[meteorite-list] BBC E-mail: Meteor caused Lesotho 'poltergeist'

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:11 2004
Message-ID: <200304221519.IAA01979_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

> ** Meteor caused Lesotho 'poltergeist' **
> The cause of a poltergeist that smashed houses in Lesotho is found to have been a freak meteor shower.
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/2911269.stm
>


Meteor caused Lesotho 'poltergeist'
By David Ambrose
BBC Focus On Africa magazine
April 22, 2003

An outbreak of ghost activity that struck Lesotho last year has been
found to have been the result of a spectacular meteor shower.

On 21 July, a loud noise in the sky was heard over most of the country.

Then in the village of Boqate Ha Sofonia, objects began to fall on the
roofs of houses.

'Malino Mantsoe, one of the village residents, saw a large stone smash
into the low-walled cooking area in front of her house, before knocking
over and cracking a plastic container.

She blamed a "thokolosi" - a poltergeist - and sprinkled holy water
around her house and on the stone. No more stones fell.

'Matukule Khoeletsana, another resident, also had stones bounce on her
roof - and kept them to prove it was no bad dream.

Investigation

Now the cause of the mystery rocks has been found to have been a meteorite.

A rock weighing perhaps a tonne, which had been circling the sun for
4,600 million years, had finally intercepted another body in the solar
system - the Earth.

It arrived at perhaps 50 to 100 times the speed of sound, and hitting the
atmosphere at this speed, exploded into thousands of pieces which had
fallen to earth over nine different villages.

A team from the National University of Lesotho went to investigate, and
with the help of schoolchildren and local residents collected over 400
different stones ranging from just a few grams to over a kilogram.

There were a number of champion collectors, including a well-known local
youth nicknamed Ramanaka, or "Father of Horns", because of his head-dress
decorated with horns and a portrait of Nelson Mandela.

The Thuathe meteorite, as it has been christened, has ensured that Lesotho
will now have a place in the science of meteoritics.

A full version of this article appears in the new edition of the Focus on
Africa magazine.
Received on Tue 22 Apr 2003 11:19:24 AM PDT