Woman says she was smacked in the face by falling catfish

Lisa Lobree says she was walking near the Art Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Monday morning when she heard a "rustling" in the trees. "Suddenly I was slammed by something," Lobree recalled. "I was like, 'What?!' I was freaking out." A catfish had fallen from the sky and smacked her in the face. Lobree immediately buckled to the ground, screaming. Her friend started screaming something about a fish. People were asking if she was okay.



"It definitely hurt me and I didn't know what happened," Lobree said. At first, she thought there were fish guts on her face, but it turned out to be a cut near her eye. Later, her face started swelling. Witnesses reported seeing a bird flying away - a vulture or hawk or eagle, maybe. The catfish was about 16 inches long, weighing perhaps five pounds. Based on the height of the trees above, Lobree said, the fish probably fell at least 50 feet, striking branches along the way. "It's a crazy, crazy thing," she said.

Lobree then walked to her Fairmount home and took a long shower. "I smelled really bad. I was so disgusted," she said. "I was a little bit shocked, actually." That afternoon, Lobree developed a 101-degree fever, which she said is rare for her. It might have been a coincidence, but she was worried about a possible infection. A pediatrician neighbour said that was unlikely. Lobree called her doctor as a precaution and got the answering service. They thought it was a prank call.



"I told them a fish fell out of the sky," Lobree said. "She asked if it was from an airplane." Later, her doctor called and prescribed antibiotics, but the fever went away on its own. It might have just been from the trauma, the doctor suggested. Lobree still has a cut under her eye. She is thankful that she only sustained minor injuries. "It could have been so much worse," she said. "What if it hit a child? It was a not a fun experience, but there are so many worse things that could've happened. It's probably one of the strangest things that have happened to me in my life."