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CAROL VORDERMAN: What caused the
two-hour bombardment of apples

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from the sky which terrified
the occupants at this house?

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00:00:28,329 --> 00:00:31,311
50 miles from the coast,
how did sea fish come

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to fall on this man's garden?

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Can science identify
the mystery goo

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which appeared from out of
the blue on a Washington farm?

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Mysteries from the files
of Arthur C. Clarke,

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author of "2001" and inventor
of the communications satellite.

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Now in retreat in Sri Lanka,
he ponders the riddles

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of this and other worlds.

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Here in Sri Lanka, missiles
regularly rain down on us.

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They bring injury,
and even death,

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to anyone unfortunate
enough to find

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themselves in the firing line.

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They seem to come
from out of the blue.

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But a closer look, up into the
palm trees, reveals the truth.

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Though I'm always on the
lookout for killer coconuts--

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one of them almost brained
a member of my film crew

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a few years ago-- I'm
far more interested

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in stranger aerial
bombardments-- for example,

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showers of fish, rains of frogs,
and the falls of weird jelly.

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Where do they come from?

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Well, it's a question I've
tried to answer before.

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Just before she hit
it, a fish fell down

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on the ground in front of us.

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And then we looked
up in the sky,

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and suddenly there were
hundreds of fishes falling

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in an area of about 100 yards.

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I saw the fish, saw the
fish fall out of the sky.

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And I kept driving.

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I was very amazed.

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And when I got here,
at this location here,

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the yard was just absolutely
covered with fish.

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Looking around,
we found that we

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were in the middle of
a shower of hazelnuts

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coming from the sky.

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They were dropping on the
cars, falling in the gutter.

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And I should think
there would be as many

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as-- we saw about 350 of them.

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It sounded like the ceiling
all fell in on my house.

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We looked up at
the ceiling and we

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saw insulation and ice
falling down on the floor,

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which flew all over us.

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We had no idea
where it came from,

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but it was sure in
a hurry to get here.

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That first
investigation reached

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no definite conclusions.

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So I make no apology
for returning

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to this intriguing subject.

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More than half a century
after the most extraordinary

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experience of his
life, Ron Newton

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is still haunted by the
day thousands of fish

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fell on him and his girlfriend.

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RON NEWTON: I was
about 15-year-old,

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and my girl, Ivy
Crouch, she was 16.

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And as we were walking
down the [INAUDIBLE],

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we saw this cloud, about the
size of a billiard table to us.

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It came lower and lower.

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We run under a big old tree.

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And by the tree was a cottage.

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Now, we hadn't
been under the tree

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long when there was a rattling
noise up in the branches.

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And there was fish coming down,
about the size of sticklebacks,

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white bait, inch to three inches
long-- like they were coming

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down on the cottage roof
and sliding down the roof,

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falling off onto the path.

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Well, Ivy was crying about it
because the poor little fish

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were flipping about, helpless.

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And we found an old shoebox.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: But there were
too many fish for the shoebox.

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The rescue attempt
overwhelmed them.

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Suddenly, a romantic walk had
turned into something sinister.

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Amidst the flopping fish, Ron
and Ivy struggled to make sense

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of what was happening to them.

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There were so many thousands of
fish on the ground, all round,

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but we did you wouldn't notice.

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So we gave it up.

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And we were scared about it.

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We didn't know quite
what was going to happen.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: In the heart
of the south of England,

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Derek Gosling's home
in Surrey stands

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in a county far from the sea.

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His garden is his pride
and joy, but one morning,

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he was startled to
discover a mystifying crop.

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DEREK GOSLING: It had
been a very stormy night,

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and I came out the
following morning to see

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what damage had been done.

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And I noticed fish
on the pathway,

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which was rather puzzling.

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And I looked round, and I saw
more on the ground and two

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on the roof of the lean-to
and various fish spread

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about the garden-- two
in the rose bushes, just

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hanging in the rose
bushes, and more scattered

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on the lawn under the bushes.

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And I couldn't make out
where they had come from.

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I looked around to
the other gardens

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to see if they had
done anything--

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because I thought someone was
having a joke at the time.

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And I couldn't see anyone.

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And it was rather puzzling.

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So I called the wife, and
she come out and had a look.

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And she was as puzzled as I was.

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I must say that they were
smelling at that time,

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so they must have
been out of the water

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for a few hours at least.

