Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T03:47:42.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bloody rain again! Red rain and meteors in history and myth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2008

P. McCafferty
P. McCafferty
Affiliation:
Irish and Celtic Studies, Queens University Belfast, 9 University Square, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland and Armagh Observatory. College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, Northern Ireland e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In July 2001, red rain fell over Kerala in India shortly after reports of a meteor. When analysed, this red rain appeared to contain red cells, apparently demonstrating that such cells must exist in space and that the theory of panspermia is correct. However, doubts have been expressed about whether reports of a meteor were merely a coincidence. This paper examines historical and mythical accounts of red rain, to establish if these, too, show a connection with meteors.

Keywords

astrobiologycometomythologyhistorymeteorsmythred rain
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 9 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Annals of Philosophy (1820). Singular rain. Annals of Philosophy 16, 226.Google Scholar
Boccardo, M.G. (1870). A fall of yellow rain. Nature 2, 166.Google Scholar
Bouis, J. (1863). Relation d'une pluie de terre tombée dans le midi de la France et en Espagne. Comptes Rendus 56, 972–974.Google Scholar
Britton, C.E. (1937). A Meteorological Chronology to A.D. I450 (Meteorological Office Geophysical Memoirs No. 7). HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Clark, F.C. (1875). Red snow. Amer. Naturalist 9(3), 129–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clube, S.V.M. & Napier, W. (1982). The Cosmic Serpent. Universe Books, New York.Google Scholar
Cowan, F. (1865). Curious Facts in the History of Insects. Lippincott&Co, London.Google Scholar
Daubeny, C. (1836). Report on the present state of our knowledge, Ann. Rep. British Assoc. Adv. Sci. 5, 1–95.Google Scholar
De Meyer, & de Stoop, . (1819). Pluie rouge tombée à Blankenberge, le 2 novembre 1819. Annales Chimie Series 2, 12, 431–433.Google Scholar
Dio, C. The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus. Translated by Scott-Kilvert, I., 1987. Penguin, London.Google Scholar
Edinburgh Philosophical Journal (1820). Red rain. Edinburgh Philos. J. 2, 381–382.Google Scholar
Ehrenberg, C.G. (1849). Passat-Staub und Blut-Regen: ein grosses organisches unsichtbares Wirken und Leben in der Atmosphäre. Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin.Google Scholar
Fitzsimmons, A. (2006). Quoted in ‘Red rain may have extraterrestrial origin’. Sunday Herald, by Jenifer Johnston, 15 January 2006.Google Scholar
Flammarion, N.C. (1889). Pluie de sable des 6 et 18 Mars a Alexandrie. Astronomie 8, 201–205.Google Scholar
Fort, C. (1919). The Book of the Damned. Prometheus Books (Abacus edition, 1973; Hypertext edition available online: http://www.resologist.net/damnei.htm).Google Scholar
Fort, C. (1931). Lo! (republished by Ace Books, 1941).Google Scholar
Goddard, I.W. (2006a). Possible causal mechanisms of Kerala's Red Rain, www.iangoddard.net/redrain.htm [accessed November 2006].Google Scholar
Goddard, I.W. (2006b). The colored rains of Kerala: an exploration of possible causal mechanisms. Noesis 180, 10–18.Google Scholar
Graves, R. (1820). Account of a gelatinous meteor. Amer. J. Sci. 2(2), 335–337.Google Scholar
Greg, R.P. (1854). Observations on meteorolites or aërolites, considered geographically, statistically, and cosmologically, accompanied by a complete catalogue. Philos. Mag. 4(8), 329–342, 449–463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greg, R.P. (1861). A Catalogue of Meteorites and Fireballs, from A.D.2 to A.D.1860. In Report of the Thirtieth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Oxford, June and July 1860. John Murray, London.Google Scholar
Hitchcock, E. (1834). On the meteors of Nov. 13, 1833. Amer. J. Sci. 1(25), 354–363.Google Scholar
Jones, D.C.H. & Rieu, E.V. (2003). Homer ‘The Iliad’. Penguin Classics, London.Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. & Wickramasinghe, N.C. (1999). Comets – a vehicle for panspermia. Astrophys. Space Sci. 268, 333–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JPL (2006). http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2005-144 [accessed 30 November 2006].Google Scholar
