Weird Rainfalls: Fish, Frogs, and Internal Organs

Weird rainfalls have been happening for a long, long time. Even the Bible mentions bread falling from Heaven and frogs raining down on ancient Egypt. That was a long time ago, and things have only gotten weirder since.

Charles Fort was particularly fascinated with strange rainfalls, and wrote about them in his ominously titled Book of the Damned. The study of these rainfalls would continue to be a central theme in Fort's writing until his death in 1932.

Strange rains still happen today, and while scientific theories do exist, they don't explain every occurrence. This is one phenomenon that occasionally leaves Science scratching its head in bewilderment.

There have been thousands of strange rainfalls, far too many to list here. So, in the best tradition of Internet lists everywhere, we'll only take a look at some of the weirdest and most remarkable rainfalls, broken down by type.

Animals

Animals make up the majority of odd rains, with fish and frogs leading the pack. This fact is responsible for the waterspout theory, a theory which loses water when you consider the fact that many land animals have also fallen from the sky. Some folks attribute this to strong winds, while others give up trying to explain it and just accept it for what it is - weird.

Among the strangest animal falls, we have the 1894 jellyfish fall in Bath, England, where thousands of shilling-sized invertebrates came tumbling down; a rain of baby alligators over a South Carolina farm in 1877; tangled clumps of worms that pelted people in Jennings, LA, in 2007; and the frozen squid that knocked out a Korean fisherman near the Falkland Islands in 1997. (Ouch.)

While most of the fallen creatures are alive and well, if somewhat dazed, after their plummet to earth, some unlucky ones come down dead, encased in ice, dried out, or ripped to shreds. Tornadoes are typically blamed.

Blood

In 1890, avian blood rained down on Messignadi, Calabria in Italy. Witnesses speculated that the birds had been rent asunder by gale-force winds. One problem: it wasn't windy that day. And while we're poking holes in theories: what happened to the birds' bodies?

The red rain that fell on Kerala, India, in 2001 only looked like blood. After analysis, it was found to be filled with countless fungal spores. Perhaps fungus could account for some of the other blood rains as well?

Guts

Unfortunately, blood isn't the only organic substance to fall from the sky. In 1841, a "rather small, red cloud" scattered hundreds of pounds of muscle and fatty tissue over an area half a mile long and 75 feet wide in Lebanon, TN. Dr. W.P. Sayle, the owner of the tobacco plantation where the gruesome rain fell, sent samples to the University of Nashville for testing. This case was documented by The American Journal of Science, which later found that the "rainfall" was actually a hoax carried out by the plantation's slaves.

I wish I could tell you flesh and blood never rained down again, but they did. A lot. The San Francisco Herald ran a story about a rain of thinly-sliced meat over an Army station in Benicia. The meat had short, bristly hair all around the edges. Red clouds also rained blood, flesh, and even chunks of liver and brains over Cloverlea, VA, and Simpson County, NC, in 1850. Similar falls were reported in Los Nietos, CA, and Bath County, KY. Some witnesses actually tasted the meat from the Kentucky shower, and proclaimed it to be mutton or venison. Scientists blamed vulture puke for the downpour, but how often do vultures julienne their meat?

The moral of this story? If you see a red cloud (or a sickly vulture), duck and run!

Money

In 1958, Mrs. Basil McGee of Gastonia, NC, was raking leaves when she saw something shiny falling from the sky. The small object landed in her flowerbed. Mrs. McGee retrieved it, and became the proud owner of a pristine two-franc coin. Fate was a little more generous with two priests in Limburg, West Germany, in 1976. They gave thanks after bank notes worth approximately 2,000 franks rained down around them.

In Meshchera, Russia, a rain storm sent a thousand 16th Century coins hurtling from the sky in 1940. English schoolchildren seem to have all the luck when it comes to heavenly coin falls; money poured down on children in Hanham, England, in 1956, and on a group of Manchester students in 1982.

Other Stuff

A rain of stones (some weighing as much as 2 pounds) fell on Ozark, AR, in 1880. A storm of golfballs pounded Punta Gorda, FL, in September of 1969. And in 1857, a shower of sugar crystals fell on Lake County, CA. Rather than being frightened by the weird weather, the immanently practical women-folk gathered up the crystals and used them to make syrup.

Why do you think weird things fall from the sky? Share your theories in the comments section.

Sources:

1. Strange World, Frank Edwards (Citadel Press, 1964)
2. The Book of the Damned, Charles Fort (Sacred-texts.com)
3. Epic Weird, (www.epicweird.com)