Thanks to Adam W. for this story. He has a great blog, check it out here.
Not surprisingly tornadoes are being blamed for this unusual happening.
Residents stunned as hundreds of fish fall out of the sky over remote Australian desert town
www.dailymail.co.uk | By Richard Shears | Last updated at 11:41 AM on 02nd March 2010
Residents of a small outback Australian town have been left speechless after fish began falling from the sky.
Hundreds of spangled perch bombarded the 650 residents of Lajamanu, shocking local Christine Balmer, who was walking home when the strange ‘weather’ started.
She said: ‘These fish fell in their hundreds and hundreds all over the place. The locals were running around everywhere picking them up.
‘The fish were all alive when they hit the ground so they would have been alive when they were up there flying around the sky.
‘When I told my family, who live in another part of Australia, about the fish falling from the sky, they thought I’d lost the plot.
‘But no, I haven’t lost my marbles. All I can say is that I’m thankful that it didn’t rain crocodiles!’
Meterologists say the incident was probably caused by a tornado. It is common for tornados to suck up water and fish from rivers and drop them hundreds of miles away.
Mark Kersemakers from the Australian Bureau of Meterology said: ‘Once they get up into the weather system, they are pretty much frozen and, after some time, they are released.’
Lajamanu is located half-way between Darwin and Alice Springs, on the edge of the Tanami Desert.
This is not the first time residents of the small town have experienced fish falling out of the sky.
Resident Les Dillon, 48, said: ‘In the early 1980s I was at the Alice Springs Tavern Hotel and, when I walked out the door, I saw all these little fish, fallen out of the sky.
‘Yes, I had a couple of beers, so none of my friends believed me. I have rung heaps of people to let them know I wasn’t drunk back then. It had really happened!’
Girl loses memory after being hit by falling tortoise
www.austriantimes.at | 22. 07. 09
A Chinese girl was hospitalised after she was hit on the head by a pregnant tortoise.
Cheng Cheng, 12, was walking with her aunt Ling Lang at Chongqing in China when she was struck on the head by the tortoise.
Lang said: “I was walking and suddenly I heard a scream from my niece who was behind me and I looked round to see her lying on the ground covered with blood.
“There was a tortoise lying beside her and I could see it had hit her on the head.”
The owner of a grocery store who witnessed the incident said they saw the girl was hit by a falling black object travelling at speed and fell onto the ground unconscious, and when he ran over he realised the object was a tortoise.
Wonderful coincidence! Good to hear there is still a newsroom out there!
Joshua McKerrow - The Capital A balloon being tested by a contractor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drifted into the parking lot of The Capital last week, a day after it was launched from Columbia in Howard County. The balloon and its payload are being tested to use in a program that measures hurricane wind speed, wind direction and barometric pressure in an effort to improve hurricane forecasts.
Sources Say: Story falls from sky
www.hometownannapolis.com | 09/25/09
Reporters sometimes talk about stories that fall into their laps.
This time, the story literally fell on The Capital.
A large white balloon, with plastic-encased electronic devices attached, floated down from the sky last week, landing just outside the newspaper’s lobby.
While some suspected it was a normal weather balloon, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said the balloon’s payload is a prototype for new technology being tested to more accurately predict the track of hurricanes.
The launch was part of the Weather In-Situ Deployment Optimization Method, or WISDOM, program, though the balloon is not of the small, pyramid-shaped type the program usually uses, said Justyna Nicinska, WISDOM program manager.
The program’s balloons drift at a constant altitude and measure wind speed and direction, as well as barometric pressure, around a hurricane, said Nicinska and Chris Jones, a senior engineer with the contractor that launched the balloon.
“The balloon and payload that landed in your parking lot is a prototype for the 2009 version,” Jones said in an e-mail.
It was launched from Columbia in Howard County the night before, and apparently failed shortly afterward, landing on a house in the Annapolis area first, then drifting to The Capital later, Jones said. Researchers were able to track the balloon via a satellite link that transmitted the information to the base station and displayed its position on Google Earth, he said.
The WISDOM program’s goal is to improve hurricane-track predictions in the three- to seven-day period before landfall, Nicinska said. The balloons are typically launched several days before a storm makes landfall, she said.
This year, it has been more difficult to get the necessary data because of the small number of hurricanes, Nicinska said. But scientists said they hope they can move from the research stage to the operations stage in five or six years, she said.
I have no proof at all, but I suspect (shamefully I say hope) a lil old lady with a recently diminished retirement nest egg gave him just a weeeeee push. The other equally likely option was that it was entirely an accident, and Mr Vellanti tripped over his enormous bulging wallet.
Apologies for negative editorializing. The staff here holds financial gurus in low regard and considers them greedy opportunists, carpetbaggers and con men in fine tailored suits. Perhaps the religion of Islam was on to something when it made MONEY LENDING a sin.
