Odd things that fall from the sky

[Moontanman]

I have been reading a book that details odd naturual happenings. One of the oddest is things like fish and frogs falling from the sky. Here is an example.

On Wednesday, February 9 1859 as reported in the Annual Resgister, 101: 14-15, 1859 a fall of small fish, all the same species, covered the ground in an oval 80 yards long and 12 yards wide. A building in the path of the fall and a man were covered by the still living fishes. some were scooped up and put in a rain pool where they lived on for some time. It was 11 am and several light showers had passed through the area.

This is parphrased from "The Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena"

[InfiniteNow]

Wild. I must say, however, that my skeptic senses are going nuts right now.


X-Project: It's Raining Fish!

Eyewitness account of a fish fall by John Lewis of Mountain Ash, Glamorganshire, Wales in 1859:

"On Wednesday, February 9, I was getting out a piece of timber, for the purpose of setting it for the saw, when I was startled by something falling all over me-down my neck, on my head, and on my back. On putting my hand down my neck I was surprised to find they were little fish. By this time I saw the whole ground covered with them. I took off my hat, the brim of which was full of them. They were jumping all about. They covered the ground in a long strip of about 80 yards by 12, as we measured afterwards. That shed was covered with them, and the shoots were quite full of them. My mate and I might have gathered bucketsful of them, scraping with our hands. We did gather a great many, about a bucketful, and threw them into the rain pool, where some of them now are. There were two showers with an interval of about ten minutes, and each shower lasted about two minutes or thereabouts. The time was 11 AM. The morning up-train to Aberdare was just then passing. It was not blowing very hard, but uncommon wet; just about the same wind as there is today, and it came from this quarter. They came down with the rain in a body, like."

SOURCE: Annual Register, 101:14-15, 1859

[Moontanman]

The book I am reading had examples of all sorts of odd things. another was snakes falling from the sky but lots of fish and frogs. Your post was the exact text of the one i was paraphrasing.
Another fish fall of several species occured October 23, 1847 07:47 am, Large Mouth bass, goggle eye two species of sunfish, several minnow species and hickory shad. They were reported to be frozen by some people. The largest was a LMB about 9" long.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

I have been reading a book that details odd naturual happenings. One of the oddest is things like fish and frogs falling from the sky. Here is an example.

On Wednesday, February 9 1859 as reported in the Annual Resgister, 101: 14-15, 1859 a fall of small fish, all the same species, covered the ground in an oval 80 yards long and 12 yards wide. A building in the path of the fall and a man were covered by the still living fishes. some were scooped up and put in a rain pool where they lived on for some time. It was 11 am and several light showers had passed through the area.

This is parphrased from "The Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena"

The penultimate record source for such falls is Charles Fort's The Book of the Damned, first published in 1919.
The Book of the Damned - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[TheBigDog]

IFO's? (Identified Falling Objects)

I have heard that the fish thing is a result of a waterspout which could be out of sight from where the fish fell. The tight pattern would simply be a trick of observation, or a coincidence.

Bill

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

IFO's? (Identified Falling Objects)

I have heard that the fish thing is a result of a waterspout which could be out of sight from where the fish fell. The tight pattern would simply be a trick of observation, or a coincidence.

Bill

True. (nice to see you B. ) How shall we explain the sorting, i.e. only one species of fish? No wood, no weeds, no snails, no yada yada yada, just fish.

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Turtle

True. (nice to see you B. ) How shall we explain the sorting, i.e. only one species of fish? No wood, no weeds, no snails, no yada yada yada, just fish.

I have given that some thought and "maybe" it's like the ocean sorting things by shape and size. if you beach comb much you will notice the ocean naturally sorts out all sorts of things by size. Even the fossil record shows signs of this, trilobite fossils are found in pieces with the shapes and sizes of different parts all sorted out into separate groups. I once found several heart shaped pieces of brick that had been worn by the ocean and separated out into groups of different shapes, there was a gamut of different places where the shapes were all the same even the one place where the pieces were heart shaped.

[TheBigDog]

Originally Posted by Turtle

True. (nice to see you B. ) How shall we explain the sorting, i.e. only one species of fish? No wood, no weeds, no snails, no yada yada yada, just fish.

Aerodynamics. The fish all have similar properties, and significantly different from other things. So by some trick of physics they all follow a similar path while the other things are scattered so wide as to be unnoticed. Too much of a stretch?

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

I have given that some thought and "maybe" it's like the ocean sorting things by shape and size. if you beach comb much you will notice the ocean naturally sorts out all sorts of things by size. Even the fossil record shows signs of this, trilobite fossils are found in pieces with the shapes and sizes of different parts all sorted out into separate groups. I once found several heart shaped pieces of brick that had been worn by the ocean and separated out into groups of different shapes, there was a gamut of different places where the shapes were all the same even the one place where the pieces were heart shaped.

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

Aerodynamics. The fish all have similar properties, and significantly different from other things. So by some trick of physics they all follow a similar path while the other things are scattered so wide as to be unnoticed. Too much of a stretch?

Sounds reasonable. There is an aerodynamic effect from symmetric objects that can overcome the centrigual force that throws most things out, and then up higher goes the sorted stuff until it falls out en masse.

PS This may also explain the rains of nuts. Not that kind of nuts! I can't find a story just now, but I think Fort has stories of them.