Strange Rain

© 2000 Bobette Bryan

All through human history, people have reported seeing both organic and inorganic things fall from the sky, including fish, lizards, grain, coins, toads, blood and flesh, nuts, slime, leaves, seeds, stones, fire, salamanders, worms, turtles, straw and countless other things. In fact, if you plan on going outdoors, you better take a sturdy umbrella with you, because it may rain cats and dogs--literally.

Usually strange rains only occur when there are heavy winds or a bad storm, but occasionally, things rain from the sky on bright and sunny days.

Here's a few interesting cases:

Money

On May 28, 1982, a young girl saw a 50-pence coin fall from nowhere while she was walking through St. Elisabeth's church yard in Redding, a small town near Manchester England. As the day wore on, other children found coins in the same location. When these tales circulated, a local candy store owner who'd been swamped by coin-bearing children all morning, became concerned that the children were stealing the coins from the church's poor box. He contacted the Reverend of the church immediately, but no money was missing. What's more, when questioned, the children all swore that the money had fallen from the sky.

This was not the only time money fell from the sky. In December, 1968, shoppers at Ramsgate, Kent heard the ping of coins on the pavement. Witness Jean Clements told the London Daily Mirror, "Between 40-50 of them came down in short scattered bursts for about 15 minutes." She added, "You could not see them falling--all you heard was the sound of them hitting the ground."

Strangely, these coins were also dented as if released from far above. Yet there were no tall buildings nearby or airplanes flying by at the time.

There have been other rains of money reported in Meshehera, Russia in 1940; in Bristol, England in 1956; in Bourges, France in 1957 (thousands of 1,000 franc notes rained on a crowd); and Limburg, West Germany in 1976.

Fish

Live fish fell out of the sky on February 9, 1856, astounding the citizens of Glamorganshire, Wales. The tiny fish covered an area no less than 80 by 12 yards. There were buckets of them. Many people collected the fish and later released them.

More recently, thousands of fish rained on Marksville, Louisiana on October 23, 1947 during a foggy day. Unlike the fish in Wales, these were cold, some frozen. They covered an area of ground that was 75 feet wide and 1,000 feet long. Interestingly, this fish rain was observed by wildlife expert and biologist, A. D. Bajkov, who said that the fish were typical of those in local waters.

One of the ugliest fish falls occurred in Nokulhatty Factory, India on February 19, 1830 when several headless fish fell from the sky. In the American Journal of Science, M. Prinsep said: "The fish were all dead; most of them were large; some were fresh, others rotted and mutilated. They were seen at first in the sky like a flock of birds descending rapidly to the ground."

Other Animals

Thousands of young toads fell on Brignoles, France on September 23, 1973 during a "freak storm." In another French village, Chalon-sur-Saone, toads fell on the town for two days.

Alligator rains have also been reported. In Silvertown Township, South Colorado, in 1877, Dr. J. L. Smith noticed that something was falling from the sky and crawling toward him. A closer inspection revealed that the objects were alligators. The alligators were all alive and were about 12 inches long.

In December 1857, Montreal, Quebec received a lizard storm. The sidewalks and streets were covered with several live creatures.

Even more horrific, on July 25, 1872, Nature Magazine reported that after a black cloud appeared on the horizon, a black worm storm descended on the people. "All the streets were strewn with these curious creatures."

Blood and Flesh

Some of the more horrific rains involved blood and flesh. Imagine the terror of mourners as they attended a funeral in July 1869, only to have blood and flesh rain on them for three minutes at a farm near Los Angeles. The sky was clear and sunny, yet the red rain poured, covering no less than two acres of cornfield. On examination, it appeared that the blood and flesh was that of animals, since it contained fur. The hunks of flesh averaged six to eight-inch strips and included parts of organs, possibly kidney's, the liver, and the heart.

In July 1841, the slaves of Wilson County, Tennessee received a similar blood bath when a small red cloud descended upon them, showering them with blood, flesh, and small pieces of fat.

On February 15,1849, residents of Simpon County, North Carolina were also showered in blood after a red cloud appeared in the sky, sending pieces of liver, brains, and flesh down upon them. An area that was 250 yards long and at least 30 feet wide was splattered with the foul concoction.

Water

Yes, water. Sometimes water falls from a clear, blue, cloudless sky and sometimes this strange rain only rains on a small areas. In October 1886, this type of rain fell on a patch of land between two trees in Charlotte, North Carolina. The small area was drenched every day for three weeks even though a cloud wasn't in sight.

In October 1886, a similar thing happened in Aiken, South Carolina. Rain fell from morning until late at night on two graves in the town cemetery--and it rained on nothing else. People flocked to the graves by the hundreds to witness the strange phenomena.

Purple Blobs or Star Jelly

Imagine finding jelly-like purple blobs in your yard some morning. This is what happened in 1979 to Mrs. Christian who lived in Frisco, Texas. On August 10, there was a bright light over the city. The next day, she found three purple blobs on her lawn. One dissolved, but the other two were sent away to be analyzed. Chemical reports could not clearly determine the origin of the blobs but concluded that they were similar to waste from a battery factory. Other reports refuted that information, so the jury is still out on the composition of the purple blobs.

Such blobs are often called "star jelly." Often purple blobs are attributed to meteors, because they're frequently found after strange lights are spotted in the sky or after a meteorite is seen moving across the sky.   The welsh refer to them as pwdre ser, rot from the stars. Modern scientists, however, are baffled, because they believe that these blobs could not survive the fiery trip of entering the earth's atmosphere.

Theories

What accounts for these strange rains? No one knows, but there are many explanations.

One is that these objects are carried from funnels, tornados, whirlwinds or waterspouts, and of course objects can be picked up and carried in this manner, but the problem with this theory is the selectivity factor. How would a tornado pick up only one type of fish and cart it somewhere? Why nothing else? Tornados are known to drop everything they pick up.

Then if waterspouts, tornadoes, and whirlwinds aren't responsible, then how are these objects transported? Some people have attributed strange rains to aliens. Morris K. Jessup, UFO writer and enthusiast, believes that strange rains are the product of alien waste. He claims that aliens collect and raise earth creatures in special tanks, and occasionally empty these tanks for cleaning or for some other reason.

Writer John Philip Bessor has a more horrific hypothesis. He believes that UFO's are actually meat-eating animals who live in the atmosphere. Occasionally these beings reach out to snare something tasty. He claims this is also the reason why people disappear sometimes.

Other hypothesis include teleportation, and electromagnetic fields, but like the other hypothesis, none have been put to the test, and scientists remain baffled.

Burke, John G. Cosmic Debris: Meteorites in History, Berkley, California, University of California press, 1986.
Contance, Arthur, The Inexplicable Sky, New York: The Citadel Press, 1957.
Corliss, William R., ed., Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena, Glen Arm, Maryland: The Sourcebook Project, 1977.
Knight, Damon, Charles Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained, Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1970.
Loenzen, Coral E., The Shadow of the Unknown, New York: Signet, 1970.
Michell, Johnand Robert J. M. Rickard, Phenomena: A Book of Wonders, New York; Pantheon Books, 1977.

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