Hedge fund CEO dies in fall off escalator
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J | AP | September 28, 2009
Atlantic City police are investigating how a hedge fund executive fell to his death from an escalator.
James Vellanti is the second man in two years to plunge from an escalator at The Pier Shops at Caesars.
Police were called to the mall, which is connected to the casino by a sky bridge, at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
Vellanti lived in Clinton and was chief operating officer for the hedge fund JNF Asset Management LLC in New York. His age was not available.
Frank Gilbert Jr. fell about 40 feet after witnesses said the 25-year-old sat on the escalator’s handrail on Aug. 9, 2008. He died of head injuries.
What came first the rain of tadpoles or the rain of frogs? A rain of frogs, or tadpoles is a quintessential fortean event.
For more info on this story, and recent rains of similar aquatic creatures in Japan go to the pink tentacle blog where I got the images shown below.
Tadpole rain, Hiroshima prefecture, June 15 Image www.pinktentacle.com
Tadpoles on car windshield, Ishikawa prefecture, June 4. Image www.pinktentacle.com
Sky ‘rains tadpoles’ over Japan
The sky has been raining tadpoles over a coastal region in Japan, according to reports. By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo | 10 Jun 2009 | www.telegraph.co.uk
Residents, officials and scientists have been baffled by the apparent downpour of tadpoles in central Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture.
Clouds of dead tadpoles appear to have fallen from the sky in a series of episodes in a number of cities in the region since the start of the month.
In one incident, a 55-year-old man who was caught in a tadpole downpour described hearing a strange sound in the parking lot of a civic centre in the city of Nanao.
Upon further exploration, he found more than 100 dead tadpoles covering the windshields of cars in an area measuring 10 square metres.
Dead tadpole downpours were also reported by local officials 48 hours later in the city of Hakusan in the same prefecture.
The raining down of small creatures such as frogs and fish is a rare meteorological phenomenon that is reported from time to time across the world.
Scientists have widely attributed the surreal raining of animals to strong winds, storms and water sprouts sucking up creatures before depositing them further inland.
However, this explanation has not satisfied meteorologists in the Ishikawa region.
Officials at Kanazawa Local Meteorological Observatory told local media that they were unsure how the tadpoles had arrived as there had been no reports of strong winds at the time.
Another scientific explanation for raining animals relates to birds carrying the small creatures before dropping them as they fly overland.
However, dismissing this theory, a researcher at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology in Abiko told Kyodo news: “Crows eat tadpoles but if these were spat out (by the birds), a wider area should have been covered
What a great story with a happy ending. Since Mr Bennett had left his house looking for the very well he got stuck in, I can’t help but think as he fell he thought, “looks like I found that damn well.”
Mr. Robert Bennett
Bob Bennett, 84, poses for a photo with his rescurers after he was found alive and unharmed in a dry well on his sprawling property in the remote community of Benson Lake, B.C. He spent four days trapped in the well. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ho-RCMP
Bob Bennett, 84, was trapped down this eight foot well shaft for four days before being rescued by Port Alice RCMP. June 25, 2009. (RCMP handout photo)
Elderly man survives four days in well by soaking up moisture with tissue
By THE CANADIAN PRESS – Jun 25, 2009
BENSON LAKE, B.C. — An 84-year-old man survived four days trapped inside a dry well by soaking up moisture with a tissue and sucking on it – and keeping his sense of humour intact despite his ordeal.
Bob Bennett had been walking on his property, in the remote Northern Vancouver Island community of Benson Lake, where he was looking for a well that he fell into, said his friend Barry Christenson.
“It wasn’t the Hilton,” laughed Christenson, who alerted police to Bennett’s disappearance.
“He stepped on the wooden cover and it basically disintegrated under him and he fell in and couldn’t get out.”
Christenson, who lives in nearby Port Hardy, sometimes doesn’t see his longtime friend for weeks at a time, but Bennett told him earlier that he would be in town within a few days.
“So this just didn’t sit right with me that he hadn’t shown up.”
Wow, what a wonderful and amazing story. Tough kid.
The baby's fall on Friday, May 15, 2009 was broken by these shrubs at the base of this apartment building at 1300 Mississauga Valley Blvd. Image from CTV.ca
Mississauga toddler survives eight-story drop
By Chelsea Murray, National Post | May 15, 2009 | network.nationalpost.com
A toddler has survived an eight-storey fall from a Mississauga high-rise, Peel police said.
The boy fell from his mother’s arms today from a building at 1300 Mississauga Valley Boulevard.
“He had been in his mother’s arms on the balcony and he started wriggle to the point where she lost her grip on him,” said Cst. Marlene Murphy.
Peel police said the boy landed on some dense shrubbery directly below the balcony, and suffered from scratches and a broken nose, but remains in hospital for observation.
