On March 3, 1876, Bath County,Kentucky experienced one of the strangest weather events in American history.

According to historical reports, pieces of meat fell from the sky over a farm near Olympia Springs. Not rain. Not hail. Not a single bird dropping something unfortunate from above. Multiple pieces. Enough to scatter across the ground and leave witnesses with the kind of story that sounds made up even before the really strange part begins.

It was reportedly a clear day. The falling material was described as fresh-looking flesh. People gathered, observed it, discussed it, and then — because history refuses to behave with dignity — some of them tasted it in an effort to identify what had just landed around them.

Because of course they did

The strangest part of the story may not be that meat fell from the sky.

It may be what happened next.

Contemporary accounts say that two men actually tasted the fallen material in an attempt to identify it, reportedly deciding that it resembled either mutton or venison. Apparently, when faced with unexplained flesh falling out of a clear sky, “put some in your mouth” was considered a reasonable investigative method.

So what was it?

That question turned out to be harder than it sounds.

One early explanation claimed the material was Nostoc, a gelatinous cyanobacterium that can swell dramatically when wet and was historically associated with reports of strange substances appearing after rain. There was one fairly obvious problem with that theory: witnesses had described the sky as clear.

Other investigators examined preserved samples under a microscope and came to a considerably less comforting conclusion. Contemporary reports described samples resembling lung tissue, muscle tissue, and cartilage. In other words, whatever fell that day appeared to include actual animal tissue.

The least ridiculous explanation

Eventually, physician L. D. Kastenbine proposed an explanation that remains the leading contender today:

vultures.

Both black vultures and turkey vultures occur in Kentucky, and vultures are capable of regurgitating the contents of their stomachs when threatened or when they need to lighten themselves for flight. Kastenbine suggested that a group flying high above the farm may have disgorged carrion, with the wind scattering it across the area below.

It is not a particularly elegant explanation.

It is, however, one of the few explanations capable of making “meat fell from the sky” sound slightly more reasonable.

Cabinet Notes

DATE: March 3, 1876
LOCATION: Bath County, Kentucky
SKY CONDITIONS: Reportedly clear
WHAT FELL: Flesh-like pieces described as meat
WHAT PEOPLE DID NEXT: A disappointing amount
LEADING EXPLANATION: Regurgitating vultures
CABINET STATUS: Strange, true, and completely unnecessary

The Kentucky Meat Shower is one of those rare stories that somehow gets less believable the more detail you learn. Clear skies. Falling flesh. Amateur taste tests. Scientific debate. Vulture vomit.

If meat ever falls from the sky again, history has already provided one useful lesson: maybe don’t taste it.

The Cabinet never stays the same for long. When will it change? What will be inside next? Nobody knows. Check back and find out.