Oakville is a peaceful little town in Washington State that has one incident that seems to have defined it. On August 7, 1994, a deluge started in the tiny town. The rain was unlike any other the residents had ever seen, but instead of liquid rain, a gelatinous blob rained down over a 20-square-mile area. While on patrol at 3 a.m., police officer David Lacey described the rain on his windshield as “mushy,” and rather than his wipers clearing his windshield, it smeared the mush. That’s when he knew something was wrong. In the days following the rain, people became sick, reporting flu-like symptoms. No explanation could be given for where the rain came from or what it contained. The military had been performing bombing exercises about 50 miles away in the ocean, so people immediately theorized that vaporized jellyfish could have been the substance that rained down upon them. Not many people believed that theory. Another theory was that the rain was waste from a passing aircraft, although this was quickly rebuffed by the FAA. Even now, over 25 years later, there has been no satisfactory explanation for what fell from the sky that night. The Washington Department of Health claims to have no record of any samples taken. It seems we may never know.
