By Tim Binnall
A Kentucky county recently celebrated the 150th anniversary of a legendary Fortean event wherein chunks of meat mysteriously rained down upon a community. The inexplicable incident, which has come to be known as the Kentucky meat shower, generated nationwide headlines after it occurred in the town of Olympia Springs on March 3rd, 1876. Spawning all manner of speculation from scientists puzzled by the peculiar case, the origin of the mysterious material and why it wound up falling on the community that day has never been determined. However, the fantastic story became embedded in the cultural fabric of the region.
This past weekend, the county reportedly commemorated the sesquicentennial anniversary of the wondrous event with a festival that culminated with a modern-day version of the famed meat shower that put the region on the proverbial Fortean map. To the delight of around 600 attendees, a small plane soared over the gathering and dropped approximately 1,800 plastic-wrapped beef sticks on the crowd, which scrambled to collect the remarkable mementos. That said, the 'star attraction' of the festivities was, of course, the last remaining piece of meat from 150 years ago, which is normally kept behind closed doors at Lexington's Transylvania University, but was brought out of storage for a moment in the sun on Saturday.