Raining Frogs in Texas

 

07 October 1915
The Daily Telegram (Clarksburg, WV)

One thing Charles Fort, the infamous archivist of all things strange, loved to report on was a good rainfall of things other than your normal precipitation! And back in 1915, one of these rains (now sometimes called 'Fortean Falls') happened over McKinney Texas. 

In October of 1915, newspaper readers in Clarksburg, WV would have been treated to the article above, claiming that during a recent downpour in McKinney, millions of tiny frogs, no bigger than the head of a match, dropped from the sky. The tiny amphibians covered the streets, sidewalks, and porches and seemed physically stunned by their trip through the clouds. Most were trampled as they could not or would not move from underfoot. 

Interestingly, those who said they actually saw the frogs fall from the sky refused to go on record with their observations. However, today we know that it IS possible for small creatures such as frogs or tiny fish to get sucked up in waterspouts and transported to where they 'rain' down from the sky. And, it has happened in West Virginia a number of times, too!  You can find my collection of Mountain State Fortean Falls AT THIS LINK. Keep your eyes to the skies..you never know what you'll see around here!

April Showers Bring May...FROGS?

Tiny frogs are easier to be transported by 
air currents and deposited during rainstorms!
Photo Source

In a normal world, the old saying goes as follows: "April showers bring May flowers!" But, Theresa's Haunted History is NOT a place for the normal. Here, we cover all things ranging from the paranormal to the more mundane abnormal, and today, we're covering some abnormal weather. 

Usually when it rains, the only thing falling from the sky is, well...water. But, in rare cases, other strange things may descend from the clouds, including but not limited to fish, frogs, and even indistinguishable MEAT. Called 'Fortean Falls,' these strange weather phenomena were a favorite of Charles Fort, the king of documenting weird stuff. (Article on Fortean Falls by David Darling)

Over the years, West Virginia has experienced quite a few instances where FROGS or other small animals fell from the sky. Through a quick search, I was able to document six separate incidents between 1871 and 1964. May, June, and July seem to be favorite months for these strange falls to take place. Let's take a look...

Huntington Area (1898): A Guyan citizen reported to the Huntington Advertiser that there was a frog fall, resulting in so many frogs that it was impossible to walk without stepping on one. 

The Weekly Register (Pt. Pleasant, WV)
22 June 1898

Hancock County (1964): Dwarf frogs, believed to have been swept up by air currents, rained down during a rain storm in the Weirton area, with many citizens experiencing the strange phenomenon. 

The Weirton Daily Times
15 June 1964

Moundsville (1871):  Tiny frogs, again so thick that you couldn't walk, fell during a rain storm in Moundsville. 

The Wheeling Daily Register
22 June 1871

Fairmont/Morgantown (1906): The local citizenry was discussing a recent frog fall...but apparently the Parkersburg Sentinel had a snarky explanation for them!

The Fairmont West Virginian
9 July 1906

Mercer County (1909): The area of Camp Creek in Mercer County received a fall of 'good-sized' minnows during a heavy rainstorm. As these minnows were from a different variety of minnows native to the area, it was theorized that they had been carried by air currents from quite a distance away!

The Point Pleasant Register
21 July 1909

                                                 


Lake Shawnee Area (1926): Lake Shawnee may be known for its haunted reputation and being the site of a tragic massacre of early settlers...and now it's known for a rain of frogs! 

The Independent Herald (Hinton, WV)
13 May 1926

A Weird Dream with a Fortean Twist

Today's blog is a little different than what I normally post.  Today, I'm going to share some details about a dream I had last night, and offer anyone who is brave enough to try to interpret it down in the comments below!  It does have a Fortean phenomena thrown in, making it especially strange, even for me.  I look forward to any theories anyone may have!

So, in my dream I am dating this older guy who is some type of famous movie producer/director.  One night we're just hanging out in his car in the parking lot of a strip mall.  A really nice, fancy, red sports car pulls up next to us and before it stops, my boyfriend tells me that its some guy he knows.  This man is a famous basketball player in the NBA and apparently begs my boyfriend for a role in one of his movies every time he sees him.

Sure enough, he gets out of his car and comes over to talk to us, hinting at first, then flat out asking for a role in an upcoming film.  He even offers as a bargaining ploy that if he is given a role in the film, he'll sign up for one of my art classes (I guess I'm an art teacher in this world, lol). While my boyfriend is trying to find a way to tactfully say no, I tell the guy that I teach classes every day and it makes no difference to me whether he's there or not, but if he really wants to "play ball" (apparently I'm also really good at really bad puns in my dreams) I'll trade him a role in the film if he lets ME play in an NBA game.

This guy is totally speechless at my request and tries to tell me that he has no control over something like that.  I tell him he'll find a way to work it out, and then we all decide to drive down the road somewhere, lol.  However, there is a train track that runs right down the center of the strip mall parking lot and around the edge of it and right then, a train starts coming through.  I remember telling my boyfriend that I must have died in a past life from a train accident because I was terrified of trains.  At one point, we're so close to the track in our car that I'm afraid the train is going to hit us.  The train goes by, but right behind it, there is a very small train, with only two cars, separate from the normal train...and guess who is in it?  Our basketball player!  He was taking his own personal train vehicle to wherever we were going to meet up.

We decide the best route is to simply follow him, and drive directly on the train tracks, which takes us under this tunnel that leads to a draw bridge.  There's an issue with the bridge, so everyone on the train has to get out and wait in this weird little built-in train station within the tunnel, including us, since we followed the track and are now stuck. There's some seating in the form of restaurant booths on one side, then what looks like stadium bleachers on the other.  I opted to go sit and wait at the top of the bleachers.

It turns out that the bridge cannot be fixed, so we all have to be airlifted out.  Everyone there was taken to a state park campground. Waiting for me there was my real-life son and somewhere along the way, my boyfriend reverted back to my real life boyfriend, lol.  We're hanging out at this park, which looks eerily like my backyard with some cabins in it when I get bored and approach some kids who are playing some kind of game.  One kid throws a ball or something up in the air, and right after it comes down, this weird stuff starts falling from the sky.  I thought this kid was playing some kind of joke...and then I thought it must be something normal...at first, the objects looked like leaves and flower petals.  But, I noticed the clouds had a weird pinkish color to them and the stuff raining out of them was NOT flower petals.

It was raining jellyfish!  Lots and lots of jellyfish! Oh, and a few mushrooms thrown in for good measure.  I'm literally covered in jellyfish and they're all in my hair.  I'm afraid they're going to sting me, so I rush into the main cabin area where others are seeking safety from the rain.  My boyfriend is in there and tries to help me brush the jellyfish out of my hair, and they fall into a big pile.  As I'm staring at this huge pile of jellyfish and mushrooms that just fell out of my hair and are still raining down outside, my first thought is that we have to document it!  I grab my phone so I can take some pictures, but I can't get it to work.  The phone looks like its broken, but then I realized that it wasn't my phone.  I start looking for my phone, but can't find it anywhere, nor can I find the owner of the one I'm holding...and that's when I woke up and it was all over.