This 100 year old article sounded so Fortean I had to share this. Enjoy:
The fall of vertebrate animals from the skies like rain is, of course, the most interesting of all the showers of organic matter, and—it must be admitted—the hardest to believe. Yet there cannot be the slightest doubt that there are genuine phenomena of this character, though perhaps not so numerous as the recorded instances. These occurrences, if observed by man, naturally make profound impressions and in the olden times especially, the tales of showers of fishes and the like were improved by each teller, so that soon they reached the stage of the unbelievable.
Frogs, toads.—I quote only one of the older writers, Athenaeus, who flourished about 200 A.D. He is the author of a polyhistorical work called the "Deipnosophists," in which he quotes about 800 authors, whose works he consulted at the Alexandrian Library, 700 of whom would have been unknown, except for the fortunate preservation of Athenaeus' work. In a chapter entitled "De pluvius piscium," he says:
I know also that it has very often rained fishes. At all events Phaenias, in the second book of his Eresian Magistrates, says that in the Chersonesus it once rained fish uninterruptedly for three days; and Phylarchus in his fourth book, says that people had often seen it raining fish, and often also raining wheat, and that the same thing had happened with respect to frogs. At all events Heraclides Lembus, in the 21st book of his history, says: "In Paeonia and Dardania, it has, they say, before now rained frogs; and so great has been the number of these frogs that the houses and the roads have been full with them; and at first for some days the inhabitants, endeavoring to kill them, and shutting up their houses endured the pest; but when they did no good, but found that all their vessels were filled with them, and the frogs were found to be boiled up and roasted with everything they ate, and when besides all this they could not make use of any water, nor put their feet on the ground for the heaps of frogs that were everywhere, and were annoyed also by the smell of those that died, they fled the country."
For numbers of frogs and the far reaching effects of their fall this tale can scarcely be surpassed, but it will be well to recount some later instances, especially some of the more circumstantial ones. Holinshed informs us that in Great Britain—
frogs fell in Angusshire during the time of Agricola. Frogs were reported to have descended, during the summer of 1846 over the Humber, upon the decks of vessels in the river and on the coast near Killinghome lights.
A later account recites that—
During the storm that raged with considerable fury in Birmingham (England) on Wednesday morning, June 30 [1892], a shower of frogs fell in the suburb of Moseley. They were found scattered about several gardens. Almost white in color, they had evidently been absorbed in a small waterspout that was driven over Birmingham by the tempest.
Several notices have from time to time been brought before the French Academy of showers of frogs having fallen in different parts of France. M. Duparque states in a letter that—
In August, 1814, after several weeks of drouth and heat, a storm broke one Sunday about 3:30 p. m., upon the village of Fremon, a quarter league from Amiens. This storm was preceded by bursts of wind so violent that they shook the church and frightened the congregation. While traversing the space separating the church from presbytery, we were soaked, but what surprised me was to be struck on my person and my clothing by small frogs. * * * A large number of these small animals hopped about on the ground. On arriving at the presbytery, we found the floor of one of the rooms in which a window facing the storm had been left open covered with water and frogs.
Showers of toads seem to be more common in some regions than those of frogs. I have seen accounts of 13 different occurrences of the kind in France. A French scientist M. Mauduy, curator of natural history at Poitiers, had personal experience with two such showers, which he narrates briefly as follows:
On the 23d of June, 1809, during a hot spell, I was caught in a rain storm in which with the very large drops were mixed little bodies the size of hazelnuts, which in a moment, covered the ground, and which I recognized as little toads. * * * The second occasion, occurred in August, 1822, during a stormy and very hot period; I was again surprised by a heavy shower of large drops mixed, as was the other, with little toads, some of which fell on my hat. This time the animals were the size of walnuts. I found that I was more than a league distant from any brook, river, or marsh.
A considerable discussion of the subject of rains of toads was carried on in 1834 in the French scientific magazine from which I have quoted. I cite two more bits of testimony by eye witnesses, one of which has been widely reproduced.
M. Heard, writes:
In June, 1833, I was at Jouy near Versaille. I saw toads falling from the sky; they struck my umbrella; I saw them hopping on the pavement, "during about 10 minutes in which time the drops of water were not more numerous than the toads. The space upon which I saw the multitude of these animals was about 200 fathoms.
M. Peltier in his oft-copied statement says:
In support of the communication of Col. Marmier, I cite an incident I observed in my youth; a storm advanced upon the little village of Ham, Department of the Somme, where I lived, and I observed its menacing march, when suddenly rain fell in torrents. I saw the village square covered everywhere with little toads. Astonished by this sight, I held out my hand and was struck by several of the reptiles. The dooryard also was covered; I saw them fall upon the slate roof and rebound to the pavement. * * * Whatever the difficulty of explaining the transport of the reptiles, I affirm, without doubt the fact which made such a profound impression upon my memory.
The most remarkable account of a shower of toads, that I have seen, so far, is the following:
In the summer of 1794 M. Gayet was quartered in the village of Lalain, Department du Nord, * * * near the territory which the Austrians, then masters of Valenciennes, had flooded with water from the Scarpe. It was very hot. Suddenly, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, there fell such an abundance of rain that 150 men of the grand guard, in order not to be submerged, were obliged to leave a large depression in which they were hidden. But what was their surprise when there began to fall on the ground all about a considerable number of toads, the size of hazelnuts, which began to jump about in every direction. M. Gayet, who could not believe that these myriads of reptiles fell with the rain, stretched out his handkerchief at the height of a man, his comrades holding the corners; they caught a considerable number of toads, most of which had the posterior part elongated into a tail, that is to say, in the tadpole state. During this rain storm, which lasted about half an hour, the men of the grand guard felt very distinctly on their hats and on their clothing the blows struck by the falling toads. As a final proof of the reality of this phenomenon, M. Gayet reports that after the storm the three-cornered hats of the men of the guard held in their folds some of the reptiles.
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