Welcome to lore legends, a subset of lore episodes that explore the strange tales we whisper in the dark,

even if they can't always be proven by the history books.

So if you're ready, let's begin. It happened in an instant.

At 5.20 a.m. on December 28th of 1908, the Sicilian city of Messina was demolished. That morning, an earthquake

struck Sicily and the southern toe of Italy. It had developed in the Messina Strait,

a sliver of ocean that separates Sicily from the mainland. For those who lived in the coastal

city of Messina, there was no escape. All they could do was ride it out and pray that they

would survive. The shock lasted over 20 seconds and reached a 7.5 on the Richter scale. The historic

center of Messina all but collapsed, with some of its most historic buildings crumbling to pieces.

One survivor, who had been buried under rubble

for 24 hours was eventually dug out only to see their city completely destroyed. Another said

that as they walked through burning neighborhoods and piles of wreckage, there were so many

corpses on the ground that they felt like they were just walking on bodies. The city had suffered,

and it wasn't over. Just ten minutes after the earthquake faded, a tsunami hit the coast.

Massive 40-foot waves crashed down, killing thousands of earthquake survivors. They had run to the

sea to escape the falling buildings, and the sea had turned against them.

Messina was reduced a little more than a pile of rubble, with over 90% of the buildings destroyed.

The city's population of 150,000 was cut in half, and across southern Italy, the estimated death toll rose to over 200,000 lives.

Tragedy comes for everyone, and more often than not, we never see it coming.

Disasters upend our lives without warning, an earthquake, a train wreck, a deadly fire,

and none of it can be predicted, except of course, when it can.

I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is lore legends. Beware the Iads of March.

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