I saw this over at digg, and thought I’d post it as it does contain on semi-serious ideas.
Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.
Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.
Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.
Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.
Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.
"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.
So, now for all the fun ways we can take this story.
The first one is for all you Hal Lindsey fans out there.
Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. – Revelation 8:6–10
The second direction you can take with this is for all you science fiction fans out there. Go pick up your copy of Andromeda Strain and start reading. While you are out getting your copy, pick up a couple cans of Sterno.
I guess another direction you can head with this is for all you science based horror fans out there is to pick up your copy of World War Z and the Zombie Survival Guide. While the beginning of each of these stories do not exactly start with the approach of a meteorite, many Zombie movies and books do indeed start with this theme.
If you wanted to take this into the Occult based Horror you can always rely on H.P. Lovecraft to provide you with a good story. Check out his Colour out of Space.
I think I should talk about comic books and how Meteorites falling from the sky bring about the changes from the ordinary into the super natural. But I am not really a comic book “expert.” I’ll leave that job to others.
