ArchiveFM

Lore

Lore 315: All Shook Up

Duration
33m
Broadcast on
21 Sep 2026
Audio Format
other

Folklore usually depends on the little things. The daily struggle to survive, the terror of a new location, or even violence and crime. But even when the events are bigger than we can imagine, folklore has a way of showing up.

Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by GennaRose Nethercott, research by Cassandra de Alba, and music by Chad Lawson.

—————————

BUY EXHUMED TODAY: aaronmahnke.com/exhumed

—————————

Lore Resources:

—————————

Sponsors:

  • BetterHelp: Lore is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/LORE, and get on your way to being your best self.
  • Mint Mobile: For a limited time, wireless plans from Mint Mobile are $15 a month when you purchase a 3-month plan with UNLIMITED talk, text and data at MintMobile.com/lore.
  • Squarespace: Head to Squarespace.com/lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code LORE.
  • SimpliSafe: Secure your home with 24/7 professional monitoring. Sign up today at SimpliSafe.com/Lore to get 60% off a new SimpliSafe system.

—————————

To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to ads @ lorepodcast.com with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it.

To advertise on this podcast please email: [email protected]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore

—————————

©2026 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

Serena and Lily believe in the joy of decorating and celebrating well-loved homes. Each piece is thoughtfully designed to be comfortable and in fighting to endure beautifully with natural materials and performance fabric options. Kids, pets and parties are welcome. Discover collections at serinainlily.com with Complementary Design Services. Making your home a place for friends and family together is simple. Start today at serinainlily.com. That's serinainlily.com. I started Ornot in 2013 and we make bike apparel. The best part of Shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non- technical people. We're able to admin everything on the back end, front end and sell things online easily. If Shopify were a bike accessory, I think it would actually be the bicycle. It's the thing that you do the thing on. We run the business on Shopify. Start your free trial on Shopify.com. First, the ground began to tremble. Then the waterline receded as if the ocean itself were running from something and finally a mountain appeared on the horizon. Except it wasn't a mountain at all. It was a wave. When the 2004 boxing day tsunami hit Indonesia, nearly a quarter of a million people died. It was a catastrophe on a level most of us can't even imagine and hopefully never have to. Entire towns wiped off the map. Whole families destroyed. And yet there was one island nearby with an almost impossibly low death toll. It's called Simolue. And out of its 80,000 residents, fewer than 10 people died. And no, it wasn't because the tsunami didn't hit Simolue. It definitely did. But you see the people there had a secret weapon that helped them survive. A weapon that had been honed and cultivated for hundreds of years passed down from one generation to the next. A weapon called folklore. There was a tradition there of telling stories about tsunamis. Stories that outlined the warning signs and early clues that a tsunami might be coming. These folk tales told you what to do and what not to do and most importantly when to evacuate. Here in the States, most of us grow up with things like three little pigs and Cinderella. The folks in Simolue grew up with tsunami tales. And because of that vital difference, when the ground began to rumble just like it had in their bedtime stories, they knew exactly what to do. In short, when it comes to natural disasters, sometimes a good story can save your life. I'm Aaron Mankey and this is lore. Our little planet experiences millions of earthquakes each year, although most are too small for us to sense. And as for the ones that we do feel, well as frightening as they are, at least we understand what causes them. The shifting of the tectonic plates that make up the Earth's crust. But of course, we didn't always have that knowledge. In fact, the theory of plate tectonics didn't fully coalesce until the 1960s. And before that, well, it's not that we didn't have any explanations. They were just a bit more colorful. For example, in Japan, their earliest earthquake legends blame an insect called the jinqing mushi, a 10 legged oblong giant with the head of a dragon, whose burrowing causes the earth to shake. Of course, there isn't really a huge earthquake causing bug. That's silly, right? No, earthquakes are actually caused by a massive eel, so big that all the islands in Japan sit on its back. This eel theory enjoyed its time in the sun for a while, until finally a catfish known as namazoo usurped it as the cause of earthquakes in Japan. Even today, signs in Japan warning that a road will be closed because of an earthquake depict a smiling cartoon catfish. Meanwhile, parts of Siberia tell of a large mammoth living underground that, yes, causes earthquakes. While in other parts, quakes are blamed on a subterranean sled dog. The tremors occur either when the dog shakes snow off its back or scratches

Transcription truncated.