Nikephoros I of Constantinople Nicephoros wrote only about the Talking Mule Quake and did not mention the Holy Desert Quake. In his account, he stated that at the time when Leo the Khazar was born to Constantine V, a severe earthquake occurred in Syria, where some cities were destroyed and others only partially so. The ground was reported to have opened around several cities. Some settlements were shifted from their high positions and slipped down entire, with their walls and houses, to the plains below, moving a distance of as much as six miles, more or less, from their original situation.

Nicephoros also records that in Mesopotamia, near Syria, the ground split for a distance of two miles, producing a white sandy soil from which a female mule emerged. This mule, speaking in a human voice, prophesied that a tribe would come from the desert beyond and slaughter many Arabs without resistance.