Weird objects have fallen out of the sky many times during the history of human civilization, but a shark raining down has likely never happened before, until now. One man from South Carolina was merely playing disc golf one fine day when out of nowhere, what appeared to be a hammerhead shark fell on the ground near him, in hole 11, nonetheless.
Jonathan Marlowe is the man in question, and as expected, he was initially perplexed about the matter despite the size of the shark, which is only over a foot in length. The incident happened in the Splinter City Disc Golf Course, near Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. Sharks don’t usually rain from the skies unless you’ve been watching too much Sharknado or someone made Poseidon too angry.
Turns out the explanation was much simpler and a little less exciting compared to fiction. Marlowe recalled seeing an osprey flying overhead after the shark dropped on the ground, and it turns out the poor bird merely dropped its lunch. Moreover, it appears two crows might have chased and harassed the osprey, causing the lone predator to drop its baby shark prey.
“It’s not uncommon to see an osprey carrying something, but you take note because it’s still really cool to see,” says Jonathan Marlowe, transcript courtesy of Garden & Gun
Sadly, it’s somewhat rare for ospreys to catch sharks, so it was definitely a treat for the bird; too bad a couple of crows had to be jerks about it and had to resort to mobbing away the osprey.
As for Jonathan Marlowe, he and his golfer buddies decided to leave the baby shark under a tree in case the osprey comes back for its food. The osprey apparently didn’t come back after being scared off by the crows, leaving subsequent golfer groups confused as to what a dead shark is doing on a golf course.
People Insist It’s a Sharknado
While the truth of the bizarre incident was a little underwhelming and even sad, people still indulged in their fictitious references, with some joking that it could be marketing for another Sharknado sequel (god forbid, they made six of those already). Some were saying Marlowe was trying to cover up a Sharknado.
For reference, Sharknado is a sci-fi B-movie with six titles in the franchise, mostly about a hurricane or tornado of literal sharks rampaging through Los Angeles. It makes no sense and is notorious for bad CGI, though that didn’t stop the film from gaining a cult following.
Others were more meticulous in their knowledge about sharks, stating that the hammerhead that fell was, in fact, either a bonnethead or a scalloped shark, which still belongs in the hammerhead family.
“Sounds like you are trying to cover up a Sharknado!!” suggests Brad Nelson
“When Mother Nature runs out of ideas and just starts hitting shuffle. 🌀🤯,” says Odd 5
“Clearly a sharknado, case closed,” concludes Sergi Martinez Ramirez