‘‘The shrubs essentially broke his fall, and that’s what essentially saved his life,’’ Const. J.P. Valade told CP24.
Rami Kandil, 14, was walking out of the building when he heard people screaming and saw the toddler’s grandfather searching through the bushes.
“I came down and he was searching through the bushes, then right when he grabbed the kid, that’s when he started crying,” said Rami, whose mother owns Danuta Cleaning Services, based in the same high-rise. “I’m guessing he was in shock or something.”
A group of people gathered around the boy — whose face was bleeding — looking “shook” and “in shock,” he added. “They were yelling like crazy too.”
Cst. Murphy said they’ve determined the fall was “a dreadful accident.”
Poor Mr Smith. According to news accounts he was a good guy, didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, and had recently been involved in a very bad car accident. Today while working a temp job at a cocoa processing plant, he slipped and fell into a vat of melting chocolate. The 8 foot tall vat had a 4 foot opening at the top thru which he was putting cocoa to be melted before he fell. The industrial vat was equipped with large agitator blades and Mr Smith was fatally injured by them before a co-worker could reach the emergency shut off.
Contrary to some reports the cocoa was at 120 degrees, not boiling, as cocoa butter will melt at close to body temperature. Several of his co-workers struggled in vain to free Mr. Smith and news outlets show images of several grief stricken men covered in chocolate. Obviously in anguish many of them smoked cigarettes.
Deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Mr Smith. Industrial accidents are so often tragic.
I stumbled on this story as a stub on philly.com at about 11 am today. First google news search I did gave me 2 hits, the last google news search I did there were close to 400 hits.
I don’t like the lighthearted tone many outlets are taking with this story. Mr Smith wasn’t doing anything silly, he was only working. Hot chocolate was his job. David Carradine and Michael Jackson however were both up to major “mayhem and foolishness” as they shuffled off their mortal coils and CAN and SHOULD be laughed at.
An employee of Lyon & Sons in Camden, New Jersey died after falling into a vat of hot chocolate on Wednesday, July 8, 2009. Shown is an employee of the chocolate factory with his shirt and shorts covered in chocolate. The man declined to give his name when asked. (Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer/Philly.com)
The plant in Camden, NJ.
Colleague at chocolate factory tried to save the victim (credit: Fox News)
The late Mr. Vincent Smith II.
The late Mr. Vincent Smith II.
A worker is comforted by emergency crews following yesterday's accident
Firecrews and other staff were left covered in chocolate after going to Mr Smith's rescue
Mixing vat for chocolate similar to the one Mr Smith was working with.
Image from wxyz.com
Worker dies after fall into chocolate
Philly.com | By Matthew Spolar, Inquirer Staff Writer | Posted on Wed, Jul. 8, 2009
A temp worker at a Camden chocolate processing plant died this morning after he fell into an eight-foot vat that was mixing and melting chocolate to be used in Hershey’s candy.
Vincent Smith II, 29, of Camden, was standing atop a platform and tossing blocks of solid, raw chocolate into the tank, Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, said. Read more…
Nice simple prank, seniors sneak over a wall and set up camp in the middle of the school’s courtyard. The administration took a very hard line and doled out 5 day suspensions, not only from school but from school related activities like banquet and awards ceremonies. Not only did the school crack down on the camping pranksters (many of whom were National Honor Society Members) they also punished kids who tipped off the local media on school computers.
The spunky student body wasn’t pleased and exercised their rights to peaceful demonstration and IT WORKED! The punishment was whittled down. Congrats to you wonderful kids-great team work.
Jessica Corvino, senior, and Addie Kirsch, senior, lead a line up a student protesters in front of Southern Lehigh High School. Students held a protest Friday in response to fellow students who were suspended after a senior prank earlier this week. (Emily Robson / The Morning Call / June 5, 2009)
Southern Lehigh High School students cry foul over crackdown on campers and those who tipped media
17 suspended for campus prank
By Marion Callahan and Andrew McGill | June 4, 2009 | themorningcall.com
Outraged that their friends were suspended for five days over an end-of-year prank, two Southern Lehigh High School seniors sent an e-mail to The Morning Call accusing administrators of grossly overreacting.
Next thing they knew, they were suspended for five days, too.
On Wednesday night, the Southern Lehigh School Board held an emergency executive session to discuss the suspensions. But after meeting behind closed doors for two hours, the directors would not say what, if anything, they had decided.
District solicitor James Bartholomew declined to comment, saying this is a disciplinary matter.
The meeting was held hours after school board President Elizabeth Stelts described the decision to suspend the e-mailers as ”very harsh.”
The two students, whose names are being withheld by The Morning Call, were upset that 17 seniors were punished for camping in the school courtyard Monday night. They alerted the newspaper Tuesday afternoon in an e-mail titled ”Free the Campers.”
