back to Mysterious Rains of Fish, Frogs, other Small Animals and Inorganic Substances
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Sometimes flesh or meat falls down from the sky. I guess the aliens also grind up animals (and humans?) before they dump them, or are they cleaning out their refrigerator? In all those accounts, the sky was clear. Contents: ................... "Shower of red matter like blood and muscle - We are indebted to Prof. Troost of Nashville, Tennessee for an interesting notice of a remarkable event. It appears from communications made to that gentleman, that on Friday, August 17, between one and two o'clock, P. M., the negroes of Mr. Chandler, near Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee, came in and reported that it had been raining blood in the tobacco field where they had been at work ; that near noon there was a rattling noise like rain or hail, and drops of blood, as they supposed, which fell from a red cloud which was flying over. Intelligent men visited the ground, and observed drops apparently of blood on the upper surface of the tobacco leaves, and portions of flesh and fat—one piece one and a half inches long, emitting a very offensive smell over the field. The drops evidently fell perpendicularly over a space from forty to sixty yards broad, and six or eight hundred yards long. Some, appeared to have been clear blood uncombined with anything else; others, blood united with muscular fibre and fat. Dr. Troost after visiting the place, it; decidedly of the opinion that it was animal matter, but he thinks not blood ; although he distinctly distinguished muscular fibres, on maceration of the matter in water, which separated longitudinally as in the case of dried beef ; they were of a reddish brown color. The pieces supposed to be blood were brown and resembled glue. There was a distinct smell of animal matter in a state of putrefaction. Both the muscular part and that which had been called blood, were heated in a glass tube, and were similarly affected as beef would have been in the same circumstances ; there was a movement in the mass, a brown fluid ease, and a block animal charcoal remained." Source: The American Journal of Science and Arts, October 1841, page 404 EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENON: SHOWER OF FLESH AND BLOOD. We extract from the Fayettville Carolinian, of March 9th, the following paragraph relative to a phenomenon recently witnessed in North Carolina: "We received on Wednesday the following communication from Mr. Clarkson, through Mr. Holland, of Clinton, and take great pleasure in laying the astonishing particulars before our readers: ' On the 15th February, 1850, there fell within 100 yards of the residence of Thomas M. Clarkson, in Sampson county, a shower of flesh, and blood about 30 feet wide, and, as far as it was traced, about 250 or 300 yards in length. The pieces appeared to be flesh, liver, lights, brains, and blood. Some of the blood ran on the leaves, apparently very fresh. Three of his (T. M. C's) children were in it, and ran to their mother, exclaiming, 'Mother, there is meat falling'. Their mother went immediately to see, but the shower was over, but there lay the flesh, &c. Neil Campbell, Esq., living close by, was on the spot shortly after it fell, and pronounced it as above. One of his children was about 150 yards from the shower, and came running to the rest, saying he smelt something like blood. During the time it was falling there was a cloud overhead, having a red appearance like a wind cloud. There was no rain. The above you may rely on, and by Mr. Holland you have pieces of the flesh, which are reduced by being kept so long. Yours, &c" T. M. C. The piece which was left with us has been examined with two of the best microscopes in the place, and the existence of blood well established; but nothing was shown giving any indication of the character of the matter. It has the smell both in its dry state, and when macerated in water, of putrid flesh; and there can scarcely be a doubt that it is such." Source: The Courier (Hobart, Tasmania), 27 July 1850, Page 4, and Vermont watchman and State journal. (Montpelier, Vermont), April 04, 1850,front page
On Saturday, the 20th instant, a shower of meat fell at the army station near Benicia. It was first observed by Major Allen, who was first struck by one of the falling pieces. The shower lasted two or three minutes. The pieces were from the size of a pigeon's egg up to that of an orange — the heaviest perhaps weighing three ounces. No birds were visible in the air at the time. Specimens of this meat, which is apparently beef, were preserved by Major Allen and the Surgeon of the Post. A piece that was examined three hours after it fell, showed a portion of a small blood vessel, some of the sheath of a muscle and muscular fibre. It was slightly tainted. The ground on which the shower fell was about three hundred yards long and eighty wide, and the entire amount of meat between two and a half and five bushels in bulk. No pieces of bone were found. A strong wind from the west was blowing at the time, and the skies were clear. This is the third occurrence of the kind on record in the last six years. Source: The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tasmania), 25 October 1851, Page 679 and Hobarton Guardian, or, True Friend of Tasmania (Hobart, Tasmania), 29 October 1851, page 3
What next from California! A San Jose paper relates that a shower of fresh meat has fallen upon a spot in that vicinity. The ground to the extent of about five acres was covered with meat, which fell from a clear sky. One gentleman who was standing in the field was pelted with the little chunks, and another made quite a collection of the fragments to show to the editor. It would seem as if the "man in the moon" bud tipped over his refrigerator or blown up his butcher shop. Source: The Petroleum Centre daily record (Petroleum Centre, Pennsylvania), March 29, 1869, Page 2 and The Wheeling daily intelligencer. (Wheeling, West Virginia), March 24, 1869, page 2
