The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-08-12
Fish Rains Occur.
 In Parts Of World
Never Cats and Dogs But Finny Creatures Really Drep
 From the Skies

Until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, | the 18th of May had been like any
 other. spring day on the farm of
 W. l.. Doughtie, Edgecombe coun-
 ty. N. c. Then strange things
 began to happen. Dark clouds
 swiftly gathered overhead. Sud-
 dently, there was a heavy down.
 pour. Doughtie. who had put his
 horse in the barn, was about to go
 intot he house when something cold
 and slippery struck him in the
 face. He looked up. It was rain-
 ing fish!
 | The farmer could not believe his
 eyes. He called his wife. Behind
 her, the children crowded in the
 doorway. Spellbound, they watched the "miracle". Hundreds of fish l dropped from the sky. Down they
 came. like giant, solid flakes in a nightmare blizzard. They plopped on, the ground in the barnyard; l; splashed into the rain barrel;
 smacked against he porch roof, the chicken house, the machine sied, Altogether, the fish storm
 spread over three acres of Dough ties land, writes Robert E. Martin in the Popular Science Monthly. That was four years ago. The. farmer appealed for. an explana- ton, to Dr E. w. Gudger, of the
 department of ichthyology of the American Museum of Natural His tory,8 New York. Recently. Dr Gudger completed his researches of the curious phenomenon which, in a manner of speaking. took him
 clear around the world and back into the Dark Ages. He found
 that rains of fish, though rare,, actually occur; have occurred in virtually ever ypart of the gfilobe,
 since A. D. 200; and in all likli-
 hood will occur again. He gath
 cred records of seventy-one such
 showers that have astonished and frightened people in the last Is 700 years. And he also discoy-
 cred the cause of this amazing
 freak of nature.
 Aside from the shower on the
 Doughtie farm, the most recent as far as is known, Dr Gudger col lected more than a dozen records of fish rains in the United States. The first eyewitness account to reach him was given by Richard H. Tingley, of Port Chester. N. Y., who was caught in fish rain on the outskirts of Providence, R. l.,
 on May IS, 1900.
 In the late afternoon of that day, a thunderstorm with a high wind brought a torrent of rain. Sudden ly, a blinding flash of lightning, followed by terrific crash, rent the black clouds. A moment la ter, streets and yards for several blocks were alive with squirming little perch and bullpouts, from two to four and a half inch long. Ting ley himself was pelted with them. Boys. soaking wet, rushed about catching the fish. A reporter of the Providence Journal gathered a
 bucketful of them. Displayed in shop windows in one of the main
 business streets, these fish created
 sensation, which was heightened by the vivid description in the Journal.
 .James R. Daniels of 200 West |,10oth street, New York city. told Dr Gudger he had seen a "heav- en-sent" frog. Living in Wilson, N. C., in 1913 he lei this house for
 walk after heavy rain. when
 he saw Q dead frog on the side- walk. A neighbor informed him
 it had just dropped from the sky. Daniels laughed. He was still
 laushing when . small fish fell at his feeti sYg
 The heaviest fish fall is that de- scrlbed in 1881 by Count de Castol. nau, famous French naturalist. It took place during threo.day rain. storm ct Singapore following an earthquake in February of that year. Fifty acres of land were GOV. cred with fish.
 Germany wins the palm for tho lt Involved only q sInele fish. But that ono came down already packed in ieei During q violent haiIstorni In Neaen, in July lsDe, c hailstona the aIza ok heH'a esH, cye.witness- ee relate. feII onto the pnteniunt pf ea0 ef lha Nain sIFsets' Inside