The Strange Things That Rain From The Sky

By James Donahue

We have featured stories on this site about such oddities as fish and frogs falling from the sky during freak rain storms, colored snowfall and even massive blocks of ice so large they dented the wooden decks of ships. But lately we have been hearing of even more bazaar stories of everything from blood to spiders falling in strange rainstorms.

It is getting so that the unnatural almost appears to be the natural. And this begs the suggestion that rather than questioning our sanity, we might do well to question what we perceive as reality.

The residents of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England, were surprised when a small rainfall in August, 2012, dropped seaweed and smelly marine algae all over the town. One man said he collected a bucket filled with the slime from his garden. Of course the local weather "experts" suggested that some kind of tornado picked up the seaweed and then deposited it. What other explanation could they give?

So how do you think the weather people explained the falling cows that allegedly dropped into the Sea of Okhotsk, off the eastern coast of Siberia in 1990? One of the animals fell into a Japanese fishing boat and sank it. People refused to believe the rescued crew members who said they watched several cows falling from the sky before one of them sank their boat. There was an explanation, however. It seems the animals fell through the opened bay door of a Russian cargo plane as it was flying overhead.

Another incredible story reported in the New York Times in 1877 told of several foot-long alligators that fell in South Carolina. The animals reportedly landed unharmed. The story appeared during the days of "yellow journalism" when publishers enjoyed entertaining readers with incredible stories they just made up. So was the falling alligator story a bit of historical fact or simply an urban legend? We will never really know.

Blood red rainfalls, however, seem to be really occurring. They have happened in at least two different places on opposite sides of the world. One of them fell on Kannur, Kerala, India, on July 5, 2012. The red rain covered a one kilometer area, filled buckets and pools with red liquid, and stained people’s clothes pink. Natives say that red rainfall occurred in the same area in July, 2001.

.Red rain also fell on La Sierra, Choco, Columbia, in 2008. A local bacteriologist said he believed the substance that fell was really blood. The local priest said he thought it was a sign from God that the people must turn from their sinful ways.

The red rain stories go back a few years. And they were a bit weirder as well. In 1890 the Popular Science News published a story about blood raining down on Messignadi, Calabria, Italy. The speculation was that a violent storm somehow tore apart a flock of birds and dumped their blood all over the town. Nobody saw any feathers, beaks or bird body parts, however.

Another blood shower, this time mixed with fat and muscle tissue, reportedly fell on a tobacco farm near Lebanon, Tennessee in August, 1841. According to a story in the American Journal of Science, field workers who witnessed the strange blood shower said it fell from a red cloud in the sky overhead.

A rain of spiders fell in Salta Province, Argentina, on April 6, 2007. The incident was actually photographed by Christian Oneto Gaona, who was hiking in the area when it happened. He said at first he noticed the ground was covered with spiders of various colors, all about four inches in size. Then he looked up and saw them falling out of the sky. That is when he took the picture.

A storm in November, 1996, dumped a strange jelly-like substance all over a town in southern Tasmania. The area was hit by violent thunderstorms during the night. The people thought the substance may have been baby jellyfish or possibly fish eggs. Nobody knew for sure.

Corn falls are another odd phenomenon. Between 1982 and 1986 kernels of corn rained on Evans, Colorado. Local residents said there was so much corn it was measured by the ton. They could not explain where it came from since corn is not grown in the area.

Another rain of corn husks fell at Wichita, Kansas in August, 2001. A news story said "thousands of dried corn leaves fell over east Wichita."