Causes of Quakes - Past Beliefs

In early times, people believed that the earth was fixed in space and that the sun, moon, and stars rotated around the earth. They naturally concluded that the earth must be fixed on some sort of support and earthquakes were then quite reasonably attributed to movements in that support. In Japan at one time, the support was believed to be a great spider, and later a giant catfish. In Mongolia and the Celebes it was believed to be a hog; in India, a gigantic Mole; in some parts of South America, a whale; and among some of the North American Indians, a giant tortoise.