PARICUTIN, Mexico

For three weeks since late January, 1943 the people near Paricutin village (300 Km west of Mexico City) had heard rumbling noises that resembled thunder – despite there being no clouds in the skies. Then on February 20^th, one farmer, Dionisio Pulido, and his wife Paula were burning shrubbery in their cornfield when they observed the earth in front of them swell upward and crack to form a fissure 2 – 2.5 m across. They also heard hissing sounds and later described the rise of “smoke” from the fissure, which had the repugnant smell of rotten eggs. The “rotten egg” smell is a hallmark of H₂S gas, and the crack that had opened in front of them would, within hours, develop into a small volcano.

In Dioniso Puido’s own words:

"At 4 p.m., I left my wife to set fire to a pile of branches when I noticed that a crack, which was situated on one of the knolls of my farm, had opened. . .and I saw that it was a kind of fissure that had a depth of only half a meter. I set about to ignite the branches again when I felt a thunder, the trees trembled, and I turned to speak to Paula; and it was then I saw how, in the hole, the ground swelled and raised itself 2 or 2.5 meters high, and a kind of smoke or fine dust - grey, like ashes - began to rise up in a portion of the crack that I had not previously seen….Immediately more smoke began to rise with a hiss or whistle, loud and continuous; and there was a smell of sulfur.”

"I then became greatly frightened and I tried to help unyoke one of the ox teams. I was so stunned I hardly knew what to do….or what to think…and I couldn't find my wife, or my son, or my animals. At last I came to my senses and I remembered the sacred Lord of the Miracles. I shouted out 'Blessed Lord of the Miracles, you brought me into this world - now save me!’ l looked into the fissure where the smoke was rising and my fear disappeared for the first time. I ran to see if I could save my family, my companions and my oxen, but I could not see them and I thought that they must have taken the oxen to the spring for water. I saw that there was no water in the spring… and I thought the water had gone because of the fissure. I was very frightened, and I mounted my mare and galloped to Paricutin where I found my wife and son and friends waiting for me. They were afraid that I was dead and that they would never see me again."

Within 24 hours the eruption had generated a 50-m-high cone. Within a week, it had grown to a height of 100 m from the accumulation, and finer fragments of ash were raining down on the village of Paricutin. The eruption became more powerful in March, generating eruptive columns several kilometers high. Occasionally, the volcano would exhibit large cannon-like explosions separated by short periods of silence. On June 12, a lobe of lava began to advance toward Paricutin village and people began to evacuate the village the following day. The larger town of San Juan Parangariculiro.(pop. 5000) was evacuated a few months later. By August 1944, most of Paricutin and San Juan were covered in lava and ash.

All that remains of San Juan are two church towers that stand above a sea of rugged lava. The eruption was unusually long with several eruptive phases occurring over a 9-year period. Although no people died directly from the eruption, three people died after being struck by lightning generated by the eruptions. The eruption ceased in 1952 and final height of the cone is 424 m.

Keith and Marnie Elliott’s “REMEDY” Site

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