Another Moose Falls From The Sky
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 14th, 2009
It has happened again. Not Fortean fish raining from the heavens. But a shower of one moose.
You may recall that I have reported of Alaskan moose “falling from the sky” previously here.
A moose fell to its death on February 2, 2008, at Mile 113, on the Seward Highway, a couple miles north of McHugh Creek, Alaska. In 1995, a moose calf fell 100 feet to its death in nearly the same spot. Photo courtesy Alaska State Troopers
Now it’s happened in Maine.
The Maine moose that “fell from the sky,” in an observer’s words, landed on its head and quickly died.
The yearling bull nearly took a man with him after it fell from the Interstate 95 overpass onto Hinckley Road, near Clinton, Maine.
Shirley Bailey, Clinton assistant town clerk, got the frantic call shortly after 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.
The caller was driving along the road when he saw the moose fall.
Bailey recalled his comments: “I was driving under the bridge on Hinckley Road and a moose fell from the sky.”
The man was “a little shook up,” Bailey said. “It was quite frightening, I guess.”
Minutes later, the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department took a call of a young bull moose on I-95, not far away in Burnham, Maine.
Waldo County, Maine, is well-known for its sightings of mysterious black panthers, but this may be the first falling moose report from there.
Mark Latti, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, tells motorists to be wary of the big animals. They wander along and sometimes into roads as the roadsides turn green, he said.
Latti said that Maine averages more than 600 moose-and-vehicle crashes a year, and there have been 22 fatalities in the past 10 years.
“Data shows that each spring, the frequency of moose-vehicle collisions increases in April and continues to climb until it peaks in mid-June,” Latti said.
Duane Brunell, of the DOT’s safety office, said, “Due to a moose’s large size, every moose-vehicle accident has the potential for serious injury.”
The moose that fell in Clinton probably was spooked by something, Runnels said. Runnels said he got there quickly.
“He landed on his head, and died right off,” Runnels said.
Runnels, who was on the scene by 8:17, said the distance from the I-95 overpass to Hinckley Road is about 18 feet.
The chief said he didn’t have to keep the lane of Hinckley Road that leads into town closed for long. Just as he got there, a man driving a wrecker stopped, and asked if he could have the moose. Runnels granted the request, and the man drove away with it.
Such accidents are not as uncommon as people might think, Reynolds said.
“When I was with the Greenville police, a moose jumped over a bridge onto the banks of the Piscataquis River,” he said.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Well there’s something you don’t see everyday. I’ve heard of moose causing a lot of vehicular damage, and I’ve heard of moose attacking people (they can actually be quite aggressive and territorial, especially during mating season), but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of one plummeting down from above.
Just one more weapon the moose have in their plans for invasion. 🙂
Poor thing! I’m glad that no humans were injured or killed along with this unfortunate creature.
Oh my goodness…
We’ve all heard the expression-“When pigs fly.”
Now we can all say instead “when moose fall from the sky.”
I agree with Jack Lee. Thankfully no human was hurt. But what an awful way for it to go. Almost certainly died instantly, “thankfully.”
Mystery_Man:
You know, I heard Bullwinkle is going to be their main commander and strategist. 🙂
Rocky will be their adavnce scout. 🙂
I’m going to need a bigger umbrella…
In a few million years we’ll have flying moose!
Just a joke, friends.
But this is kindof bizarre. Charles Fort would have loved this stuff. I also say good for the cop for not getting all bureaucratic on the tow truck guy. He’ll be eating well for a while.
Don’t Honk At The Moose! Did the official mention that a large number of moose car incidents happen because the people are stupid and honk at the animal? If the horn sounds anything like their bellows, the male moose will charge. I’ve seen footage of a male moose in Alaska take on an 18-wheeler. The moose only lost because the truck engine was made of solid metal (broke the moose’s neck). I say it that way because the damage was enough that the truck driver needed to be towed away. It even took a little time to get the animal out of the front end. Imagine what would happen if someone put a lower horn in a…a new VW Bug. The moose would probably win.
I’m sure that there’s a report of a sasquatch doing the same thing.
If there is, though, I haven’t read it yet. Maybe a guy with a tow truck was the sole witness.
Makes you wonder what spooked the moose.
Interesting…a piece of (Alaskan) highway I’m very familiar with. Having hiked above this very spot I can attest to the steepness of the hillside directly above it…along with the presence of both brown bears and wolves, either of which could have precipitated the moose’s fatal predicament.
FYI, Mystery Man, the danger to humans from moose, which as you indicate is considerable; causing more human harm over the course of a year due to tramplings and auto-collisions, has more to do with the protective instinct behaviors of mother moose guarding their very vulnerable calves than with mating behaviors, though they can be unpredictable at any time and one should not be fooled by the docile look in their eyes.
Dogu4- Yes, that is true. I am aware of the protective instincts of mother moose, really quite common among many mother animals. I did not mean to imply that mating season is the only time they can be aggressive. The males, however become quite aggressive during mating season and will attack pretty much anything they see as a threat to their territory or is perceived as a challenge. They can be quite touchy during this time, and more prone to attack when they might otherwise not have done so.
Dogu4- FYI, Just to make it clear what I mean, if you look at the information from the Department of Fish and Game, and their guidelines for moose attacks, mothers with calves and bull moose during mating season tend to be the most likely to be aggressive towards humans.
Late Spring and Summer is dangerous because the mothers are caring for their calves, and Fall is dangerous due to mating season, with bull moose being aggressive due to the reasons I mentioned in my comment above. As I said, mating season is actually a cause for a good deal of unprovoked attacks on humans, on par with mother moose protecting their young, I would say.
Moose can also be dangerous when they are spooked, or during winter months when food is scarce and they are hungry and irritable. There are many reasons why they can become aggressive towards humans and they are certainly an unpredictable animal that needs to be treated with the respect any 1500 pound animal should be given.
Moose (and caribou too) have been known to run headlong to their deaths over cliffs trying to escape the hordes of flies that are biting them, especially during warm weather when biting insects are at their worst.
not surprised. I grew up in Burnham on a 7 acre pond. Had lots of strange activity in that town ranging from generational stories of bigfoot, loup garou, and my own parents spotted what they swear was a black panther twice in their backyard going after a large water bird in their pond.
Oh, I forgot to mention. Apparently moose BASE jumping season is dangerous too. 🙂
As to speculation as to what spooked the animal enough to make it run over a cliff, it really could have been a whole range of things. A sudden noise, a predator, the flies Kittenz mentioned, parasites such as a certain type of tick known to heavily infest moose and make them a little bonkers, a car horn from the road itself (as has been mentioned), among others. There is a whole a myriad of possibilities for what could have spooked it, and it’s probably something we’ll never know for sure in this case. The moose didn’t necessarily go charing out over the edge either. Due to the steepness of the rock face, the moose could have been startled and simply lost its footing on the terrain.
I wonder if anyone has looked for the hang glider the moose was testing. It might have gone on for some distance after the pilot lost his grip.
MattBille,
It’s winging its way westward, spawning reports of Thunderbird sightings as it goes :-p