Penn State football fans so loud seismologists mistake White Out for an earthquake — again

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — For the third year in a row, the Penn State’s annual White Out football game registered on local seismographs. This led to major confusion amongst the scientists who sent out the earthquake warning.

“We thought it was going to be the first major earthquake State College had seen since 1931,” said Dr. Marie James, a local geophysicist. “But then we realized it was just 111,000 people screaming in unison after a third-down stop against Michigan.”

Experts confirmed that this wasn't the first time Penn State fans have unintentionally caused seismic activity Last season, a freshman, Molly Davis, went to her first White Out game – alone -- in the student section. Penn State upset Ohio State, 32-10. This caused what felt like a level-4 magnitude earthquake in the State College area. Beaver Stadium was highly unstable. After the dust cleared, Davis was nowhere to be found.

A county-wide search for her lasted for two weeks, with the help of volunteers, campus police, and even the Nittany Lion mascot. Flyers were posted and students speculated about her whereabouts. It wasn’t until the next home game, when Penn State suffered a hard loss to Oregon, 40-13, that Davis was found to have taken refuge inside Beaver Stadium concession stands, surviving on leftover crab fries.

The stadium was so quiet you could hear the birds chirping as they flew by. It was in that moment of pure stillness that a faint voice echoed through the empty bleachers, “Wait… is the game over?” Fans were stunned to see Davis emerge from under a pile of abandoned pom-poms, dazed, dehydrated, and completely unaware that two weeks had passed.

Visiting teams describe the experience as “like playing in the engine of a fighter jet.” The opposing quarterback reportedly had to use hand signals because his headset cut out from the volume.

Around this time the top searched question on Google was “How to recover from extreme noise exposure after a football game?”

Geologists at Penn State are now studying White Out games as a case study in human-made seismic events by analyzing how the synchronized stomping, cheering, and general chaos of screaming fans can generate tremors comparable to minor earthquakes. They are particularly interested in whether they are caused by specific plays like touchdowns or interceptions.

Some fans brag about “literally shaking the earth” after every major game and students and alumni celebrate the “Beaver Stadium Quake” as a sign of true school spirit.

A local coffee shop, Irving’s, said their espresso machine vibrated off the counter and they had to close for the rest of the day.

A group of engineering students propose making White Out noise an official unit of measurement. Scientists predict that if Penn State wins a national championship in Beaver Stadium, the entire East Coast may need earthquake insurance.

(This story was created as part of COMM 498 Humor in Journalism.)