Tales from the X-files: mystery earthquake in Idaho and beach rocks that spontaneous explode

May 18, 2012 – MCCALL, Idaho — You could call it a mystery earthquake, a sonic boom, or maybe nothing at all. Several witnesses report waking up to what they say was a small earthquake south of McCall early Thursday around 4:30 a.m. However, those shaky claims have employees at Idaho’s U.S. Geological Survey scratching their heads in disbelief. Mickey Hart lives five miles south of McCall just off Highway 55. The 50-year-old resident said she’s experienced one previous earthquake here in the summer of 2001. The second earthquake came early Thursday around 4:30 a.m. Hart says that’s when her beloved border collie, Mr. Mac, detected the tremor before it hit. “It was four in the morning, and the house shook,” Hart said. “It woke up my husband and scared the crap out of my dog.” However, for some folks here in Idaho, those reports just don’t seem to make sense. U.S. Geological Survey Technical Information Specialist Tim Merrick said his agency’s seismographs haven’t shown any recent earthquake activity in Idaho. “If there was anything, it would almost certainly show up,” Merrick said. “Our seismology network across the United States is very sensitive.” Scott VanHoff, USGS Geospatial Mapping Coordinator, agrees. “Idaho looks amazingly quiet, and I don’t see anything,” VanHoff said, adding that the only earthquake he’d seen recorded was yesterday. USGS records show that event was a magnitude 2.2 earthquake recorded around 9:30 p.m., at a location northwest of Weiser, Idaho. However, other folks in the Valley County area maintain they positively did feel an earthquake early Thursday morning. Captain Brandon Swain with the McCall Fire Department says he heard reports of the mystery earthquake from his brother, Clint Swain, who lives near Lake Fork. “My brother was awake at about 4:30 or 5 a.m., and the earthquake woke up his wife,” Swain said. –KVTB

Spontaneous exploding rocks: A 43-year-old woman in California suffered third-degree burns last Saturday after two rocks she’d collected at the beach spontaneous exploded while she was standing in her kitchen, causing her shorts to catch fire. The rocks were in her pocket. The Orange County Register reports that the woman tried to stop, drop, and roll to put out the flames. It didn’t help. But listen to what happened next: The rocks, described as small, the size of a hamburger patty, smooth and orange and green in color, fell from the shorts onto the floor and continued to burn the wood floor and fill the house with smoke. According to Orange County Fire Authority Captain Marc Stone, “The rocks were still smoking when firefighters took them to the hospital.” Captain Stone thinks the culprit might be phosphorous. “There is phosphorous that naturally occurs on the sand at the beach, but no one has ever heard of pants catching fire.” – Gawker  – see also KSDK Channel 5

 contribution Whatwherewhen