Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Here's a fine example of that beloved Fortean category, mysterious showers of stones!  From the "Washington Star," August 24, 1891:

A Hinton, W. Va., special to the New York Tribune today says: The people living on New River mountain in this (Summers) county are much wrought up by a phenomenon which has been witnessed there at intervals for several months, but only recently assumed startling proportions. 

In May reports were circulated of a mysterious rain of tiny stones, which apparently came out of the ether. At first these attracted little attention, but as time passed the reports became general. In May several stones fell in a clearing near the cabin of "Cy" Henly, who lives half way up the north slope of the mountain. These were jagged pieces of sandstone the size of a walnut.  There is an old trail and a quarry, occasionally used by the mountaineers, high above him on the mountain, all the notice Henly took of the matter was to curse the persons supposed to have thrown the stones. 

One night in June. however, he was wakened by sounds on the roof like the falling of hail. As he had a little garden patch he was uneasy as to the effect of the hail. Examination in the morning developed that the hail was composed of tiny stones. Henly spoke of this to other mountaineers and it was learned that stones had fallen at other points on the mountain. In July a clearing almost on top of the mountain was visited by a desultory rain of tones, many of them striking buildings with loud noise and bounding off. 

A peculiarity of this shower was the presence of several pebbles which are as rare on that mountain as icicles in August. The superstition of the mountaineers was aroused, and some strange theories wore advanced. The reports grew as they went. A newspaper in a neighboring county recently printed a story that showers of stones were constant on the mountains, and that business was suspended on account of the excited condition of the populace. The fact is that the populace consists of not more than a dozen families scattered over the mountains, and there never was any business to suspend. 

The most peculiar manifestations occurred on the farm of Ellison Fosman, a justice of the peace living on the south slope. Several stones had fallen here at intervals of a day or so, and "Ed" Meekers, a school teacher of the vicinity, went to Fosman's to investigate. A stone was heard to fall in the yard, and after some search seekers found it. It was almost sunk beneath the hard surface of the ground, and was smooth, black and of a perfectly oval shape, and about the size of a robin's egg. Meeker said it was warm when he touched it. Just as he stooped another stone struck him a sharp blow in the small of the back. This stone was scarcely larger than a lima bean and about the same shape, although not so regular. 

A stone about a large as a man's fist and resembling brown hematite iron ore fell on the roof of Addison Butt's house, two miles from Fosman's, and, bounding off, fell into a barrel of water standing at the corner of the house. It sizzled like hot iron and sent up a little cloud of steam. This stone is undoubtedly of meteoric origin, as some of the others may be, but the average falling stone is an irregular, jagged bit of sandstone, and small clouds of coarse sand accompany some of the stones. Twigs are broken off trees, shingles split and corn broken down. Probably a bushel of these stones have fallen, all in all, in the clearings. If, as seems probable, the phenomenon has been general over the mountain, several tons must have fallen. In the valley of New River mountain the wildest reports receive credence, and the Rev. John Justin, a local Baptist exhorter, is using them with startling effect at nightly revival meetings at the little log school house.