Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Red Rain of Kerala





When most people think of aliens, they imagine super-intelligent grey-skinned humanoids or slimy, multi-tentacled beasts. But what if Earth has been repeatedly visited by extraterrestrials no larger than a single cell? That's what some believe happened in India between July 25th and September 23rd, 2001.

It was during that time that the Indian state of Kerala experienced an unusual phenomenon. The annual monsoon rains turned red--blood red. Clothes were stained, puddles turned scarlet, and people were frightened. It wasn't long afterwards that scientists set out to study the bizarre liquid.

Of course the Kerala red rain wasn't the first time strange things have fallen from the sky. There have been well-documented accounts of frogs, fish, and birds raining down from the heavens. Such events, while unusual, have a logical explanation. At first, many assumed that a similarly simple explanation could be found for the red rain. Perhaps an Arabian dust storm had been sucked into the clouds and deposited over India. But then they put the liquid under a microscope.

The particles that had turned the rain red didn't resemble dust. They looked like living cells. Most mainstream scientists eventually concluded that they were spores or algae. Others, however, claimed that the "cells" came from outer space.

Not long before the first red rain, residents of Kerala reported a loud boom and a bright flash of light. These reports led a few scientists to speculate that a comet entered the Earth's atmosphere that day, carrying the red particles. When the comet disintegrated, the red extraterrestrial particles became trapped in the clouds and later rained down on Kerala.

So were the red "cells" the first evidence that Earth has been visited by alien life forms? Read more here, and decide for yourself!

(Below: Could these be aliens?)


17 comments:

Lilly said...

wow! i wish i could meet an alien

Anonymous said...

coolio, freaky but coolio

ss chick said...

puh-shaw. as much as i love aliens, im afraid i dont very often belief such hooha.

Hania said...

these cells are very small aliens. it's hard to believe that they caused the rain in Kerala to turn red.

insanewriter said...

interestingly freaky....
not sure what to think...

randomER pyscopath said...

wiieeeerrrd...

Bridget said...

WOW! Creapy! I think I'd believe it though, I'm not sure. I totaly believe in aliens, I mean to think that we are the on;y thing in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE is stupid.

International Mastermind said...

I KNEW IT! They told me I was crazy, but I knew it!
Kidding.
Those are kind of wierd, I never really did buy into the big monstrous aliens. But this...

Maddi said...

i think thats really cool, but after i read this book on what it takes to make life and substain it...well, i think its hard to believe any life forms exsists1

Nellie said...

Red rain would be good for being a vampire for Halloween.;)
And I, too, have no idea what to think.

Spring said...

That's so creepy! But it's awesome at the same time. I love aliens, but never thought they'd look like that! LOL. Who knows, it could just be red rain.

Urisihapai said...

oops didn't mean 2 do that..

Urisihapai said...

+lazy

Anonymous said...

ummmm....
ananka, its been a week already! tell us what the prize is!!!!!!!!!!!

Hania said...

we come in peace:)

Kurosignal said...

There has to be aliens. There are an un-countable number of planets out there. Earth cannot be the only one with living beings...

Patsee said...

We were learning today about certain protists, dinoflagellates, to be specific, that cause the phenomenon red tide. Think they could cause red rain?