"Nature does not have bad weather …" This statement can hardly be attributed to bloody rains. They belong more in a horror movie than in everyday life. Nevertheless, Homer and Plutarch wrote about streams of crimson falling from the sky. The latter believed that the bloody anomaly was caused by fumes from the battlefields of the Germanic tribes. To this day, many scientists are trying to figure out the reason for this natural phenomenon.
A LONG TIME AGO
The first documented blood rain fell in Paris in 582. Eyewitnesses noted that precipitation, falling on clothing, left red spots on it.
In 1571, streams of "blood" rushed to Holland for almost a week. They painted buildings, trees, fences and flooded an area of tens of square kilometers. People believed that the bloody rain formed from the vapors of the blood of bulls killed in the slaughterhouse.
Bloody rain in Dinkelsbuehl (Germany) on May 26, 1554.
A century later, in 1669, a document appeared in the archives of the French Academy of Sciences describing the rain that fell on Chatillon: “A mysterious heavy viscous liquid, similar to blood, but with a sharp unpleasant odor, fell from the sky. Large drops of it hung on the roofs, walls and windows of houses. So another hypothesis arose: a liquid similar to blood is rotten swamp water, lifted into the sky by a whirlwind and dropped out in the city.
The next anomaly was not long in coming. Already in 1689, the inhabitants of Venice also fell under a bloody rain. And in 1744 red streams plunged into panic another Italian city - Genoa. Genoese scientists explained this phenomenon by the presence of cinnabar or sanguine - red chalk in the water.
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Undoubtedly, all this is very scanty information. But the bloody rain that fell in 1813 in the Kingdom of Naples was described in more detail by Sementini, a scientist who lived at that time. He wrote that this phenomenon was preceded by a strong wind that blew for more than two days.
Then a huge thick cloud appeared, advancing from the sea. She covered the mountains and the sun, and the wind suddenly died down. The frightened people watched the cloud change color from gray to pink and further to crimson red.
Dusk fell on the city, and even during the day the inhabitants were forced to light lamps. The sky looked like red-hot iron, thunder rumbled, for some reason the sea was making a lot of noise, although it was quite far from the city. And, to top off the terrible picture, powerful streams of liquid that looked like blood poured from the sky. Residents in a panic rushed to the cathedral and began to pray. Fortunately, the "apocalypse" did not last long, by the evening the sky had cleared up, the rain had stopped.
In the late summer of 1841, a bloody cloud appeared in Tennessee and immediately began to rain. He left drops on the leaves, very similar to blood.
In the fall of 1819, abnormal rain fell in Belgium. At that time, it was a popular hypothesis that the color of the bloody rain was due to the content of red sand from the Sahara. And even some experiments were carried out. But when the red liquid was evaporated, no sand was found, but it turned out to be cobalt chloride, the crystals of which are red-pink.
BLOOD MYSTERY
In the late summer of 1841, tobacco leaves were being harvested in Tennessee (USA). Suddenly, a bloody cloud appeared over the heads of the collectors and immediately it began to rain. He left drops on the leaves, very similar to blood.
There was an unpleasant odor in the air. The frightened people rushed for cover. The owner of the plantation asked Professor Troost for clarification. The scientist's article was published in the October issue of one of the scientific journals. Referring to the results of the research, Troost argued that the substance that fell out of the red cloud contained animal fat and muscle tissue.
He concluded that it was blood that was dripping from the sky. True, then a refutation was published. Allegedly, the hired workers were just joking, for some reason scattered the decomposed parts of the pork carcass over the plantation.
The next stream of "heavenly blood" was recorded again in the USA, in North Carolina, at the Thomas Clarkson farm in February 1850. On that day, his entire family worked on the street. Suddenly, a sharp deafening sound, like a gun salvo, came from the sky. Children and adults alike ran for cover when Clarkson's wife suddenly fainted. The reason was pieces of meat that fell on her from somewhere above, and streams of thick sticky blood that flooded the unfortunate woman.
