This Is The Single Craziest Thing You Never Knew Happened In South Carolina

Raining fish?! That’s right you didn’t read that first sentence wrong; this is the bizarre story of fish rain in South Carolina.

The South Carolina area known as Tiller’s Ferry was created in the 1760s when Joseph Tiller received a land grant for 100 acres on the Lynches River. By the turn of the century, another Tiller was operating a ferry across the river, and by 1830 he’d also built a toll bridge.

By all accounts, the little crossroads at Tiller’s Ferry was growing quickly. In 1838 it even got its own post office. Things were moving along and the small community managed to survive the Civil War mostly unscathed.

Then, in 1901, the most unbelievable thing happened in Tiller’s Ferry. And in 1903, that post office…closed. What could cause a small community to stop in its tracks? Let us dive into this weird history in South Carolina.

Dan Reynolds Photography/Moment via Getty Images

On Thursday afternoon, June 27, 1901, the most gargantuan storm blew into Tiller's Ferry. (Think normal South Carolina weather for a summer afternoon squall and multiply that by 10.)

And then....it happened.

Flickr/Jim Moore

It started raining FISH. They were falling from the sky.

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Flickr/_paVan_

And not just a few here and there. There were a lot.

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Do you think folks who didn't witness the event wondered if the residents of Tiller's Ferry were suddenly "afflicted in the head?" Could that be enough to make people stay away, to stop coming to Tiller's Ferry?

Flickr/Keeney

Today, although not a common occurrence, these "skyfalls" do happen. In more recent times, news outlets have published occasional accounts of birds suddenly falling en masse. But how do scientists explain FISH? After all, at least the birds are already UP THERE, right?

Wikipedia/NOAA

Natural History Magazine has a great article titled Rains of Fishes, A compilation of the evidence that fishes occasionally fall from the sky. In the article, they theorize that the occasional "Skyfall" of fish could have a scientific and plausible explanation.

In a turbulent storm that generates a water spout, the spout could ingest the fish, carry them an unknown distance, and then drop them in another location.

We couldn’t find written evidence that in 1901 there were any plausible theories for why it was raining fish in Tiller’s Ferry. One can only imagine what outsiders thought when they heard the firsthand accounts of what happened that Thursday in June of 1901.

Do you believe it rained fish in Tiller’s Ferry in 1901 or are you skeptical? We’d love to know what you think in our comments on Facebook.

There can be some pretty weird things in South Carolina, but hey it’s also where we like to call home. So let’s embrace it with this raining fish shirt. That’s right someone actually has a shirt made for this very specific event; what a time to be alive…