On December 15, 2011, MailOnline reporter Andy Dolan wrote an article about apples that mysteriously rained down on Coundon, Coventry, England. The incident reminded people about Biblical stories of raining frogs and made them wonder if other similar anomalies had happened. The answer is yes, objects falling from the sky have been recorded numerous times. There are some interesting theories about this phenomenon.
The Evening Apples Fell From the Sky
The fruit hit cars and littered gardens at 6:45 PM. Drivers said small green apples brought traffic to a stop on the B4098. Brian Meakins told the Daily Mail he was astonished when he opened his door and found his garden was full of damaged apples. He added, “At first I assumed kids must have thrown them because we do get the occasional egg and apple thrown but there’s way too many for that.” A woman said, ‘The apples fell out of nowhere. They were small and green and hit the bonnet hard. Everyone had to stop their cars suddenly.” There was green slush on the roads.
Apples Falling from the Sky: Other Anomalous “Rain” Falls
Anomalies, such as weird objects falling from the sky are part of Forteana, or Fortean phenomena, named after Charles Fort, the father of modern paranormalism because of his interest in weird phenomena and his attitudes toward 19th century Spiritualism and contemporary scientific dogma. Before his death in 1932, Fort collected 294 accounts of organic objects falling from the sky.
In 77 CE, Roman historian, naturalist, scholar and writer Pliny the Elder wrote about frog and fish storms in his book, Natural History. In 1859 there were two showers of live minnow and smooth-tailed sticklebacks at ten minute intervals covering part of Aberdare, Wales. In 1869, blood and flesh fell near Los Angeles, California, on two acres of cornfields while the sky was clear. There were maggot rainfalls in Acapulco, Mexico in 1967 and during a yachting event at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. Frog falls happened in Llanddewi, Powys, Wales in 1996 and in 1998, at Croydon, southern London. In 2000, dead silver sprats fell from the sky during a rainstorm in Great Yarmouth, England. On August 18, 2004, fish fell from the sky on Knighton, Powys, Wales. In August 2007 fish rained down in the streets of Great Yarmouth after a mini-tornado over the sea.
Apples and Other Objects Falling from the Sky: Theories
Senior meteorologist for the British Weather Services Jim Dale said the incident was, most likely, caused by “returning polar maritime air,” very unstable air returning from polar areas These phenomena are caused by a vortex of air, like a mini tornado, that lifts objects off of the ground rising into the atmosphere until the air around it causes them to fall on earth. He added that the agency was aware of similar incidents.
Strong updrafts on a hot day might have sucked up frogs, fish and other small creatures into developing thunderclouds and throw them back to earth during heavy rains.
The Coundon phenomenon is thought to be a mini tornado that landed in another place, sucking apples from the ground or trees. This type of powerful vacuum may have travelled for yards before the tornado’s energy dissipated, showering apples on the village. The problem with this theory is that, during the time the apples fell from the sky, according to the BBC Weather Center, it was calm over Coventry County and the Met Office said there were no reports of tornadoes in the region.
University of Reading meteorologist Dr Curtis Wood said while the UK often surpasses world rankings in the number of tornadoes per square kilometer, about ten to fifty per annum. They usually aren’t very strong. If there was a tornado in Coventry, it would have had to have found a box of apples or an orchard within a few hundred yards from where the apples fell.
Paul Sieveking, co-editor of the Fortean Times, a magazine dedicated to inexplicable phenomena, said tornadoes aren’t very strong in England and they’re not going to carry objects very far. He stated that this wasn’t the first time apples fell in the UK. In November 1984, 300 apples fell into a garden in Accrington, Lancashire, England. A couple woke up after hearing a crashing noise and thought it was hail. The apples continued falling for about an hour.
Other theories that include objects falling are from an aircraft, pranksters and witches. The Lancashire incident refutes the aircraft theory. Pranksters could not have made objects fall without being detected.
Witches? This sounds ludicrous; however, there was a time, during the height of witch hunts and persecutions, called the burning times, in the UK when people believed that Witches could raise storms for evil ends. King James VI, later King James I of England, believed the North Berwick witches caused a storm that nearly sunk his ship, the Royal Man-of-War, when he and his bride sailed from Demark to Scotland.
Apports and teleportatation, transporting objects, apports, from one place to another, have been suggested. This doesn’t take into account the choice of or the overwhelming amount of objects.
John Philip Bessor theorized that carnivorous space animals caused the flesh and blood deluge.
Exactly what causes anomalous rains has, yet, to be scientifically proved.
Sources:
- Andy Dolan, “It's Raining Apples! Traffic Grinds to a Halt as 'Mini Tornado' Dumps a Hail of Fruit ," www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073974/Apples-fall-sky-Coventry-Traffic-halted-mini-tornado-dumps-hail-fruit.html#ixzz1gjaq1s8r.
- Caroline McClatchey, "Could it Actually Rain Apples?” www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16197529.
- Edgar D., Mitchell & John White, ed., Psychic Exploration, Paragon Books, 1976.
- Eric Pfeiffer, “Unexplained Shower of Apples Falls from Sky over Town,”
- news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/unexplained-shower-apples-falls-sky-over-town-221921738.html.
- Eric Maple, The Dark World of Witches, Castle Books, 1970.
- Jerome Clark, Unexplained! Visible Ink, 1993.
- Nandor Fodor, Between Two Worlds, Paperback Library., 1967.
Jill Stefko - I'd rather deal with the paranormal than human abnormal - having dealt extensively with both.
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