2 July 1843: The Day a Gator Fell From The Sky

An alligator falls from the sky during a thunderstorm in Charleston, South Carolina.

A two-foot-long alligator famously "fell from the sky" during a severe thunderstorm at the in downtown Charleston. Local journalists from The Charleston Mercury covered the story. The article described a strong thunderstorm that developed on a very hot Sunday. St. Paul’s Church was reportedly struck by lightning but not harmed. No one was reported dead following the storm, but an alligator appeared at the corner of Wentworth and Anson street in downtown Charleston after the storm had cleared.

And while no one saw the alligator actually fall from the sky, the writer states that “and as he couldn’t have got there any other way, it was decided unanimously that he rained down.” That and the look of wonder and bewilderment on the alligator’s face led to idea that he had come from the sky.

The widely accepted meteorological explanation for this bizarre event is that a waterspout (a tornado that forms over a body of water) developed over a nearby river or creek, swept the small alligator up into the sky, and then dropped it onto the city streets as the storm dissipated and lost its wind energy.

The story made national headlines at the time, being republished in papers like the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the New York Evening Post. Today, the National Weather Service's Charleston office still keeps the legend on their local weather history records.