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It's #WyrdWednesday! Here's a thread about things coming down with the rain that probably shouldn't!
In Gorsky, Russia, 1940, thousands of silver coins tumbled to the earth, much to the delight of the locals.
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In Gorsky, Russia, 1940, thousands of silver coins tumbled to the earth, much to the delight of the locals.
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In Kendarington, England, 1989, a couple in a churchyard witnessed a shower of coins. The coins themselves were dated between 1902 and 1953, ‘old money’ in the UK, and therefore of no real value to them or anyone else for that matter.
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In Columbus, Ohio, 1991, thousands of dollar bills descended to the streets. Upstanding citizens handed over $500 to the authorities. One can only presume that the rest found itself ‘absorbed’ into the local economy.
But it's not always currency that assails us from above.
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But it's not always currency that assails us from above.
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In Queensland, Australia, 1989, thousands of dead sardines fell from the heavens ‘like a sheet of silver rain’ about the house of Mr and Mrs Degen. The Degen’s filled a bowlful of the fish for their cat and kept a couple for themselves as souvenirs.
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The police report from that day details that the fall of fish was confined to an area of two acres around the Degen property, and no more. The remaining sardines were quickly snaffled up by the local wildlife, no doubt to the cat’s dismay.
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In 1794, French soldiers saw toads fall from the sky during heavy rain at Lalain, near the French city of Lille.
And it seems these things have been going on for a long time...
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And it seems these things have been going on for a long time...
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Deep within the pages of The History of the Northern Peoples, by the Swedish writer Olaus Magnus, is a woodcut depicting a fall of fish over his homeland (the pic accompanying my 1st tweet in this thread). The book in question was published in 1555.
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One explanation is that these showers are the product of waterspouts or tornadoes, whereby objects or creatures are collected up by powerful winds & then dumped elsewhere. While this is a possibility, why is it always one species or one type of coin?
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Apparently the circular winds separate whatever it picks up according to specific gravity, like a centrifuge. But if this is the case what happens to the rest of the detritus that must've also gathered up? Should we not see showers of other species along the storm’s path?
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I'm no meteorologist so I don't have an answer, I'm afraid!
This is the kind of thing Charles Fort loved btw, so if you want to learn more, pick up a copy of The Book of the Damned. Or just stand outside & wait for something odd to fall on you from the heavens
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This is the kind of thing Charles Fort loved btw, so if you want to learn more, pick up a copy of The Book of the Damned. Or just stand outside & wait for something odd to fall on you from the heavens
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