The same bloody shower fell on their neighbor Neil Campbell. Only he turned out to be more daring. Neil decided to collect the unusual sediment in a barrel. And then both families watched in amazement for an hour as the dry grass and yellowed leaves revived, turned green. But it was winter outside.
Local physician R. Gray, to whom the farmers brought the bloody fallout, determined that the barrel contains blood mixed with mud. After examining the samples under a microscope, Gray clarified their biological basis. In his opinion, the cellular structure was close to human.
Of course, this incident caused a stir in the press. Someone called the farmers liars, and someone decided that the cause of the bloody rainfall was the victims, which the bandits dismembered in … baskets of balloons.
A year later, a bloody downpour hit Samuel Backworth's ranch, located in Catham County, near the Clarkson and Campbell farms. This bloody bacchanalia lasted three days. Samuel's sister Suzanne was watching over the workers in the field as scalding streams of brown water poured from the sky.
Later, the girl noted that the liquid that flooded the field smelled of blood, in her words, "like in a slaughterhouse." This rain stained Suzanne's clothes and the cattle fence surprisingly hard. Only the colored grass this time did not come to life, but became fragile and crumbled into dust at the slightest touch.
Of course, this phenomenon could not but cause concern. People immediately assumed that the bloody rain foreshadowed some kind of great misfortune. Backworth brought in Professor F. Vanable of North Carolina to determine the true cause of the unusual rain.
Vanable took about 300 soil samples in the precipitation zone and sent them to the laboratory at the University of Göttingen, which had the best equipment for the time to identify blood. The answer discouraged everyone: it was human blood.
EVERYBODY'S GUILTY … KANYUKI
Over time, people got used to bloody showers, and they were no longer frightening, but entertaining. In the spring of 1876, one of the American newspapers wrote that in Kentucky on a sunny day something that looked like small pieces of meat, measuring 7 by 10 centimeters, was falling from the sky.
Strange precipitation was localized in a small oval area. One of the eyewitnesses became so emboldened that he even tasted the "heavenly gift". And he said that this something resembles very fresh lamb or veal. This time, the opinion of scientists was, one might say, comical: "The fallen precipitation was belched up by a flock of buzzards."
Soon, in May 1890, bloody rainfall also fell in Calabria (Italy). The local press reported that, in the opinion of meteorologists, … bird blood was pouring from the sky. Moreover, there were even explanations of how she got there. Allegedly, a large flock of birds was torn apart by … the wind. However, there was no wind of such power in those places, and the questions - where did the meat and feathers of the dead birds go - remained unanswered.
BLOODY RIVER
At the end of the summer of 1891, local residents observed strange, even mysterious phenomena in Rybinsk. Police investigator NI Morkovkin conducted a survey of eyewitnesses, during which it was found that some liquid poured from the sky onto the surface of the Volga "in abundant stripes and colored the water in the color of boiled beets, which was witnessed by people waiting for the arrival of the steamer."
Among these passengers there was a pharmacist, that is, a more or less educated person, and he insisted that they take samples of these sediments from the surface of the river. Scooped up with a galvanized bucket, which was at hand. And then amazing things began. Water, falling into the bucket, instantly became milky white. A day later, a bloody rain fell over the entire city. This incident was dealt with by a policeman by the name of Mytar.
It was noted in the protocol that the bloody liquid stained the clothes of passers-by, and it was impossible to wash them. And when it hit the skin, a painful burning sensation was felt. From which the Publican concluded that emissions from factory pipes during the dye production are to blame. And all this would seem to be true, if it were not for the smell of blood accompanying the precipitation.
NOWADAYS
The Indian state of Kerala can be considered the record holder for the amount of bloody rainfall. In 2001, a red downpour poured everywhere there almost every day from late July to late September. Streams of carmine-red liquid stained people's clothes and burned foliage.
