The Stone from Mars That Fell on Egypt
In 1911, a shower of stones fell on villages near Alexandria. One villager said a stone landed on a dog. Seventy years later, scientists found the stones came from Mars.
What was reported
On the morning of 28 June 1911, people around El Nakhla, in the Nile Delta, heard explosions and saw a smoke trail in the sky. About 40 stones fell, many burying themselves in the ground. A farmer claimed one had struck a dog, though no remains were ever found.
The stones were collected and sent to museums. They looked like ordinary volcanic rock.
Explanations offered
In the 1980s, gas trapped in similar meteorites was found to match the atmosphere of Mars measured by the Viking landers, proving these rocks had been blasted off Mars by an impact. Nakhla was one of the first Martian meteorites identified, and tiny features in it have been debated as possible signs of past water or life.
- When
- 28 June 1911
- Where
- El Nakhla, Beheira, Egypt
- Witnesses
- Villagers in the Nile Delta
- Status
- Explained
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.
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