Why Is This Chunk of Meat Featured in a Kentucky Museum?

It's that time of year when our ears perk up for any and all creepy urban legends about Kentucky, and the Commonwealth offers no shortage of wonderful folklore for the occasion.

But I'm going to break from the vibe a bit because not all folklore is creepy; some is just plain weird. Kentucky offers no shortage of weirdness either. And that's a good thing. I'm thinking now about March 3rd, 1876.

It was a day like any other...until it wasn't. And it didn't take long for folks to REALIZE it wasn't. By late morning, one of the most bizarre occurrences ever witnessed unfolded between 11 AM and noon. That's when meat began falling from the sky. Imagine...you're in your yard minding your own business, making soap--that's what the wife of Allen Crouch was doing when it happened--and suddenly chunks of meat like "large snowflakes" began falling from the sky. This account is from a New York Times article referenced in Scientific American. (Good luck reading the Times piece; I have no idea how people did it back then without specific lens prescriptions.)

What Caused the 1876 Kentucky Meat Shower?

Do you know what the folks in Bath County KY have to thank for this freakish phenomenon? Vultures.

Yes, it was vulture vomit that caused meat to rain from the sky. The two guys Scientific American says actually TASTED the chunks should've, uh, waited.

Now, that jar in the KET mini-doc...did you notice it? Sure enough, there's a LEFTOVER from the meat shower, and it's housed in the Bath County History Museum.

Mmmm...beef stew, anyone?