Kentucky meat shower facts for kids

The Kentucky meat shower was a strange event that happened on March 3, 1876. For several minutes, between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., pieces of what looked like red meat fell from the sky. This happened near Olympia Springs in Bath County, Kentucky. The area where the meat fell was about 100 yards long and 50 yards wide.

People have offered different ideas about how this happened and what the "meat" actually was. The most popular idea is called the vulture theory. This theory suggests that a group of vultures threw up their food after being scared and flying away quickly. No one ever figured out exactly what kind of meat it was. However, some reports suggested it could have been beef, lamb, deer, bear, horse, or even human tissue.

What Happened During the Meat Shower?

On March 3, 1876, a farmer's wife named Mrs. Crouch was making soap on her porch. She saw pieces of meat falling from the sky. She said she was about 40 steps from her house when the meat started hitting the ground. Mrs. Crouch described the meat as "gristly," meaning it had tough, chewy parts. She and her husband thought this unusual event was a sign from God.

This strange event was reported in famous newspapers and magazines. These included Scientific American and The New York Times.

What Was the "Meat" Made Of?

Most of the pieces of "meat" were about 5 by 5 centimeters (about 2 by 2 inches). At least one piece was larger, around 10 by 10 centimeters (about 4 by 4 inches).

At first, the meat looked like beef. But two men who tasted it thought it was lamb or deer. A local hunter named B. F. Ellington said it was bear meat.

Scientists also tried to figure out what the substance was. Leopold Brandeis, a scientist, thought the substance was Nostoc. This is a type of cyanobacteria, which are tiny living things. Nostoc can expand into a clear, jelly-like mass when it rains. This might make it seem like it fell with the rain. However, Charles Fort, a writer who studied strange events, pointed out that it had not rained during the meat shower.

Another scientist, Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton, studied a sample of the meat. He said it was lung tissue from either a horse or a human baby. He noted that the lung structure in these two cases is very similar. Further tests on other samples found that two were lung tissue, three were muscle, and two were cartilage.

The Vulture Theory: A Popular Explanation

Many local people believed the meat was thrown up by buzzards (another name for vultures). Vultures often throw up their food when they are startled or trying to escape quickly. They also do this as a way to defend themselves if they feel threatened. Dr. L. D. Kastenbine supported this idea in a medical newspaper at the time. He thought it was the best explanation for why there seemed to be different types of meat.

Charles Fort suggested that the meat pieces looked flat and dry because of the pressure they experienced. He also noted that nine days later, on March 12, 1876, red "corpuscles" (tiny particles) that looked "vegetable" fell over London. This shows that strange falling objects were reported in other places too.