1891, July 26: Hay Seen Sucked into Sky and Later Rained Back Slowly

In 1891, a letter was submitted to Nature magazine by Francis Galton; he had received the letter from a friend, and felt what it described was "worth putting on record." On July 26 of the same year, Galton's friend witnessed, during an otherwise dead calm, a column of hay whirling up high into the sky from the garden, just a short distance from the witness. The hay returned that evening, raining down all over the surrounding meadow as well as on the garden that the hay originated from. It continue to fall for four hours. Galton's friend noted "there was not a breath of air stirring as far as we could see, except in that one spot."