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And there's no major
rivers from the southwest.

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I can only assume that
they come from the sea.

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I've always suspected
that tornadoes

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or water spouts may be the main
causes of such weird falls.

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For example, when a tornado
passed through the Brahmaputra

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district of India
in March 1875, a cow

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was found in the
branches of a tree,

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about 30 feet from the ground.

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After a storm in America
in 1943, dozens of chickens

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were found sitting
in a row entirely

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stripped of their feathers.

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But my favorite comes from 1896.

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At St. Louis, a whirlwind
lifted a carriage into the air.

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It was carried along for 100
yards before floating back

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to Earth, so gently
that the coachman's

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hat stayed firmly on his head.

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And in more recent times,
tornadoes and whirlwinds

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have continued to play
extraordinary tricks.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: America's
west-- here, where Texas joins

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Oklahoma, and the wide open
spaces seem to run on forever,

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they call it Tornado Alley.

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More tornadoes, like
this one in 1957,

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are born here than
anywhere else on Earth.

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And the tricks they
play can be devastating,

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ripping whole communities
from their roots.

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Sometimes, they sweep
everyone in their path high

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into the tempestuous sky.

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Today, Kenneth Harroll is
returning to his childhood home

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as a grown man, a stark contrast
to the strange and dangerous

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journey he once
made here as a baby.

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40 years on, his older
sister, Jean Strey,

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waits for him, full of memories.

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JEAN STREY: Hello, love.

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Hello, Jean.

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How you doing?

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It's been a long time.

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It's been a long, long time.

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Kenny, this is
where it took place.

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So this is it, huh?

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This is it.

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47 years ago.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: Kenneth
was the baby of the family.

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He and his sisters had
enjoyed a quiet day at home.

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JEAN STREY: It was in the
afternoon, about 6:00 or 630.

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And Mother was cooking dinner
on this great big woods burning

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stove.

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And all of a sudden,
there was a loud roar.

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And about that time,
I was standing Mother,

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and I saw the grove of
trees and the tornado,

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and the trees just being
picked up like toothpicks

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and laid down.

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Now, the tornado was about
half a mile to the horizon.

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Mother then got us all
four of us children

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into where the bed area was,
because we lived in one room,

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put us on the mattress-- me,
my sister, my other sister.

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And then put Kenny
on my tummy, tucked

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the covers in underneath us.

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And by the time the
tornado had hit the house,

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we were losing our
oxygen. And our mother

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was standing over us.

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And I said, Mother,
quit moving the bed.

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She said, honey, I'm
not moving the bed.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: At that
moment, the tornado struck.

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The whole family was
lifted into the sky.

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And when I came to, I was
underneath these tree branches.

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And the girls I saw over
there by the fire kind of

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pulled me out.

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And I looked and looked
and called for Kenny.

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I'm sure that I was
screaming his name.

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Kenny, where are you?

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And it was about 100
yards away is where

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I found him under the bedstead.

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He was like a little
mud ball that I'd picked

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up from underneath the gate.

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He was unconscious,
and blood everywhere.

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And the mud was in his hair
and his eyes and his face.

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You could hardly make
him out as a baby.

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CAROL VORDERMAN: The
tornado roared on,

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shattering the nearby
communities of Glazier,

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Canadian, and Higgins.

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Back on the ground,
seven-year-old Jean

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was frantically searching
for the rest of her family.

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JEAN STREY: The
tornado must have

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carried us 100 feet in the air.

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And the mattress turned
over and just let us come

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down together like a parachute.

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And not being able to
find mother was the most

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terrifying thing of all.

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Early the next morning, they
found Mother at the horizon.

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She had fell on one
of the trees stumps

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00:11:02,260 --> 00:11:06,030
that was uprooted and broke
her back, all of her ribs,

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00:11:06,030 --> 00:11:12,400
her arms-- a broken up body.

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00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:15,190
CAROL VORDERMAN: Miraculously,
Jean's mother did survive.

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00:11:15,190 --> 00:11:19,940
But the village itself was
virtually blown off the map.

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00:11:19,940 --> 00:11:22,510
JEAN STREY: Glazier was
completely destroyed,

212
00:11:22,510 --> 00:11:24,420
and as was Higgins.

213
00:11:24,420 --> 00:11:26,760
There was nothing there.

