A researcher says that Native American tales describing a "Thunderbird" and a "Whale" point to "at least two massive quakes and tsunamis" that have hit the area in the last 1,100 years.

Ruth Ludwin, a University of Washington researcher, has been working with seismologists, to look into the U.S. West Coast's "geomythology."

Her research started six years ago because of the lack of such data, which can be found in other seismically active areas, such as Japan, and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Ludwin recently published two papers detailing how "Native people here were well aware that earthquakes happened and that is reflected in their oral traditions."

In one tale, the mythical wind creature "Thunderbird" drives its talons into "Whale's" back and is dragged to the bottom of the ocean, which she said could be interpreted as a tsunami-like event, according to a report by Reuters.

The stories were collected from native tribes in northern California, Oregon, Washington and just south of Canada's Vancouver Island.