15. The Meteor Shower from Hell
Meteor showers occur when streams of cosmic debris known as meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds. The transition from the airless vacuum of space to the increasingly dense atmosphere of Earth causes them to burn and disintegrate, producing meteor showers. Streaking the dark skies, especially on clear and starry nights, meteor showers are among the most breathtakingly beautiful celestial sights. Usually.
In 1490, in Ming Dynasty China, meteor showers stopped being breathtakingly beautiful to the good people of Ch’ing Yang in Shaanxi Province. They witnessed one such shower suddenly go from the delightfully picturesque to the horrific, when one of the falling objects burst in the air during atmospheric reentry, killing thousands.