Though not breaking news, this story is worth noting. Skydiving is usually safe but when it goes bad, whoa-does it go bad. The worst skydiving story I heard involved a drop from an extreme height and a pair of angry golden eagles. Condolences to the family of Mr. Steele.
Daniel Pharr left, George Steele on the right.
First-time skydiver steers himself to safety after tandem instructor dies mid-air from a heart attack
By Paul Thompson | 4th February 2009 | www.dailymail.co.uk/
A novice skydiver was plunging through the air thousands of feet above the ground when the instructor he was strapped to died.
Daniel Pharr, a soldier, was making his first dive with George Steele, 49, veteran of 8,000 such jumps.
But just as they finished free-falling, Mr Steele appears to have had a heart attack.
Luckily their parachute had opened moments before and 25- year-old Mr Pharr – his military training helping him not to panic – was able to land safely.
Deepest sympathies to the family and friends affected by this latest tragic turn of events. Batman the Dark Knight indeed.
Rides and parks are more dangerous than you think. I had a friend in middle school who was killed on a coaster. The ride operator did a false stop in the station, my pal stood up, the ride operator restarted the ride to pull all the cars into the station and my pal hit her head, HARD and eventually died. She was not decapitated or doing anything remotely wrong. The homecoming Queen at my high school was decapitated but in a separate incident involving formal wear.
For more information on ride accidents I can’t recommend this site, rideaccidents.com enough. I don’t send you to this link out of alarm, but for information, some rides are more dangerous, some actions more dangerous. Aw hell, who am I kidding, the video clip of the flaming Enterprise was stunning.
Actual sign in front of the ride.
Ride shut down while fatal accident investigated
Officials are examining fence, signs around Batman The Ride
www.ajc.com | By YOLANDA RODRIGUEZ | Published on: 06/29/08
State investigators kept Batman The Ride at Six Flags Over Georgia closed Monday as they went over the site where a teenager died Saturday.
Cobb police were wrapping up their own investigation into the accident.
The state Labor Department was looking at the ride, the fence and the signs around the ride, said Charlie Schroder, the legislative liaison for the Labor Commissioner Michael L. Thurmond
“At present, the ride has been taken out of service pending the completion of the findings of our preliminary investigation into the incident,” Schroder said. “When we are satisfied the ride can be operated safely, it will return to operation. …We are moving as expeditiously as possible,” Schroder said.
After spending Saturday morning at the park, Asia Leeshawn Ferguson, 17, and David Jenkins, 19, his cousin, took a break in the parking lot.
Instead of re-entering the park through the main gate, they scaled two fences “an iron perimeter fence and a chain link one that surrounds the roller coaster” to get to their next amusement destination: Batman The Ride.
The result was tragic.
Ferguson was decapitated, said Michael Cosper, operations manager for the Cobb County Medical Examiner. His death was ruled accidental, Cosper said on Monday. Toxicological exams were sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and would not be available for several weeks.
A police report said Ferguson’s body was found underneath the ride.
The two fences the teens scaled were marked with signs that said the area was restricted to authorized personnel and was a “danger zone,” park officials said.
Park officials had said early Monday that the ride would be opened. But said later that the ride remained close.
Sgt. Dana Piece, a Cobb police spokesman, said police were wrapping up their investigation Monday.
Jenkins told police investigators that rather then re-entering through the main gate, the two decided to scale the fences, which lead directly to the ride.
Ferguson was traveling with his parents and other members of the Oakley Spring Baptist Church, which was visiting the park from Columbia, S.C.
His mother, Letha Ferguson, said Monday funeral arrangements had not been made.
Ever engaged in the parlor game of naming the novel with the best first line? I will one day write a book and win that prize with ‘It’s worms! Get out of the way!’ This worm fall story may be old, but unexplained falls of things from the sky is one of the most fortean of all topics. As stated here previously, the study of Exploding Amphibians in Popular Culture is enough to make one want to go to graduate and write a thesis. From falling worms and the explanation for exploding toads, a plan materializes.
These are not the worms that fell from the sky.
Worms Fall from the Sky in Jennings
www.wafb.com | Updated: July 12, 2007 10:18 PM
Jennings Police Department employee, Eleanor Beal was just crossing the street to go to work when something dropped from the sky.
The sky wasn’t falling. She says it was worms, large tangled clumps of them.
Beal says, “When I saw that they were crawling, I said, ‘It’s worms! Get out of the way!’”
She even called her co-worker outside to prove she wasn’t making it up.
Sure enough, she saw worms, and globs of them.
Where they came from is a mystery, but some believe that a water spout spotted less than five miles away at that same time near Lacassine Bayou could have something to do with it.
Eleanor Beal says she hopes she doesn’t see it again.
