Monday, June 22, 2009

In Case You're Wondering





I'm on a trip at the moment. I'm sitting in a little cottage in Martha's Vineyard, looking out at the ocean (photo below). At the bottom of the hill is a little fishing village where Steven Spielberg filmed several of the key scenes in his masterpiece, Jaws. (I choose my vacation spots wisely!)

Unfortunately, it has rained every day of my trip, so I haven't been in the mood for posting. I've been too busy building roaring fires to keep out the damp and the cold.

Which brings me to the subject of today's post. The weather. Japan experienced some interesting precipitation recently. Seems fish and tadpoles were falling from the sky. (Pictures here.) Apparently, this phenomenon is called "Fafrotskies," which is short for "fall from the skies."

This sort of thing is unusual, but not as rare as one might think. Since people started keeping records, the following creatures have rained down on the earth: fish, tadpoles, jellyfish, bats, turtles, dead birds, worms, frogs, and toads.

Scientists believe that "creature rains" are caused by waterspouts, which lift the animals into the air and can deposit them miles away from home. I don't buy it. You can't tell me that extraterrestrials aren't involved in some form or fashion. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were in league with Earth's meteorologists. (Just look at your local weatherman and tell me he's not an alien!)


18 Comments:

Anonymous Charstar said...

ya I have heard of that B4 my friend was telling me about it one day.
I diden't buy it but I don't know if I would like to be in one.

7:56 PM  
Blogger Lioness said...

phew! i wuz worried about u! that actually sounds like a nice vacation to me!!!! i *heart* rain!!!! (as does everyone that lives in Arizona im sure)

8:14 PM  
Anonymous Patsee said...

Tom Skilling is NOT an alien!!!


xD


You're lucky; you're trying to keep out the cold, not the heat. It's pushing 90 in Chicago, and it's not even July yet!

9:03 PM  
Blogger brave chickens said...

If I am correct, this may also be a Fortean phenomena.

Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raining_animals

1:03 AM  
Anonymous Nellie said...

Ohhh, that picture is beautiful!
I want it to rain turtles where I live!

8:14 AM  
Anonymous Flowerchild said...

Those pictures were really sad! it reminds me of the time that my friend and I were at summer camp, and in the camp's outdoor pool there were all these little bugs. We figured that they must have gotten there during the storm that happened the day before. We also figured that chlorine must not be good for them, so we put them in a water bottle full of swamp water. They all died. Then she found some in her pool when we got back. We did some research, and apparently these little bugs can fly, and they've evolved to live in pools. Oops.

9:49 AM  
Anonymous Amber StarGem said...

Your Lucky! Its around 100 degrees in St.Louis sweltering heat/

10:55 AM  
Blogger Kitty said...

reminds me of this Oo'
http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/raining.html
RAINIG FROGS!! XD
I also heard in 1660 tiny black crosses "rained" on the people of Naples ^^' It came from a volcano though... I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME TIME ON YOUR VACATION KIRSTEN MILLER!!! X3

1:35 PM  
Anonymous Hazel said...

Cloudy with a chance of animals! That's hilarious. Imagine that you're walking to school in your cute Japanese sailor uniform, and a frog lands on your head! Or there's a thump on your umbrella, and then a fish slides off onto the ground. That would totally make my day.

3:44 PM  
Blogger The 355 said...

blame it on my dad! He wished for rain and he got it! :(

4:06 PM  
Blogger Reel Dancer said...

ug i have been gone since sunday and now i have to pack for another trip tomorrow >:( i don't like packing either. i mean i love going on trips but two in one week is ridiculous; plus they're both camping. not that i don't love camping wither but you get it...

4:33 PM  
Blogger wazzupgirly! said...

weird! I bet my mom wouldnt believe that! But thats becuz she thinks everything (most) on this site is fake. I don't! Shes just really uptight... :(

haha. im gonna go ask my mom if she believes this. She might..

5:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My local weather person is deffinatally an alien! In fact...she sort of looks like a vampire...

12:14 AM  
Anonymous I said...

I've heard of that happening before. I read about it in a book. It said birds and frogs were falling from the sky. Though, they hadn't though they hadn't thought of an explanation...

Anonymous: What color are her eyes?? If they're red, you probably shouldn't trust her forecast. Jk! =)

9:31 PM  
Anonymous Kiwi said...

Weird. Though, I don't think animals would go airborne just from water spouts... I think they're hiding somthing. Dun Dun Duh!

=D

9:32 PM  
Anonymous EQ said...

METEORologists...from space? The name is a clue...But they're probably not real aliens...real aliens would have more convincing disguises.

Kitty: There's a mineral, I forget its name, which crystallizes in cross shapes. They found a cave where they had been quietly crystallizing for centuries and they were HUGE.

brave chickens: As in, Charles Fort? I first learned about him in "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett (good book--I recommend it to anyone with Ananka's or Kirsten's view of the wonderfully wierd world). Unfortunately, the library is obsessive about Fort's books--you can't check them out, you need gloves to look at them. Seriously. Is there anything interestingly mysterious about him, or is it just the library?

--EQ

8:09 PM  
Anonymous Scott said...

Once i saw one of those, it was awesome, I was looking out the window b/c it was really dreary rainy day, and then SPLAT!! an eel landed on our roof( i didnt figure out it was an eel until it slid off) I knew that the river nearby was full of eels but it was stunning and not in a good way

4:47 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Haha...so maybe it can rain cats and dogs (literally) after all!

12:57 PM  

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