April 6

Spider Rain

On April 6 2007, a rain of spiders occurred in Salta Province in the north of Argentina. Christian Oneto Gaona was on vacation with a few friends when they decided to hike into the San Bernardo Mountains. Late that afternoon they hit a patch of ground covered by four-inch spiders of various colors. Even stranger, the group soon realized that spiders were falling on them, even though there was nothing overhead but blue sky. Quickly grabbing his camera, Christian managed to get shots of the falling spiders.

Meanwhile, more recently in Brazil Erick Reis captured a similar phenomenon on video. He was shooting an engagement party for some friends in Santo Antonio da Platina when he noticed the spiders and got this footage:

This also occurred in the late afternoon. The explanation was that strong winds can disturb the web building activities of the social species Anelosimus eximius, lifting them off trees and buildings and carrying them skyward to fall on the unexpected. It seems reasonable, but in the case of Christian Gaona the spiders were four inches. Anelosimus eximius is only about the size of a pencil eraser. And there were no buildings or trees nearby.

Also on this date:

in 1966, the Clayton Incident also known as the Westall UFO. At 11:00 am, more than 200 students and teachers of Westall High School in Melbourne, Australia, witnessed a UFO descend into a nearby field only to ascend again, taking off to the northwest. Below is the Australian documentary about it.