Hi Kiddo. I suspect that what you and the others are hearing have been with been heard for many thousands of years, but no one knew, or understood what they were hearing. The sad thing about this is that there are those who can’t hear, or don’t want to hear. To do so would go against what they have been taught, or believe.

I’m sure most people have heard about earthquake lights. They have been seen in my area although I myself have never seen any; at least I don’t think I have.

Observations of earthquake lights (EQL), mostly white to bluish flashes or glows lasting several seconds associated with moderate to large earthquakes, have been reported infrequently by observers since ancient times.

It wasn't until the phenomenon was captured in photographs, taken during the Matsushiro earthquake swarm in Japan between 1965 and 1967, that the seismological community acknowledged their occurrence. A satisfactory theory to explain EQL, however, has been elusive and is still not agreed upon. Proposed mechanisms include piezoelectricity, frictional heating, exoelectron emissions, sonoluminescence, phosphine gas emissions, and fluid injection (electrokinetics), but the most recent theory suggests that EQL are caused by separation of positive hole charge carriers that turn rocks momentarily into p-type semiconductors.

There is a physical cause for the “earthquake lights” and you and others are hearing that physical cause before it is being seen. You don’t hear each and every earthquake, but then again lights aren’t being seen with each and every earthquake. Then again maybe they are, but they’re not occurring within the range of where they can be seen or heard.

A couple of years ago Dr. John Derr, USGS, Albuquerque, New Mexico was kind enough to send me an abstract that has not been placed on the internet at present time. In it he included the pictures of the earthquake lights in the area of Matsushiro, Japan. Those pictures can be seen on the “Earthwaves” web site. Using the abstract he sent to me I took a trip down into South County where the earthquake lights were seen just before two M>5.0+ quakes occurred back to back. There is nothing unusual about the area that one can see at the surface. There is however large underground water sources in the area that vineyard grower’s use.

You and the others are hearing what some are seeing. I suspect that there might even be some who feel what others hear and see. I don’t envy the task you and the others have. Take Care…Don in creepy town

• Earthquake Lights