V has vivid memories from Guatemala's great quake of '76 (measuring 7.6) which include huge cracks opening in the ground in front of her house before closing again without a trace.
There are similar eyewitness accounts from the massive earthquake (estimated at 7.5) that hit Pompeii on November 5th AD 62. One man relaxing in the baths at the time recounted how every last drop of water in the pool he was in disappeared into a gaping fissure before being squirted back out again.
It seems that some of these experiences at least can be put down to hallucination - the effects of major eathquakes include disturbances to the inner ear, which means that the first set of aftershocks take place inside victims' own heads.
