A metal nut fell from the sky just now and landed in front of me.

So I wasn't sure whether or not to post this here but I just had a weird experience and couldn't find anyone on Google who had experienced the same thing.

10 minutes ago (9:30am) I was hanging clothes out on the line when I heard a weird popping noise and saw some shiny thing land about 3 foot from me. It was a nut like this:
www.chircoestore.com...
I think the pop noise was it bouncing up off the ground, I dropped it onto the grass where it landed but couldn't create the sound again so it must have come from pretty high.
I looked up and it's clear blue skies and no planes or anything around. I live in a suburban area so no high-rises or anything.

Anyone ever had this happen to them? I'm glad it didn't hit me in the head would have hurt.

reply to post by Nventual


My best guess would be that pressure, on your clothes line, caused a nut to pop off of whatever structure is supporting it.

~Heff

Is there any place it could have come from a kid throwing it at you to mess with you ?

Nah I looked at the clothes line and any other thing in my backyard with nuts on it and none of them matched up.
The nut had a spiraled pattern on top of it. I'll take a photo with my webcam soon hold on.

I had thought maybe a neighbour threw it into my backyard but I couldn't hear anybody before or after, no doors shutting or walking etc and I usually can when there's a neighbour outside.

reply to post by Nventual


Can I suggest some kids some where with a powerful catapult? I remember when I was young firing things like nuts straight up with a black widow and they would disappear for a few moments and then land, really heavily quite a lot of meters (200-400?) away.

Hopefully from a satellite. Is it magnetic, or lightweight, like an alloy?

Wonder if some kids got sling shots for Christmas perhaps.? And that would for sure hurt getting hit with that.
I`m glad you showed us what type nut. I was automatically picturing a metal acorn for some reason.

I once had a chicken egg fall from the sky and splatter in front of me on the sidewalk. All over my new shoes, and my friend’s shoes. We were in Europe on vacation and I ended up having to buy more shoes. It was one of the strangest things. We reminisce about it often.

Be thankful it wasn’t an egg... or something bigger, I guess.

Haha... the most likely answer is kids playing... But I like to pretend that I think it was something mysterious and freak my friend out.

reply to post by woogleuk
Nice thinking. I used to throw dry cells, rocks and large nuts a quarter mile with a sling that I made as a young teen.
Be nice to see the photo of it though.

reply to post by Connman


Lol the OP pic isn't really what it looks like, it was just to clear up confusion so people didn't think I mean't an acorn or something.

This is the nut:
img521.imageshack.us...

It looks familier, anyone know what they're off?

edit: btw the other side of the nut is like the OP pic.

There was a thread a while back about a big chunk of steel crashing through someone's roof. Turned out to be piece of a railroad car that snapped/flung off.

As mentioned above, it's probably something that just popped off and got ejected. It'd explain the popping sound.

What a way to die, good thing it didn't hit you in the head.

Cool story, want to see pics.

reply to post by Nventual


Yeah, that was the nuts we fired as kids, as in nuts 'n' bolts, I didn't mean dry roasted peanuts or horse chestnuts my Dads shed was littered with them, and they make the best projectiles for catapults, they go for miles! (Maybe not literal miles)

Always used to get and earful off him too when he was all bolts and no nuts

reply to post by alaskan


yeah probably but I mean it bounced up probably half a meter when it hit the grass. I'm no good at physics so I don't know what height it dropped from. I don't live near a railway or freeway or anything.

reply to post by Nventual


That looks like a nut off a bicycle to hold the wheels on.

Looks like a regular 3/8 axle nut from a bike, and there are tons of other uses. The "spiral" pattern is just so it grips up against other metal...

reply to post by alaskan


cool. couldn't have come from my bike though since it's in the shed. -_-"
weird stuff lol.

reply to post by Nventual


So a nut fell out of the sky? Did it have the face of jesus on it like this one? This just made news 3 days ago. Trees must really be shaking for so many nuts to be falling.

reply to post by Alethea

lol no face of jesus sorry.. btw it was a nut as in one you screw onto something. look at the pic.

Is there any way you could get a pic of the actual nut, next to a ruler or tape measure? Any manufacturer name on the nut?