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Topics: Conspiracy Theories, History, Nature, Science, Weird
Joe Yates
Topics: Conspiracy Theories, History, Nature, Science, Weird
We've all dreamed about jumping into a pool of Jell-O, well that dream came partially came true for some residents in a small city in Washington.
Although they would probably describe it as a nightmare, and there may not have been enough to swim in it.
For this we'll have to hark back thirty years, to August 1994, when an Oakville resident reported to the local authorities that translucent, Jell-O like blobs had rained down over night and covered the ground.
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Each of these blobs was roughly around half the size of a grain of rice, and she believed whatever it was had caused her and her mom to develop flu-like symptoms.
And the reports kept coming in, although they were staggered over the next three weeks, with five more people picking up the phone to make the local authorities aware of it.
Each person explained there was strange blobs on the floor and many claimed to have gotten sick after they touched it.
It didn't take long for conspiracy theorists to spout their reasoning as to why it happened - including some suggesting it was to do with classified weapon testing from the US Military, although there was no evidence to support this idea.
A microbiologist at the Washington State Department of Health examined the blobs under a microscope and discovered that they contained two different types of bacteria, but did not believe the bacteria was harmful or could make you ill just through touch.
Police officer David Lacey was on duty when he began to see the gelatinous substance fall on his windscreen at 3am.
Speaking on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, he said: “We turned our windshield wipers on and it just started smearing to the point where we could almost not see.”
While Dotty Hearn, who lived in the area, described it as looking 'like hail laying on top of the wood box and everywhere else'.
So, what was it?
Well, there are theories that the reports married up to the description of 'star jelly', which has been reported since as early as 14th century.
It also goes by the name of 'astral jelly', and even ‘astromyxin’ - and was named after the myth that it falls from the sky during meteor showers.
The phenomenon remains a mystery to this day, and with all the remaining samples having disappeared, it may be that the Oakville blobs will never truly be explained.