Clouds cover the sky producing rain on the majority of days in Oakville, Washington, a town of approximately seven-hundred people, ninety miles southwest of Seattle. In Oakville, a day without sunshine is normal; a day without rain is rare.

In the early morning hours of August 7, 1994, Oakville residents were awakened by a pouring sound, but few paid much attention. When they awoke later in the morning, however, they realized what they heard wasn’t the typical Oakville onslaught of rain.

Rain did not fall from the Oakville skies that morning, but the tiny town in western Washington was beset with big blobs of . . . something.

The Oakville Blobs

A clear gelatinous goo blanketed Oakville, but what exactly the goo was is unknown. One area resident described it as “very mushy, almost like if you had jello in your hand.” The few area residents out in the early morning hours reported their cars’ windshield wipers smeared the material against the glass instead of washing it off.

The blobs fell in torrents throughout the day, covering nearly twenty square miles. By the afternoon, many area residents had become sick. Symptoms included difficulty breathing, nausea, blurred vision, and vertigo. Many residents suffered from flu-like symptoms that continued for two to three months, and several cats and dogs died after coming in contact with the substance.

One person whose mother took ill believed the odd blob might be the source of the sickness. She collected a sample and sent it to the hospital. A lab technician found the material contained human white blood cells but was unable to identify what it was or how it came from the sky.

But What The Heck Are They?

The Washington State Department of Health determined the goo was packed with two species of bacteria, one of which lives in the human digestive system. Based on these findings, it was speculated the blob to be human waste dumped from an airplane toilet. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, however, require waste to be dyed blue; the blobs were crystal clear. Furthermore, FAA regulations forbid pilots from releasing this “blue ice” in mid-flight.

They Are Not Human Waste

AmTest Laboratories, a private research lab in Kirkland, Washington, then analyzed the blobs and detected Eukaryotic cells, which are nucleus-containing cells present in most living creatures.

 One theory of the blob’s origins was that the Navy’s bombing runs at sea had accidentally destroyed a school of jellyfish and sent their pieces flying into the atmosphere where they evaporated into a rain cloud, settling over Oakville. Most rejected this theory, however, because Oakville is fifty miles inland and the blobs did not have a rotting smell.

Most Oakville residents believe the blobs were military related, but they point the finger at the Air Force instead. Many locals noticed a frequent amount of slow-moving military aircraft in the skies above their town. Some believe Oakville was the site of an Air Force experiment designed to test either a new biological weapon or the possible damage of a biological attack on the United States.

The Air Force denies knowledge of the substance or any involvement in its creation or dispersal but confirms practice bombing runs were being done over the Pacific Ocean in August 1994.

Could The Blobs Be Jellyfish?

Over a period of three weeks, the blobs reigned down five more times over the Oakville area before ceasing. All remnants of the goo disappeared and no samples are known to have been saved. The Washington Department of Health says it can find no record of what happened to the specimens it received.

The nature of the blobs that descended on Oakville, Washington, in August 1994, remains a mystery. Because no known samples remain, the source of the clear gelatinous goo will probably never be crystal clear.

Likely An Eternal Mystery

SOURCES:

• KXRO 1320 AM Radio Aberdeen, Washington
• Seattle Times
• Unsolved Mysteries