Case file · Folklore / legend
The 1969 'California falls into the sea' scare
Rumours, fed by psychics and by Curt Gentry's 1968 novel about a quake sinking the coast, said a giant earthquake would plunge California into the Pacific in April 1969. Some residents left the state.
1969 CE · 34.01, -118.49 · status: claim
The account
The rumours were linked to Edgar Cayce's readings. Seismologist Charles Richter publicly denied them.
The sceptical view
The San Andreas is a sideways (strike-slip) fault; it cannot make the coast sink into the sea.