There is a scene in the movie "Wading the Angry Sea" released not long ago: big fish in the sky. Is this going to happen?!
It is not uncommon for it to rain in the sky, but have you ever seen "frog rain", "fish rain" or even "meat rain" in the sky? Are these unusual rains a gift from nature or a strange supernatural phenomenon, and today we will talk about those strange rains.
"Meat rain" from the sky?
On March 3, 1876, an "unusual rain" fell in Kentucky, USA, and the wife of a local farmer described that around noon, she was making soap in her yard when she saw a piece of meat fall from the sky, followed by several pieces of meat, which lasted several minutes. And this is the famous "Kentucky Meat Rain Incident" in history.
发，发财了？图源：james fosidke
The story seemed absurd, but at the time, the New York Times, Scientific American and other publishing houses reported on the phenomenon, which also deepened the credibility of the incident.
So then again, where did these pieces of meat come from? Leopold, a melon eater at the time, got a sample of the "meat pieces", but after analysis, he decided that it was not meat, but a kind of algae that had absorbed rainwater and swelled up.
Photo: Lairich Rig
However, some people pointed out that there was no rain in the area at that time, and there was no possibility that the ground vegetables would absorb the rainwater.
To be validated, Brandeis sent samples to a scientific institute for analysis, and the results were surprising because the samples were not only meat, but also cartilage or lung tissue from horses, and as more samples were identified, meat sources included cattle, sheep, deer, bears and even humans.
The identity of the meat piece was confirmed, but the source was still inconclusive, and gradually, some bad associations emerged in the hearts of the people. In the end, the locals of Kentas came up with a plausible explanation, saying that the pieces of flesh that fell from the sky were actually vulture's vomit, as they had seen vultures vomit more than once, and that other vultures liked to do the same.
一只俯冲的红头美洲鹫 图源：Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
It sounds incredible, but the pieces of meat found came from different organizations, and the "rain of flesh" was still very widespread, a bit like throwing something from the sky to the ground (and airplanes weren't even born at the time).
Dr. Carstenbin, who participated in the study, roughly recreated the scene at that time: a flock of vultures felt that they had eaten too much as they flew over Kentas, so they vomited while flying, and these "vomit" scattered in all directions by the wind, and finally formed a strange "meat rain".
It is worth mentioning that there are vultures in Kentas, including the black American vulture (Coragyps atratus) and the red-headed American vulture (Cathartes aura), and these two vultures will choose to spit out the undigested food in their stomachs in order to reduce their weight or defend themselves when flying, which may be the origin of the "meat rain in Kentas".
Heavenly "Blood Rain"?
"Blood rain" is a phenomenon in which "blood" falls from the sky in the form of rain. In the 8th century B.C., the ancient Greek poet Homer recorded this phenomenon in the Iliad, and later stories of the "rain of blood" have been recorded around the world.
The "rain of blood" in Germany in 1554 Photo: Hans Glaser
In ancient times, unusual events such as the "rain of blood" were often considered bad omens, and some writers would use them to foretell bad things to happen. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, in 685 A.D., England experienced a "rain of blood" that stained milk and butter, and shortly thereafter, Lother, then King of Kent, died.
However, the reason for the death of King Lother of Kent is that his nephew Edric started a war, in which he was defeated and died, and the "blood rain" happened to appear at that time, which was regarded as a prophecy by later generations.
In Germany, the "rain of blood" is also seen as one of several harbingers of the Black Death in the 14th century, and during the Renaissance in the 16th century, the phenomenon was religiously believed to be God's punishment for sin, using the miracle of "blood rain" as a warning of human immorality.
In the hundreds of years since, there have been more than 300 cases of "blood rain" in Europe, which has also attracted the attention of some naturalists, but has not received much attention due to a lack of research. At the turn of the millennium, the Indian state of Kerala experienced a "rain of blood", which sparked international coverage, and in 2012, Sri Lanka near India saw another "rain of blood".
Red floods in Kerala Source: YouTube
In 2015, a study confirmed that the cause of blood rain in Kerala, India, was actually caused by the fact that a spores of an algae from the genus Trentepohlia in the class Chlorophile were incorporated into the rainwater, causing the rainwater to change its color.
This algae lives on tree trunks and stone surfaces, and lives in symbiosis with fungi, making it our common lichen. Just like the name of the genus in which it is located, the algae of the genus Orange do not continue the family color scheme dominated by "green", but change to "orange" or even "red", which is due to the presence of a large number of carotenoids in their bodies, which masks the green color of chlorophyll.
