Shane Cochrane tells the fascinating story of when honey, and other strange things, rained down from the sky over Ireland
One morning in 1832, while on his way to work, a Newtownsaville man stopped to watch some bees that seemed to be very excited about a freshly painted cart. When he moved closer, the man discovered that it wasn’t paint – the cart was covered in honey.
It wasn’t until a neighbour came along and pointed out that there was also honey in the trees that the man took a proper look around and saw that everything – absolutely everything – was covered in honey.
It happened again, a few years later, on a Sunday morning in July 1849, in Shinrone, County Offaly.
After a very localised shower, honey was dripping off the leaves of the trees in the grounds of the chapel. Some of the local children collected the honey. And those brave enough to actually sample it said it tasted exactly like natural honey.
But it’s not just honey that falls out of the sky.