H.P. Lovecraft borrowed from this real Connecticut seismic phenomenon

The Connecticut village of Moodus lies over a seismic fault that produces shallow microearthquakes that cause weird booms, rumbles, and cracks. The Algonquian peoples named the area Matchitmoodus. ("the place of noises")

The biggest Moodus Noise on record was an intensity-7 earthquake on May 16, 1791. The Pequot, Mohegan, Narragansett, and Wangunk tribes gathered near Mount Tom to experience the sounds, which they associated with the deity Hobbomock. Puritan settlers thought Hobomok was evil; the tribes saw him as something more complicated, morally ambiguous, capable of good and harm. Either way, everybody agreed the ground was making noise.

Most earthquakes occur deep enough that the sound dissipates, but Moodus earthquakes are so shallow that the seismic waves reach the surface before losing audible frequency.

H.P. Lovecraft worked the phenomenon into "The Dunwich Horror." East Haddam High School's athletic teams are called The Noises.

Previously:

• In 1997, NOAA recorded a sound louder than any known animal
• Mysterious booms in Wisconsin