214
00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:28,120
It was leveled.

215
00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:30,870
And the only thing that survived
was-- it looked like a little 9

216
00:11:30,870 --> 00:11:35,190
by 12 cement jail house.

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00:11:35,190 --> 00:11:37,950
Such tales don't
in themselves solve

218
00:11:37,950 --> 00:11:40,200
the mystery of these
peculiar falls,

219
00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,880
though they do provide
valuable leads.

220
00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:44,960
Proof that whirlwinds
are responsible

221
00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:47,390
demands eye witness
evidence that fish

222
00:11:47,390 --> 00:11:50,110
can be sucked out of
ponds like this one

223
00:11:50,110 --> 00:11:52,300
and blown across the country.

224
00:11:52,300 --> 00:11:57,310
I found reliable reports
impossible to obtain until now.

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00:11:57,310 --> 00:11:58,880
One of the most
convincing accounts

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00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:01,590
of a lift off from a
pond comes from a man

227
00:12:01,590 --> 00:12:04,360
in the north of England who
was out one day for a walk

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00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:05,147
with his children.

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00:12:05,147 --> 00:12:10,570


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00:12:10,570 --> 00:12:12,580
CAROL VORDERMAN: New
houses today fill the space

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00:12:12,580 --> 00:12:14,870
once occupied by a fish pond.

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00:12:14,870 --> 00:12:17,320
Every time Ernie
singleton walks past,

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he relives the moment when
he feared all that he loved

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00:12:20,220 --> 00:12:23,320
would be snatched from him.

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ERNIE SINGLETON: I was walking
along with my two children,

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00:12:25,340 --> 00:12:29,320
going home, just where
these houses are now.

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00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,920
And I felt a wind blowing up.

238
00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,000
It was really quite strong,
very blowing up the road.

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00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,300
And I thought, this is
funny, this time of the year,

240
00:12:39,300 --> 00:12:40,590
a great wind blowing.

241
00:12:40,590 --> 00:12:41,660
And I walked a bit further.

242
00:12:41,660 --> 00:12:45,460
And it got stronger
and stronger.

243
00:12:45,460 --> 00:12:47,267
And it started going
a little bit dark.

244
00:12:47,267 --> 00:12:48,700
I thought, what the
devil's happening here?

245
00:12:48,700 --> 00:12:50,370
Is it me?

246
00:12:50,370 --> 00:12:52,090
And the kids say,
what's the matter, Dad?

247
00:12:52,090 --> 00:12:53,290
And I said, no, nothing.

248
00:12:53,290 --> 00:12:54,960
It's all right.

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00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:59,500
And then I reached this
spot where the houses are.

250
00:12:59,500 --> 00:13:04,090
There was a big pond
which had been a clay pit.

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00:13:04,090 --> 00:13:07,490
And the wind blew up so strong
that I was afraid of it blowing

252
00:13:07,490 --> 00:13:09,110
the children into the road.

253
00:13:09,110 --> 00:13:13,430
So I pushed them on the
floor and lay on top of them.

254
00:13:13,430 --> 00:13:17,520
And I clung onto the fence
with one hand and over the kids

255
00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:18,450
with the other.

256
00:13:18,450 --> 00:13:20,860
And then I looked at the pond.

257
00:13:20,860 --> 00:13:24,710
All the water was blowing out
of the pond and going upwards.

258
00:13:24,710 --> 00:13:26,990
It was spiraling up
into the air, and it

259
00:13:26,990 --> 00:13:29,930
all going black and dark.

260
00:13:29,930 --> 00:13:30,810
I was terrified.

261
00:13:30,810 --> 00:13:33,170
I could feel it
tugging at my clothes,

262
00:13:33,170 --> 00:13:36,630
because I only had summer
clothes on, which were loose.

263
00:13:36,630 --> 00:13:38,380
There must have been
thousands and thousands

264
00:13:38,380 --> 00:13:40,220
of gallons went
up out of the pit,

265
00:13:40,220 --> 00:13:42,910
because it was almost emptied.

266
00:13:42,910 --> 00:13:45,810
And as I got up, there
were little bits of things

267
00:13:45,810 --> 00:13:46,940
lying on the road here.

268
00:13:46,940 --> 00:13:50,050
And it was some of the
fishes out of the pit.

