Believe it or not, Crouch wasn’t the first person—or the last—to see weird objects raining from the sky.
In the 1700s, French soldiers spoke of toads dropping from the clouds. In 2005, thousands of frogs fell on a town in Serbia, a country in Eastern Europe. People in Yoro, Honduras—a city in Central America—report that it rains fish at least once a year.
What’s behind these unusual events?
Over the years, scientists have suggested several explanations. Some say the creatures aren’t actually raining from the sky—they only appear to be.
For example, strong rainstorms can cause rivers to overflow, forcing the small animals that live there out of their homes. Flooding then sweeps the animals to far-off towns and villages. Later, when the floods dry up, the creatures that are left behind look as if they’ve tumbled from the sky.
Another theory is that tornadoes are responsible for showers of animals. A tornado can form over a body of water and suck up everything in its path, including animals, like an enormous vacuum cleaner. Later, when the tornado loses energy, the creatures drop to the ground below.