The Kentucky Meat Shower
On a clear spring day, flakes of raw meat fell from the sky over a farm in Kentucky.
What was reported
On 3 March 1876, Mrs Allen Crouch was making soap outside her home in Bath County when pieces of what looked like fresh meat began falling from a clear sky. They fell over an area roughly 100 yards long and 50 wide.
The story was reported in newspapers across the country, and samples were sent to scientists to identify.
Explanations offered
Samples were identified as animal tissue. The explanation most often given, suggested by a local doctor, is that a flock of vultures was flying over: vultures throw up their food when startled, and a group doing it at once could cover a field. No one saw the birds, which keeps the story alive.
- When
- 3 March 1876
- Where
- Near Olympia Springs, Bath County, Kentucky, USA
- Witnesses
- Mrs Crouch and neighbours
- Status
- Probably vultures
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.