of 1618, a disaster that killed 2000 villagers and left only 4 survivors.206 Further, atmospheric upheaval or even simple weather changes are known to go along with unusual animal populations and their erratic behavior. Whatever caused the two unprecedented locust invasions into Western Europe just a few years prior to the Black Death, could it also have influenced the population and behavior of rats and flees?

As we saw, Pliny the elder reported dead fish in the Golf of Naples only days before the Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD (see above). Centuries earlier, one of the earliest references we have to unusual animal behavior prior to a significant earthquake is from Greece in 373 BC. Rats, weasels, snakes, and centipedes reportedly left their homes and headed for safety several days before a destructive earthquake. Scientists of the USGS are aware of these connections, as research in earthquake predictions – using for instance lost pet reports – continues.

206 http://earthquakes.findthedata.com/l/789/Switzerland 69

“Anecdotal evidence abounds of animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behavior anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake. However, consistent and reliable behavior prior to seismic events, and a mechanism explaining how it could work, still eludes us. Most, but not all, scientists pursuing this mystery are in China or Japan.”207

As mentioned above, the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote in 1755 that there were warning signs proceeding the Earthquake of Lisbon, that was so strong that it made church bells sound in Sweden. Eight days before the quake the ground near Cadiz was covered with earth worms.208

We see it is difficult if not impossible to reach a definite conclusion on such interconnections and to differentiate cause and effects. But it is inevitable to keep in mind the coincidences of for instance: comet sightings and earthquakes, earthquakes and pandemics, earthquakes and volcanoes, comets and atmospheric disturbances and so on. It is apparent that in certain period of time, all of these phenomena have rapidly increased in frequency and severity. As I’m writing this in January 2017, the news come in: ‘Earthquake triggers strong eruption at Sinabung volcano in Indonesia’.209 No prove for a causal relationship is presented in this case as of yet, but we now well know the two phenomena are often observed in conjunction.

We saw that, eye witness accounts from the time claimed that foul gasses released from the Earth were blamed for causing diseases. And we know that outgassing from natural grounds has caused mass casualties in recent years. Noxious gases can also be brought into the atmosphere from space or the gases can be generated by the forces of an impact.”