Is a Safe Zones Map that shows parts of the United States that may be submerged by "the sea" or wracked by earthquakes an official map? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to back up this claim. Additionally, the map and its accompanying text look and sound suspiciously similar to maps produced by Lori Toye, an author and self-proclaimed mystic, who created her first Earth Changes map back in 1989.
The claim appeared on April 7, 2024, in a post (archived here) on a TikTok account called cornball.media.tv. The post included the Safe Zones Map and text that read:
It will start to formed on May of 2024 and it will be completed by 2032 our official new map
I can't disclose who I am just know I worked for the USA government and know all their secrets
Social-media users saw the image below at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken Fri April 12 07:10:17 UTC 2024)
Atop the map, a legend reads:
Earth changes -- earthquakes, floods, solar flares -- may cause massive changes to the land masses all around the world. Should this occur, the areas shown in purple may be under the sea.
Purple areas on the map include parts of Texas, Maine, Alaska, California and Nevada, among other states.
The post offered no proof to support its claim that the map is official. The claim's poor use of English does not help its case.
A website search of the U.S. Geological Survey, a federal agency that produces The National Map, led to no results (archived here) for a "Safe Zones Map" or any other map similar to the one featured in this post.
A Google search (archived here) for this map led to the same map in a 2020 book called "The 10 Greatest Conspiracy Theories of All Time" (archived here) by Brad Metzer. The search also showed results on TikTok for Edgar Cayce, an American psychic who predicted cataclysmic changes in the earth's geology
Additionally, both the map and its legend look and sound like maps produced by Lori Toye, an author and self-proclaimed mystic. In 1989, Toye produced her first Earth Changes map, the I AM America Map, touted for supposedly "delineating possible future changes to the Earth's geography." This is what her website says about the map (archived here):
This is the United States Earth Change Map the Ascended Masters showed Lori Toye in 1983. Since 1989 this important information has been published and has helped thousands understand the message of prophecy and the Times of Change.
Lead Stories contacted Toye to ask about the claim on TikTok about the Safe Zones Maps. We will update this story, as appropriate, if we receive a response.
The map on Toye's site is not identical to the map in the post on TikTok, but the shaded areas are very similar. Additionally, both maps reference "Earth Changes," a phrase used by the psychic Cayce, who died in 1945.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about geology and rising oceans can be found here and here.
