the gelatinous mass of the forests that not even science knows what it is, but there are some ideas

2023-06-11 12:30:26

No one knows what it is, or where it came from, or how it was formed, or why it appears briefly in the grass or on the branches of trees, shortly before disintegrating. The “star jelly” (stellar jelly) or “Astromyxin” has been found in grasses, trees and shrubs without warning or explanation, although after being scientifically analyzed it is believed to contain traces of biological tissue.

However, not all the testimonies fit this idea, and some postulate that it would be matter left by meteor showers, or by the spirits of the dead (¿ectoplasm?).

After studying it, scientists from different disciplines have reached different conclusions, and the mystery persists.

700 years of mystery

The “jelly” has been sighted several times throughout history, being the oldest recorded in the XIV centuryafter a meteor shower that gave it the name by which it is popularly known, according to the Exploration Journal.

Since then, his name has evolved, he explains. Futurism, from the equivalent of a “fallen star” to the current “stellar jelly”. Or, in the most creative case of Mexico, “caca de luna”.

In 1845, it was described by the American writer and senator Samuel Griswood, notes Very interesting. Back then, it was still believed that he came from space.

“A gelatinous substance is occasionally found in grass, soil, and sometimes even in the branches of trees, the origin of which modern scholars attribute neither to stars nor meteors; but they are divided as to considering them as an animal or vegetable product. Botanists call it tremella nostoch and they say that it is a fungus plant, of rapid growth and of short duration, of which even the seed has been discovered, but zoologists, although they differ among themselves, agree in affirming that it is the altered remains of dead frogs”. quotes the magazine, recalling the event.

One year later, Scientific American published that on November 11 that “a luminous object estimated to be 4 feet in diameter (1.2 meters) fell in Loweville, New York, leaving behind a mound of foul-smelling luminous jelly that quickly disappeared.”

In 1870, the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia found that “a yellowish substance fell on Genoa, Italy, on the morning of February 14.”

Star Jelly in Scotland.

“It was analyzed by MG Boccardo and Professor Castellani of the Technical Institute of Genoa and found to contain 66% sand (mainly of the silica type and some clay), 15% iron oxide (rust), 9% carbonate of lime, 7% organic matter and the rest of water. The organic matter contained spore-like particles, starch grains, fragments of diatoms (forms of algae whose cell walls contain silica), and unidentified cobalt blue globules.

Much more recently, it was found in 2015 in the UK, when the BBC’s Nature’s Weirdest Events program sent a sample to London’s Natural History Museum for DNA analysis, which determined it to be the remains of a frog The traces of a magpie, a natural predator of these amphibians, supported this theory.

It was also found in Scotland, remember the BBCy in great quantities in 2008.

His last record was in June 2019, in a garden in Virginia, United States. Five “specimens” were found, and they looked like crushed ice but gelatinous. They were studied under a microscope by an agricultural specialist, who found no evidence that it was a living organism.

So what is it?

As specialists have been able to describe, it is a gelatinous substance whose colors can be translucent, between whitish and gray. Very Interesting states that biologists and botanists disagree about its nature.

One theory suggests that it would be the remains of some animal, possibly frogs or worms. Some biologists postulate that it would be the unfertilized spawn of a frog, ripped from its abdomen by predators.

Or even the “jelly” could have been vomited by them, after not being able to digest it. That would explain why it is found in grasses and trees, where birds reach.

A supposed Star Jelly.

Some findings that support this proposal date back to 1926, when oviducts and ovaries were found in Dartmoor (England) along with the remains of an alimentary tract and a bladder belonging to a frog or toad, indicates the magazine of scientific curiosities.

Another postulates cyanobacteria or algae as a possible cause, explains Futurism.

Along the same lines, slime molds, which live as individual cells with the ability to come together to form larger structures that reproduce and slide across the soil, feeding on decomposing plant matter, are blamed.

One of the classic hypotheses, and one that has been alluded to historically, is its presumed spatial origin, already ruled out by science. In this case, meteor showers would be responsible.

In 1979, for example, several purple and slimy spots were found in a Texas house patio after a Perseid meteor shower, also considering the possibility that they were the product of the activity of a nearby battery reprocessing plant.

However, meteorites rarely reach the earth’s surface as they tend to disintegrate during entry into the atmosphere, so any watery elements would have evaporated long before touching the grass.

According to the magazine, the strangest case was one in Philadelphia, USA, where in 1950 police officers reported finding a specimen that emitted a dull purple glow, but dissolved into a sticky, odorless foam when they tried to pick it up.

In any scenario, as long as its mystery is not solved, it will at least serve to inspire fiction authors. A movie was even made based on that last case mentioned here: The Blob (The devouring mass in Spain and The voracious stain in Latin America) was released in 1958, in which a gelatinous mass falls from space to wreak havoc on Earth.