Technomyths

RAIN FALLS from a perfectly cloudless sky; or it falls in a faucet-like steady stream or in an impossibly localized fashion. Water drips from a ceiling above which are no pipes; sometimes the ceiling is even dry. The causes for these water phenomena are inexplicable, yet they have occurred on numerous occasions throughout history – and continue to take place.

April, 1842 – It was documented that water poured from the sky in a steady stream over a particular small point in Noirtonfontaine, France. It continued for more than two days without any logical meteorological explanation.

October, 1886 – Although there were no clouds in the sky to account for the phenomenon, a steady rain soaked a piece of land in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. It could have been dismissed at a freak rainfall if it had not lasted for an astonishing 14 days!

October 1886 – Over a three-week period, the Charlotte Chronicle (North Carolina) reported, several eyewitnesses saw rain fall onto a certain spot between two red oak trees every afternoon at 3 p.m. It lasted for one half hour, then stopped. Stranger still, the sky was always sunny.

Fall, 1886 – How is it possible for rain to fall on an area measuring just 10 square feet? It happened in Aiken, South Carolina.

November, 1886 – An area not much bigger – just 25 feet wide – was the focus of a steady flow of water from the sky in Dawson, Georgia.

November, 1892 – A peachtree was sole beneficiary of a bizarre rain that came down in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Witnesses said the rain seemed to come out of thin air just several feet above the tree and fall in an area about 14 feet surrounding the thirsty tree.

Water poltergeists

Water dropping from seemingly nowhere outside is one thing, but when it occurs indoors without any logical cause, that’s quite another thing. Paranormal researchers have, in many cases, found this water manifestation to an element of poltergeist activity that is occurring in the house. Usually there are other symptoms as well: banging on the walls, doors opening and closing of their own accord, lights going off and on, odd odors and more. It is thought that this poltergeist phenomena is a kind of psychic activity generated by a member of the household.

August 1995 – During a summer drought in Lancashire, England, the Gardner family was plagued by water dripping from their ceilings and walls. This has been going on for 10 months before a paranormal investigator was brought in. The attic space above the wet ceiling was found to be “bone dry.”

November, 1972 – An odd case centered around a nine-year-old boy named Eugenio Rossi in Nuoro, Sardinia. Suffering from a liver ailment, the boy was hospitalized. Shortly thereafter, water inexplicably began to seep up through the floor of his hospital room. Changing rooms didn’t help. Wherever the hospital staff moved him – a total of five times – the puddles would appear.

1963 – The Martin family of Methuen, Massachusetts was forced to move from their home because of their water poltergeist. In this case, apart from the water dripping from walls and ceilings, it was on occasion described as literally “spurting” from various points throughout the house. Unfortunately, moving didn’t help. The phenomenon continued in the Martin’s new home.

August 1919 – A rectory in Norfolk, England had more than water to contend with. When the residents noticed oily patches on the ceiling, investigators were brought in the find the cause. To their astonishment, they began to collect the drippings at the rate of a quart every 10 minutes. Some of it was plain water, but the rest appeared to be kerosene, gasoline, alcohol and sandalwood oil – as much as 50 gallons of the stuff. No cause was discovered.