269
00:13:50,050 --> 00:13:51,700
CAROL VORDERMAN: It
wasn't till later that day

270
00:13:51,700 --> 00:13:53,110
that the community
discovered where

271
00:13:53,110 --> 00:13:55,850
their pond and its
contents had made landfall.

272
00:13:55,850 --> 00:13:58,650
A mile away, the cricket
ground was awash with water,

273
00:13:58,650 --> 00:14:00,700
weeds, fish, and frogs.

274
00:14:00,700 --> 00:14:03,030
Ernie Singleton had
witnessed the awesome power

275
00:14:03,030 --> 00:14:04,870
of a localized whirlwind.

276
00:14:04,870 --> 00:14:07,690
He had seen the lift
off of an entire pond.

277
00:14:07,690 --> 00:14:09,470
ERNIE SINGLETON: Oh, it
was the talk of the town.

278
00:14:09,470 --> 00:14:12,940
It was buzzing for about nine
days or nine days wonder.

279
00:14:12,940 --> 00:14:14,340
Well, the fish were no god.

280
00:14:14,340 --> 00:14:16,140
They were all dead, of course.

281
00:14:16,140 --> 00:14:17,300
So they were used as manure.

282
00:14:17,300 --> 00:14:21,330


283
00:14:21,330 --> 00:14:23,630
Where falls of
fish are concerned,

284
00:14:23,630 --> 00:14:26,540
I'm quite happy with the
whirlwind explanation.

285
00:14:26,540 --> 00:14:30,720
But can the same apply to
the showers of frogs reported

286
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:32,550
from all over the world?

287
00:14:32,550 --> 00:14:34,985
I think that for these, there
may be a different answer.

288
00:14:34,985 --> 00:14:37,490


289
00:14:37,490 --> 00:14:39,150
CAROL VORDERMAN: No one
knows more about frogs

290
00:14:39,150 --> 00:14:40,830
than Dr. Richard Griffiths.

291
00:14:40,830 --> 00:14:43,540
From his university
at Canterbury in Kent,

292
00:14:43,540 --> 00:14:47,000
Griffiths travels the world
in search of slimy specimens.

293
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,500
He's studied their habits
and their habitats.

294
00:14:49,500 --> 00:14:52,100
And he's investigated
reports of weird showers

295
00:14:52,100 --> 00:14:54,050
of frogs and toads.

296
00:14:54,050 --> 00:14:56,290
He believes eyewitnesses
are seeing a rarely

297
00:14:56,290 --> 00:14:58,560
observed natural phenomenon.

298
00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:03,600
It appears paranormal, but it
can be explained by science.

299
00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,940
A number of species,
particularly the common toad,

300
00:15:06,940 --> 00:15:08,760
which we have in this
country, are what

301
00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:10,560
we call explosive breeders.

302
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,670
And they breed very quickly
in a very short period of time

303
00:15:13,670 --> 00:15:14,670
en masse.

304
00:15:14,670 --> 00:15:18,180
Very often, warm, damp
weather acts like a switch,

305
00:15:18,180 --> 00:15:22,110
and you get what we call a mass
metamorphosis of very young

306
00:15:22,110 --> 00:15:23,780
individuals leaving the pond.

307
00:15:23,780 --> 00:15:25,900
And they emerge from
their hiding places,

308
00:15:25,900 --> 00:15:27,600
and you can see,
again, very large

309
00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:31,590
numbers of tiny little frogs or
toads wandering around on land.

310
00:15:31,590 --> 00:15:33,840
So literally, a lot of
people might live in an area

311
00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:37,090
where there are many frogs and
toads and not see any one day,

312
00:15:37,090 --> 00:15:39,650
but if the weather conditions
change, the following day,

313
00:15:39,650 --> 00:15:42,710
there may be very
large numbers around.

314
00:15:42,710 --> 00:15:45,250
CAROL VORDERMAN: Frogs live in
communities of huge numbers--

315
00:15:45,250 --> 00:15:47,270
up to 15,000.

316
00:15:47,270 --> 00:15:49,380
When rain triggers
them, they emerge

317
00:15:49,380 --> 00:15:52,310
from their hiding places,
and often seem to have

318
00:15:52,310 --> 00:15:54,580
fallen with the rain drops.

319
00:15:54,580 --> 00:15:57,270
But Dr. Griffiths also
has another explanation

320
00:15:57,270 --> 00:15:59,400
for the falling frog phenomenon.