Kinsella, T. (1969). The Tain – From the Irish Epic ‘Tain Bo Cuailnge’. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Kvenvolden, K.A. et al. (1970). Evidence for extraterrestrial amino-acids and hydrocarbons in the Murchison meteorite. Nature 228, 923–926.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lais, J. (1877). Notes. Nature 16, 197–198.Google Scholar
Lewy, B.C. (1847). Sur la pluie terreuse tombée dans la partie sud-est de la France, pendant les grands orages des 16 et 17 octobre 1846, Comptes Rendus, 24, 810–812; Comptes Rendus 23, 832; Comptes Rendus 24, 625.Google Scholar
Louis, G. & Kumar, A.S. (2003). New biology of red rain extremophiles prove cometary panspermia. Preprint, submitted to http://arxiv.org astrophysics e-print archive on December 29, 2003, http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0312639.Google Scholar
Louis, G. & Kumar, A.S. (2006). The red rain phenomenon of Kerala and its possible extraterrestrial origin. Astrophys. Space Sci. 2, 0601022.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, D.A. (1913). Indian Myth and Legend, p. 289. Gresham Publishing Company, London.Google Scholar
McCafferty, P. & Baillie, M. (2005). The Celtic Gods – Comets in Irish Mythology. Tempus, Stroud.Google Scholar
Monthly Weather Review (1877). Notes and Extracts. Mon. Weather Rev. May, p. 11.Google Scholar
Muir, H. (2006). It's raining aliens. New Scientist, 4 March, p. 37.Google Scholar
Nature (1870). Notes. Nature 2, 168–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nature (1876). Notes. Nature 13, 413–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obsequens (4th Century AD). Liber de prodigiis (Book of Prodigies). Translated by Schlesinger, A.C. (1959). Livy: in Fourteen Volumes, with an English translation. Livy, vol. xiv. Summaries, Fragments and Obsequens. Loeb classical library, No. 404. William Heinemann Ltd, London and Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
O'Donovan, J. (ed. and transl.) (1848–51). Annala Rioghachta Eireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616. Volume 3: Translation. John Hodges & Smith, Dublin.Google Scholar
Palazzo, L. (1901). A rain of bird blood. Popular Sci. News 35, 104.Google Scholar
Pliny, (1st Century AD). Historia Naturalis, Book II, LVII. Translated by Rackham, H. (1949). Pliny. Natural History, With an English Translation in Ten Volumes, vol. 1, Books I and II. Loeb Classical Library. William Heinemann Ltd, London and Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Popular Science Review (1870). Meteoric dust in snow. Popular Sci. Rev. 10, 112.Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, T. (1872). Black rain. Notes and Queries, s.4, 9 (March 30), p. 267.Google Scholar
Reuter, T. (transl.) (1992). The Annals of Fulda. Manchester University Press, Manchester.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampath, S., Abraham, T.K., Sasi Kumar, V. & Mohanan, C.N. (2001). Coloured rain: a report on the phenomenon. CESS-PR-114-2001, Center for Earth Science Studies and Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute.Google Scholar
Silvestri, O. (1872). Studio chimico microscopico di una particolare pioggia accompagnnia da polvere meteorica, caduta in Sicilia nei giorni 9, 10 e 11 marzo 1872. Gazetta Chimica Italiana 2, 83–88. (Translated and reviewed in (1872)). Chemico-microscopic research of a peculiar substance which accompanied the meteoric dust which fell in Sicily on 9th, 10th, and 11th March last. Chemical News 25, 300 and (1872). Analysis of meteoric sand. Ann. Sci. Industry 2, 119–120.Google Scholar
Tatlock, J.S.P. (1914). Some medieval cases of blood-rain, Classical Philology 9(4), 442–447.Google Scholar
Timbs, J. (ed.) (1876). Red snow near London. Timb's Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art, p. 89. A. Hart, Philadephia.Google Scholar
Watson, B. (transl.) (1967). Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, Hsün Tzu, and Han Fei Tzu. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Wilde, W.R.W. (1856). Table of cosmical phenomena, epizootics, epiphitics, famines, and pestilences in Ireland. Census of Ireland for the Year 1851, part v. (Republished as Coates, T. (2002). The Irish Book of Death and Flying Ships. Tim Coates, London and New York.)Google Scholar
Wood, J.A. (1968). Meteorites and the Origin of Planets, p. 4. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar