Strangest Things That Fell From the Sky

Animals falling from the sky: fish, frogs, spiders

“Can it really rain fish?” may sound like a fairy tale, but raining animals is a genuine phenomenon that has been recorded for centuries. The most common explanation is a waterspout sucking up shallow water and the creatures in it and carrying them for miles; yet to this day, a waterspout lifting an animal has never been directly observed.

Honduras’s famous Lluvia de Peces (“rain of fish”) in the town of Yoro is a tradition celebrated every summer; but as Wikipedia also notes, it has not been scientifically confirmed that the fish truly fall from the sky — it’s thought to be linked to nearby stream branches overflowing after storms.

Blood rain and colored rains

People throughout history have been horrified to see what looked like blood falling from the sky. In reality, “blood rain” is either airborne desert dust or microscopic algal spores staining the rain red.

During the red rain that fell in Kerala for weeks in 2001, roughly 9 million particles were counted per milliliter; in total an estimated 50 tonnes of red material fell. For a while it was claimed to be “cells from space” (panspermia), but the official investigation revealed it to be a lichen algal spore.

Ice falling from the sky: giant hail and mysterious ice blocks

Hail is familiar; but some falls the size of a grapefruit, and some comes down from a clear, cloudless sky.

Megacryometeors are ice blocks weighing tens of kilograms that fall from a cloudless sky and have nothing to do with aircraft; more than 50 cases have been recorded since 2000, and the mechanism behind them is still not fully understood.

Meat, golf balls and star jelly from the sky

Some events fit no category at all — and the cause of a few is still disputed today.

The Kentucky Meat Shower (1876) is a documented event in which chunks of meat fell from the sky; tissue examinations of the era showed the pieces were lung, muscle and cartilage, and the most plausible explanation was vultures vomiting en masse while flying high overhead.

What falls on other planets?

Earth’s oddities pale next to space. On celestial bodies, water gives way to diamond, iron, glass and acid:

Deep inside Neptune and Uranus, atmospheric methane is thought to break down under extreme pressure so that carbon atoms turn into diamond and “rain” down toward the planet’s interior; a 2017 laser-shock experiment at the SLAC laboratory supported this scenario. If these extreme conditions of space intrigue you, you might also enjoy the idea of traveling to the other side of Earth in minutes by rocket.

Why do animals and objects fall from the sky? (science vs legend)

Most of these events have a reasonable explanation:

• Waterspouts: Whirlwinds that form over water can suck up fish and frogs from shallow water, carry them along with the clouds, and drop them miles away. This is the most common theory; still, a waterspout lifting an animal has never been directly observed.
• Ballooning (spider dispersal): Young spiders release silk and take to the wind; during mass dispersal they appear to “rain” from the sky.
• Dust and spore transport: Desert dust and algal spores color the rain — that’s how “blood rain” forms.
• Human-caused: Aircraft waste freezing (“blue ice”) or a nearby pond being sucked up by a waterspout (golf balls).

The standout events in one table

Frequently asked questions

Can it really rain fish? Yes, raining animals is a documented, genuine phenomenon; the most common explanation is waterspouts sucking up and carrying fish. But because a waterspout lifting an animal has never been directly observed, the mechanism can’t be considered fully proven.

Is blood rain real, and what is it? “Blood rain” is a real sight, but it isn’t blood: what stains the rain red is either airborne desert dust or, as in Kerala, microscopic algal spores.

How big was the largest hailstone on Earth? In Vivian, USA (2010), a hailstone 20 cm in diameter fell; the heaviest hailstone in the world was recorded in Bangladesh (1986) at 1.02 kg.

Which planet has diamond rain? According to scientists, deep inside Neptune and Uranus, methane breaking down under high pressure may form diamonds that rain down toward the planet’s interior; a 2017 laboratory experiment supported this idea.

Did meat really fall from the sky? Yes; in 1876 in Kentucky, chunks of meat were documented falling from the sky. Tissue analyses found muscle and cartilage, and the most plausible explanation was vultures flying high overhead vomiting en masse.

What is star jelly? It’s a gelatinous substance said to fall from the sky; although explanations like frog spawn, cyanobacteria (Nostoc) and slime mold have been proposed, its origin has still not been definitively resolved — one test found no DNA in it at all.

How does it rain spiders? Young spiders release silk threads and take to the wind (this is called “ballooning”); during a mass dispersal, when thousands land at once, it looks as if spiders are raining from the sky.

Sources

1. Wikipedia — Rain of animals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_of_animals
2. Wikipedia — Red rain in Kerala. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rain_in_Kerala
3. Wikipedia — Hail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail
4. Wikipedia — Megacryometeor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacryometeor
5. Wikipedia — Kentucky meat shower. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_meat_shower
6. Wikipedia — Diamond rain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_rain
7. Wikipedia — WASP-76b. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASP-76b
8. Wikipedia — Star jelly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_jelly