Mysterious ice falls have been reported in many parts of the world for centuries – many before the invention of flying machines. Here are some of the most extraordinary examples of documented ice falls:
In the late 1700s, a gargantuan chuck of ice “as big as an elephant” was said to fall on Seringapatam, India, and took three days to melt.
In 1802, a lump of ice fell from the sky on Hungary that had a volume of 18 cubic feet!
In 1849, a block of ice that was estimated to weigh a half a ton fell on the Balvullich farm in Ord, Scotland. It measured about 20 feet in diameter and was reported to be crystal clear, although apparently made up of many cubes and diamond-shaped hunks of ice fused together.
Another ice fall took place in Scotland in December of 1950. A man driving near the town of Dumbarton was nearly struck by a rain of ice that crashed down onto the road. A subsequent police investigation weighed the collected ice at 112 pounds. Several other reports of ice falls were recorded in Great Britain in 1950 and 1951.
A carpenter working on a roof in Kempton, West Germany in 1951 was struck and killed by a 6-foot long, 6-inch around rod of solid ice.
Farmer Edwin Groff of Bernville, Pennsylvania was witness to a 50-pound, white globe of ice that whooshed through the sky and crashed on his property in 1957. A few seconds later, a second ball of ice, half the size of the first, smashed into his flower bed, just a few yards from where he was standing.
On September 2, 1958, Dominick Bacigalupo was knocked from his feet when a 70-pound ball of ice tore through his roof and attic and broke into three pieces on his kitchen floor.
The roof of the Phillips Petroleum Plant in Woods Cross, Utah was punctured by a 50-pound block of ice in 1965.
One well-documented ice fall was actually witnessed by a British meteorologist in 1973. While standing on a street corner in Manchester, R.F. Griffiths saw a huge chunk of ice smash to pieces on the road just 10 feet away. The largest piece, which he recovered, weighed 3-1/2 pounds.
A football-sized chunk of ice landed in a garden near Lake Vattern, Sweden in 1990. It was described as being somewhat milky in appearance, dotted with bits of debris colored gray, brown, and lilac.
A year later, in October 1991, a 20-pound mass of ice smashed through the roof of the home of Mrs. Mavis Anderson in West Yorkshire, England, landing in her kitchen.
In 1992, a sphere of yellow-tinged ice crashed through the roof of a factory in Salihli, Turkey. Witnesses said the ice released the odor of rotting fruit as it melted. This sounds like a candidate for airplane waste, but officials determined there were no planes flying in the area at the time.
"Scientists yesterday tried to determine the origin of a 1500-pound sheet of ice that mysteriously dropped from the sky and smashed into a backyard fence. David H. Menke, directory of the Copernican Observatory and Planetarium, said the ice was probably 6 feet long, 8 inches thick and moving at about 200 mph. 'It's unusual in the fact that it fell from the sky,' said Craig Robinson, curator at the planetarium. 'That does not happen often.' A 13year-old boy was in his backyard Monday with a friend when the ice came 'whirling' from the sky and smashed into the fence about 10 feet away from them."
De man moest acuut overgeven en klaagde daarna over een branderige huid. Hij heeft aangifte gedaan tegen de vluchtleiding.
Volgens een woordvoerder van de luchthaven van München betrof het
een lekkend ventiel waardoor de toiletinhoud naar buiten kon komen en
vastvroor tegen de wand van het vliegtuig. Toen dat daalde smolten de uitwerpselen, om
neer te dalen op het hoofd van de ongelukkige visser.
De Telegraaf 20 juli 1998