1917, May (pre): Fish Rain in Singapore

The Legend:

Famous French scientist Francis Castelnau [1810-1880] claimed to have seen fish rain down in Singapore in such numbers that the natives were picking them up by the basketfuls.

More Sources Needed

        The report above was published in the May 1917 issue of the Monthly Weather Report, in an article specifically about falls of organic matter from the sky. The author, Waldo L. Atee, affirms his belief in a statement made by Castelnau to the effect of the above... but he does not say where he saw said statement. He does give his sources for many of the other events he mentions, but not for this report.

        In trying to dig for an original source, I kept finding the same thing: a complete lack of books and articles written by Castelnau that mention anything like the event above. In fact, only one book he wrote even mentions Singapore, and only in passing. So, unless an earlier source for the story above can be found, it must be considered unreliable as evidence for the phenomena of fish falls.

        Ironically, Atee mis-spelled Castelnau's name as Castlenau... and this mis-spelling makes it easy to see that all modern repeats of this legend have to have started with Atee's report, because all modern versions also mis-spell the name!