1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and Jeers here too for Dave. So this 3 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: is short stuff. 4 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 2: That's right, A rare episode where the title itself is 5 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 2: a band name. Not a good one though, No. 6 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: I guess maybe horror Bluegrass like a Bluegrass Misfits cover band. 7 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 2: Maybe Yeah, Kentucky meat Shower, I could see that. 8 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: I want to shout out Ben Fisher, who is a 9 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 1: listener who wrote in a while back to suggest this one. 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 2: So thanks Ben, Oh Ben, has that band registered? Is 11 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 2: a trademark? 12 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: Also hat tip to mental floss ifl Science, Scientific American, 13 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: The Lexington, Kentucky Herald Leader, and Atlas Obscura Atlas Obscure 14 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: great sights. But yes, the had you heard of the 15 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: Kentucky Meatchower before this, Chuck? Because I did. I didn't. 16 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: I hadn't. I'm just going to come out and say 17 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: it as badly as I want to say, like, of 18 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: course i'd heard this, I had not heard of it. 19 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 2: No, I think this is fairly ourcane. 20 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: Okay, kid, you just made me feel a lot better. Yeah, 21 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: what we're talking about we should probably get around to saying, 22 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,399 Speaker 1: is the Kentucky meat shower took place just over one 23 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty years ago. We just missed the anniversary 24 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: by two days. On March third, eighteen seventy six, a 25 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: Hope Stutter named Rebecca Crouch was outside her Well homestead 26 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: making soap with her grandson Alan when it began to 27 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: rain meat down on them. 28 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 2: That's right, we should point out because this will come 29 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 2: up later. That was a clear sky, so it wasn't 30 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 2: like it was rainy. And also meat came down right, 31 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 2: good point. This was just meat that came down, and 32 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 2: they were landing all over the yard, and over the 33 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 2: course of a few minutes it rained down over the 34 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 2: size of about a football field on her farm, these 35 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 2: smallish chunks of meat everywhere, even though she said one 36 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 2: of them was about the size of her palm, but 37 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 2: most of them were smaller than that. 38 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, you could compare them to snowflakes. I think 39 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: it was the general idea I got. And so obviously, 40 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: as you would do if meat was raining on you, 41 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: missus Crouch and grandson Alan went indoors. The livestock and 42 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: the cat came to the yard instead, because they were like, 43 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: there's a bunch of meat. All of a sudden everywhere 44 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: in the yard. So we're gonna start eating it. And 45 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: as much as they tried, they couldn't eat at all, 46 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: because before I think, like the next day, a man 47 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: named Harrison gil He was the first sighted witness to 48 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: verify that, yes, there was meat all over their yard. 49 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: It was stuck to the fence. Mental floss put it 50 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: that the fences were flecked with tissue and stained with 51 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: what looked like blood. Thorny briars bore gobs of flesh 52 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: like Christmas trees from hell. 53 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 2: You know. A second again, when I thought very seriously 54 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:04,359 Speaker 2: that you were going to say, they did what you 55 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 2: would do, and they went inside, and I thought you 56 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 2: were going to say, and got some hot dog buns. Gross, gross, 57 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 2: But thank god you didn't, because that's gross. And all 58 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 2: this stuff is gross because this was not just regular meat. 59 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,959 Speaker 2: It's not like there were little pieces of tinderlin falling 60 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 2: from the sky. There was a local butcher named Frizz Frisbee, 61 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,239 Speaker 2: believe it or not. Who of course he's the butcher. 62 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:28,679 Speaker 2: So he's like, sure, I'll try it. So he put 63 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 2: it in his mouth, he spit it out. And this 64 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 2: was the butcher, and he said he spit it out 65 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 2: after chewing it a little, and he said it had 66 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 2: kind of a milky, watery fluid oozing out of it. 67 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 2: And other people also verified that it was oozy and 68 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 2: also described it as like a brown mucus, similar in 69 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 2: appearance to veal or mutton. But it was awful smelling 70 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 2: and tasting. 71 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, they weren't like it tastes like veal or mutton. 72 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: They just said it kind of looks like cooked veel 73 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: er mutton. There was a guy who apparently found all 74 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: this quite enticing. He was a neighbor named Eli Willis. 75 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: He scooped up like a handful of stuff and took 76 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: it home to cook for dinner, and his family, of 77 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: being more sensible than he realized that he was going 78 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: to do this, tried to talk him out of it, 79 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: found they couldn't, and so some family members held him 80 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: down while other family members scooped up the meet and 81 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,599 Speaker 1: ran outside and threw it away in a place he 82 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: couldn't find it. 83 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 2: That all smacks of eighteen seventies news reporting, doesn't it. 84 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 1: It definitely does, But that also smacks of twenty twenty 85 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:31,000 Speaker 1: six podcast re reporting. 86 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. 87 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: Should we take a break, I think we should sure, all. 88 00:04:36,480 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 2: Right, we'll be right back right after this, all right, 89 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 2: So people stopped eating this meat. They did think to like, 90 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 2: maybe we should find out what this is. So they 91 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 2: took some samples to Transylvania University which was close by, 92 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,840 Speaker 2: as well as some other places, and eventually things kind 93 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 2: of got back to normal. But that wasn't the end 94 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 2: of it, because people, you know, people want to know 95 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 2: what the heck this thing was, So of course people 96 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 2: start surmising and hypothesizing what this meat could have actually been, 97 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 2: what animal this could have been? 98 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, and this being a gross event, some of the 99 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 1: theories that they came up with were gross too. One 100 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: of them was that it was rehydrated frog spawn, which 101 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: is frog ejaculate and eggs mixed together. So I described, 102 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: and the idea was that this had well, the spawn 103 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: had been spread, it dried out, got carried up in 104 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: the breeze into the sky, and then when it rained, 105 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: it rehydrated and fell down his glob. That was mistaken for. 106 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 2: Meat, that's right, but it wasn't raining, as we pointed out, 107 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 2: it was clear sky, so that doesn't hold much water. 