A fireball streaking across the sky, a boulder the size of a picnic table on a Virginia highway. What could all of this possibly mean?
Locals started making connections after more than 40 people reported seeing a meteor streak across the sky at around 8 p.m. on Thursday night, followed by the boulder discovery.
The American Meteor Society says it received reports from people who saw a “fireball” over the Carolinas and Virginia.
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Some of the calls came from the Richmond area, where the boulder was found.
Two locals from Raleigh and Myrtle Beach shared their own video footage of the meteor, which can be seen bursting across the sky for around six seconds before disappearing into the horizon.
Lt. Justin Aronson of the Chesterfield County police took to Twitter to share pictures of the scene. One photo shows a car totalled after it crashed into the rock.
While it is perhaps fun to speculate, it’s highly unlikely this was the rock seen in the sky, and many are skeptical.
“Is it possible that it could be a prank? It could be a landscaping boulder that was dropped off a truck by someone wishing to create havoc,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Did this come from the sky around 8-9 last night?” another asked. “I seriously waited to hear the sound upon impact but never did.”
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One person pointed out that the boulder wasn’t found until four hours after the initial sighting reports were made, proving that it couldn’t possibly be the same rock.
Although the idea that the rock was the meteor has been debunked, it still made quite the impression on anyone who looked up at the sky at just the right time.
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