Case file · High strangeness
Haicheng earthquake warning
Before the 4 February 1975 Haicheng earthquake, reports of snakes waking from hibernation, odd well water and lights helped prompt an evacuation.
1975 CE · 40.85, 122.75 · status: explained
The account
Officials in Liaoning ordered people out hours before the magnitude 7.3 quake, saving many lives; it is often called the only successful earthquake prediction.
The sceptical view
Seismologists credit the warning mainly to a sharp swarm of foreshocks; the animal and light reports are anecdotal.