The Night the Mississippi River Flowed Backward

On the night of December 16th, 1811, settlers along the Mississippi River watched something no one had ever seen happen to the river before: for a few minutes, it ran backward. It was the first of three of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in the central and eastern United States. In this episode of The Untold Ground, we separate what the historical record actually supports from what two centuries of retelling have exaggerated — the river reversal, the church bells supposedly heard a thousand miles away, and the true scale of the New Madrid earthquakes. The Untold Ground investigates real, verified historical events and discoveries tied to specific places. One place, one case file, one question that was never fully answered. Subscribe for the next case file. #History #NewMadrid #Documentary