Spores in a sample of "blood rain" in Kerala Source: Wikipedia
More interestingly, the researchers analyzed the DNA sequence of the spores in the blood rain samples from Kerala and found that the spores came from Austria, more than 6,000 kilometers away. They rode the wind and the clouds across the ocean to India, and then under the influence of the southwest monsoon, the raindrops in the clouds fell together with the spores, forming a "blood rain".
As for the earlier "blood rain" event, some people believe that it is a combination of rain and red dust, and some people associate it with sunspots and auroras, and believe that the ripples of sunlight affect the color of the rain, but more evidence suggests that the composition of "blood rain" is formed by the fusion of suspended particles or microorganisms in the air.
Rainwater stained red by algae Photo: Joaquin Perez
Fish in the sky?
The previous "Journey of Flesh and Blood" may be a little magical, but the "animal rain" in the sky may be happening around you.
This kind of "strange rain" is also quite common in history, with the earliest records dating back to the first century AD, when the Roman naturalist Prick the Elder recorded a rainstorm filled with frogs and fish.
Medieval stone carvings of frogs and fish Source: Olaus Magnus
In 1794, French soldiers saw toads falling from the sky in Lalan, near the French city of Lille, and in 1861, there was a "fish rain" in Singapore, where a large number of fish appeared in the puddles of the streets after three days of heavy downpour. Even closer to us is the 2010 "Fish Rain" in a small town in northern Australia, and the locals are thankful that it wasn't the "Crocodile Rain".
However, the most famous "fish rain" occurs in a small village of Yoro in northern Honduras, where it usually lasts two to three hours between May and July, when the rainy season in Honduras begins. After heavy rains, the inhabitants of the village would bring pots or buckets to collect the fish that were bouncing around on the roadside.
捡鱼的小孩 图源:Christian Baide Figueroa
According to local legend, the "Fish Rain" was a Spanish missionary who prayed to God for three days and three nights to give food to the hungry people in the area, and God was moved by his sincerity to rain down the "Fish Rain", and since then, this miracle has been performed every year.
With the progress of human understanding of nature, although the "halo" of God still shines, the "light" of truth also blooms. The first scientist to try to explain the phenomenon of "animal rain" was the French physicist Ampère, yes, the familiar "unit of electric current", which at that time had not yet achieved results in the field of electromagnetism.
French physicist Ampère Photo: Ambrose Tardieu / wikipedia
Speaking at a meeting of the Natural Science Association, Ampère suggested that a hurricane would blow frogs high into the air, and then when the wind dissipated, the frogs would fall from the sky like rain.
Ampere's speculation is not unreasonable, because nature's "porters" have something to do with it. But one explanation that most scientists now agree on is "waterspouts".
This is a special type of tornado that forms on warm waters, and like tornadoes on land, waterspouts have a strong suction power and are able to sweep away animals such as fish, frogs, crabs, etc., and schedule them for a short flight.
Waterspouts on the surface of the sea Source: W.H. Drake / loc.gov
After flying for a period of time, as the power of the waterspout gradually weakened, the animals that were brought to the height did not have a parachute, and they landed directly into boxes.
Compared with Ampere's guess, the advantage of waterspouts is the presence of water, which makes the appearance of water-related animals such as fish and frogs reasonable, and secondly, the appearance of animal rain is usually accompanied by violent rainstorms, and it is also inseparable from the addition of water.
This is probably the reason why most "animal rains" appear.
Fish in the hand Source: YouTube
Finally, we need to remind everyone that fish, frogs or other unknown objects falling from the sky are better not to pick them up and eat them, because we do not know where they come from, so we have no way of knowing whether their living environment is polluted, or if there are any unknown parasites, so as not to cause a catastrophe because of the greed for "free" food.
bibliography
[1]https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1876/03/10/81687268.
[2]https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/the-great-kentucky-meat-shower-mystery-unwound-by-projectile-vulture-vomit/
[3]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273124757_European_Species_of_Subaerial_Green_Alga_Trentepohlia_annulata_Trentepohliales_Ulvophyceae_Caused_Blood_Rain_in_Kerala_India
[4]https://gizmodo.com/when-it-rains-animals-the-science-of-true-weather-weir-5895116
[5]https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/meteorology-climatology/item/can-it-rain-frogs-fish-and-other-objects/
Source: Popular Science China
Source丨Naturalist
Author丨Yuyu
Original edited | Not the end
Editor-in-charge丨Yinuo