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When fish fell from the sky: The bizarre 1947 incident in a US town explained
In 1947, residents of a US town witnessed a bizarre incident when hundreds of fish reportedly fell from the sky.
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Have you ever imagined stepping outside and seeing fish falling from the sky? That is exactly what residents of Marksville, Louisiana, reportedly witnessed on 23 October 1947, in an extraordinary incident later documented by a freshwater fish expert.
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According to Guinness World Records, Dr Alexander Dimitrievich Bajkov was having breakfast with his wife, Virginia, at a local diner when a waitress told them that fish were raining outside.
Fish scattered across Main Street
The couple rushed out to investigate and found fish scattered around the town's courthouse. They covered an area roughly 1,000 feet long and 80 feet wide.
Several locals corroborated the incident. Bank director James Barham reported finding fish in his yard, while neighbours Elizabeth Joffrion and Eddie Gremillion described similar scenes. Two shopkeepers, Emanuel Blanchard and J M Brouillette, said falling fish had struck them as they walked along Main Street.
Bajkov, who was conducting fieldwork nearby, began collecting specimens. He estimated a density of about one fish per square yard and identified several freshwater species native to the region, including bass, sunfish, minnows and hickory shad.
The largest specimen, a largemouth bass, measured around 24 cm. Remarkably, Bajkov considered the fish fresh enough to eat.
Was it really raining fish?
Although the sight seemed unbelievable, Bajkov regarded it as an unusual natural phenomenon rather than a mystery beyond explanation.
Guinness World Records notes that reports of fish falling from the sky have appeared throughout history. In a 1946 review, ichthyologist E W Gudger identified 78 well-documented accounts. Similar incidents have also been reported in more recent times, including in Lajamanu, Australia, in February 2023.
What caused the strange shower?
Bajkov believed a waterspout, a rotating column of air over water, could explain the incident. Such a phenomenon might lift small fish from shallow lakes and carry them through the air before dropping them some distance away.
While official weather reports did not record a tornado or storm that day, Bajkov and fellow researcher Dr James Gowanloch had observed waterspouts and dust devils in the surrounding bayou country the previous day.
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In a 1949 scientific report, Bajkov argued, "Many people have never seen tornadoes, but they do not doubt them, and they accept the fact that wind can lift and carry heavy objects. Why can't fish be lifted with water and carried by the whirlwind?"
His theory offered a plausible explanation, although the exact cause of the Marksville fish shower was never conclusively established.
