BORDERLAND QUAKES
by
Michael Theroux



In the short time span of  roughly 15 hours, Humboldt County California experienced 
three major earthquakes.  April 25th, 1992 at 11:06 am -- earthquake measures 6.9 on the 
Richter scale; April 26th, 1992 at 12:42 am -- earthquake measures 6.3 on the Richter 
scale; and at 4:19 am -- another earthquake measures 6.5 on the Richter scale.  The 
epicenter of these quakes was in each case near Petrolia, California, and they were felt 
from just past the Oregon border all the way down to some parts of San Francisco.  An 
estimated $60,000,000 in damage reported, with the local towns of Petrolia, Scotia, Rio 
Dell, and Ferndale almost completely destroyed.
	I have never felt tremors that could even compare to the sheer power unleashed 
by these quakes.  Here, in the areas surrounding Garberville, California, these quakes 
were strong indeed and many long time locals said they never felt anything that could 
even match one of these. Some people are leaving.
	Well, I do not wish to downplay the devastation to the area or to our emotional 
well-being, but we here at Borderland are researchers and of course these incidents 
afforded the opportunity for analysis. The following then is an examination of 
experiments prior to, during and after these incredible telluric events with a complete 
summary of my experiences.
	During the last few months I had been engaged in research pertaining directly to 
earth energies.  These experiments were wide ranging covering many facets of the 
properties of the earth itself.  The first of these were concerned with the possibilities of 
drawing potentials of  energy from the earth and experiments dealing with radio wave 
propagation thru the natural medium (earth). While this was interesting and rewarding 
work, I found myself  more fascinated with the idea of listening to these earth energies.  
My monitoring system very simply included the use of two rods placed in the ground and 
connected to an audio amplifier.  Although I had developed a filtering arrangement, I 
preferred listening to all of the frequencies possible (approx. 0 to 20,000 KC).  These 
experiments were set up to record all of the various sounds emanating from the earth 
itself.  What I found most interesting was that the sounds I obtained were the same as 
those attributed to the atmosphere (called sferics).  In an attempt to correlate these 
findings I rigged up several types of antennas used for VLF reception and found that the 
signal was much stronger with the ground rods (the rods also defeated alot of artficial 
electrical noise).  This fact led me to the belief that these sounds actually originate in the 
earth.  To make sure I was not misled, I used very short wires connected to copper 
screens buried deep in the soil completely negating any antenna effect and the results 
were the same (the dog decided the screens did not belong there and promptly dug them 
up).
	One of the things I was very interested in hearing were the so called 'whistlers'.  
These sounds can be heard in the VLF range and are attributed to distant lightning. The 
idea is that lightning generated on one part of the globe transmits these whistling 
sounds to another part of the globe via the earth/ionosphere waveguide, with the 
lightning bolt itself being the transmitting antenna.  After my earlier experiments with 
earthly electrical potentials and in radio wave propagation thru the natural medium, I was 
sure that I would find these sounds in the earth as well, and that they, too, were truly a 
product of telluric emanation.  In this case the lightning would need to actually strike the 
earth for proper transmission to occur.  It was discouraging at first for I did receive these 
sounds but they were very faint and for days at a time none at all would appear.  Until 
the earthquakes.
	After being thrown about by the first quake -- the 6.9, and after the initial shock 
had subsided, I immediumtely began to recount any anomalous occurences that had 
taken place prior to the event.  At once I remembered telling people of the incredibly 
loud, almost subsonic sounds which had awaken me two nights earlier.  These very low 
tones seemed to originate in the North and came in three distinct bursts.  After this 
happened I could not sleep the rest of the night.  No one I related this to on the following 
day had been aware of the same sounds.  I also noted the abundance of wildlife out on 
the roads on the evening prior to the first quake.  This wasn't the usual number of deer or 
domestic animals normally encountered; it was the bounty of stranger creatures such as 
opossum and skunks that caused me to relate my observations to others.  Another 
peculiarity was the presence of the so-called 'earthquake weather' all during the interval 
of earth activity.  Everything became quite still and the air had thickened as if rains were 
forthcoming but with no attendance of humidity.  Looking about the countryside myself 
and others noted the presence of a certain darkness issuing forth from the ground and 
trees, and the early evening ushered in the most foreboding blackened clouds.  We knew 
something was still there.