321
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,110
I had an interesting
experience when I

322
00:16:01,110 --> 00:16:03,080
was on a field trip in Austria.

323
00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:04,900
We were doing some
work around a lake.

324
00:16:04,900 --> 00:16:07,420
And we decided to
break for lunch.

325
00:16:07,420 --> 00:16:09,280
And I was sitting
under a tree eating

326
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:13,290
my sandwiches, when literally,
a frog fell into my lap.

327
00:16:13,290 --> 00:16:15,160
When I picked it
up, I looked at it,

328
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:17,570
and this turned out to
be a European tree frog.

329
00:16:17,570 --> 00:16:19,400
And in this particular
area, this species was

330
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:20,660
actually very, very abundant.

331
00:16:20,660 --> 00:16:22,440
So if you're in that
sort of situation,

332
00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:24,990
very often, if you've got
them jumping around above you,

333
00:16:24,990 --> 00:16:27,940
they may appear to
fall out of the sky.

334
00:16:27,940 --> 00:16:31,810
I think that many of the stories
of frogs falling from the sky

335
00:16:31,810 --> 00:16:35,160
can probably be explained
by conventional reasons.

336
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,740
In other words, they can
probably be explained simply

337
00:16:37,740 --> 00:16:40,880
by the natural breeding
migrations of adults moving

338
00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:44,060
into ponds en masse, and
possibly young individuals

339
00:16:44,060 --> 00:16:46,820
leaving ponds en
masse, rather than

340
00:16:46,820 --> 00:16:51,450
any other curious phenomenon
that we don't understand.

341
00:16:51,450 --> 00:16:54,500
Just when I'm satisfied
that I have some answers,

342
00:16:54,500 --> 00:16:57,530
one of the immutable laws
of my mysterious universe

343
00:16:57,530 --> 00:16:59,200
comes into play.

344
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,170
Solve one mystery,
and there's always

345
00:17:01,170 --> 00:17:04,119
another to remind us that we
don't have all the answers,

346
00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:05,319
and probably never will.

347
00:17:05,319 --> 00:17:08,329


348
00:17:08,329 --> 00:17:10,800
CAROL VORDERMAN: Seattle,
Washington-- in this city

349
00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:13,700
are the laboratories where
a farmer from out of town

350
00:17:13,700 --> 00:17:15,550
hopes to find the
answer to a problem

351
00:17:15,550 --> 00:17:17,329
which has mystified her.

352
00:17:17,329 --> 00:17:19,160
Dotty Hearn has
been troubled ever

353
00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,260
since she found tiny
globules of goo covering

354
00:17:22,260 --> 00:17:25,079
her farm buildings and land.

355
00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:27,819
She hopes that a
small sample she froze

356
00:17:27,819 --> 00:17:31,410
will yield its secrets
to the scientists.

357
00:17:31,410 --> 00:17:32,710
Are there any
birds that you have

358
00:17:32,710 --> 00:17:36,650
in the area that may have flown
over and dropped some feces?

359
00:17:36,650 --> 00:17:39,470
I have birds, but I
haven't seen any feces.

360
00:17:39,470 --> 00:17:41,971
And what exactly are we
looking at, the liquid?

361
00:17:41,971 --> 00:17:42,670
Or--

362
00:17:42,670 --> 00:17:45,690
No, there's little
blobs in there.

363
00:17:45,690 --> 00:17:47,340
They're crystal clear.

364
00:17:47,340 --> 00:17:49,161
Is this one that we're
looking at, here with the--

365
00:17:49,161 --> 00:17:50,320
Yes, uh-huh.
That's one.

366
00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:51,090
The little white one?

367
00:17:51,090 --> 00:17:51,900
Uh-huh.

368
00:17:51,900 --> 00:17:54,160
To try to determine
what this is,

369
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,260
we can look for
E. coli, which is

370
00:17:56,260 --> 00:17:58,830
a bacteria that's found
in the intestinal tract

371
00:17:58,830 --> 00:18:00,160
of warm animals.

372
00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,790
We should have the
results in about two days.

373
00:18:02,790 --> 00:18:03,760
OK.

374
00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:04,860
TIM RICKMAN: Thank
you very much.

375
00:18:04,860 --> 00:18:05,560
And thank you.