108 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 2: There was a water sanitation expert named Leopold Brandi's who 109 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 2: analyzed the samples and said, I don't think this is 110 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 2: animal at all. He said, I think it's a cyanobacteria. 111 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,480 Speaker 2: And he said, like a low form of vegetable existence. 112 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 2: And I you know, he called it a gnostic And 113 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,280 Speaker 2: I've seen this stuff in lakes before, and I've also 114 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:35,119 Speaker 2: seen it on like in forests. I've heard it called 115 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 2: star jelly. You know, it kind of looks like like 116 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 2: a a apple butter apple jelly. So you know, that 117 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 2: could have been a thing that came down in the rain. 118 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 2: But again it wasn't raining, no. 119 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: So just like the frog spawn theory, this one had 120 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: a hole in it and that it would require precipitation 121 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: to come back down. Also, that was kind of the 122 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,160 Speaker 1: prevailing thought at the time that this stuff somehow it 123 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: up on the breeze and then rained back down because 124 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:06,359 Speaker 1: you couldn't see it until it rehydrated on the ground 125 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: and it wasn't really in the sky anyway, So not 126 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: a good theory. Finally, I think in eighteen seventy six, 127 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: the same year chemistry professor named doctor ld. Cast and 128 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: Bind proposed what is now widely considered the correct explanation 129 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: for what exactly happened and what exactly happened Chuck. 130 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 2: Well, it doesn't make it any less gross to sort 131 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 2: of find out what it was. In fact, it probably 132 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 2: makes it more gross than mystery meat. In eighteen seventy six, 133 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 2: he wrote in the Louisville Medical News that he thought 134 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 2: it was a mass vulture vomiting incident. Not a bad 135 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 2: band name in and of itself, now that I think 136 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 2: about it, but yeah, vultures are known to vomit. Sometimes 137 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 2: it's to lighten their weight while flying, which would have 138 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 2: made sense in this case, or as a defense mechanism. 139 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 2: But yeah, he was like, you guys were eating vulture 140 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 2: vomit is what you were doing in God knows what 141 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 2: kind of meat it was to begin with, because they 142 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 2: were eating, you know, all manner of dead animals exactly. 143 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, so they ate what had been decomposing animal flesh 144 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: initially eaten by vultures and then thrown back up, and 145 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: then those guys tasted it. I just want to make 146 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: sure that that is fully clear, because that is what 147 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:25,040 Speaker 1: happened in Kentucky when those locals put that in their 148 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: mouth and tried to see what it was. 149 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, but people didn't stop there as far as poopooing 150 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 2: these hypotheses, because this guy named Kurt Goda, who's an 151 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 2: art professor, and he was like, hey, man, I've been 152 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 2: studying this thing for two decades. I guess I haven't 153 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 2: had a lot to do. And there's no way that 154 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 2: she would have missed this large group of vultures overhead 155 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 2: like raining down meat on her, because that was a 156 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 2: lot of meat. So it would have been a lot 157 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 2: of vultures. And for years and years, every time somebody 158 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 2: offered up this vulture vomit thing, it seemed like this 159 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 2: Kurt I was right behind him saying there's no way 160 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:03,079 Speaker 2: she would have missed. 161 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:08,199 Speaker 1: That, right, And then at some point someone told Kurt 162 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: that vultures actually can fly up to twenty thousand feet 163 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,079 Speaker 1: in the air. It's crazy, and that yes, it would 164 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: have been quite possible for a flock. Actually, I think 165 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: they're called a volt a venue or a committee of vultures. 166 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: That a committee of vultures flying at twenty thousand feet 167 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: vomiting down kind of simultaneously onto poor missus Crouch in 168 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: her yard. She definitely would not be able to see 169 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: that with the naked eye. So it is entirely possible. 170 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: It was a mass vulture vomiting event. 171 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know they're never going to solve this thing, obviously. 172 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,439 Speaker 2: I think they did have tissue samples, but not the 173 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 2: kind of thing that's still around today to like test genetically. 174 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 2: So the weirdest part of this story maybe is that 175 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 2: later on that art professor said, Hey, maybe I can 176 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 2: a loize these flavor compounds and get it made into 177 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 2: a jelly bean. So he did that. He took it 178 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 2: to a jelly bean maker and they made Kentucky meat 179 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 2: shower jelly beans, and he gave him out as samples 180 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 2: at a state fair at the Court Days Festival and said, 181 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 2: just tell me what it tastes like, and you can 182 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 2: have one of these Kentucky meat shower jelly beans. And 183 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:26,079 Speaker 2: people said, well, maybe bacon before it's cooked, maybe lamb 184 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 2: that's going rotten, or strawberry pork chops, which sounds like 185 00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:30,679 Speaker 2: the best thing out of all of. 186 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: Them for sure, But Gody told Atlas Obscure that he 187 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: just frankly finds them vile. Yeah, Kurt Gody, sounds like 188 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: a stuff you should know, listener, if you ask me. So, 189 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: if you are listening, Professor Gody bright In and let 190 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: us know how we did on this. Say it, Chuck? 191 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:57,079 Speaker 2: Does that mean sure? Stuff is out? Stuff You Should 192 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 2: Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts to 193 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 2: my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 194 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 2: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.