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"The sky is falling! The Sky is falling!"
Chicken Little
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The earliest record of a mysterious fall from the sky occurs in Chapter
10, Verse 11, of the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament. The
Israelites, led by Joshua, routed the Amorite army in a surprise attack.
During their pursuit of the failing Armorites, the following was said to
have occurred.
"And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the
ascent to Beth-horon, the Lord threw down great stones from the heaven
upon them as far as Azekah, and they died: there were more who died
because of the hailstones than the men of Israel killed with the
sword."
In many parts of the world, frogs and toads have fallen numerous times
and in large numbers. And so have winkles, worms, money, blood, snakes
and plenty of fish. It is said that each year at the beginning of the
rainy season, the people of Yoro, Honduras, gather buckets, barrels and
pails in anticipation of fish that will fall from the sky. And each
year, for as long as anyone can remember, sardines have fallen by the
truckload. The fish are left alive and jumping on the grassy plain
southwest of the town.
Many readers will pass off these phenomenon as the products of a fertile
imagination. After all, the Greek historian Athenaeus, refers to a
three-day fish fall and a spectacular deluge of frogs, written about
A.D. 200. While stones and other objects may be deposited by volcanic
eruptions, whirlwinds or other localized weather incidents, it is hard
to imagine so steady a rain of toads that "...all the vessels were
filled with them, and the frogs were found to be boiled up and roasted
with everything, and when besides all this they could not make use of
the water nor put their feet in the ground for heaps of frogs that were
everywhere, and were annoyed also by the smell of those that died, they
fled the country." |
1666
On the Wednesday before Easter in 1666, a two-acres field at
Cranstead, near Wrotham in Kent, England, was found covered with
numerous frogs the size of a little man's finger. They were believed to
have fallen during a violent thunderstorm. Mr. Ware, the field's owner,
gathered "about a bushel" of the frogs and sent samples of
them to London for examination.
1683
At Acle, a village in Norfolk, England, small toads fell from the sky in
such vast numbers that the local people were greatly inconvenienced. In
October 1683, it was reported that the villagers had to sweep them up by
the bucketful for disposal by burning.
1786
On May 5, 1786, the last day of a drought that had lasted since the
previous November, "a great quantity" of black eggs fell on
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. They hatched the next day, and some of the
animals from the eggs were kept in a flask of water. The creatures shed
their skin several times and resembled tadpoles.
1794
The following is an account of a deluge of toads on the village of
Lalain, France, in 1794: It was very hot. Suddenly, at about 3 o'clock
in the afternoon, there fell such an abundance of rain that 150 men of
the grand guard were obliged to leave the area. But what was their
surprise when there began to fall on the ground all about a considerable
amount of toads, the size of hazelnuts, which began to jump about in
every direction. M. Gayet stretched out his handkerchief, his comrades
holding the corners, and caught a considerable number of toads, most of
which had elongated tales as still in tadpole state. After the storm,
many of the men still had toads stuck in the folds of their tri-cornered
hats.
1809
On June 23, 1809, M. Maudy, curator of natural history at Potiersm
France, was caught in a heavy rainstorm. In the falling water, he saw
"little bodies the size of hazelnuts, which in a moment, covered
the ground, which I recognized as little toads."
1814
The French Academy received the following report in August, 1814:
"A storm broke out preceded by bursts of wind so violent that they
shook the church and frightened the congregation. We were soon soaked
after traversing the section between the church and presbytery, but what
surprised me was to be struck on my person by small frogs... A large
number of these animals hopped about on the ground. On arriving at the
presbytery, we found the floor of one of the rooms covered with water
and frogs having left the windows open."
1833
A ten minute shower of toads at Jout-en-Jous, near Versailles, France,
in June 1833 was witnessed by M. Heard. They bounced off his umbrella,
hopped about on the pavement, and were as numerous as the raindrops. He
saw them scattered for some 1,200 feet.
1860
W. Winter gives this account in the Zoologist Magazine, in Norfolk,
England, July 1860: "I was insect catching when a thunderstorm came
on. I ran for shelter to the buildings at Adelay Hall. The rain came
down in torrents. I observed small toads on my arms and several in my
net, and on the ground and the path there were thousands. I believe they
fell out of the rain clouds."
1877
A rain of frogs fell over the Southern part of Memphis, Tennessee, in
1877. They were presumed to have been swept up into the air by a
hurricane, but where frogs may live in such abundance - they fell by the
thousands - is yet a mystery.
1892
White frogs fell on Mosley, a suburb of Birmingham, England, during a
severe thunderstorm on the morning of June 30, 1892.
1939
Tiny frogs fell by the hundreds on Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, on
the afternoon of June 16, 1939, during a shower of rain.
1953
A downpour of frogs "of all descriptions" fell on Leicester,
Massachusetts, on September 7, 1953. Paxton Avenue was alive with them,
and children gathered them up by the bucketful with their bare hands. A
great many were found on rooftops and in gutters, thereby tending to
discredit the explanation that they had hopped into the streets from an
overflowing pond.
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