376
00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:08,130


377
00:18:08,130 --> 00:18:09,820
CAROL VORDERMAN: Dotty
Hearn knows every acre

378
00:18:09,820 --> 00:18:13,770
and every tree on her farm
near the Oregon border.

379
00:18:13,770 --> 00:18:15,986
DOTTY HEARN: I keep a daily log.

380
00:18:15,986 --> 00:18:17,460
I've been doing this for years.

381
00:18:17,460 --> 00:18:21,220
And it's about the life on the
farm and anything that happens,

382
00:18:21,220 --> 00:18:24,130
about the weather and
so on and so forth.

383
00:18:24,130 --> 00:18:27,590
Well, this is about August 7.

384
00:18:27,590 --> 00:18:31,490
And on this day, it began
to rain about 3:00 PM.

385
00:18:31,490 --> 00:18:34,670
And after the rain had
stopped, I put the dogs out.

386
00:18:34,670 --> 00:18:37,900
I found a gelatin-like substance
on top of the wood box.

387
00:18:37,900 --> 00:18:40,240
It was clear and in chunks.

388
00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,280
Sonny, my daughter,
went out and scooped

389
00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:44,520
up some into a plastic bag.

390
00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:47,040
Also there was blobs
in other places, too.

391
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:52,870


392
00:18:52,870 --> 00:18:54,070
It was everywhere.

393
00:18:54,070 --> 00:18:55,540
It was on the grass.

394
00:18:55,540 --> 00:18:57,200
It was on the
floor of the porch.

395
00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,460
It was on the hand railings.

396
00:18:59,460 --> 00:19:01,405
The reason I keep
mentioning the wood box

397
00:19:01,405 --> 00:19:04,670
is because it showed
up the most there.

398
00:19:04,670 --> 00:19:06,740
It was soft and gelatinous.

399
00:19:06,740 --> 00:19:07,940
It was clear.

400
00:19:07,940 --> 00:19:11,077
There was no color
to it or odor.

401
00:19:11,077 --> 00:19:12,310
CAROL VORDERMAN:
The blobs cropped up

402
00:19:12,310 --> 00:19:15,460
again on Dotty Hearn's
farm several days later.

403
00:19:15,460 --> 00:19:18,600
By now, even more puzzled,
she decided to approach

404
00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:20,170
the government for help.

405
00:19:20,170 --> 00:19:23,070
One possible cause was
suggested by the Pentagon.

406
00:19:23,070 --> 00:19:25,940
The military and
Air Force and Navy

407
00:19:25,940 --> 00:19:28,550
have said that they
practice bombing

408
00:19:28,550 --> 00:19:32,330
out at sea 10 to 25 miles out.

409
00:19:32,330 --> 00:19:36,250
They said they blasted a
school of jellyfish sky high.

410
00:19:36,250 --> 00:19:38,520
We are about 50
miles from the ocean.

411
00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:42,170
The jellyfish thing sounds
a little far fetched.

412
00:19:42,170 --> 00:19:43,500
CAROL VORDERMAN: At
the laboratories,

413
00:19:43,500 --> 00:19:46,860
the scientists have spent
two days testing the goo.

414
00:19:46,860 --> 00:19:48,675
Dotty Hearn is about
to get some answers.

415
00:19:48,675 --> 00:19:50,140
-Hi, Tim.
-Hello, Dotty.

416
00:19:50,140 --> 00:19:51,430
What'd you find out?

417
00:19:51,430 --> 00:19:55,080
Well, this is
our control plate.

418
00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,950
And as you can see, the
colonies, the E. coli colonies,

419
00:19:58,950 --> 00:20:02,990
are the shiny green
colonies on this plate.

420
00:20:02,990 --> 00:20:05,260
This is our control
plate, like I said.

421
00:20:05,260 --> 00:20:07,240
And this is your sample.

422
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:12,760
As you can see, there aren't any
bacteria on this plate at all.

423
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,660
So at this point,
we've determined

424
00:20:15,660 --> 00:20:21,650
that it is not associated
with birds or bird droppings.

425
00:20:21,650 --> 00:20:27,105
That's the conclusion that
we've come to with this test.

426
00:20:27,105 --> 00:20:28,500
CAROL VORDERMAN: The
goo has also been

427
00:20:28,500 --> 00:20:31,140
tested under the microscope.

428
00:20:31,140 --> 00:20:34,070
TIM DAVIS: There
is debris in there.

