Here are a couple of more articles from the archive of About Facts which I used to own. I thought you might enjoy them.
Judge Joseph Force Crater
In 1930 Joseph Force Crater was selected to fill the unexpired term of a New York State Supreme Court Judge. That year he disappeared without a trace. This fairly young lawyer (41 years old) had been president of the powerful Democratic Club of Manhattan. On August 6, 1930 Judge Crater had just finished a meal with some friends and bid them good night as he stepped in a taxi and into the mystery realm of the never to be seen again. Was he the victim of foul play? Did he disappear on his own, and if so, why would a man who had everything do so? There was some speculation that he was involved with organized crime but this never was proved.
Earlier in the day Judge Crater had gone to his chambers and removed large numbers of papers. At the time there was talk of an investigation into his affairs but this never happened. As with most politicians he owed Tammany Hall for his judgeship. This was usually repaid in money, favors or both. Could it be Judge Crater refused to come across to the party?
When Judge Crater disappeared, New York City conducted one of the largest manhunts in its history, spending millions and remember this was in 1930.
Before he disappeared Judge Crater had withdrawn a large sum of money from his bank. Was he being blackmailed, did he have a girl on the side or did he just decide to split? In those days judges were gods. They came and went as they pleased. It was not uncommon for a judge to decide he wouldn't go in for days or weeks at a time. That is why nobody knew Judge Crater was missing for two weeks. It was only discovered he was missing when he failed to keep an appointment. Of course, there is always the theory of amnesia but amnesia is relatively uncommon and probably wouldn't cause someone to completely disappear.
After a search of Judge Crater's accounts, chambers, office and home it was discovered that not only had he removed papers and money from the bank but personal belongings and two briefcases were missing.
A grand jury was convened and testimony was taken from 95 witnesses but no conclusion was reached. It was the opinion of Mrs. Crater that the judge had been murdered because he didn't pay for the nomination. A friend felt the judge was blackmailed and murdered by the gangster boyfriend of a show girl. The show girl. became a missing person.
A popular graffiti of the 1960s was "Judge Crater, call your office."
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Mysterious Events
Many things fall out of the sky. I am not just talking about rain, snow or sleet here, but objects and things that shouldn't be in the sky in the first place. For example, the book, Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century, tells about a fishing boat with a broken motor. It is moored a distance from the Kiribati Islands. Out of food and water, the fishermen survive for almost four months on sharks for food and their blood for drink. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a blackfish falls out of the sky and on to the deck. The blackfish is a rare fish that never comes above 600 feet depth.
In Thames Ditton, Surrey, England on October 18, 1867, flames fell from the sky. It was a shower of flame not rain, that day. The shower lasted for 10 minutes and after it was over the residents went out and found sulfur in the numerous puddles left by the storm.
Chico, California in the mid-1920s was showered with stones. Some stones were the size of baseballs while others were pebbles. The storm lasted for months, and no reason could be found for the phenomenon.
The year was 1877, the place was Memphis, Tennessee. Scientific American Magazine was trying to figure out why thousands of live snakes rained down on this southern town. Some of the snakes were as long as eighteen inches. The only thing the magazine could say was "They probably were carried aloft by a hurricane and wafted through the atmosphere for a long distance..." This explanation didn't account for where so many snakes could have possibly come from.
Nature Magazine records a fall in 1930 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. A huge piece of ice fell out of the sky with a gopher turtle, six inches by eight inches, encased in it.
In Redding near Manchester, England in 1982, children reported coins falling from the sky. People doubted this but found that some of the coins were embedded into the earth edgewise and must have fallen from quite a height. No planes were heard or detected overhead.
What is amazing about organisms falling from the sky is they always seem to be the same. As in the story about the snakes above, why were there no other types of reptiles or small animals?
On September 29, 2001, in Chichester, England, Numerous cubes of a jelly like substance fell into a front garden. No damage was reported.
On August 20th, 1984, freshwater fish rained down in Bonita, California on Mr. and Mrs. Ellmers and on Walter Davies, their neighbor. The nearest fresh water body was a couple of miles away, but no water spout had been observed.
The 'Los Angeles Newsstand', in July, 1869, ran a story about a flesh fall near Los Angeles. For five minutes flesh fell from the sky, its size ranged from small pieces to large strips. People observed what they believed was a kidney, heart and liver. The newspaper said, "That meat fell, we cannot doubt… Where it came from, we cannot even conjure."
On April 21st, 1985 Starfish rained over St. Cloud, Minnesota. One couple was quoted as saying, "A white thing with five legs," was in their yard. When they turned on their lights they saw starfish everywhere. St. Cloud is not near the ocean.
Even when normal rain falls, it is not always normal.
It was July in 1955 and people in Cincinnati, Ohio were being rained on. Why was this unusual, because the rain was red. As the rain fell it killed any plant it touched. Red rain has been known to have fallen in Europe and the Caribbean but there it can be traced to sand from the Sahara that was blown into the air.
During the war in Laos, a yellow rain fell. It was thought by the U.S. the Soviet Union had supplied chemical weapons, trichothecene mycotoxins (poisonous compounds made by fungal molds that infect grain), to be used against the anti-communists and that they had indeed been used. After a scientific investigation the U.S. said it had been in error and the yellow rain had been caused by bee feces.
Thousands of sardines fell from the skies over Rosewood, Australia on 6 February, 1989. The sardine fall was over two acres, as stated by the Ipswich Police Department.
Theories have been advanced by some, that state when certain conditions are just right, channels open up and objects are transported from one area to another. If this theory is correct, it certainly would explain the falls of animals, animals being anything living or dead.
On November 8-9, 1984, for over an hour apples fell from the skies over East Crescent, Accrington, Lancashire, England. People found hundreds in their yards.
And finally it was in Lakewood, California on January 4, 1984 that Fred Simons reported that a rusty, World War II artillery shell fell into his yard leaving a crater four feet deep. The shell was a dud. No aircraft were in the area. As strange as this was, the same thing had happened in Naples, Italy on February 7, 1958 when a 1942 artillery shell fell from the sky. No planes were reported.
