It came from space!

..and some people got sick

[grandpa]

An object reportedly fell from outer space, and landed in an area of Peru. Then about 600 people, ordinary folks, went to look at the hole and got ill from the noxious fumes.

The incident began on Saturday night, when people near Carancas in the Puno region, some 1,300km (800 miles) south of Lima, reported seeing a fireball in the sky coming towards them.

The object then hit the ground, leaving a 30m (98ft) wide and 6m (20ft) deep crater.

The crater spewed what officials described as fetid, noxious gases.

Full article [news.bbc.co.uk] from the BBC

If it made such a big hole, why go over there?

If it smells so bad, why go over there?

Finally, someone who makes sense to me..

Honorio Campoblanco, one of Peru's leading geologists, called on the authorities to stop people going near the crash site.

Hmm, any speculation about what hit us? Vogon garbage, perhaps?

[willybfriendly]

Kryptonite

[Syzygy]

I read this elsewhere yesterday, but didn't think the story would make it as far as the BBC.

Flaming meteor falls from the skies (where else would it fall from?). Worried locals surround the impact crater. Something stirs... The villagers get frightened - could it be alive..?

I've read that book, listened to the soundtrack, and seen both versions of the film! :-)

Syzygy

[Matt Probert]

A meteorite landed in a remote area. Local peasants were naturally curious, and also savy enough to realise a potential for selling souvenirs and so they went to investigate. As for the illness, could be mass hysteria, could be the dust thrown up by the impact. Or perhaps Al-Qaeda are testing a new WMD, better invade Croydon just in case....<g>

Matt

[rocknbil]

If it made such a big hole, why go over there?

How could you NOT? :-)

[mack]

Makes you think... if somethign with enough emergy to do this sort of damage is heading towards the planit undetected, whats to stop the next one beign in a less sparcely populated area.

Scary.

Mack.

[LifeinAsia]

if somethign with enough emergy to do this sort of damage is heading towards the planit undetected, whats to stop the next one beign in a less sparcely populated area.

Because the Ancients took every known object in the Solar System larger than 10 cm and plotted the possible trajectories, including impact points on the Earth, through AD 2999. They then encoded that information into human DNA, so that humans would subconsciously avoid development in areas that would be hit by large objects some day.

A pretty impressive feat, considering that they didn't have supercomputers back then and had to do all the calculations using just their fingers. Fortunately, the Ancients had 20 fingers on each hand, which helped immensely with the calculations. Unfortunately, Groke, one of the Ancients involved in this project, had an unfortunate accident and had to have one of his fingers amputated, which led to the "Y3K problem" and prevented the calculations from going beyond AD 2999. (Legend has it that the "accident" was really from Groke's 3rd wife finding out about an affair Groke had with another member of the project, but this was never substantiated by any of the parties involved.)

[SlyGuy]

Vogon garbage, perhaps?

..better garbage than a collection of Vogon poetry ;)

[grandpa]

Because the Ancients . . .

I still marvel at the things I don't know, or have forgotten?

I feel much better now.

[jtara]

It turned out to be natural arsenic deposits that had leeched into an underground aquifer. When the meteorite hit the aquifer, it released arsenic-laden steam.

[Jane_Doe]

It easier for "experts" to claim "mass hysteria" when they assume they know it all yet don't have an explanation for the illness. It is easier to claim mass hysteria for some experts than to consider the possibility that something unusual happened that is outside their frame of reference.

[woofwoof]

If it made such a big hole, why go over there?

If it smells so bad, why go over there?

Grandpa, I think your showing your user name!

[g1smd]

There are more people working in one typical McDonald's, than there are people world-wide looking into space trying to find and track all of the things that might hit is.