429
00:20:34,070 --> 00:20:35,680
It's unrecognizable.

430
00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:40,460
We can't distinguish exactly
what it was originally.

431
00:20:40,460 --> 00:20:43,370
I think the freezing
may be at fault.

432
00:20:43,370 --> 00:20:47,950
It seems that it's
caused decomposition.

433
00:20:47,950 --> 00:20:51,550
As far as identifying it goes,
it is not possible with what

434
00:20:51,550 --> 00:20:53,490
we have received.

435
00:20:53,490 --> 00:20:55,207
We would need a better sample.

436
00:20:55,207 --> 00:20:56,540
CAROL VORDERMAN: For
now, Dotty's sample

437
00:20:56,540 --> 00:21:00,020
goes into cold storage,
but not the problem itself.

438
00:21:00,020 --> 00:21:02,980
She's determined that one day,
she will find out just where

439
00:21:02,980 --> 00:21:05,440
the mysterious goo came from.

440
00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:09,450
I've never seen anything
like it before in my life.

441
00:21:09,450 --> 00:21:11,460
If somebody else would
have told me about this,

442
00:21:11,460 --> 00:21:13,760
I don't think I would
have believed them.

443
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:17,860
I'm as baffled as I
could be about it.

444
00:21:17,860 --> 00:21:19,580
I guess the mystery
still goes on.

445
00:21:19,580 --> 00:21:30,424


446
00:21:30,424 --> 00:21:32,190
CAROL VORDERMAN: Accrington,
in the north of England,

447
00:21:32,190 --> 00:21:34,690
enjoys the reputation of
being a down to earth,

448
00:21:34,690 --> 00:21:36,980
industrial Lancashire town.

449
00:21:36,980 --> 00:21:38,940
But one night, the
place played host

450
00:21:38,940 --> 00:21:43,030
to the strangest visitation
from the heavens.

451
00:21:43,030 --> 00:21:46,060
ADRIENNE HAYTHORNWHITE: It
was a very quiet, still night.

452
00:21:46,060 --> 00:21:49,040
I was awakened by
this strange noise.

453
00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,540
And then I heard it
on top of the roof,

454
00:21:51,540 --> 00:21:54,150
thudding-- frightening
thudding noise.

455
00:21:54,150 --> 00:21:56,820
So I put me dressing
gown on and came

456
00:21:56,820 --> 00:22:00,370
downstairs, opened
the front door,

457
00:22:00,370 --> 00:22:02,140
and there was nothing there.

458
00:22:02,140 --> 00:22:05,520
When I went to the back
door, all these apples

459
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:07,580
was coming down.

460
00:22:07,580 --> 00:22:10,210
As far as I could
see, they was just

461
00:22:10,210 --> 00:22:11,818
coming straight from the sky.

462
00:22:11,818 --> 00:22:13,090
[MAKING WOOSHING NOISES]

463
00:22:13,090 --> 00:22:14,630
That's all I heard.

464
00:22:14,630 --> 00:22:17,360
[INAUDIBLE] started, the
velocity they were coming

465
00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:19,330
at-- [INAUDIBLE] coming
from a great height

466
00:22:19,330 --> 00:22:21,800
to gather the momentum
they were coming at.

467
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:26,030
It was bouncing off the
shed, all over the place.

468
00:22:26,030 --> 00:22:29,720
And I was just terrified,
just watching this for ages.

469
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:31,580
And it was [INAUDIBLE]
I shut the window shut--

470
00:22:31,580 --> 00:22:35,400
and feelings and visions of them
going through the pane at me.

471
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:37,950
They carried on falling,
falling, and falling.

472
00:22:37,950 --> 00:22:40,454
This went on for two hours.

473
00:22:40,454 --> 00:22:41,620
CAROL VORDERMAN:
The Haythornwhites

474
00:22:41,620 --> 00:22:43,480
were so terrified,
they spent the rest

475
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,310
of the night awake and fearful.

476
00:22:47,310 --> 00:22:49,570
When dawn broke, they
realized just what

477
00:22:49,570 --> 00:22:52,020
the fusillade of fruit had
brought into their lives.

478
00:22:52,020 --> 00:22:56,020


479
00:22:56,020 --> 00:22:57,900
ADRIENNE HAYTHORNWHITE: When
we came out in the morning,

480
00:22:57,900 --> 00:23:00,210
I've never seen nothing like it.

