horror
catfish
HOME  ABOUT  FICTION  POETRY  ART  SUBMIT  NEWS  ZINES  BEWARE  CONTACT  PLAGUE  BEST  BOOKS  FILMS
The Oddities in the News Page

A catfish falls from the sky...

Literally

IN THE ODDITIES ARCHIVES
 
Arson Lawyer

Cockroach in Nose
Haunted Palace
Spider and Lizard
James Bond
Two Headed Snake
Hairball
Lost Girl

catfish in pool

Catfish falls out of the sky, lands in Florida couple's pool

April 6, 2017 (UPI) -- A Florida man investigating a loud crash on his screened porch made a bizarre discovery: A catfish had fallen out of the sky into his pool, and it was still alive.

Leonard Vanderpool of Winter Haven said he and his wife were watching TV Monday night when they heard a loud crash on their screened porch.

Vanderpool said he went outside to find there was a hole in the lanai -- and a catfish in his backyard pool.

"I come out and there's a big hole in my screen, and there's this big bullhead swimming in the water. It didn't kill him or anything. He's going crazy. The water was moving like crazy," Vanderpool told WFLA-TV.

Vanderpool called Winter Haven police for help getting the fish out of the pool. He said it took some work to convince the police dispatcher that he wasn't joking around.

"I told her, 'You're not going to believe this, but a fish dropped out of the sky and it is in my pool,'" he told WTVT-TV.

Police arrived and helped Vanderpool get the fish out of the pool.

"The fish was swimming like crazy. We took ten minutes to get him out of the water. Then the policeman put him in a big bucket that I had. It just barely fit in there," Vanderpool said.

Vanderpool's wife, Dawn, said police made sure to take photos to make sure their colleagues would believe the story.

"It didn't seem like people would believe it. It is crazy," Dawn Vanderpool said. "[The officer] had to take pictures because he knew they wouldn't believe him back at the station."

The Vanderpools and the police officer eventually came to the conclusion that a bird of prey had snatched the catfish out of the water, intending to make it into a meal, and accidentally dropped it over the screened porch.

"The fish probably stung it with its horns, because bullheads have horns, and he dropped it right through my screen," Leonard Vanderpool said. "When we had it out you could see talon marks on its back."

The lucky fish, which did not seem to have any severe injuries, was released into Lake Ruby.

Read the entire article HERE

Believe it or not, this is not the first catfish to fall from the sky!

Catfish falls from sky at Philadelphia park, hits woman in face

fish

September 11, 2011 (CBS) --  A woman walking in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia last week was hit by a fish that fell from the sky above, CBS Philadelphia reported

Lisa Lobree said she was walking a path in the park on Labor Day morning, when she heard a rustling in the trees above. Then something came crashing down and hit her in the head.

Lobree suffered a small cut to her face and some swelling from the catfish, which was over a foot long. She admits to being a bit hysterical at first, but now she can see the humor in the bizarre story.

See the whole article HERE

Why would fish fall from the sky?

The common consensus is that tornadoes are the culprit. When tornadoes traverse over bodies of water, they become known as waterspouts.

Waterspouts suck up lake or ocean water along with the fish or other creatures swimming in the water. The fish are sucked up the tornado's vortex and then blown around in the clouds until the windspeed decreases enough to let them fall back to the ground, perhaps miles away from where they started.

Another explanation is birds. The birds grab the fish in their beaks from some body of water and fly, then accidenly drop the fish, causing it to "fall from the sky."