Just before 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 13, 1927, a giant fireball streaked across the cloudy southern Illinois sky. Witnesses saw it from more than 100 miles away. In several small towns, buildings shook and windows rattled. Some residents believed it was an earthquake. After three large explosions rocked the ground, others believed they were under attack. One newspaper described the explosions as "strange celestial rumblings."
The event was caused by a meteorite, the largest to fall in Illinois in recorded history. Witnesses watched the rock's fiery descent for a full minute. The large explosions occurred when the meteor split into fragments, creating green and purple flashes. Three fragments struck the ground within a 2-mile radius, landing in Randolph, St. Clair and Washington counties.
One meteorite crashed into a meadow near Sparta. A young farmhand followed the dust cloud and found the 46-pound rock buried 2 feet underground. In Tilden, Allen Raney watched a 9-pound stone slam into a yard just 100 feet away from him. He excavated the space rock and displayed it at a local filling station, where people flocked from miles around to see it and confirm what they had witnessed the previous afternoon.
The final piece, weighing 110 pounds, was later found on a farm north of Tilden. All three rocks are collectively known as the Tilden Meteorite. Samples were sent to multiple laboratories and universities. Fragments remain on display at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield and the Field Museum in Chicago.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