Flesh Descending in a shower; An astounding phenomenon in Kentucky; Fresh meat like mutton or venison falling from a clear sky. Louisville, March 9.—The Bath County (KY.) news of this date says. " On last Friday a shower of meat fell near the house of Allen Crouch, who lives some two or three, miles from the Olympian Springs in the southern portion of the county, covering a strip of ground about one hundred yards in length and fifty wide. Mrs. Crouch was out in the yard at the time, engaged in making soap, when meat which looked like beef began to fall around her. The sky was perfectly clear at the time, and she said it fell like large snow flakes, the pieces as a general thing not being much larger. One piece fell near her which was three or four inches square. Mr. Harrison Gill, whose veracity is unquestionable, and from whom we obtained the above facts, hearing of the occurrence visited the locality de next day, and says he saw particles of meat sticking to the fences and scattered over the ground. The meat when it first fell appeared to be perfectly fresh. The correspondent of the Louisville Commercial, writing from Mount Sterling, corroborates the above, and says the pieces of flesh were of various sizes and shapes, some of them being two inches square. Two gentlemen, who tasted the meat, express the, opinion that it was either mutton or venison." Source: The New York Times, March 10, 1876
On February 25, 1884, Mrs. Kit Lasater, “noted for truthfulness,” was walking near her home in the New Hope township of Chatham County when she heard what she thought was a hard rain fall. Glancing up she saw only clear sky but when she glanced down she saw what appeared to be the aftermath of a “shower of pure blood.” None of the liquid had fallen on her but it had drenched the ground and surrounding trees for some 60 feet (some accounts say yards) in circumference from the spot where she stood. Upon hearing her story, neighbors rushed to see for themselves and, when later interviewed, confirmed the story as related by Mrs. Lasater. Samples were collected and sent to Dr. F. P. Venable, a professor at UNC, for evaluation. By mid-April he addressed the topic to the Mitchell Scientific Society. In every test performed except one, the conclusion was the same. The samples appeared to be blood. Venable could offer no explanation beyond the results of the tests, suggesting that “the subject is quite a puzzle and offers a tempting field for the theorist blessed with a vivid imagination.” Similar cases of blood showers have been reported for centuries in various locations around the world. Source: This Day in North Carolina History
Here is the article F.P.Venable published with the results of his examination: FALL OF BLOOD IN CHATHAM COUNTY. F. P. VENABLE. A singular shower of some red liquid, supposed to be blood, which fell in Chatham on February 25th, 1884, was mentioned in some of the State papers, but little notice was taken of it. Nearly a week after the fall, Dr. Sidney Atwater brought a small specimen of sand soaked with this liquid to the University, to be examined. It was looked upon rather as a joke and no analysis was made for some time. When it was taken up several days afterwards there, seemed to be sufficient interest attaching to it to warrant paying a visit to the locality where the matter fell. Meantime nearly three weeks had elapsed, and several heavy rains had fallen, so that when the place was reached (a small negro-cabin in New Hope township, about a quarter of a mile from the Raleigh and Pittsboro road) no vestiges of the matter could be found on the ground, and only one or two marks of drops on the fence. The woman who saw it saw it fall was examined and inquiries made of the neighbors; who visited the spot soon after. The fall came from a cloudless sky, when the wind was so slight as to be almost imperceptible. The position of the drops seen on the fence indicated a very slight wind from the south or southwest, across some ploughed land. The woman was standing on this ploughed land. near a fence. along which some small pine bushes were growing She noticed something falling between her and the ground, saw it leave a red splash on the sand, heard a pattering like rain around her, looked up, but it was all over and she could see nothing. She was a good deal frightened and affected, taking it as a portent of death or evil of some kind. Mr. S. A. Holleman visited the spot the next morning, (the fall took place about, mid-day), and has kindly given me the following facts observed: The space covered was about fifty by seventy feet, and nearly in a rectangular forth. The drops were of sizes varying from that of a small pea to that of a man's finger and averaged about one to the square foot. Smaller drops were instantly absorbed, larger ones, with those on the wood, coagulated. Some fell in the bushes and coagulated upon the limbs. Dr. Robinson, living near, collected some of the freshly fallen material and made certain simple tests which satisfied him that it was blood. It even had the smell, he says, of fresh blood. Now as to the samples, which I could procure for analysis: One from Mr. Holleman was gotten by some third person card consisted only of a few grains of stained sand. The other, also stained sand, was somewhat larger in quantity and came indirectly into the hands of Dr. Atwater, who gave it to me. It is a pity that a sample could not have been gotten more directly—one whose origin would have been placed beyond all dispute, The analysis is detailed at length, as it is important to see on what foundation rests the claims of this material to be blood. The sand placed in cold water gave a brown-red solution, which coagulated on heating. The coagulum, a dirty