Fish have reportedly rained from the sky in Australia’s Northern Territory. The Northern Territory News has received numerous reports from readers in Lajamanu, Maningrida and Hermannsburg that fish have fallen in places some distance from rivers or creeks. Of course, fish falls were a favorite subject in the books of Charles Fort (1874-1932), “collector” of anomalous phenomena who greatly influenced my own appreciation for high weirdness. From the Northern Territory News:
Storms which rain fish may be being confused with fish swimming from creeks along flooded ground, a Territory expert said yesterday.
But he had no sooner finished giving his rational explanation than another Northern Territory News reader phoned in a story of raining fish – with no rivers or creeks in the area…
The phenomenon has been documented around the world and is believed to be cause by small twisters or waterspouts.
As they pass over water small fish can be sucked up into the clouds and kept there as the cloud moves over land.
Eventually they fall from the cloud to the ground, inevitably surprising any people who see them.
“Raining fish theories up the creek as reports flood in” (via Fortean Times, ‘natch)