Bath County to Celebrate 150th Anniversary of Kentucky Meat Shower

Meat once rained from the sky in Bath County. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Kentucky Meat Shower, Owingsville is hosting a festival where meat will once again fly through the sky.

The Kentucky Meat Shower is an obscure, albeit fascinating event in our state’s history. On March 3, 1876, an unexplained phenomenon happened at the Crouch family farm near Olympia Springs. For several minutes between 11 am and Noon, chunks of meat fell from the sky, covering a football-sized field with 2.5-inch chunks of meat.

It doesn’t matter if it’s 1876 or 2026, this is crazy. It would draw national media attention now. 150 years ago, it brought a New York Herald reporter to Kentucky to investigate.

Mrs. Crouch was making soap on the front porch of the family home when she saw the first chunks start falling. She told the Herald that she thought it was a sign from God.

“A vague idea that my husband and son, who were away, had been torn to pieces and their remains were being brought home to me in this way by the wind flashed through my mind at the moment,” she said. “I was also impressed with the conviction that it was a miracle of God, which as yet we do not understand. It may have been a warning, as ‘coming events’ are said to cast their shadows before.”

Fortunately, it was not a grisly, supernatural event. It could have been a hoax, but many locals flocked to the field to see what had occurred. Some even tasted what the Kentucky Meat Shower left behind to confirm it was actually meat. A sample was taken for analysis and is still preserved at Transylvania University.

“The meat was served in the shape of hash, and its particles ranged in size from a delicate shred as light as a snowflake to a solid lump three inches square,” The New York Times reported. “It was in a raw state, but it was obviously perfectly fresh. Two Kentucky gentlemen in prosperous circumstances, and accustomed to eating raw meat, tasted it and pronounced the opinion that it was either venison or mutton…”

The Primary Theory

So what actually happened? One theory was hypothesized at the time and is still the most popular explanation of the Kentucky Meat Shower.

When vultures are threatened by predators, they enter fight or flight mode. To make the flight faster, they vomit, emptying their stomachs to lighten their load. Turkey vultures can also engorge themselves on a dead carcass. Without any self-control, a good vomit is called for, and that’s the most popular theory. A vomiting flock of vultures likely created the Kentucky Meat Shower.

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How Bath County is Celebrating the Kentucky Meat Shower

The legacy of the Kentucky Meat Shower lives on and this weekend Bath County is going to have some fun to celebrate the unusual event.

The second Kentucky Meat Shower will take place on Main Street in Owingsville on Saturday, Feb. 28. A festival will begin at noon and include events like the Meatball Toss, Vulture Flying, and Bologna Throwing. You can sample exotic meats, and there will be a mystery meat chili cook-off. It culminates with the Grand Finale at 4 PM where meat will once again fly through the skies of Bath County. Don’t worry, an organizer told the Courier-Journal this time, Kentuckians will not be covered in raw meat vomited by vultures. Beef jerky is probably a better choice for the second Kentucky Meat Shower.

Learn more about the Second Kentucky Meat Shower at FleshFalls.com.