481
00:23:00,210 --> 00:23:02,790
There were so many
apples in the garden.

482
00:23:02,790 --> 00:23:07,310
I just couldn't understand
where they come from.

483
00:23:07,310 --> 00:23:12,540
And there were just a few in
the next doors that had bounced.

484
00:23:12,540 --> 00:23:15,650
They were just littered,
peppered all over.

485
00:23:15,650 --> 00:23:16,890
Really ankle deep.

486
00:23:16,890 --> 00:23:19,160
I had to wade through them
meself to get through them.

487
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:20,640
They was embedded
in the garden--

488
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:22,670
eight to 10 inches deep.

489
00:23:22,670 --> 00:23:26,710
Well, you realize I've
landscaped the garden since.

490
00:23:26,710 --> 00:23:28,720
God, there must be hundreds
under there somewhere,

491
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:30,984
probably rotted away by now.

492
00:23:30,984 --> 00:23:32,550
CAROL VORDERMAN: Across
the way, their neighbor

493
00:23:32,550 --> 00:23:37,090
Joan Corke had also been woken
up by the avalanche of apples.

494
00:23:37,090 --> 00:23:39,020
JOAN CORKE: I heard this noise.

495
00:23:39,020 --> 00:23:42,290
It was a thud, thud, thud.

496
00:23:42,290 --> 00:23:46,150
And I thought, is
somebody digging?

497
00:23:46,150 --> 00:23:50,670
And so I got out of bed
and I came to this window.

498
00:23:50,670 --> 00:23:56,270
And I pinpointed it as coming
from Adrienne's over there.

499
00:23:56,270 --> 00:23:59,360
And I thought, what on
earth is she doing now?

500
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:03,160
Is she having a party at
this time of the night?

501
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,144
Because it was about
half past 1:00.

502
00:24:05,144 --> 00:24:07,930


503
00:24:07,930 --> 00:24:09,960
CAROL VORDERMAN: After listening
to the barrage for half

504
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,390
an hour, Joan went back to bed.

505
00:24:12,390 --> 00:24:14,295
The next morning, she
rushed to investigate.

506
00:24:14,295 --> 00:24:16,910


507
00:24:16,910 --> 00:24:18,700
I had the shock of me life.

508
00:24:18,700 --> 00:24:20,220
Apples?

509
00:24:20,220 --> 00:24:22,430
There seemed to be
thousands of them.

510
00:24:22,430 --> 00:24:26,870
They were all in her garden,
but only in her garden.

511
00:24:26,870 --> 00:24:28,840
And there were Bramleys.

512
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,270
There were Coxleys.

513
00:24:31,270 --> 00:24:32,270
Some were whole.

514
00:24:32,270 --> 00:24:34,230
Some were embedded.

515
00:24:34,230 --> 00:24:37,500
I've never come across
anything like that before.

516
00:24:37,500 --> 00:24:41,744
And it was a bit
frightening, you know.

517
00:24:41,744 --> 00:24:42,910
CAROL VORDERMAN:
The Haythornwhites

518
00:24:42,910 --> 00:24:44,940
have spend long hours
racking their brains

519
00:24:44,940 --> 00:24:47,600
about that strange
and terrifying night.

520
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,080
It was long past
the apple harvest.

521
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,690
There was no apple
tree for miles around.

522
00:24:52,690 --> 00:24:56,470
They're still mystified by
the baffling bombardment.

523
00:24:56,470 --> 00:24:58,520
It could have been a
wind what brought them.

524
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,080
But it wasn't windy that
night, or it wasn't raining.

525
00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,020
And there was no
air craft recorded

526
00:25:05,020 --> 00:25:08,890
at that particular
time in the morning.

527
00:25:08,890 --> 00:25:13,470
So we just couldn't understand
where they come from.

528
00:25:13,470 --> 00:25:15,710
I've heard of a lot
of things, but seeing

529
00:25:15,710 --> 00:25:18,129
is actually believing.

530
00:25:18,129 --> 00:25:21,130
And I'll never forget it.

531
00:25:21,130 --> 00:25:24,474
There must be an explanation,
a logical explanation.

532
00:25:24,474 --> 00:25:27,670
But who knows?

533
00:25:27,670 --> 00:26:00,434