The Emus Won, the Salmon Looked Suspicious, and Meat Fell From the Sky

Setup: In 1932, Australia sent soldiers armed with machine guns to deal with emus damaging wheat fields. The emus were large, numerous, and apparently unwilling to participate in the nation’s preferred solution.

Escalation: The birds scattered whenever the soldiers approached, making them difficult targets. The army tried mounting guns on a truck, which introduced the additional problem of trying to aim at fast-moving emus from a bouncing vehicle. After thousands of rounds, the operation was abandoned. Later reports estimated that fewer than a thousand birds had been killed.

Punchline: Major G.P.W. Meredith, who commanded the operation, observed that the emu seemed to have a general, and that each one appeared to be carrying a machine gun in its own way. The government eventually used a bounty system instead.

Setup: The United Kingdom’s Salmon Act of 1986 contains a provision aimed at people dealing in illegally obtained fish.

Escalation: Rather than simply saying “do not steal salmon,” the law makes it an offense to receive, retain, remove, or dispose of a salmon when circumstances would lead a reasonable person to suspect that an offense had been committed involving it.

Punchline: The statute is now widely summarized as making it illegal to handle salmon in suspicious circumstances, which gives the impression that the fish itself may be under investigation.

Setup: On a July morning in 1876, residents near a small settlement in Kentucky reported chunks of red meat falling from the sky over an area roughly the size of a football field.

Escalation: Two men reportedly tasted the material. A later examination suggested it was lung tissue, and the leading explanation became that vultures had eaten carrion and then vomited while flying overhead. Other theories proposed everything from a passing butcher’s wagon to an unusually determined prankster.

Punchline: The incident entered history as the Great Kentucky Meat Shower, which sounds less like a documented meteorological event than a special at a restaurant nobody should visit.

This Week in Weird History: In 1932, Australia’s emu problem became a military campaign, and the emus retained the disputed territory.