brown, was soluble in caustic alkalis, giving an indistinct green solution—treated with an acid solution of mercury nitrate, it gave a brick-red color. Nitric acid also caused the formation of this coagulum and gave the characteristic yellow tint on heating. The original solution in water was brightened in color, not turning green or crimson on adding ammonia. On leaving the solution two or three days, it readily putrefied, showing under the microscope a great swarms of bacteria. Examined by the microscope, the appearance of small, slightly altered corpuscles was seen, corresponding well with those gotten from slaughter-yard soil. The spectrum of this substance when the solution was perfectly fresh gave a line in the yellow, none in the green, and a faint one in the red. On standing, the first two disappeared, and the red absorption band or line became very distinct: on adding ferrous sulphate the red line disappeared and the two first became distinct. To explain now: The yellow and green lines are characteristic of acid haematine (the red coloring matter of the blood). The red line is characteristic of acid haematine. If you take fresh blood and add tartaric acid to it you get the red line—if you then add ferrous sulphate yon get the yellow and green. The material then, according to the spectroscope, is partially decomposed blood. The test known as haemin crystals could be gotten only indistinctly, if at all. This leaves little or no reasonable doubt then that the samples examined had blood upon them. The question arises, were they carefully taken; had no animal ever bled on the same ground; had pigs never been slaughtered in that quarter of the fled e etc. As to theories accounting for so singular a material falling from a cloudless sky, I have no plausible ones to offer. It may have been some bird of prey passing over, carrying a bleeding animal, but a good deal of blood must have fallen to cover so large space. If a hoax has been perpetrated on the people of that neighborhood it has certainly been very cleverly done and an object lacking. On the possibility that it is not a joke, I have deemed this strange matter worthy of being placed in record. Other similar observations hereafter may corroborate it and combined observations may give rise to the proper explanation. Chemical Laboratory, U. N. C. A FALL OF FLESH IN CALIFORNIA A correspondent of the Standard, writing from San Francisco on the 19th October, says :—But not only is the earth bounteous; the heavens also have showered favours on us. On the 1st of August last a fall "of flesh and blood " occurred on the farm of a settler at Los Nietos, Los Angeles county. The account which first reached San Francisco was a very big one indeed. The flesh was said to have been found in pieces ranging from fine particles to stripes of six and eight inches long. It appeared to have been torn freshly from some animal, after the manner of Bruce's Abyssinian steaks. The shower covered "an area of about two acres of ground"—at least, so stated the Los Angeles News. This fall, it is needless to state, gave rise to much discussion and comment. ... Source: The Glasgow Herald (Ireland), Nov 17, 1869, page 6
"Fortean" fall of flesh and blood FSR representative Nigel Rimes writes: "Various São Paulo papers of August 30, 1968, carried a report that, according to the Deputy Marcondes Fereiro, meat and blood fell over an area of one square kilometre, for from five to seven minutes, on Tuesday, August 27, between Coçpava and São José dos Campos, 9 km. distant from the Via Dutra Highway which links Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. "The pieces of flesh were found lying at distances of half a metre apart, their size varying between lengths of 5 cm and 20 cm. The meat was of a spongy texture and violet in colour, and was accompanied by drops of blood. The sky at the time was quite clear. No aircraft had been seen just prior to, during, or after the event, nor were there any birds in the sky. The police removed samples." Source: Flying Saucer Review (Great Britain), 1968 volume 14 no.6
[Picún Leufú is in Argentina] Read about the mysterious rain of meat that fell on the village of Picún Leufú A neighbor complained and and people thought he was crazy. However police found that it was true. There was blood and meat in a radius of 50 meters. Police man Nequén elucidate a phenomenon worthy of the X-Files: meat rain on Tuesday covered a large area of the site of Puente Picún Leuf and and it left all the people spellbound. "The woman was in the nursery of the house and her husband was in the field taking care of the animals. At that moment he heard it raining over the house, as if it was hail, and when he checked it out he saw pieces of flesh scattered around in a radius of about 50 meters around the nursery and the house," said Ramon Cuevas, president of the Development Commission of Picún Bridge. It was the Tuesday afternoon, but the community of 540 inhabitants near Zapala could not stop talking about it. Cuevas says no one heard passing airplanes or helicopters, as one might assume that the heavens opened and dropped a load of prime beef, as it was lean and had no bones. "There were no bones visible," he added. "I thought it was hail. My wife heard a noise and thought it was hail. But she saw flesh and blood on the roof. When her husband arrived he told her to call the police district 22 of Zapala, which seeks to clarify the case. Cuevas said that the meat was fresh. "This is something really rare, something unusual, the family feels bad, because they want to know what is going on." "You see things like that in the movies, the neighbors are quite shocked, and worried about the family." The Office of the city of Zapala know it is animal meat, which some villagers at rest. But still they not know what happened.
Pictures of the meat:
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