5 strangest things to rain from the sky
What’s the oddest rain you’ve ever experienced? It probably wasn’t fish, frogs or mysterious goo — all examples of the strangest things to fall from the sky.
Image: stock.adobe.com
It’s fair to say that many of us have experienced strange weather from time to time. Indeed, the battle against climate change (and its tendency to bring about freak weather patterns) is considered one of the major revolutions of our time.
All the same, you’d probably never expect to see anything but rain, snow, or hail fall from the sky. So, you might be surprised to learn that it’s been ‘chucking it down’ with fish, frogs, and even (what looks like) blood before.
What’s going on? With some of these instances, there’s a rational explanation. Other times, though, it’s not obvious why certain odd things to have fallen to earth actually did so. Below, we at Sky HISTORY look at examples from both camps…
1. Fish
Thou shalt have a fishy on a little dishy when the boat comes in… or when the fishy simply falls from the sky instead. It’s something that’s happened much more often than you might have realized.
In Mexico, it’s a phenomenon referred to as lluvia de peces, which translates from the Spanish as ‘rain of fish’. It’s thought to be caused by waterspouts that suck fish out of the water, carry them inland, and then deposit them there.
It’s not unusual in some places for locals to eat the fish left scattered across the ground, considering them essentially free food.
2. Frogs
These amphibious creatures, too, can be taken on unwanted journeys from their homeland due to waterspouts. In fact, stories of this happening go as far back as ancient times.
Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclides Lembus reported frogs falling so heavily that 'the houses and the roads have been full of them'. Frogspawn? It was more a case of ‘frog-storm’ in 2005, when an actual storm saw tiny frogs raining in Serbia.
Perhaps surprisingly, not all raining frogs die upon hitting the ground. Some have been known to survive and simply hop away.
3. Meat
'It’s raining meat, Hallelujah', you probably wouldn’t sing at a karaoke bar (especially if you’re vegetarian). Nonetheless, it did happen on 3rd March 1876 in Bath County, Kentucky.
Mary Crouch, a resident of Olympia Springs, was making soap outside when she noticed pieces of meat falling all around her. Especially strangely, the sky was clear at the time.
Other locals also came across the meat rain, with two gentlemen even tasting it and judging it to be either venison or mutton.
It’s still unclear what brought about the Kentucky Meat Shower (as the incident came to be known in the press). One widely accepted explanation is that the meat had been regurgitated by vultures striving to lighten their load or ward off predators.
4. Blood (or was it?)
Imagine how unsettling it would be to see rain reminiscent of blood pouring down, leading buildings to take on a red hue. Residents of Kerala, India in 2001 and Zamora, Spain in 2014 didn’t have to imagine it — they saw it with their own eyes.
It is theorised that ‘blood rain’ results from algae being caught in a rain cloud and, due to stress, emitting a red pigment.
5. Mysterious goo
In August 1994, police officer David Lacey was on patrol in the Washington State city of Oakville when rain broke out. However, the rain certainly didn’t look like water. When Lacey turned on his windscreen wipers, the rain wasn’t swept aside. Instead, it smeared like jelly.
After pulling over to inspect the substance more closely, he found it to be goopy. He became one of many people to come into close contact with the ‘Oakville blobs’ (as history now knows them) and fall ill shortly afterwards. Locals came down with flu-like symptoms like fatigue and nausea.
It has been suggested that the blobs were jellyfish parts somehow blown into the air or traces of fluid waste released from an airplane toilet. However, both theories have their flaws.
The truth is stranger than fiction…
There’s undoubtedly a lot of fun to be had in endeavouring to unravel historical mysteries, like those of the ‘blood rain’ or ‘Oakville blobs’. By subscribing to the Sky HISTORY Newsletter, you can learn of many centuries-old conundrums to have your own go at solving.