	Upon arriving home after a long drive up north on the day of the first quake I 
directly began to record the sounds of the earth.  My reasons for setting up the 
equipment were for the possibility of recording the sounds of aftershocks related to the 
first quake. It wasn't long after the machine had started that I heard two very strong 
whistlers.  These continued all night -- tape after tape of whistlers.  Needless to say I 
was astounded and somewhat confused as well.  Why were these happening in such 
abundance now? Could it be that the quake had actually triggered them?  Now, 
inertialistic physicists will probably laugh and those crop circle enthusiasts who adhere 
to the whistler theory will scoff, but I would have to conclude that whistlers are a direct 
emanation from the earth.  Could it be that the crop circles themselves are indeed a 
product of some subsurface energy?  I think it likely.
	Long about 12:00pm on the 25th of April, the recording machine was still running 
and the whistlers were increasing in number.  I walked out on to the deck and noted a 
bizarre white light on the eastern horizon much resembling the auroras of the North.  I 
had oftentimes noted flashes of light in the sky around this place but this was a steady 
emanation and was limited to a small section of the distant horizon. This vision 
provoked me to note my pets' behavior as well.  Although my two cats were acting a bit 
uneasy and restless, I noted no difference in their mannor from that observed during a 
full moon .  Neither they nor the amplified sounds gave any warning of the impending 
disaster.
	At 12:42 am on 26 April, the Dragon weilded its power once more.  The quake, 
measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale caused myself and my companion to flee our 
mountain top cabin.  The cabin sits facing east and is perched atop a sizeable hill with 
only one side actually in contact with the ground.  The remainder of the cabin is leveled 
off by supporting 4X4s some 10 feet off the ground.  After bolting from the possibility of 
tobogganing down the mountainside we saw the most incredible lightshow coming from 
the city below.  Flashes of blue lights started to appear everywhere (I was later informed 
that these were transformer explosions) and the sky immediately above the city became 
aglow with a phenomenal luminescence.  Returning to the cabin after things had settled, 
we found it to be in total disarray (all three quakes left the insides a scrambled chaos).  
The recording device had been hurled to the floor crushing a number of previously 
recorded tapes.  With some haste, I grabbed the box and began to play back the event.  
The sounds that were recorded during the quake had the most impressive musical 
quality of which I had never heard before on any recordings of the earth.  The usual 
static discharges became quiet and were overcome by a most incredible interplay of 
arhythmic tones.  The playback continued for a few seconds until it was abruptly cut off  
(when the device was tossed to the ground).  I rewound the tape several times to see if 
there was any indication or warning that the quake was soon to come but nothing out of 
the ordinary could be discerned.  This brings up an interesting conversation I had 
(following the quakes) with Carl Schleicher of Mankind Research.  He stated that they had 
developed an ELF device that would warn of impending earthquakes and that they had 
presented their findings to the government who showed no interest.  I then asked him 
that supposing this device really worked (my findings indicate that it doesn't) why 
wouldn't he offer the information to the public.  He replied that the project needed the 
kind of funding that only the government could afford. Contradicting himself a few 
sentences later, he stated that they could by made up as small hand held devices and 
could be made available in supermarkets across the country for consumer use.  I then 
inquired about the actual frequency  range of the device and other simple layperson 
details. He couldn't seem to recall any information about it an quickly ended the 
conversation. Go figure.
	On the day following the tremors I listened to the local radio stations.  I was 
surprised to hear many reports of people seeing the strange earthquake lights.  There 
were even two eyewitness accounts of actual lightning bolts shooting from the surface of 
the earth near the quakes' epicenter.  An excellent source for these geophysical 
anomalies is Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds and Related Phenomena by 
William R. Corliss (available from BSRF).  Everything from animal response, electrical 
phenomena, weather, etc. in relation to earthquakes has been compiled in this volume.
	One of our interests here at Borderland is the association between nuclear tests 
and earthquakes and there is much information to connect the two.  I checked around and 
found that a nuclear test was in fact sceduled for the 24th of April but that it had been 
postponed due to major protests? Continued...