Many years ago, I saw a movie titled The Blob, which scared me during my childhood. The movie starred the late Steve McQueen and his battle against an alien blob creature that devoured everything in its path. The blob began as a small gelatin like creature that got larger after it ate people. Eventually, McQueen saved mankind and destroyed the strange creature. So you might say this was nothing but a corny Hollywood movie.

But what if I told you about a real life blob creature that killed beloved pets and made people sick? At approximately 3 a.m., on August 7, 1994, residents of Oakville, Washington experienced an odd rainfall. Only instead of rain, it wasn’t water that fell from the sky. It was a mysterious blob-like substance that would pelt Oakville residents six times over a 20 mile radius for a period of three weeks.

Marc Hoover

A local police officer reported that when the blobs struck his windshield, he turned on his wipers to remove the substance. Instead, the wipers just squished the substance into the windshield. Residents of Oakville described the blob-like substance as the size of a rice grain that felt similar to gelatin. Many residents became ill and experienced illnesses similar to the flu. Symptoms included problematic breathing, vertigo, blurred vision, and nausea. Resident Dotty Hearn was found passed out after contact with the strange substance. Her daughter Sunny said her mother was cold and covered in sweat.

While the mysterious substance sickened residents, it was fatal to animals. Fortunately, Hearn survived her experience with the dangerous blob rainfall. A sample was shipped to the Washington State Department of Health to be studied. Microbiologists believed the blob like substance to be human waste dumped from a passing airplane.

There were two problems with this theory. The Federal Aviation Agency requires waste to be dyed blue and it’s against the law for planes to release human waste during a flight. Since the blob was clear it was ruled out as human waste. The agency concluded the substance was bacteria. But no further answers were uncovered. So what was this mysterious bacteria that had sickened an entire community?

Before Dotty Hearn’s illness, she had saved a sample of the mysterious substance to a private laboratory. The private lab reported the substance was a bacteria that was once alive. Another theory was that it was pieces of dead jellyfish that had been blown up by military airplanes.

Most residents believed the blob substance to be something from military warfare testing. Some residents claim to have witnessed military aircraft flying in the vicinity before the blob-like substance rained down on Oakville residents. The military denied having anything to do with the strange substance.

Although the incident occurred over twenty years ago, no one has ever solved this mystery. And all evidence of the mysterious substance are long gone. Today, no evidence of the strange substance exists.

In 1997, the television program Unsolved Mysteries profiled the strange story without arriving at a conclusion. It would appear the only way anyone will ever know what happened is if the mysterious goo were to be dropped on residents again.

Over the years, some residents think it could be an alien life form like the Hollywood movie. Although far-fetched it could be a possibility since there doesn’t seem to be any rational explanation. Is it possible that Oakville residents still experience health issues today from the mysterious blob? Or what about the children of these residents? Unless you live in Oakville, Washington, this story isn’t a major topic of discussion. But if you are interested in researching an unsolved mystery, this one remains unsolved.

Marc is a grandparent and longtime resident of Clermont County. Visit his author page Life with Grandpa and he also just wrote Just Bite Me: A Guide to Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Walking Nightmares, which is available on Amazon.com.