Case file · Folklore / legend
Tecumseh and the New Madrid earthquakes
On 16 December 1811 the first of three great New Madrid earthquakes shook the Mississippi valley; a popular legend holds that Tecumseh had foretold it, promising to stamp his foot and shake the earth.
1811 CE · 36.59, -89.53 · status: legend
The account
The quakes, among the strongest in the eastern US, rang church bells far away and made the Mississippi briefly flow backwards. The great comet of 1811 also hung in the sky that year, Tecumseh's name meaning 'shooting star' in some translations.
The sceptical view
The prophecy story appears in accounts written well after the fact; the earthquakes are well understood as movement on the New Madrid fault.