“I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.” – Pearl S. Buck
Dishes rattled in cabinets, cattle panicked, and silent waters became loud as fiery rocks rained down to the earth. No, I'm not describing to you the latest thriller I’m reading but an event that took place one hundred and forty-five years ago near Estherville when one of the largest known meteorites broke ground during a May day. Residence would later recall seeing a ball of fire sinking from the southwest to the northeast sky, breaking into pieces with a thunderous sound. Pieces of the meteorite are on display at the Estherville Public Library and even the Smithsonian Museum.
While rare and super cool to a nerd like me, it is not too odd to consider a meteorite falling from the celestials. While researching cool things to have happened in Iowa, as stated a nerd I am, I wondered if there were instances where odd things have fallen from the sky? The short answer is yes, the long and kind of gross answer is below.
I feel like the “Kentucky Meat Shower” is common knowledge. If you’re not familiar with the instance, in 1876 on the Crouch Farm in Kentucky, meat was reported to have fallen from the sky. It was a bit of a mystery during the time. It was later considered to have happened because of turkey vultures vomiting onto the farm. They do this to lighten their load when there is an immediate need for flight.
Animals falling from the sky isn’t as uncommon as one would think. Fish and frogs have been known to rain down on coastal areas. In most of the occurrences, an “oceanic tornado” was to blame for picking up the small animals and dispersing them onto land.
If you thought Australia or maybe Brazil was a place worth visiting during Iowa’s colder months, maybe reconsider. As recently as 2019, there were known instances of spiders raining down from the sky. Unlike the examples above, the spiders are meant to do this. It is a process called “ballooning”. The spiders produce strings to launch themselves into the sky as to catch an air current, resulting in a new location. Since a lot of spiders rarely decide to move all at once, spider rains are not very common. Spiders fighting the urge to move from one place to another is something we can all be thankful for, right?
Apparently, cold weather will not always keep one safe from random animals falling from the sky. When temperatures dip low in Florida, iguanas rain down on residents. The National Weather Service has to issue warnings about this occurrence from time to time. The reason for the rain of reptiles? Well, they’re cold-blooded. They need external heat to stay warm and if they get too cold, they freeze and…down they go.
I remember in one of my psychology classes, my professor went over body language. She shared that when we’re looking for inspiration, or trying to remember something, we often look up. She presumably saw her students look up often during her tricky psychology tests.
I found myself looking up often this week. Maybe I was waiting for inspiration to rain down from the sky.
Amanda Rink is the Editor of The Wright County Monitor. When she isn’t caring for her family, writing for the newspaper, or avoiding laundry, she can be found hiding in the woods with a cup of coffee and a romance novel.