According to eyewitnesses, before the first red rain there was a strong thunderclap and a bright flash of light. There were so many reports about the various consequences of anomalous rain that it is difficult to determine where is true and where is fiction.
They said that dry gray foliage was crumbling from the trees, wells were suddenly formed out of the blue, that the downpour was local (a few meters from the bloody rainfall). In addition, allegedly people saw not only red, but also yellow, green and even black rain. The unusual shower usually lasted no more than 20 minutes.
PLANT VERSION
There are many versions of the origin of bloody rains. Many of them received scientific evidence, but questions still remain.
VI Vernadsky, a famous scientist, considered anomalous precipitation to be the planet's answer to the harmful activities of mankind. By the way, this theory has many supporters.
Another hypothesis claims that rainwater becomes red as a result of the explosion of a certain celestial body. This, by the way, explains the bright flashes and sounds of explosions. V. I. Vernadsky, a famous scientist, considered anomalous precipitation to be the planet's answer to the harmful activities of mankind.
After the fall of red precipitation in Kerala, it became possible to study them on modern equipment. Experts from the Science Center for Terrestrial Research prepared a report stating that the rainwater contained neither meteorite or volcanic dust, nor the red sand of the Arabian Peninsula, as previously assumed.
The rainfall in Kerala contained spores of epiphytic green algae that often exist in symbiosis with lichens. Because of the rainy weather, lichens began to actively spread, their growth caused the formation of a huge number of spores in the atmosphere. But all this is just an assumption, because no one has explained how the spores got into the atmosphere and settled in the clouds.
UNCLEAN BUTTERFLIES
It is believed that hawthorn butterflies are the culprits of bloody rains. The fact is that, leaving the pupae, they secrete a couple of drops of bright red liquid. These drops dry in the sun and are visible for a long time on green leaves.
If the summer is hot and dry, which is very favorable for the reproduction of these butterflies, then the leaves of the trees on which they live look as if they have been sprayed with red paint.
And if it rains at this time, then red bloody streams will flow from the leaves, staining the benches and houses, the clothes of people and the hair of animals that have fallen under the bloody drops. Moreover, the paint emitted by butterflies is very resistant. It is quite a real version, if we forget that the red rain came from the sky, and not from the leaves, and its scale is hardly within the power of butterflies.
SPACE TRACE
After examining rainwater samples, Mahatma Gandhi University physicist Dr. Godfrey Louis suggested that the particles that colored the rain in Kerala were of extraterrestrial origin.
When studying the red particles, the scientist found that they are slightly larger than bacteria (4-10 microns in diameter) and have a thick shell. These strange particles were not familiar to science. First, it seems that they have no DNA, which means that the versions about spores and algae immediately disappear. In addition, they contain almost half of the periodic table, but with a significant predominance of carbon and oxygen.
Then Louis determined that particles have the ability to multiply, even in a hot environment (up to 315 degrees Celsius), while the limit of "earthly life" is 120 degrees.
Based on this, the scientist concluded that these are extraterrestrial bacteria adapted to live in outer space. They ended up on Earth with fragments of some small celestial body and settled on rain clouds. This version also explains the violent thunder and flares before the bloody rains. Perhaps these were meteor explosions.
By the way, if we take into account that "extraterrestrial microorganisms", according to scientists, fell in Kerala in the amount of 50 tons, it is hardly possible to find an analogue by weight among the known atmospheric processes.
Part of the samples Louis gave for research to astrobiologist Chandra Wickramasingh, an adherent of the panspermia hypothesis (according to her, the embryos of life are transferred between celestial bodies by meteorites). Chandra Vikramasingh even managed to detect the DNA of the red particles, but he was unable to identify them.
Many scholars believe that Louis's conclusions cannot be considered flawless and final. But he himself is determined: “When people hear the theory that it's all about a comet, they dismiss it as an incredible idea. If people do not ponder our arguments, they simply turn away from the hypothesis that the red rain is explained by extraterrestrial biology."
Galina BELYSHEVA
